It poured last night. Maybe because we’re a little higher off the ground, the sound of the rain on our house and the yard is soothing and overwhelming. It was so calming to lie there listening to the deluge as I drifted off to sleep.
Janeen had the terrific idea to load up and go to the beach after Avett’s nap. It was a beautiful day and after missing a turn or two we got down to Mashes Sands. Avett wasn’t as overjoyed as I thought he might be, but he was pretty happy. We met another family from Tallahassee who — after some prodding from their dad — shared their toys and sort of took A under their wing. On the way home we stopped at a local joint for some yummy fried seafood, which Avett totally chomped up.
One of the nice things about A going to school — besides the fact that I think he loves it and seems to have a great time interacting with the other kids — is that Janeen gets some well-deserved alone time. So we can do stuff like have lunch together. We tried the a new Indian restaurant today on Magnolia which was pretty good. It was nice to have an adult conversation about work and parenting without a little someone screaming 10 minutes into the meal.
Later that night I went to Waterworks and said goodbye to Josh, who used to work for the AFL-CIO here and who’s moving to California to work for the labor movement there. I saw a whopping 8 other people I knew there — which really was kind of unprecedented.
The weather finally cleared up a little bit, so I took the opportunity to bask in the sunlight and walked down to Voodoo Dogs for a hamburger. Yummy and restful while I read through a somewhat insipid but visually engaging book. I figured out that the quick stroll down to the All Saints area is just under 2 miles round-trip.
Strategy is the art of sacrifice.
Boom. (Likely the first & last times I link to Forbes.)
Life sort of got away from me there in the very beginning of March, so I missed a few days here. Lots of fun stuff with Avett that may start to sound repetitive. I did come across this beauty and started dreaming big….
Within My Reach, Diving
(Yes, I am listening to Slang as i clickety-clack. Gonna have to play that song next week on Better Off Dead).
Some random thoughts today that might end up as something different/bigger, but right now feel all weirdly connected:
1 / Time. I need more of it and/or the ability to use it. I waste it here in search of something, squander it there because i’m “tired”. Came across Mile 73 yesterday and today read about her quitting her job and this resonated heavily:
I told him I like my job, but I need more time.
2 / Thinking about quitting Facebook again. I’d have 3-4 more hours a week I think collectively (not that that’s how it really works, but…) if it was gone. I’m increasingly hard pressed to identify what i get out of it or my 3 email accounts.
3 / My phone. Ugh, i’ll admit I’m addicted. Checking, checking, checking. It’s reflexive to the point that when I don’t reach for it in the spare moments it feels odd. It may be time to destroy/unplug somehow.
4 / Vitamin D. Don’t know where I read it now (maybe Tammy’s blog) but another BAM! moment thinking about the lack of sunlight I have in my life. It felt acute in Boston when I worked in church basement, but somehow I brainfroze on the fact that I don’t see the sun for 4-5 hour stretches at a time at work in my little office building. Every day I yearn to leave for lunch (esp. now that it’s getting nicer out) and it sunk in today why. I might have to start bringing my laptop more, it may be actually affecting my mood, concentration, outlook.
5 / March is coming up, onto the next of 36 habits. I feel like I stalled out on getting rid of stuff and it might be time to push forward again. Could I really get away with cutting down to, say, 150 books? What about fitting them to my teak shelf from my 5×5 expedit? Keep the next 100 books i want to read and 50 I love?
6 / Came across Cabin Porn (via Huckleberry) and renewed the dream to build a little shack like Nikki’s mom has: Something out on a lake where we can go, read, swim, read, cook & eat, read, talk, walk, live low.
I sometime worry that we’re growing into a set life that might be hard to extract from when/if we want. Makes me more and more interested in selling 1716 sooner than later.
Janeen and I watched The Giant Mechanical Man tonight. It was a quiet movie about 30-year-olds figuring it out and falling in love. Joyous was a word I thought about after it. Not b/c the movie was so happy or stupendous, it was probably neither, but it was about a search for joy and the simplicity of it, of finding it in a single other person. Maybe only 6-7 thumbs up, but fit nicely into my thinking these days.
I got my Radon book (and Cometbus #55) in the mail today and was finished with it 40 minutes after J had put A down for bed. I’m not smart enough to understand everything Aaron and Travis are saying — but a big chunk of it boils down to that punk is right. Selfishly I wanted something more sappy, but I can’t wait to think it through some more, and hear Awww Geez again.
Came across this video and listened to it while I did page layout. Ian MacKaye is inspirational. Which means doing it, just being inspired is only half of the equation. It got the rust moving off the gears though.
One bit that was interesting—among ALL OF IT to tell the truth—was his saying that they wanted to make as much music for those who wanted to hear it. Not 10,000 records for 1,000 people or a room that holds 1,000 for 10,000. So Dischord started making CDs b/c people wanted them, or tapes when that’s what folks wanted and stopped when they didn’t. They sold 125,000 copies of Repeater on cassette.
Time to get to work!