Well, I stayed up late last night... and got up again at 02:00. Then I remembered... starting off with Prozac does things to my sleep patterns. Insomnia, it's called. And I always forget until it hits me.

So I essentially did nothing all day. I went back to bed about 11:00 and asked Karen to wake me at 14:00 so we could get stuff done, but she didn't, and I woke up on my own about 19:30 or so.

Karen was gone, Tyler was gone... no notes, no nothing. I thought about calling around for Karen, but decided not to. I was sure that she was mad at me for sleeping all day, anyway. And I do remember getting up at some point and she was making devilled eggs...

We'd been invited to go to Bob's annual party, but she hadn't mentioned going, and there were several other places that she might have gone, too...

I decided to eat something, and fixed a big bowl of corn flakes and sat down in front of the TV and started munching away, but... something wasn't right.

The milk was bad. I'd just bought it yesterday at Walgreen's, and it was dated to be sold by 05 July, but it was bad nonetheless.

So I ate a PB sandwich instead, after brushing my teeth really good to get that bad milk taste out of my mouth. Then I went up to the filling station to get some cigarettes... I've been buying them a pack at a time again.

I came back and, on a whim, checked the answering machine, and Karen had just left a message for me... she was over at Kim's. I got over there shortly before the fireworks started. Karen had left a post-it not to me on the computer monitor, but the note hadn't stuck very well and I hadn't seen it. And she wasn't mad at me, she'd enjoyed the afternoon all by herself in the new kitchen, she said.

So I ate a sorta-cold hamburger and watched the fireworks. Andy, Matt and Steve were all there with their boxes, and they even let Garyn and Patrick get in on the act this year. At one point we persuaded Matt to jump over a fountain again this year, but there was no real amusement as there has been in years past.

It appears that there was a lot of money spent on fireworks this year in Topeka... unfortunately, Kim lives in an area with a lot of trees, so we just got a minimal exposure to most of the other displays. The money that was spent this year bought a very impressive bunch of fireworks, though.

I'm probably just about as patriotic as anyone else, no more, no less... and fireworks and patriotic music on the fourth of July still moves me... Sousa, of course, and Lee Greenwood... lots of others... Proud to be an American...

Isn't blowing stuff up wonderful?

More tomorrow...