Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: I've had U2's "Pride (In the Name of Love)" in my head all day. And I have yet to download all the songs into my U2 iPod that I got for Xmas. Not even that one. It just came. Poof! The Edge's guitar chords and Bono's voice going thru my body as they should on this day. A delightful earworm. Happily replaces Tori's new, "Sleeps with butterflies." It was time to make room for something else. Thanks guys.

There is a definite transformation taking place inside of me despite current circumstances. In some ways, I certainly did not start the new year out right. Too much of 2004 crept into 2005 with no mercy. However, one thing I've stuck to my guns about is learning to embrace the faith into which I was baptized. I've gone through many cycles of trying to do this the right way throughout my life.

Certainly, many aspects of Catholicism and Christianity in general leave me only with more questions and doubts, much like many things in life one chooses to embrace. However, this time, I'm starting out the year with something a little "unorthodox" for Erika Klus. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm still happy to be in a blue state, blah blah blah. I'm still a hippie at heart. But I'm a closet Catholic, dammit. I really get excited to sing Alleluia after the second reading. And I love to be in a room full of people who all at once say, "Lord, hear our prayer." Now you know my dirty little secret.

Every night before bed, I read about the Saints. The Basilica (www.mary.org) has a wonderful little bookstore and giftshop that I enjoy visiting every once in a while after Mass. One of the books I decided to buy is called, "365 Saints." It's a modest little book that looks at very human aspects of each Saint. This puts me at peace at night, like some sort of safety blanket. There is a nice complementary book called, "Saint of the day" which is a little more technical and not quite as inspiring, but gives a few more details about each Saint.

Well, these Saints are all very important to me, but the four Saints which have captured my heart and lifted my spirit tonight are St. Carrie, St. Samantha, St. Miranda, and St. Charlotte. That's right, ladies. Sex and the City: Season 6, Part 2, Episodes 1-4!!!! As my cousin/neighbor just moved away to North Carolina, my friend Megan is in Mexico for vacation, and Grubster is back in the woods, I took on these surrogate friends to fill the void tonight. Oh, I really missed them! (weep).

Ever since I heard the last disc sets would be coming out on DVD, I have been aching to see them. Every time I hit the movie place, everything's checked out. Finally, a little salvation tonight. It could not have been a better way to spend a working weekend. No pressures, no coming home smelling like smoke from a night out on the town, no personal drama. Just dating vicariously through four NYC women. I'm not quite ready for the real thing agaiin yet, haha.

Back to an actual BTD diet-related blog: I spent Friday evening at Ecopolitan writing a letter of recommendation for a very sweet technician who is trying to get into pharmacy school. If you have been following the blogs, you know that this is a raw vegan restaurant in uptown MPLS. Not a smidget of animal products in sight. Not quite my style, but when I need to feel cleansed and hydrated, I go there for rejuvelac, "raw" pizza (with buckwheat crust), and all the other good stuff they offer.

They had a carrot ginger curry soup special (raw, of course). I asked the waitress what they used to make it creamy but never got an answer. It was either cashew butter, avacado, tahini, or chickpea. Obviously quite a Russian roullette of BTD gambling. She never got back to me with what was in it. Oh well. Also had a nice sprouted lentil salad. The only avoids I could detect were the black olives and black pepper. Very good! Finished the meal with the "marinara pizza" with tomatos, red onions, alfalfa sprouts, apples, raisins, what else? I can't remember. Did I mention the glass of rejuvelac to start out the meal? Well, now I did.

There was a cute couple on the other side of the wall. They were there as long, and perhaps even longer than me. Drinking a bottle of organic wine, talking about life, and smooching. I thought that this would bother me, grate my nerves, etc. but I was very surprised by my inner stoicism and calm. It felt good to be alone with my laptop, doing something nice and necessary for another human being. Despite working 16 hours, I'm actually quite content with how it's all been. And I thank God for it all. No, I'm not being sarcastic here.

A bad tension headache plagued me throughout the day, most likely from the St. John's Wort, but not for sure. I ended the night at home with a sleep formula tea (hops, catnip, etc.) and added some feverfew. I slept well; by morning the headache was gone and I was ready to start a 10 hour work day. There you have it. Life after death. It'll be all right.