For the last week, I feel like I’ve been turning around in circles, caught in a lazy sort of eddy.

– I’ve spent the last two weeks trying to get in touch with certain people in the city government here, so I can write some quick little follow-up articles about the city pools and a lighting garage issue. No response.

– Over four days, I called over 30 people trying to find a Columbia contact at the Battle of Lexington re-enactment – I finally got answered, a few hours too late.

– I’ve got a great idea up in the air for a story about a local man on a river adventure, which obviously hinges on the man in question’s willingness to cooperate. No response.

– Even the Obit/Life Story I wrote on Tuesday was a failure – I spent an hour trying to contact the family, and even got a brother and a daughter on the phone – and they had no time for me, no patience, no comment.

Most days, I wake up and drag myself over to the Missourian for no real reason. I make the same calls again and get no response. I feel frustrated and trapped. I’m not used to this sort of dependancy. I’m not used to my success riding so heavily on the cooperation of strangers.

I suppose I could pull out bigger guns to get the city stories. I suppose my bad obituary luck is just something that happens sometimes. I suppose I could have started a day earlier on contacting people for Battle of the Hemp Bales. I suppose I’ll have to just let the river story go, and move on. I suppose I have another idea on hold that I can pull out and start working on instead.

But this is very, very frustrating.