Austin, TEXAS, January 3, 2006 — I felt out of focus, today. Or maybe that should be without focus.

I needed a good hard workout to kick start getting off a little weight. But instead I played tennis. Doubles at that. With older folks. Not a great workout. Now, I could have gone to the gym in addition to that. But I had a lunch date. And later I was (1) too lazy to change; (2) didn't want to drive to the club; (3) was caught up in doing other things.

I spent hours, yes, hours, well at least two, going over the family budget for December; for 2005; and making estimates for 2006.

There is something about doing battle with Excel that makes a person feel fuzzy. While I was devoting some concentrated time to a needed task I felt at sea. Doing things on the computer always does that to me. Which is funny because when I worked I spent almost all my time in front of a computer.

I missed two turns trying to drive to my lunch date in an area I know very, very well. In backtracking from the first one I missed one of the turns but I almost made another mistake, too. That's me. So focused.

I got mail today that made me stop and stare at it. A Happy New Year from a gal I knew as a wild young thing. It's hard for me to think of her as a Boy Scout leader. She's evolved over the years but it never fails to make me stop and go unfocused. I also got a card from a high school friend and she enclosed a picture of herself and two other high school friends, taken recently.

The lens of time is unfocused indeed.

I had several calls from one of my aunts in Dallas today. She finally left a message with FFP that my other aunt's husband was in the hospital with pneumonia. I wonder if I should be doing something to help them out. Introducing other people's woes, especially those I might need to do something about, always produces some dislocation.

While I am not very focused, I am glad that I don't care much about football. The Rose Bowl? Ho hum.