Well, it's been a good week since I last posted. I've seen highs and lows. I've danced in living rooms, cooked dinners, exercised, napped, gone to meetings, worked, played music, written letters, had a beer or two, shown and received affection, shaved the goatee, made Thanksgiving plans, watched a movie, and laughed an awful lot. Not a bad week at all.

I bought some pushpins today. I didn't know they even sold them at regular stores. I thought you were required to steal them from your employer. Who knew?

I keep hinting at things... a lot has been going on lately. I'm not quite ready to write all about it, but it's been a brave couple of weeks and things are making a very positive turn in my life. I'll fill in the blanks soon.

It's a messy world.

A good start:
- had 2 conversations last night that I really needed to have;
- became a little less afraid;
- cleaned my office this morning.
The office really needed it. I feel its cleaning is connected to the other 2 items.

I am having trouble believing this, but an over-the-counter medication has worked for me. I took this generic Sudafed ripoff this morning, and it actually worked. Meanwhile, I've got this cool, bourbony-raspy voice going, which is perfect for a new song I'm working on. I'm going to try to have a collection of songs for when I'm sick, ones that go better with the sounds of illness.

I went yesterday after work to this guy Rick's house to get a haircut. He's one of those people who just does it out of his house... I think his full list of qualifications goes something like this:

He worked for a barber for 2 months.
He has haircutting tools and a handheld mirror.

One other thing he does is wait tables at the Bagel Nosh, which is where I met him and somehow found out he cuts hair.

The whole event would be frightening if I really thought about it. Music blaring, him occasionally turning it down to tell me in an excited voice, "OK, here's what I'm gonna TRY to do..." before he comes at me with the scissors or clippers. The conversation is full of examples of glaring memory problems (10 seconds pass and he's forgotten who I am), and the rest of the time it's music talk and drags off of his cigarette. Then I hear him calculating the relative risk of what he's about to try with my hair... It's always fun, though, and I like him. That's the second time I've gone to him -- the first time, I showed up at my "appointment" time, said I was there for a haircut, and he looked at me for a moment as if he was about to say, "What? I don't cut hair!"

I think he'll be my regular person now.

Woke up sick this morning, had to come in late to work. Sometimes I think I "worry myself sick." Anyway, it's raining like it rarely does here in LA, and it's beautiful. Going up to Santa Barbara this afternoon.

Oh, by the way: No Hollywood Squares. Almost a relief.

Driving to work this morning, I hear this professor being interviewed on NPR, and he made the following statement:

"The study of brain science has literally exploded in the past decade."

And I thought: Literally?

Man, am I craving a waffle right now. Weird!

The monthly Merrill Index (apologies to Harper's):
Number of Band-Aids Merrill is wearing at this moment: 3
Miles run this morning: 1.8
Average hours of sleep per night, Oct. 30 - Nov. 5: 3.8
Number of outings on which car has been towed, past week: 1
Cumulative number since moving to Los Angeles: 2
Number of hours per day one must feed the meter in most areas of Santa Monica: 17
Number of hours required at meters on Main Street in Santa Monica: 24
Number of hours in most areas of Los Angeles: 10
First-time offense, parking fine: $38.25
Second time: $81
From 1 to 10, Merrill's current level of annoyance with all the cats his friends have: 9
Number of surfing excursions in October: 1
Number in September: 7
Number of cities Los Angeles may break into after today's election: 3
Likelihood, on scale of 1 to 10, that this will actually happen: 2
Suspicion, on a scale of 1 to 10, that a number of Quebecois live in the valley and started this whole thing: 9
Percentage of its pornography industry that Los Angeles would lose if the Valley secedes: 92
Number of people wearing the "I Voted" sticker and looking quite smug about it at work today: 1