At home with a kid, who has the flu. She has slept til 9:30am, which I take as a personal victory. She was so feverish last night she ran into a wall. As I grabbed her arms, I felt the weight of a 5'7" 13-year-old and thought about how glad I was she was going to land on carpet. I had her arms, but there was no chance of doing anything more than letting her down gently. As she went down, I calculated to myself what rated a 911 call: unconscious for more than a few seconds is where I netted out. I repeatedly called her name and she came to almost as soon as she was laid out all the way.

She got back into my bed okay and said her forehead hurt from the wall smack. I told her not move while I got her an icepack and Advil. After the ice went on, I tossed off layers of blankets, as her forearms were roasting. We slept on and off, but she was restless, probably in part because I kept putting my hand on her, making sure she was breathing okay.

Sleep, because you are my little baby once again and I can care for every need.

StarJudge

Yesterday I went to Starbucks for a coffee. I usually make my own macchiato in the afternoon, but yesterday was special. I paid for my drink with an empty bag of Starbucks coffee. It says right on the front that if you bring in the bag, you'll get a free cup. As I walked in, clutching my golden ticket, the thought passed through my head that damn, it's where I am in life, saving a couple of bucks any way I can. I gave the dude my coffee bag while noticing that he was in full bohemian mode: goatee, dark frame glasses and black turtleneck. He examined that bag like he was checking for a flaw in a Limoges egg: lifting it up close to his glasses, grasping it with both hands. As he turned from the bag to me he said aloud, "You know, it's cooler and cheaper to buy the coffee at a Starbucks instead of Ralphs." I responded, "Cooler?"

"Well, it's cheaper. We put more coffee in the bag." I waited till he poured me a tall black drip and finished muttering about why their coffee is better. I looked around at the people sitting nearby who had heard the whole deal and said aloud, "I pay $8.99/lb. on sale at Ralphs." I gathered myself up, straightened my spine, took my coffee, got my buzz and finished my day.

Spring Training in the MLB

...and former St. Louis Cardinal Home Run record-holder Mark McGwire is shedding tears for the bad choices he made as a youth. Just like Ponce de Leon, he searched for the Fountain of Youth, and Mark found it at the tip of a needle.

Up and Out

When I took this photo from 10 feet away, I fell for the colors. Up close, it gets all biological. What do current day youth refer to if they don't know about archetypes from Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung? How do you prepare for the big events in life without a guide?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces

Opening Day

First day at The Turnstyle and although it's winter in the San Bernardino National Forest, it's spring training here.