The opposite of whining

I don't know what's worse -- a weblog that consists mostly of the person whining about their lives -- which is a hell of a lot of the weblogs out there, as far as I can tell -- or a website where the person constantly brags about themselves and does nothing but self-promotion. This website is admittedly self-promotional, but here in the blog I do try to focus on other things I've seen, heard or read. This entry, however, is about nothing but what a swell time I'm having.

Having started seeing someone new, I'm on some kind of physical/sexual high that is simply the opposite of being depressed. Without being on anti-depressants or ecstasy, I've managed to get myself into a terrific state of mind. I wish I could say exactly how, but I don't really know, though I think the fact that I got two fan letters in five weeks from people who liked my books sort of kicked it off. (If I got any more fan mail I might get completely insufferable. I may already be insufferable; this entry will be a test of how much.)

So, like I mentioned yesterday, I went to the chiropractor. One of the nice things about this particular chiro is that they have masseuses on staff for muscle/joint work, and the masseusses come in and work you over for ten minutes, so that by the time the chiro comes in to twist you like a pretzel you're nice and warm and soft for it. The masseur (in this case, a guy) made some remark after a couple of minutes that I didn't seem to have any knots in my back at all. The more he worked, the more excited he got; he couldn't stop talking about it. Finally, after ten minutes he exclaimed, "Yours is the best back I've seen since I started working here! -- in January!"

I had to laugh. The reason I went to the chiro at all was because I've been doing these all-day meditation sessions once a month, in addition to 45 minutes every weekday morning, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't completely kinking up my back. I guess not -- my back seems to have become much stronger. This was borne out when I was in L.A. last week and spent all Thursday in museums. In the past that would have killed my back; this time, it didn't hurt at all.

So there you are: fan mail and zen meditation -- an unbeatable combination.