Quite a long night/morning overnight.... Scottie was in a restless mood and kept me up. Eventually, around 2.15am, his persistence lead me to the front door and out to the front lawn. He paced at the gate and even pawned at it. I assumed he wanted out, duh, but wasn't sure why. As I went to unlock the gate I heard "something" rustle in the bushes and stopped. Not knowing what might be waiting for him, I opt'd to get dressed, get the leash and at least have access to restrain and retrieve him. I dropped the gate key trying to get out and further delayed the exit but once out, he was on a 'speed walk' pace, frantic in a crazed manner. Stopping, sniff, and moving along quickly. I was in shorts, a t-shirt, a vest and slippers. 2.15am and I'm out walking a fucking dog on a mission. We eventually came to a point where he spun in circles and shot out a massive gelatinous turn in one single movement. Suddenly, he was ready to return home. WTF? Meanwhile the house where he left his calling card had a front light that was set off by the motion detector while the birds in the tree beside and above me were going nuts. What a crazy moment. I was about to be shot as a perceived home invader while my dog had the shits. Did I say "my" dog? No, her dog, her being Jen, at home, in bed, sleeping peacefully while I felt with this early morning chaos. I left the poop, I didn't want to go further onto their property and would returned in the am. Meanwhile, once home and once resting again (the dog, not me) I sat in amazement at the stillness of things at that time of the morning. Just amazing. Dead silence. "Dead" of night. When we got up in the am I shared the story and we retrieved his calling card on our am walk. She related later concluding that he'd likely gotten into some bacon fat in the garbage the day before. Makes sense. I missed my meditation but felt very 'connected' to the early am experience, recognizing it as one of those things that I could be frustrated by or embrace as something unique and experiential. I did the latter. When I look back at the day or prior entries it's interesting how many little moments come and go that make up the real dynamic nature of life. "Life is what happens when we're busy making other plans", as it were, right? I finally got my 1hr walk in as desired and FINALLY finished "The Promised Land". What a great memoir. I was and am so impressed and I'm eager to hear the second volume. I managed to go until around 3-4pm without eating in part because I was busy with other focused tasks. I ate light, which I am proud of, and didn't cave on temptations. I started using STRIDES again, which tends to be a forced effort so we'll see where it goes. I watched the rest of Zero Dark Thirty in part because I finished the book and the final chapter was about hte assignation of Bin Laden. It was good but I wasn't blown away either. I wasn't very focused, though, in all honesty. I ended the night talking to Matt C for the first time in some time and greatly enjoyed it. We need to talk more and I'm going to make sure that we setup something more routine was I have with others, including the Geeks, which was how I ended the night. Great time, great dynamic, great fun.