This will be completely incoherent, but I’ll go ahead and empty my brain into the word processor, and call it a post. I won’t be doing one tomorrow. I’m on my way to Elk Horn, Iowa for Tivoli Fest. Reports and photos will be forthcoming once I’m back. If I get back, of course. You never know with us old guys, especially when we play with swords.

So I’ve got to pack for the trip, as soon as my washing is done. I’ve also got to celebrate my weekly bill-paying ceremony. And load Mrs. Hermanson. And write a list of eight suggested questions for TV and radio interviewers, for my publisher’s publicist.

And, of course, lie awake in bed, worrying about tomorrow’s long drive. Historically, I might as well not bother going to bed on the last night before any trip. My insomnia pulls up its socks and gives of its best when a trip is in the offing.

Of course, I could take those pain pills the dentist gave me…. I called him the other day and told him I had some pain and sensitivity in an upper right molar. So he prescribed antibiotics and painkillers, and had me come in today. Diagnosis: He thinks he left my latest crown too high, and the problem just comes from pressure on the nerves. He then ground the porcelain down a bit. But I have to keep taking the antibiotics, just in case.

I guess taking any more of the pain pills would be abuse, since I’m not actually in pain.

Yeah, I guess it would.

I sure got a couple good nights’ sleep out of them, though.

Which means that I definitely won’t sleep much tonight. But I guess that’s good, because it’ll give me time to do all this stuff on my list.

Also, the antibiotics give me the hiccups.

(By the way, when I navigate to this page on my home computer, I can’t see the photo I uploaded last night. But I could see it on my work computer today. So if all you see in my last post is the words “Hostage photo,” well, I can’t suggest anything, but I feel your pain.)