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Tue.Dec.14.2004

11:25 pm EST        30°F (-1°C) in Henderson, NC

Calendar of Updates

Tomorrow morning, I will finally set out again from here with another load. I delivered a load of beer a few miles away from here yesterday morning, but my entire digestive system was so screwed up that I had to beg for some time off to recuperate. The whole thing started with a frequent need for restroom stops on Sunday evening, and during most of yesterday, I swore it would kill me. I hardly managed to sleep Sunday night, and ended up more or less sleeping from 10:30 am to 9:00 pm yesterday; of course, that got interrupted any time I had to dash into the truck stop restroom. Last night, I managed some halfway-decent sleep, and by this afternoon, I finally felt able to eat again. Two meals and nine hours later, I'd say I'm about 90% recovered; I just need to get a decent amount of uninterrupted sleep overnight. I really don't know if it was something I ate a few nights ago or not; a friend of mine who is in the medical profession told me there is some kind of intestinal bug going around lately, and she suggested that as another possible cause.

I also wanted to follow up on one item from my previous update: the same-sex civil marriage issue. Not only did Canada take a big step forward in that process last week, but at the same time, New Zealand and Israel also made the decision to grant at least limited rights to same-sex couples. The Kiwis' new law grants all of the same legal rights that marriage confers to same-sex couples; meanwhile, Israel has created a status that confers financial and property rights to surviving same-sex partners. Given the moves made by these countries, as well as the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Belgium, among others, one has to wonder why the United States is the only major industrialized nation that is going light-speed in reverse on equal rights. Perhaps there is a backlash throughout the rest of the world in response to the recent election here; the rest of the civilized world has seen that "religious" fundamentalism is ruining the U.S., and is determined to prevent a similar fate elsewhere.

I should get back home for Christmas this upcoming Sunday, and head back out the following Sunday. Anyway, time to get going to bed for tonight …