i thought i was going to die last night. turns out those mussels didn't quite agree with me, and i kept on running to the bathroom in the middle of the night. i had cold chills and no matter how much i moved around underneath my comforter, i couldn't stay warm. i woke up sweaty and feverish, seriously thought about calling in a sick day. but after 30 minutes of morning prep, i made it to work regardless, late, but intact. food poisoning or flu, who knows, but it seemed to have disappeared. all that was left was my persistent cough.

i started the work day laying out some cat grass that had been soaking since the previous day. filled my glass meadowlark with dirt (turns out the dirt i got wasn't very good, too chunky, too much uncomposted materials, but still usable) and buried the grass in 1/4" of soil.

the birthday present for amanda which i ordered online from a place in utah over a week ago finally arrived yesterday. i packaged it up in my usual utilitarian brown wrapping paper and gave it to her today. the idea for the present, matching heatable scented yoga eye pillow and neck pillow, actually came from amanda when we were at bed & baths beyond. she was raving about these eye pillows incessantly, might as well have said flat out, "i want these for my birthday."

lunchtime, i ran with eliza jones and amanda. the weather today was what some would call perfect, clear blue skies, 60 degrees, breezy. usually i don't run on consecutive days because it takes a beating on my legs, but i did it anyway, the conditions were too irresistable not to go. i went out running even though i felt a little crappy, still groggy from last night's ordeal. today was actually the first time this year that amanda and i ran together, former lunchtime running partners before the winter season ended our illustrious streak. we ran, stopping intermittently so eliza could stretch. originally we all ran together, and then eliza and i went ahead with amanda following not too far behind us, and then finally it was just eliza and i.

after work, a group of coworkers went down to the character, the rationalization this time was to celebrate amanda's birthday +2. i wasn't going to go but went anyway. after finishing my bottle of root beer i promptly left, leaving behind amanda, carrie, jay, rebecca, joel, ryan, and scott to enjoy the numerous pitchers of beer.

as for my legs, i can feel the onset of shin splints and my ankles are starting to voice some dissension. is that enough to keep me from running though? no. know why? cause i'm a masochist.

recently, i've been trying to shoot for a 10pm bedtime, or at least start getting ready for bed. anyone can tell you that going to bed at 2-3am every night is just not good. there really isn't any good reason for me to stay up that late. in the past it was to watch tv, late night talk shows, news, or movie channels, but i'm starting to wean myself off of that. i hate getting up in the mornings mostly because i don't get enough sleep. on rare days when i do get enough sleep, i can't wait to get out of bed. that's a good feeling, i want to feel that every morning.

one last note: for those who've sent e-mails to me@iamtonyang.com (or it's various other forms) and had your e-mails bounced back, i apologize, i turned on the spam killing feature on my server a few days ago and i guess it not only kills junk mail but a lot of other stuff as well, like personal correspondences. i deactivated it tonight, my e-mail should be working again.