Anybody got any spare change?

There are four large windows behind me in my section of office space. I'm on the sixth floor, and I gaze through the windows to behold an 8-bit-blue sky, and the ornate red-tiled roof of a church, which has white stone walls. There's a tiny courtyard below. On either side, taller office buildings obscure my view. I can't see the lush green summer vegetation of central NC at all, and I'm pretending today that just over that red-tiled roof is a white desert beyond an exotic city panorama, with purple craggy mountains dominating the far horizon.

An interesting productivity strategy has evolved this week - which happens to be that loved/hated week of every month during which all emotions are about 300% more intense than usual, everyday trials are epic struggles that merit somber verses for the ages to reference, and small victories inspire manic joy and Snoopy dances. Every morning after I've had my coffee and I've progressed beyond "coma-like torpor" to "mostly conscious," I think about what I have to do, and I write it down. I WILL do this. I WILL do that. I will NOT do this. Just two or three things. Getting thoughts in hard copy form gives them power and substance.

Between my crashes and moments of extreme joy, I'm berating myself for being so eager for change...