Yeah, not having fun...

Helen is gone, I've got to put my entire life into boxes, and I'll be in Iraq soon.

Helen has started classes and is doing quite well, of course. I'm hoping that I'll be able to do some classes also while I'm in Iraq. She is fortunate to be living with a couple of very good friends from last year and she's only a couple of hours away from both of our families so she is in a very good place for while I'm gone. We're planning to fly her up here for a few days before I leave so that we can say goodby properly.

I, meanwhile, am a mess. I'm totally lost without my precious wife. I've said before, but probably not here, that she is my other half. Now I feel like I'm breathing with only one lung, seeing with only one eye, working with one hand, and thinking with half a brain. I know that it seems melodramatic (the objective part of me frequently says It's not like she's dead or anything, you are going to see her again, afterall), but it is hard. The house is a wreck, the dishes are piling up, the bed is cold, I sometimes don't get coffee in the morning, and I'm becoming a work'aholic. It's not that I don't know how to do these house chores, it's merely that I have no reason to. I'm going to have to force myself to get some things done tonight...

I rented three movies yesterday: Lady in the Water (M. Night Shamalan), Fearless (Jet Li), and Night Listener (Robin Williams). I've watched Lady in the Water and wasn't very impressed. Look for my review of each of these coming to My Thoughts On Everything.

I think there may yet be hope for the world. Britney Spears and Paris Hilton have tied for the top spot on Mr. Blackwell's 47th annual "Ten-Worst-Dressed-Women-of-the-Year" Award. In fact, Lindsey Lohann stayed close to her long-time friend Hilton, coming in third.

Apparently, even the Hilton fortune can't buy good taste.

More later...