Every day at around 3:00, I put down my digitizing puck, get up from my desk, step outside and take a little walk. It's only for ten minutes, just a quick circuit around the parking lot and the nursing home next door (where a densely packed forest of oak and pine behind the building stand bare and proud of it, like skeletal fingers stretching toward the sky), but it does me a world of good. Especially lately. I'm working on the most boring, mind-numbing shit lately, and by the end of the day I'm tired and cranky. But taking that walk helps. It clears my head a little, and puts things into perspective. It also lets out my muse for a little fresh air every day, and I've gotten a few short story ideas, as well as brainstorms about my novel, from this. It helps to take a little break every once in a while, and just get away from the computer for a bit.

My sister is town this week, and is coming over tonight to help me spend the Christmas gift certificate I got for Belk from my parents. Kristin is the Queen of Bargains, and can sniff one out in record time. Plus it'll be nice spending time with just her; we're going to order a pizza afterward, and watch a DVD. It should be bunches of fun.

Oh, hey, look, the clock just struck three. Off I go...