My sunburn is in the itching stage, and it’s especially bad all over my back. It would not leave me alone last night. Little jolts like worms wriggling under the skin, like very thin wires suddenly heating up. I was almost crying in frustration. I had two showers, and then woke up Andy and begged him to put some lotion on my back, and then I had a long lukewarm bath in a theraputic oatmeal soak. I took some allegra. Finally things started to become tolerable. This was at 2.45 am. Andy had gone back to bed, so I sat by myself in the living room, the lamp on dim, and I took out my kit and got stoned very quickly. I was able to calm down. I wrote in my notebook for a few moments. Then I turned off the light and lay down on the futon. I slept until about 5.30 and then got up.

When it was too late, I realized that I had left my transit card at home. I had to pay my fare in cash. Here I am at work, coasting on caffeine fumes, as no doubt I will be all day.

Between this damned heat, the sunburn, my writer’s block, and lack of excitement about work …