Long weekend

Three-day weekends are great -- I didn't leave the house today except to go out at about 5:30 to pick up dinner at Boston Market. I did laundry, and read, and played The Sims (I'm building a haunted house in preparation for Halloween), and I still have another whole day tomorrow!

I'm reading a book that I love: Heat Stroke, by Rachel Caine. It's the second book in a series called The Weather Wardens, that began with a book called Ill Wind. The premise is that the world's weather is, well, not controlled, exactly, but kept in check by "weather wardens," who are chosen in childhood for their powers, and who are trained in the things they need to know to manage weather.

The wardens are assisted in their work by Djinn, who play a bigger role in the second book than the first. As modern-day supernatural thrillers go, I highly recommend this one. Lots of fun, likeable, interesting characters, and novel ideas.

I wore the heart monitor for 24 hours, starting mid-afternoon Thursday. I think my heart blipped twice Thursday evening, once when I was talking on the phone to my mom, and once when I woke up in the middle of the night. It was one of those things where I didn't really want it to do anything; on the other hand, I sort of did, just so I wouldn't feel like I'd made up the whole thing.

I had a really rough night, actually. I woke up in the middle of the night with an awful stomachache and had a terrible time getting back to sleep. The wires didn't help, of course. I don't know what that was all about--either just stress and anxiety, or maybe the Chinese food we got after we got back from the doctor's office . . .

And then Friday I was writing down an episode in my diary every time I turned around. I didn't count them, but it was something like once every twenty to thirty minutes, sometimes one right after the other. So, who knows. I took the monitor back to the hospital Friday afternoon and handed in the diary. I'll be interested to find out if it shows them anything, and I'm also anxious to get the results of the blood test.

I've thought before that I would like to get my thyroid checked, for various reasons, so whether it shows anything or not, I'll glad to be getting that done anyway.

I've been listening to David Knopfler's new album, Ship of Dreams this week, and it's really wonderful. Of course, I love everything he's ever done, but I think he's really outdone himself this time. Chris Rea appears on several tracks, with his unmistakable slide guitar; it's just an exceptional album overall.

Its official release date is the 13th, but David sent me an early copy. I've listened to it a few times now all the way through, and I can't say what my favorite track is, they're all great. It's very moody, very romantic, with some hard rocking numbers on it, too. The album isn't being distributed in the United States yet, but David is taking advance orders at his site now.