Work Avoidance

Well, it was supposed to be a return to something in the vicinity of sort of approaching nearly normal. Ish. Kinda. But then - what is normal anyway? In a world where millions are starving and dying from drinking filthy water,

in a world where a seemingly mild-mannered ("it's always the quiet ones") accountant can stockpile dozens of semi-automatic weapons, hole up in a hotel in Vegas, spray bullets randomly onto concertgoers below and kill 58 people and wound over 500 others, in a world where a funny looking little chubby guy with a silly grin and even sillier haircut can test nuclear weapons and cause earthquakes and threaten the USA, pushing the world to the brink of nuclear war,

in a world where the most powerful man in the world is an out-and-out racist property developer with a reality show and delusions of grandeur who fancies his own daughter,

in a world where a bloke who lives in the UK's brother dies and he finds himself suddenly in charge of Syria and a group of radical extremists made up of a raggle-taggle bunch of radicalised twits who like to blame the West for all their problems when in fact the biggest problem in the world is religious extremists can terrorise people all over the world with makeshift bombs and drive vans into crowds,

in a world where people go on reality TV shows and then suddenly become famous purely for being famous -- in a world like that, what is normal?

On a NORMAL week, one that begins with a post from Clark, as it did on Monday, one would have expected a Wednesday missive from Michael. 

However, that didn't happen. Now, there could be several reasons for this, since we know Michael is back from wherever it was he went last week. For example...

• He could have temporary memory loss, affecting his ability to write (or spell)...
  
• He could have temporary paralysis of the wrist, affecting his ability to type ( or hold a pen)...
• He could have severe jet-lag, affecting his ability to get out of bed (or even sleep properly)...
  
• He could be burning the midnight oil writing a report on his findings from his mission and hence not have time to write a missive on this week's blog...
• He could have contracted some sort of tropical disease and be sleeping only fitfully, sweat-soaked and muttering weird oaths while having equally weird dreams...
  

We honestly can't say. We've not seen hide nor hair of him since his return. 

One thing I do know, though. He's back for sure, and if I know my buddy Michael, he'll be back to whatever passes for "normal" around here soon enough. It'll take more than jet-lag and a nasty case of the squitters to lay him low for too long. 

Anyhoo, Clark alluded to some of our down-time activities on Monday, so I'll tell you about mine.

I have three main leisure activities that I like to indulge in:

1. MUSIC. I love nothing better than picking out one of my fave platters, slipping it on the ol' turntable and crooning along (or, if the music is more suitable for dancing, I grab the nearest Unbelievababe and we cut a rug). Here's one of my current fave spins.
   
2. BOOKS. During a quiet moment, you can often find me with my nose buried in terrific tome, such as this one.
   
3. FOOD AND DRINK. Natch. There's nothing I find more therapeutic than getting 'in the zone' in the kitchen or behind the cocktail bar, whipping up Bloody Marys and whipped potatoes with equal aplomb.
   

Perhaps when Michael wakes up, he'll grace these pages with his choices for leisure activities.

He did? WHEN? Yesterday? Oh.

Sorry.

Forget I said anything.