What did I tell you? My stomach has (almost) stopped aching. It's raining. The Blue Jays are losing. I'll check ouit some more words I have been stockpiling. I'm almost to page 800 in my West book (Black Eagle andGrey Falcon), only 300 to go. Hence, more words.

juggins noun Brit. informal, dated simple-minded or gullible person: you silly juggins. ORIGIN late 19th cent.: perhaps from the surname Juggins, from Jug(see jug); compare with muggins. [I didn't think I'd find this one. Fun.]

slatko I didn't think I'd find this one and I didn't. I gather it's a kind of drink- wine?

minbar noun: a short flight of steps used as a platform by a preacher in a mosque. ORIGIN from Arabic minbar. [Never knew the name of these steps.]

guilder rose noun: a deciduous Eurasian shrub with flattened heads of fragrant creamy-white flowers, follo wed by clusters of translucent red berries.●Viburnum opulus, family Caprifoliaceae. See also snowball tree. ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from Dutch geldersche roos ‘rose of Gelderland’ (see Gelderland) .

chiral adjective Chemistry: asymmetric in such a way that the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable. DERIVATIVES chirality. noun ORIGIN late 19th cent.: from Greek kheir ‘hand’ + -al. [I think I looked this up before. Doesn't hurt.]

Phanariot noun: a Greek official in Constantinople under the Ottoman Empire. ORIGIN modern Greek phanariōtēs, from Phanar, chief Greek quarter of Istanbul, from Greek planarian ‘lighthouse’ (one being situated in this area). [This for sure is from the West book. I doubt I'll ever use this one in a sentence. I'm not into Greek officials under the Ottoman Empire.)

eupeptic adjective: relating to or having good digestion or a consequent air of healthy good spirits. ORIGIN late 17th cent. (in the sense ‘helping digestion’): from Greek eupeptos, from eu ‘well, easily’ + peptein ‘to digest’. [I knew this but ti doesn't hurt to check.]

scullion nounarchaic: servant assigned the most menial kitchen tasks. ORIGIN late 15th cent. of unknown origin but perhaps influenced by scullery. [I've often said that if I had been born into another century, with my luck I'd have been a scullery maid. So I've known the word for a long time.]

ephebe noun (in ancient Greece): a young man of 18–20 years undergoing military training. DERIVATIVES ephebic adjective. ORIGIN via Latin from Greek ephēbos, from epi ‘near to’ + hēbē ‘early manhood’. [Again, not a word I'll use often, if at all. I read somewhere that the average person uses about 5000 words in his/her everyday speech, though I wonder about Millennials and the influence of acronyms in their texting. Anyway, someone once estimated my dormant vocabulary at about 30,000 words. After reading Rebecca West I hink I must be up to 31,000.]

frumenty |(also furmety) noun: [ mass noun ] Brit.an old-fashioned dish consisting of hulled wheat boiled in milk and seasoned with cinnamon and sugar. ORIGIN late Middle English: from Old French frumentee, from ferment, from Latin frumentum ‘corn’. [I bet it's full of gluten.]

The Blue Jays are losing but it's only the bottom of the fifth. Ah, well. I should talk about Damo Runyon some time.

I'm on the last leg of the course, with the last or penultimate (?) assignments to do and another 24-hour deadline. Is it burn-out or is it procrastination - - or fear? - that is causing my stomach ache?

Such a simple, apparently simple, assignment, to do with marketing and pitching one's work and I am procrastinating, or am I paralyzed? I'm sure when I complete my task my stomach will stop aching.

I read and saved an article in the NYT the other day that cited various causes of stomach upset. Of course, it emphasized the importance of cleanliness and hygiene, one's own as well as others'. I read that Donald Trump refused to eat dinner at an event after he had shaken hands with a man who had just come out of the men's room with wet hands. I bought and drank bottled water when I lived up north on a clean Canadian lake because I never knew when a passing loon might decide to pee into my water intake line.

Bit the article ended with an acknowledgment of what your nerves can do to your bowels. Remember exams? Maybe you weren't the kind to get excited about them, but if you were, then you know how apprehension can affect your innards. Check the first meaning of the word: apprehension, noun, anxiety or fear that something bad or unpleasant will happen. "He felt sick with apprehension"; "She had some apprehensions about the filming". Like that. It's not that something bad is going to happen; it's just that you're afraid it might happen. (And then you've let all that adrenalin go to waste.)

With this very blog I am honing my skill of procrastination. No prizes.