Hitting the wall.

There are times when I ignore my physical limitations and push my body too far, until it pushes back. Then there are times like what happened tonight. I haven't been moving furniture or going for long walks in hot weather (I'd have to go for a long walk to find some hot weather), I had neither missed meals nor binged in any way, I haven't been skimping on sleep... but at some time just before six yesterday evening, I just hit a wall and started going into a decline. My pills didn't help. Caffeine didn't help. Eating didn't help. I was tired.

By game time (three hours later), I was exhausted. My typing was starting to go wonky and my focus was going wonkier. Dorian, my Giant Monster Kitty of Doom, was trying to climb in my lap and I didn't have the arm strength to push him away. Jack helpfully pointed out that I could put his snuggly blanket next to me and he'd climb into that, but by that point Mr. Dorian had absconded with several shiny spoons.

I ended up falling asleep in front of my computer. I woke up when one of the players tried to call me on Skype, but I didn't have the wherewithal to actually sit up or reach for my keyboard. My computer setup is actually on the floor not far from where I sleep, so I felt very comfortable where I was.

That was like six hours ago. I still feel a deep-down weariness, but I'm also hungry so I suppose I'm going to have to go downstairs and get some food. I'll see if that wakes me up or puts me back to sleep.

Crooks Source

I'm going back to sleep here in a minute, but because I know people are going to expect me to weigh in on the latest internet controversy, I'll just say that calling Judith Griggs an "editor" and Cooks Source a "magazine" seems to be giving both too much credit.

It's not a magazine, it's an advertising circular... that is, its sole purpose for being is to get advertisements into the hands of people and it's given out for free*. She's not a magazine editor, she's a person who thought she could pad her advertising circular out with "free" content she took off the web. Once you realize this, it's less about how outrageous it is that a thirty year publishing professional could be so ignorant and arrogant and more about how the internet let a small-time operator both make a big ass mistake and then get caught in a big way.

When she says that it happens all the time, I'm feel certain she's thinking about things like church bulletins and school newsletters and stuff like that. My old apartment complex put out a monthly newsletter (more like newssheet) and I'm sure the "fluff" parts of it (everything that wasn't about moving your cars for parking lot maintenance or reminders about what is and isn't allowed on balconies) was pulled off the web with five minutes of searching and 0 minutes of attribution. I believe that's the world she lives in, a world of church bulletins and newsletters drawn up in Word.

I'm not excusing her actions. This is the sort of thing that middle schoolers might think is okay. Before she started doing this as a business practice she should have done a little research... and she shouldn't have tried going into business if she wasn't willing to do the work. But let's call it what it is: a collection of advertisements given out for free at various places of business. That's apparently it's entire raison d'etre.

But then, she's the one who decided to dress it up as a magazine to make it more appealing, so take from that what you will. I'm not participating in the campaign against her or passing judgment on those who do. I think Cooks Source as a venture is probably sunk at this point, but I think trying to get its editor blacklisted from the world of publishing is probably fairly redundant

(Hopefully) Clarifying Edit:

*I doubt most people who see this would read it that way, but just so it's clear: when I point out that the magazine was given away "for free", I'm not offering that up as an excuse for anything Judith Griggs did. I'm offering that up as evidence for why I call it an advertising circular.