I have gone to bed twice already tonight, because I am tired and need the sleep, but my hamster-wheel brain has propelled me back to my keyboard twice. The first time, it was to write a committee report and sketch out my Wednesday schedule, figuring if I got them out of my head, I'd improve the odds of not dreaming about them. (Seriously: I dreamed at length about Micro$oft Word redlines last week. It beats the usual flunking-final-exams nightmares by a country mile, but still.)

This time, I'd started thinking about the conversations and connections of the day, and instead of drifting off, I got caught up in marveling at how even a very, very ordinary day (one where I didn't feel all that social) will include both people who have known me since 1980 and some whose contact with me will last no more than the 198 seconds or so of impulsive or polite conversation. Within the past 24 hours:

* a comment to and tweet about Lori-Lyn (with whom I attended middle school)
* assorted e-mails to/from church staff and program council
* e-mails and conversations with the BYM, natch
* a tweet to a friend to whom I was formally introduced at a Christmas celebration at the Oak Bar
* an e-mail to a friend who's a Mutemath fan because of a Vienna Teng concert she attended with me because the BYM was sick
* a flurry of work-related e-mails
* some e-mails related to a future poetry reading
* a Kroger manager asking me if I needed help and pointing me to the Nutter Butters
* a stranger overhearing us and walking back up the aisle, saying to me, "Now you've made me want Nutter Butters."
* a woman in another aisle asking me about the chicken pot pie I'd just put into my cart
* a woman telling me my cart wasn't in the way
* two pharmacy techs, a cashier, and a bagger
* a less peachy conversation with a gym manager
* the pest control guy, who remains impressed that my dog caught a squirrel right in front of him the last time he was here
* a long conversation with my hiking pal as we looped around Radnor Lake in the rain
* two volunteers at Radnor
* a staff member or volunteer at LP Pencil Box
* notes to and from a friend I met at a poetry workshop 15 years ago
* eleven e-mails and dozens of photos from a friend attending the US Open
* an e-mail to a friend from college
* e-mails to and from another friend about a movie neither of us will likely make time to see [/rueful]
* a couple of general tweets
* a Fresh Harvest order
* and this

And then there are the people I thought of while plotting gifts and visits and such, as well as mentally sketching bits of the reports and letters that will have to wait for another day...

And another hundred people just got off of the train...