It is not insomnia, exactly. I slept a good long while; I believe it must have been quite early when I fell asleep. I don't remember the exact time and how is it possible anyway to slip away into pseudo-oblivion? It is true, however, that I am awake now watching the clock change at least since 2:29 am. I was a bit surprised upon waking to look at the clock and see that it was so early in lateness. I was hungry and it woke me, but I haven't eaten anything, since getting up and making food doesn't seem to fit the hour.

So I listen to the furnace tick on and off and worry momentarily about expenses. There is not much point to that, so to distract myself I watch Eugen Weber talk about the definition of virtue for Romans. Virtue, it seems, simply meant manliness, or, one could say, to be virtuous was to be manly. Now of course this is a sexists position, and both Weber and I note this, but then again there is something admirable about the idea that whatever one might call manly is tied to some sort of ethical behavior. Weber has drawn me in now and I spend long moments staring away from this screen to the other screen to watch the Roman bas relief and mosaics and listen to his explanation.

Hunger has the best of me now that it is 3:39, but I want to hear more about phalanxes and manibles. I find myself falling too easily lately in seeing how much in common we have with our ancestors. Those Romans weren't all that different from us, I find myself thinking; aside from our cars and central heating and TV--technology, that is--what difference is there. This is a trap, of course, because there are differences--major differences culturally that span the gap between now and then; but then again--then again. Ah one can get caught in the conch-shell of this line of thought spiraling ever downward.

So now I rise.

Ever wonder why the characters in Hamlet say good night so many times?

You know if you don't pay attention to my pictures, you are really missing out.

"What did they do to me, Clint?" Lucas asks having made pancakes. He seems to be getting philosophic. I've had the benefit of sleep, however; he has not. He goes on: "I've got a pancake, and a can of beer. And the days go by, and the water's falling down. It is the same as it ever was. You want half?"

"No."

"Oh yeah, you don't like pancakes. Is it aluminum oxide that causes Alzheimers?"

"I think so."

"Good, because the sooner I forget the better."

It is raining again today.