25 February 2004 - 3:04 p.m.

caffeine is a drug. really.

i know this because i never drink coffee, my motto being "for emergency purposes only". i classify a loooooong headache that kept me from working an emergency, so, as a consequence, my stomach is now jumbly from two cups of coffee in the past two days. ew. at least the newspaper is done.

if we're adding to the list of "reasons why my job is cool", i just got offered the chance to undergo volunteer firefighter training. it's one night a week for two to three months.

two thoughts immediately came to mind when the idea was suggested: 1) it would make a great story for the paper, giving people an insight (through photos!) into the actual training and hard work (and photos!), and 2) why not - i learned to surf here, too. the fire lieutenant said, "you and your husband can both do it," which i thought was nice but would probably fall on deaf ears at home, so i didn't even plan to mention it. imagine my surprise when i told simon about *my* opportunity this morning, and he replied, "can i come, too?"

i should note that i am a rather wimpy-looking person, for those of you who haven't already met me. i mentioned that i thought i was too little to wield a firehose, but the lieutenant is convinced otherwise. this could be fun.

lots of stuff happening in the next few days, including a chance to learn meditation. does anyone out there in cyberland do this already? does it help?

i haven't met a meditator (if that's a word) in yonks, but why not. heck, if i can surf, put out a fire, sew, knit, cook a delicious meal from a seemingly empty fridge, cut hair (my own and others'), do a hook turn, load and assemble ikea furniture by myself with my own tools, keep my hubby / cat / in-laws happy and put together a newpaper seemingly by myself each month, then surely i can reach a higher plane of existence through meditation, right?