Oh, guys, I hate this part. The part where I have to go through my notes and actually start writing.

That’s not so bad on its own, but I also have to read all the mail that piled up over three weeks, look over my to-do list for all the other parts of my life and unpack my suitcase. I have to go grocery shopping because there’s nothing in the fridge. I have to remember how to cook. I have to make sure I haven’t missed any credit card bills. I have to make a dentist appointment.

Oh, and I have to get my photos organized, which would make this blog a lot more interesting.

But right now I’m just hopelessly addled.

I thought I’d have an easier adjustment because I flew back via Chicago and had a few days of actual vacation. But I was totally shattered from sleep deprivation. (Whoa–that night bus to Madrid that I was expecting to be plush enough to sleep on? So not the case. Mexico, your buses still rule.) By the time I got to bed in Chicago, I’d been awake for 43 hours. No surprise I promptly caught what a friend dubbed a “crash cold.”

I staggered around for about four days, sniffing and sneezing, and I ate some roast lamb, for Greek Easter. That momentarily revived me.

But right now I’m just straight-up procrastinating. I type a few words in my Granada chapter; I think of a random errand that I forgot to do last month and panic; I sort out a hotel reservation for next month; I try to focus.

This is a dangerous cycle, because of course I’m already looking forward to leaving again on May 6–because that means that once again, I’ll be concentrating only on where I am (Syria) and what I’m doing at that moment (eating my fool head off). But all the other crap will continue to pile up in the background.

The demented thing is that I take great satisfaction in organizing my life–checking my bank balances, making appointments and so on. If only that were the only thing I had to do. Can I pay myself to be my own administrative assistant?

As soon as the idea of sorting through my photos doesn’t make me feel like taking a nap, I’ll post some, I swear.

Back to writing.