Ugh. I have a tremendous headache.

I slept in today, I am not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination, and would probably never see the sun if I could arrange my schedule for it. As it was, I got up around 11 am today. After puttering about for a bit, I finally motivated myself to get a shower and then set out to search for someone to give an emissions inspection for my car.

(Digression: Atlanta has the worst mass transit system in the known universe. First of all, wherever it is that you want to go, it’s almost certain that the train doesn’t go there. This is because there are only two train lines, one running north-south and the other running east west, which neatly divide the city into quarters. There is no train that goes around the perimeter, nor are there trains to service the NE-SW and NW-SE sectors. As a result, you pretty much have to rely on the bus system that is attached to MARTA in order to make it to your destination. Second of all, the bus probably doesn’t go there either. There is no bus service at all in Gwinnett County (where I live) or Cobb County, which between them have the largest suburban populations. And it’s fairly certain that the bus doesn’t not go there often enough to be of any use anyway, and will require at least 3 transfers to not take you there. All this in a metro area that covers about three-quarters of northwest Georgia. As a result, most people just don’t bother, and simply drive their cars. Which is why we have one of the worst air quality standards in the US.)

So I’m waiting for the car to be serviced, and I start to feel that familiar throb in my temples and just behind my eyes. And I realize that I haven’t had anything to eat today. Not a sausage, as my friend Annie would say. This was, to put it mildly, a mistake, as it is now three o’clock. I went immediately from the service station to a nearby Chinese buffet, but it’s too late. I am officially miserable. I make another couple of stops that I’d promised to while I was out, then came home to take a painkiller and lie down with a cold cloth to listen to A Prairie Home Companion.

deidrecorwyn (my girlfriend) doesn’t understand why I want to have the radio on if I have a headache. The idea that different people cope with things in different ways is apparently somewhat alien. Myself, when I’m feeling this miserable, the last thing I want to do is lie in bed and stare at the ceiling and listen to the rhythmic pounding of drums inside my skull. I need some kind of stimulus to distract me from the pain, and the radio is easiest because it allows me to close my eyes, something books and television don’t.

So after a few hours, I staggered down here to type this and generally try to recover some feeling that I am human. I think it’s working. I don’t feel nearly as awful as I did at 4 pm.