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It's raining at present. I woke early to go out jogging (I'd probably be walking mostly, though, due to my cold), but that doesn't seem to be the plan today. If I were die-hard runner still, I'd be out there with my hair pulled back, glasses off, looking toward my target. I remember running in the middle of the downpour in Florida before I injured my knee. I was much more healthy and determined then. If Mike were here, I'd probably be able to sponge off his momentum. He has maintained his healthy lifestyle from college, and I've always felt very competitive around him.

Last night, I talked to a few friends and then went to the grocery store. No one wanted to go out dancing, unfortunately. I'm sure they would have met me a pub or brewery, but I wanted to move about and burn calories. They just wanted to ingest them. That still could have been fun, but I don't want to sit around drinking - that's how I gained the extra weight. I also don't have anyone to drive me home, so I try to abstain from alcohol in such meetings.

I realize that it seems I have no life beyond this blog, but that's not the case. I do massive amounts of writing each day, for many different purposes. This is just a minute portion of my thoughts. I have a running dialogue throughout the day, and I have extremely vivid dreams all night. I wake many times and slip through REM sleep, on average, about twelve times. I remember most of the dreams and can estimate what time I dream them. Some have turned into stories because of the realistic qualities; others are just random concerns manifesting themselves as bizarre situations. I am always pleased with the ones that turn out to be childrens' books that have never been published - I see these as my subconscious telling me to write new childrens' books. I should run with it. I just feel like I would be diverting from my goal of writing novels. I should take anything at this point. I work full time (plus) in a school and part time at a music studio. I shouldn't expect to have novels pouring out of me. I may have to grab hold of the shorter, more elementary books just for now.

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On a totally different note, did I mention that Javier emailed me back? I've been writing to him since 1995 or 1996. He was an exchange student in Michigan from Spain in the 90s and we paired up as pen pals. He just returned to Spain from Germany. He may be moving to England in the next year or so. I need to get out and travel the world. We've lost touch a couple of times, but we always return to our writing. I really like that email is so much faster, although I love the feeling of receiving letters in the mail.

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Back to house cleaning, lesson plans, and sorting paperwork.