I had read a long time ago that if you drank pickle juice before going to bed you were ensured to have crazy dreams. I believe I tried it a few times, but I cannot remember if anything came of it. I'm not a huge dreamer to begin with, so it might be an interesting experiment to recreate. If I even had a few dreams that night it might be enough evidence of the mystical juice at work.

I can say that crazy dreams come from reading Grant Morrison Doom Patrol comics (#19-53) before bed -- undeniably so. I don't know that these comics stand along side Watchmen as a stand alone graphic story for the ages, yet they are certainly not in place sitting next to superhero trades on the shelf. They stand alone in sheer weirdness, imagery, and mind bending themes. At first glance it may seem to be self parody, but it really is the core of what Grant does best. They are some of the greatest comics, period.The spooky yet welcome dreams of the Candlemaker and John Dandy (along with his floating heads) are something to really stew over.

It’s hard to get back in the swing of things. I was in Chicago/Indiana for a week and now I’m settled back in the deep freeze of South Central Alaska.

I could whine about how for the last 10+ days we have not broken 0 degrees, but people would chuckle and then remind me that I’m the one that dragged my life up here. Plugging my truck’s block heater in all night at -21 degrees helps it turn over like a champ and blow heat within 5 minutes. I’m surviving just fine, and with the weather going into the single digits if not the 20’s over this weekend, how could I complain?

I could rattle on and on about how the 5:45 train on Christmas Eve that was to take me to Rensselaer, IN was canceled at the last minute, forcing me onto a charter bus that drove around the block once before descending into 2 hours of failed door repairs, only to find myself in the Amtrak office at 9:30 pm being told that the door could not safely close, therefore we would be put up in a hotel in downtown Chicago before being put on the 5:45 pm train the next day (Christmas). After blowing in the Hail Mary call to my folks they ended up scooping me up to have me sitting at the kitchen table eating a delicious salami sandwich at 12:30 am. The story certainly has more detail and I’ve told it a fair amount of times, but I made it home for Christmas in the end so why belabor the emo whining?

It’s frigid here, but we’re gaining minutes of daylight every day. I fought Amtrak, but saw all my family and friends over the holidays. And I brought back my run of Grant Morrison Doom Patrol comics from Indiana to reread. Life is great.

I’m shooting for the Fireweed race this summer – the 200 mile portion to be exact. Thanks to J9son’s coaching help I should survive it. I’ve ridden 200 miles in 2 consecutive days before and I really want to see Valdez and that stretch of Alaska, so why not. I’m throwing my hat over the wall on this one.