Zaphod Beedlebrox IV: Wh-where was I?
Zaphod Beddlebrox: Pontificating.
Zaphod Beedlebrox IV: Oh yes. Now, let me tell you a little story...
Zaphod Beddlebrox: What, now?
Zaphod Beddlebrox IV: Yes.
Ford Prefect: 49 seconds [before the Heart of Gold is destroyed]. Wait, time seems to be slowing down...
Zaphod Beddlebrox IV: Yes, I'd hate you to miss the end of it.

I still have the lurge.

It didn't feel so bad when I woke, but has moved into that interesting half-deaf stage you tend to reach when you've been blowing your nose so often you've created some kind of vacuum in your inner ear. As a consequence, I have the attention span of a stunned mongoose.

I have no idea how long the attention span of a mongoose is, and wikipedia is no help at all. Apart from tangenting me towards an entry called Arthur Mongoose because, really, who wouldn't be distracted by a name like that popping up in the search results? Which is a demostration of my problem. I'm trying to write The Story Whose Contract Could Yet Be Jinxed, which requires a certain amount of research and researh is what the interweb was created for. Except due to said attention problem, I'm currently wondering why there is no handy resource for writers indicating the concentration span of various creatures (stunned and/or unstunned) so that we can create more interesting similies.

I'm not even sure I mean similie. /checks/ Yes. Yes, I do mean similie.

So instead I have been reading stuff by teh nos, and generally faffing about online. I did work out my main character's core personality trait (they are the kind of person who likes opening doors, even when they know they shouldn't) and from that how they end up where they are at the start of the story, why they do what they do and how they sound as they do it. I even wrote 800+ words, but I suspect them of being a little info-dumpy at the moment. Then again short fiction does need some info-dumping and I've tied it to the theme of the story, so go me. I'm planning to overwrite and trim down anyway.

I also managed, despite the attention span of a concussed dunnock, to cook myself two real meals. Admittedly, they contain some of the same ingredients but still I think I get some points for sticking with the Grown Up Cooking even when unable to remember what I was doing five minutes ago. And, seriously, time is all out of joint today. C got me a bamboo steamer for my birthday, so today I made a spinach and tomato pasta thing for lunch, and I just steamed some spinach and pine nuts whilst frying some halloumi for a late snack-dinner. The latter was a bit salty, but I think that might have been because I put a tiny bit of roasted sesame oil onto it. So I shall remember for next time.

I just remembered that I made a cup of tea 30 minutes ago...

Gah! I want my brain back!

At some point, I'm going to write up my latest revenant horror, but since a zombie vole is unlikely to be cured by a soaking wet tenth Doctor showering it in a multi-coloured cocktail, I'm going to leave that story for another time. When I am sure it's not going to crawl back and get me. The, er, vole not the Doctor. Obviously. What is it with new Who and zombies anyway? There were Victorian corpses, gas-masked plague victims, brain-dead media types, and so on. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying it? My revenant fear is being safely explored and resolved without me actually having to deal with any alive corpses.

Don't ask how/why I've had to deal with alive corpses this last week. Maybe that's why I'm ill. Maybe the zombie vole has cursed me from beyond the grave...

Maybe I should drink the tea and go to bed. Yes, I think that is a good idea.