A Few Scattered Thoughts

In a few hours, I'll be off for a few days in Las Vegas, where Joseph K has already encamped. Although my contribution to Banality Fair of late has been more in the nature of a patron than a proprietor, I thought I should leave some parting words for our visitors to consider.

I'm still waiting for the resurrection of my enthusiasm for blogging. It isn't just my desire to write here that has waned; I have also been remiss in visiting the blogs of friends. I think my mind can maintain only a few enthusiasms at a time, and they cycle in and out, each new one causing the ejection of an old one. And sometimes, my mind throws up its hands and finds it difficult to maintain any enthusiasm at all. I may be going through one of those phases now. My fiction writing has gone dormant. I haven't even been reading much. Instead, I've been busying myself with relatively mindless tasks like Sudoku puzzles, baseball teams in the playoff hunt, and baseball teams so far out of the playoff hunt it is comical, but that will always be at the center of my heart. I've also been thinking long and hard about the number of household projects stacking up around me, but doing little to trim the list. I've been mourning the last episode of Six Feet Under, which will air while I am in Vegas. If an HBO-capable television is anywhere near us on Sunday, we will be taking a 75-minute break from heathenism to depress ourselves with it.

So the weeds might creep a little higher in the next few days. Do this for us: Leave us a comment. Even though I, for one, have fallen off the commenting wagon at many of your blogs, it would help me, for one, feel like I'm not talking into a black box if there is a conversation here when we return. I think that might be one reason why I haven't been posting lately. There is a logrolling aspect to blogging: You scratch my comments section; I'll scratch yours. I haven't been scratching others' comment sections much, and it makes me afraid that no one will roll my log if I post something. (How's that for mixing three or four metaphors?)

Also, think good thoughts about Vegas. We are going with a tiny bankroll, because of various financial circumstances too gory to describe. As a risk-averse neurotic, I am deathly afraid that we will return with even that tiny bankroll depleted.

And think good thoughts about the Nationals and Royals, as I will be placing bets on them. (Yes, I will be betting on a Royals' win. I could do nothing else.)