The subject lines in my in-box currently include "The work refused to be done without drinking" and "You are now free to work your way out of the dungeon, but you won't." I have logged 20.18 hours within the past 38, with 80 more pages to annotate before I can call it a night.

However, I am armed: I'm on a mango smoothie break, and I have just stocked the fridge with salmoncado rolls, sweet tea, fizzy orange soda, and swiss cheese. I also have a bag of banana chips, a quarter-pound of peanut m&ms, a can of tuna, and a tomato. Most of this is actually intended to fuel me through tomorrow, but the beast on deck is of the "Do or do not. There is no try" category, so if I need to break into the provender tonight, so be it.

Today's list includes

* I don't actually mind the heat

* made and mailed some cards

* waiting behind a car with an Alabama plate ("The Stars Look Down") that read "HEDWIG1"

* my hairstylist, who lopped four inches off my mop today, continues to be of the awesome

* the routine of stopping by the secondhand CD shop down the street from the salon. Today's finds were Celine Dion's French Album and a klezmer compilation.

* Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Being currently obsessed with L'adieu seems to have set off a clatter of mental dominoes. In addition to the Bernstein - which took me all damn day to identify - bits of Queen keep floating in and out of my auralscape. And the start of Goldman's "Bonne Idee" reminds me of John Hiatt's "Cry Love"...

* A NPR feature on hot-tailed squirrels.

* At the supermarket, the mega-cartload of groceries being purchased by the woman in front of me included a bouquet of fresh pink roses. As the cashier started to ring up my order, the woman turned back, pulled one of the roses out the wrapper, and handed it to a little girl behind me, who was thrilled.

The smoothie's all downed now. Back to work!