My skin still hurts, although the pain is ebbing, slowly. It was a serious sunburn. I feel stupid – but I was wearing sunscreen, and I don’t generally burn much, if at all. My skin and clothes and sheets have all taken on the slightly herb-y scent of the aloe gel, however. It smells the way green should smell. Not sharp like grass, which is a more yellow-green scent, but softer, darker, a little bit sinister.

While working today, I was half-watching wind making choppy waves in the pool, glimpsing the fin of our toy shark from time to time. In the grey light we’ve had on and off – mostly on – all day, I can blur the deck into sand and almost feel like I’m sitting near a beach. And I like the beach during inclement weather. It’s so much more primal when not filled with the sound of sizzling (human) meat.

Thus inspired, I put on the original JAWS followed by DEEP BLUE SEA, in a sort of personal shark movie mini-marathon. I work better with background noise, and movies and television with their conversational rhythms are easier for me to not quite hear than music – especially music with lyrics – which distracts, inspires, and makes me have to stand on the bridge spanning my living room and sing.

After a quick assignment to change some code, which turned into an hour-long headache because the template broke, I took a lunch break and checked the mail. DIRTY DANCING: HAVANA NIGHTS was one of the Blockbuster films waiting for me. I’ve seen it before, of course, but never on disc, just on cable, so I wanted to see the special features and hear the commentary, which is quite interesting. I feel very much at home inside this film. I may have been born in 1970, and my family may be Italian and German immigrants, but a part of my soul is from pre-Revolution Cuba (and I still owe SG a ficlet about that).

I am tired this afternoon. So tired.
I think I will rest now.
And do more work later.