Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

This was our first bright and sunny day for several weeks, and my dog Una and I were happy to see it. Even if it is windy and cold, and even if I do have a rock in my shoe.

As always, taking a walk with her produced a number of random musings.

I wish the power of the bright sunlight could do something about Una's gastrointestinal distress, which puts a damper, if you will, on the enjoyment of our walk together.

Last night I was up late working on a personal project (to be revealed soon), and in the last hours before I woke up I dreamt I helped solve a murder. This probably comes from watching Law and Order just before falling asleep.

In the dream, I was helping the victim's father to figure it out. As it turned out, the suspect was somebody I knew. The case was largely circumstantial, until I figured out that he'd had a motive, which was that she was about to turn him into the police. They had a warrant out for his arrest.

Now, the person who was the suspect is the guy I refer to as the Luser, the one who lived off me, stole my CDs and racked up a huge long distance bill, talking to Internet girlfriends, among other things. So perhaps, in my dreams at least, I got some sort of justice for that.

I'm getting my hair cut today, and I'm sure my hair dresser will want to know about my class reunion and how it went down. We had done highlights, in preparation. I'd also told her it was practically a guarantee that some of my classmates would be sporting the same hairstyles they had in 1988. As it turned out, I'd been right.

To date, I've gotten only one request for the group photo I took there, which doesn't entirely surprise me.

We're getting on towards the holidays now, and my main goal is not to gain weight. I've been looking for advice on how to handle all the big holiday events that will no doubt be coming up.

My sister recommends this way of dealing with the buffet table: go through it, and take a small sample of everything that looks interesting to you. Then, the table is off limits the rest of the evening. As long as you know you can't go back for seconds, there's less of a temptation to overeat.

I'll have to see how this theory works at Thanksgiving.

The Gryphon has bravely agreed to come to my family Thanksgiving, which actually, in recent years, has been relaxed and fun. While our Thanksgivings have been chaotic, they have very rarely involved fighting. Nobody, for example, has ever ended up wearing the mashed potatoes.

I attribute last year's backtracking in weight loss over the holidays to, first of all, the Halloween candy I bought for the neighborhood children. When nobody came to my door to trick and treat, I ended up eating it all.

Then came Thanksgiving, and right after Thanksgiving a personal disappointment. After that, I was probably eating a little less carefully for awhile.

The only drawback about this bright sunshine is that you don't really know how to dress. You leave the apartment, and it seems pretty warm and sunny. But it's actually really windy, so you think it's going to be cold. You bundle up. And it is cold for the first part of the walk, but as soon as the wind dies down, the sun warms up the air.

I'm definitely not complaining, though. I think both Una and I could use a few more days like this.

Copyright 2003 by Alyce Wilson

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