Back at work, I was delighted to find that I was surrounded by people who had brains that actually function. After being gone a few days, I had forgotten how brilliant my co-workers are -- generous, patient, and wise too. The burn out of being gainfully employed can really work nasty, dark voodoo on you. The sleep-dep, the grind of getting things done, and the terrible glimpse in the mirror each morning can dig you into a groove that is hard to bounce out of. In this case, and I know this is unusual, it's not the people I work with who make it difficult. It's really my own laziness that shoots a long shadow through my work day.

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No. I'm not going to make any jokes about Stella (aka Terry McMillan)and her groove. That poor woman has been through hell. And I respect any writer who works hard and gets people to read her stories time and again.

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Now that I've returned from the road, I have to admit that it's wonderful what a few days away will do. Of course, my brain stopped working at a point in the not-so-distant past -- some time before I departed. I could not tell you when (it stopped working) because, well, it stopped working then. It's an angry Catch-22, ain't it?