Productivity is the word of the day.

I feel all accomplished today.  I wrote a long letter to Tiff, I did some character sketches for my new book (yes, I'm working on it; NO, don't ask me when it will be finished!), did some reading for class (as fascinating as the American government is, reading about it from a liberal bias, however slight, raises my blood pressure, so I can't do much reading at one time), and some work chores.  And it's only five!  Not even dinnertime.

It's interesting how, in the process of writing a letter or a journal entry, you can reach a decision or a realization that remained out of reach while you were furiously thinking it through from every angle.  Somehow, the act of writing it out makes the decision come out from behind whatever mental "shelf" it was hiding behind.  I like that.

I've also come to another realization (for which, Jennifer Theisen, I love you), and that is that I need more girlfriends.  I mean, seriously!  I have two girlfriends who live in Wisconsin.  One of whom I see maybe every two or three months, schedules permitting.  The other is not only my brother's girlfriend, but also has a schedule almost as psychotic as mine.  Of the other girlfriends I have (there are five, counting my mother), one lives in California, one lives in Minnesota or Kansas City, depending on when you ask, one lives in Illinois, and one lives in South Carolina.  The fifth is my mother.  I mean, I'm glad I have close relationships with my friends, even those in other states, but that doesn't make having girls' days an easy thing to achieve.

So, I'm going to do more thinking, a little free writing, and a drabble that was inspired by this YouTube video of the cast of Australia's The Lion King breaking out into "Circle of Life" aboard a plane.
Hopefully, that will help my current feeling of mental overload.  It's a sad state of affairs when happiness and contentment are foreign feelings that must be "rested from."  :)

Watch the video.  You'll like it.