speechless

Yesterday I was speaking to a friend of mine on the phone. The situation I was describing had something to do with kung fu. But for the life of me, I couldn't recall the word kung fu. While we were talking, I started to meander as follows:

"You know ... like Feng Shui. I mean ... uh ... Fung Wah ... No, that's not it. Umm ... like kicking. Fung Wah! Oh whoops."

Finally I got it: Kung Fu. It was perhaps the longest brain freeze in history. It's so interesting when that happens, I think. Your brain went to get some coffee at Starbucks. There should be a warning sign when that happens - or at least, somewhere your body should light up with the words "Brain will be back in five minutes."

There have been no other significant developments in my boring-as-white-bread life. Day job, as always, is frustrating. I started teaching a test-prep class, and that's been fun. I like teaching. Wait, let me rephrase. I like talking. I enjoy an environment where I'm engaged and always interacting with people. Sitting in front of a computer all day necessarily sucks out creativity and articulation skills. This is no joke - when people asked me why I left my last job in finance, one of my reasons is that "After going days without speaking to people, I found myself having trouble verbalizing my thoughts and even talking to my friends."

I finally got my hands on the new Harry Potter book. Harry Potter, you're not the boss of me! But apparently you are, because despite how tired I was yesterday, I stayed up until 3:00 AM reading the book. Honestly - I was sleepy at midnight. But I kept saying "one more chapter ... one more chapter." Until I finally got to a point where my brain actually did knock on my skull and say "Brain ... will be back in five hours."