When you have a middle of the day, very-briefly-nodding-off-at-your-desk dream in which you are sobbing, "I'm not strong enough. I'm not strong enough," as you meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

(and I'm not even a fan of royalty, though I don't have anything against them.)

I'm so tired.

Today's word

cathexis /kuh-THEK-sis / - investment of mental or emotional energy in a person, object, or idea

Regarding the second example: sometimes authentic commitment is all the cement a foolish young couple needs to transform mere cathexis into something more lasting.

back on track for a couple days, but not feeling very sanguine about it . . .

Today's words

From a cool Words at Play post (all pronunciations and definitions are informed guesses, since none of these words are listed on the site):

grawlix /ˈgrȯl-iks/ - a series of unpronounceable characters used to represent a vulgarity, commonly in comics

briffit /ˈbri-fit/ - in a comic, the cloud of dust left when a character or object makes a quick departure

plewds /ˈplüds/ - drops of sweat that are shown in a comic when a character is under stress

definitely zero. even without. 

I'm such a fucking failure at this.

Measuring progress

There's no point in this if I'm not going to be honest. There's no qualifying it with technicality or degree. Perhaps later, if it turns out this doesn't follow past patterns, I might revisit this, but lacking solid evidence: 

zero

dammit

Today's words

From the Dictionary Devil:

exanimate /eg-ˈza-nə-mət/ - 1. lacking animation : spiritless  2. being or appearing lifeless

Didn't have any trouble matching this one to it's definition. Was looking for something close to this based on the roots.

ferruginous /fə-ˈrü-jə-nəs, fe-/ - 1. of, relating to, or containing iron a ferruginous soil 2.  resembling iron rust in color

Again, the roots made this one obvious, even though I hadn't encountered it before. The puzzle used the second definition.

saltatorial /ˌsal-tə-ˈtȯr-ē-əl , ˌsȯl-/ - 1. relating to, marked by, or adapted for leaping: saltatorial legs of a grasshopper

I knew this wasn't going to be too closely related to sartorial; related to "something," sure, but I had no idea what.