A short list of things I could always but have only recently decided to do: not miss out on a friend’s concert; talk back to the cat when she insists it’s time for bed; ponder gratitude journal entries’ shape and trajectory; weigh a vacation while thinking about another; sleep and wake up on camera.
Showing up to the party flyer a day late’s a neighborhood sport, if not national pastime. Sure, some sense of acceptance: You wouldn’t have had enough in the tank to stay out or up late; the genres are often better curated and consumed solo than playlisted in public. Hipster, be real with thyself.
Not enough sleep, too much caffeine, but midweek may find me wanting. Interesting callbacks to an early job working a lobby and front counter as a teen; then again, waiting until late to eat dinner meant a missing meal item. At least the cat’s happy, hanging out until hunger and restlessness hit.
An early ride for a not so early (nearly an hour late) flight, followed by a trip back into the city after missing out on late shenanigans to a church whose doorstep I didn’t do much as darken before a visit someplace where my phone was scared straight offline. A full day, with a big thing up in the air.
Spent most of the day outside, shaded for a bit by bamboo in a metal bin in an urban garden, and then in a block coned and barriered off for a block party. It was good to be anyplace, even as weather wore me down and I wound up out of position for the day’s wildest story, but the needful beckoned.
Stay in, stay out, rest. Fret. Putter. Drink water, read, look in on work that by all rights can wait until tomorrow. Punt on the call. Listen to the new Duran Duran album. Bookmark two dozen albums to listen to over the next few weeks. Consider making a haircut and maybe another thing happen soon.
Wandering around in a bookstore to get toys for a four-year-old boy who likes cars, and of course passing up the mega-IP-franchise material, and stopping in my tracks at the talking ATMs and cash registers and electronic alarm safes before settling on two books, a puzzle and a penguin hand puppet.
No giving without taking, them’s the rules. I couldn’t get a new device in hand and a smooth transfer of enough of its data without a multi-hour neighborhood outage. We’ve had no wifi since very early today. At least there’s, you know, power and water, and no obviouses like weather or the E-word.
Out in the world, not trying to turn things around so much as document what went terribly, and the alerts start coming in, a drill, a let’s-pretend. Sobering to see what we were preparing for, overlaid with what was: the open doorways, pedestrians, cars, our workaday Wednesday no worse for wear.
Grasping at straws, fidgeting through tabs and screens, grumping through it. But there was wind in my sails, the coffee worked and there may be something new in a day or two to make me distracted, if not satisfied. Maybe I can make it on through, straighten up and figure out some margin tinkering.
