in case you were getting the idea that mine was just a happy life of leisure...

...i offer you this little anecdote:

you see, i'm one of those people that bugs generally don't bother. at least not as much as most others... except on special occasions like that night at tuolumne meadows this summer when the mosquito kings turned every one on me, just me. but i've recently discovered their cousins... very evil cousins.

so i had a restless night of sleep wednesday night... it was warm in the hostel and i kept waking up itching my ankles. i didn't think anything of it until thursday morning, when i was driven out of bed by the fire burning up my lower legs. my legs were positively covered in little red dots.

when the pharmicist tried to sell me a value-sized tube of anti-itch cream, i selected the smallest one instead ("i won't want to carry around that extra weight.") yet another example of my foolish optimism. i'm now rationing my sanity-in-a-tube, which never leaves my pocket, hoping that it can somehow outlast the devil in my skin.

it's been 3 days. 3 days of sanity preservation applied every couple of hours, around the clock. i counted today - as carefully as i could sitting on a public park bench. 42 on my left leg, 24 on the right, and 3 on my hand. oh, and they've grown. so each one is now a large red mound on my leg, broadcasting "itch-me" incessantly. oh and did i mention i have only shorts to wear on this trip, so i can't even hide my leper-like state?

the medical encyclopedia at the library assured me that there is nothing deadly, nor anything that i can do.

except maybe execute one of the many schemes of revenge i've dreamed up for that hostel....

so there you go, just a little window into my world.