In another in our impromptu series of posts detailing ways in which I’m broken, let me tell you about last night’s trip to the mall with Kyla. We went to a particular store looking for a birthday gift for one of her coworkers, and in this store one may find shelves full of candles and lotions and other smelly things.

Well, smelly to most people. We went through half a shelf of candles and I could only smell anything from two of them. Eventually I tired of proving how useless my nose is and we moved on.

I have, for all intents and purposes, no useful sense of smell. Some strong, unpleasant odors get through but almost none of the good scents do. Go figure, right?

Have you ever found yourself staring in amazement at a word and its definition, realizing that it describes pretty much your entire life?

Misophonia. It means you’re the kind of person for whom the sound of someone chewing, or tapping idly, or slurping is enough to drive you instantly and uncontrollably around the bend with frustration and some level of rage.

This post brought to you by our delightful neighbors at Party House, who decided that thumping base rhythms were an acceptable part of the neighborhood ambiance at two-thirty this morning. Yes, I genuinely cannot get to sleep if that’s going on. Everyone else around me can, though, so… I suffer alone.

Maybe it’s time to move.

To celebrate eight years at the current gig (anniversary date: July 5), I took a week off from work.

Well, kind of: Friday was a holiday, then came the weekend. I just tacked a day ahead of and three extra days after that three-day-weekend thing. But hey, what’s a few dozen extra vacation hours between friends? (Besides, I’ve over 100 remaining even after this extravagant usage.)

So, let’s see…

• Breakfast on Thursday at the Cadillac Cafe on Broadway.
• Dinner on Friday at Campbell’s BBQ on Powell.
• A weekend of watching movies and playing games.
• Rearranged my DVD shelves on Monday, along with a photography hike collecting material for the little social-media side project I have going. (There are two feeds for that… one on Tumblr, one on Twitter.)
• Cleaning on Tuesday, including getting out all of the glass and plastic and paper to recycling that needed hauling away from my bedroom. Worked out a new bit of morning exercise to add to my routine as well. We’ll see how that goes, of course.
• Brunch this morning with Dad and June, then a Powell’s trip to offload a dozen or so books that I’ll never read again. They actually took all but two, which is unheard-of lately. (The buyer said up front that they usually send folks back with 3/4 of what is placed on the counter. I lucked out.) I took credit, of course, so I could buy… three more books. For only a dollar net out of pocket expense, I’m calling that a win.

I’ve been mostly off the grid this entire time because I’ve also been doing my best to help out Kylanath during a rough personal/family stretch, the details of which aren’t mine to divulge. Still and all, we’re weathering all of this (plus the weather, which is ridiculously hot for early Portland summertime, thank you very little).

And now, I prepare to jump back into the work routine.

Really, WWF?

That’s a load of dren and we all know it.

Clearly, I need a new project.

The comic ran for four years and succeeded, in that some people read it and were entertained for the duration of its run. I have considered and rejected the idea of picking that back up: I remember quite well how tired of making it I’d become, toward the end.

Another writing project? Given the dull thud made by the arrival of the last one… probably not just yet. Le sigh.

It’s been a while since I last put together a music appreciation project. And, in that time, I’ve learned enough about fair use guidelines to suspect that I’d never be able to assemble anything safe enough to post which would be even remotely entertaining. (Also: Please don’t go digging in this website’s archives. Ahem.) This depresses me because there are few things on this planet that I can geek out about more than my favorite bands and songs.

Both of the photography projects that I’ve considered for the last few months will basically entail considerable equipment outlays. Time lapse is best done with a dedicated hunk of hardware, and stop motion demands a remote trigger and better lighting and a bigger workspace than I have available right now.

Well, great. Now that I’ve eliminated every idea I could come up with so far, I’m back at square numero uno.

I haven’t given up thinking about it, but wow oh wow am I doing poorly at thinking of ideas or what?