My stomach: It's slightly on the upset side, I think because I've been eating too much dairy. Dairy doesn't, in general, agree with me; and many times in my life, I've cut it out altogether.

But quarantine doesn't seem like the time for restriction, and in fact, I've met social isolation with cheddar and mozzarella and marble jack. I don't regret it one bit except for the stomachache.

Media: I've been reading some, but I'd like to read more.

Meanwhile, I've been watching some excellent television. Dan and I are three episodes from the finale of The Americans. We're highly invested. Please don't tell us any spoilers for that show. The writers are brilliant and they hit almost every required note from a storytelling standpoint. I can't wait to see how they draw it to a close. Further, my friend Nicole introduced me to American Vandal on Netflix. She and I watched the first episode using Netflix Party where you watch the show and have a sidebar chat (Quarantine Fun!), and I laughed so hard that I made Shef come down and I rewatched it with him. He also laughed.

Apparently, I only want to watch shows with America in the title. Because, patriotism?

Book Work: I'm in revisions. I'm getting there. Someday, people will get to read my second book, and that someday will be next spring.

Here's some information about my media consumption habits of late:

Dan and I are almost finished watching Season Four of one of our favorite shows: The Big Bang Theory.  Have you seen it?  The main characters are physics researchers at a California university and are completely unabashedly nerdtastic.  They live across the hall from a cute wannabe actress who works at The Cheesecake Factory. Is that a recipe for hilarity or what?

Also, I'm reading a book for my mother-daughter book club called Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Mind of an Autistic Savant.  The author of this book, David Tammet, has a mind that works much differently than most other people's, and he explains this clearly in his memoir.  I'm happy to be reading it, but the writing is not as artful as writing in other texts I've enjoyed.

For my middle school faculty book club, I read The Schwa was Here by Neal Schusterman.  In that novel, the main character is kind of invisible, but not really.  A lot of people tend to just not notice the poor guy. There's one really memorable and poignant scene in the novel that involves a view of a billboard from a warehouse.  Just for that scene alone, I'm glad to have read the book.

Right now, I'm watching Top Chef: Just Desserts.  I have to multitask because otherwise I'm too busy to read or blog or watch television.  That's the way the fall goes when you're a teacher.

Rachel told me she thought I might be too old to appreciate Zach Braff's manifesto, Garden State, which arrived this afternoon from Blockbuster.

Too old! Pish tosh. Listen, I get angst like nobody's business.

For the record, I watched and enjoyed Braff's fine film this evening on a portable DVD player complete with my own comfy headphones. Dan sat next to me on the couch customizing his quarterback avatar on Madden 2007, an endeavor that occupied our television.

I gotta tell you, it's a romantic life here in married-almost-five-years land. You newlyweds have a lot to aspire to.