This has been a sort of thrill ride of a day. I woke up this morning with a burst of energy. I worked through the early part of the day out of necessity, because the Boss was quite active in the I-need-this, I-need-that department. I took a long lunch out of town, which I never do, and when I came back I was full of zip and zing (not to mention vim and verve).

That lasted all of about 45 minutes, until I hit a wall of Jell-o. Really, it felt like entering a force field, or how I imagine entering a force field would feel. Gravity was my malevolent foe. Breathing was even more of a burden than usual. My whole history, all those years, caught up with me at once.

Well, I expected that (flowery language and all). I knew by bragging about how well I was doing with the time change, I could count on a blanket of fatigue settling over me today. But that doesn't mean it was a bad day. It was a very good day, in fact.

Did I mention I went to lunch? Out of town? I have a very good friend whom I haven't seen in five years. He moved to Texas for love, and now he's stuck in Texas for love, although the object of his affection has changed. He doesn't get back to the Bay Area often, but he was in for the weekend and stayed an extra day. We met in Novato, about halfway between his home base down by the bay and my home on the north coast.

It was almost as if we hadn't been separated by all those miles and all those years. Of course, we've kept in touch electronically, but it's not the same. We've known each other for over half of his life, since we worked together for several years in the early 1980s. It was amazing to pick up where we left off, considering how much we've both gone through since the last time we saw each other.

I came home from our lunch ready to take on the world. Maybe it was just the coffee (or possibly the beans). But I sputtered after that, and it took me until almost seven o'clock to finish the payroll. It's a good thing it's staying light later, although that's part of my problem, too. Tomorrow the time change might be a little easier to take, and maybe the sun will shine a little brighter and the wind will die down some. But that won't make it a better day than today.

On the other hand, it's not a good day when I lose my DSL connection for most of the evening. In fact, it's downright frustrating, and this was a day when my frustration threshold was artificially low. I have a way to go before catching up on sleep. I did sleep pretty well last night, but not nearly long enough to take something like this with equanimity. I lost my smile, for a while.