we've been experiencing little earthquakes all week (all year, i suppose)--some are so small they are known as "rumpshakers" as you can only feel them when you are sitting down, and others considerably less small and much longer. the effect is that it has left me...slightly unsettled, but not necessarily perturbed. after all, little earthquakes occur to ease building pressure and prevent temblors of great magnitude and possible devastation. right?

anyway, that's what's happening, not just geologically. besides the rather frosty new year's day, i've been experiencing lingering illnesses on my part, my dog's part, and from various other family members, heard word of a shocking tragedy that befell someone i knew briefly in the past, and of the sudden death of a long estranged aunt. not necessarily news of great magnitude, or perhaps the epicenter is just too distant; bumpy all the same. little earthquakes. despite what tori amos may say, it's not enough to rip me into pieces (and in fact, i am rather amused by elevator music). perhaps it's...it's...composure? equanimity? levellness? that comes with age. i can't think of the word, but it takes so much less to make me happy, and perhaps just a little more to make me sad. to badly paraphrase nick hornby, if you wanted to make me miserable, you should have gotten to me when i was younger.