My large little brother, Luke, visited me this weekend. He flew to Austin on Friday night to inherit our generous older sister's 1990 Saturn. Without power steering, air conditioning, a radio, or a clock, the car is, well, quite basic. But it also gets up to 45 miles per gallon. Luke left Austin at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday to make the trek to St. Louis. Not having a cell phone or watch, Luke used his spedometer to calculate the time. Here's an example of the method's imperfection: Luke called me at 3:21 a.m. from "the gas station lady's cellphone" and told me he was about 2 or 3 hours away. Then he arrived at a little after 9:00 a.m. Despite the sleep deprivation, he was in good spirits.
These are some of the things we did:
1. Drank coffee
2. Walked until he had blisters
3. Decided not to go to the neighborhood art fair because there was a $5 admission fee (!!!)
4. Crossed the street to the Missouri Botanical Gardens; they were were insanely overcrowded because of some festival unbeknownst to us. We ate loads of samples and then sat with our feet in a fountain.
5. Walked home.
6. Luke napped while I went to the grocery store.
7. We made pesto.
8. We ate pesto.
9. We sat and chatted about all things interesting. Seriously, it was all interesting.
10. We bought strawberries, fresh whipping cream, and bananas.
11. When Cristen came over, we ate the above items in combination (I added honey to my strawberries).
12. Cristen departed, we fell asleep.
13. We woke up to go running. Luke said that I wasn't really running, but was sort of just bouncing up and down. I believe I admitted to this in a previous post. So, we agreed to walk instead.
14. We made coffee and pancakes.... and then consumed it all.
15. We said goodbye. He rolled all the windows down, cranked the steering wheel, strong-armed a u-turn, and headed out of St. Louis
I call it a good visit.
On other fronts, I'm still in a bit of a funk. Unfortunately it's not the kind of funk that makes one want to dance. Quite the opposite, actually.
It's almost 6:00 p.m. and I intend to be at school for several more hours. Then home to eat leftover pesto (the best part of the day) and edit a one-page policy memo. Oh, a one-page policy memo, you say? No big deal. That's what I thought too. I'm 12 hours in. Less is more. Or like one of the best cookbooks of all time, More with Less. Argh.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Monday, October 01, 2007
Monday, October 1st, 10:36pm
I am emerging from some sort of abyss.
Likely this is an entry to be read by only a few.
1. I read the Red Tent. Awesome.
2. Is the proper spelling 'sike' or 'psych' when you 'sike/psych' someone out?
3. I've been trying to run every day. But I finally realized that what I've been doing isn't running; it's walking briskly and with a bounce. Still, I intend keep wearing my running shoes while I do this.
4. Transcribing interviews took me well over 30 hours, and plenty more immeasurable emotional energy. Now I have to keep reading the transcripts over and over until themes and patterns emerge. Just the right themes and patterns.
5. In a monumental effort at procrastination last week, I hung curtains along fishing line strung taut between either side of a wide room in this apartment. The purpose was to provide mental separation between living and sleeping areas. First of all, the line isn't exactly taut anymore. Second of all, when I'm sitting in the 'living area', I still know the bed is right over there. Sometimes the bed calls my name mid-afternoon; I employ all my will-power and rest on the futon instead. Third of all, it didn't take long enough to really count as procrastination.
6. In reference to aforementioned brisk and bouncy walking techniques-- the task is most easily performed when listening to archived stories from This American Life. Sometimes I dream of producing stories for the series....
7. I'll see my brother for the first time since January when I visited him in Peru. He's coming through on Sunday night. It'll be a short visit. Maybe 18 hours.
8. Tom is in Haiti...
9. ...the good part is that I'm keeping things clean-- the sinks are scrubbed, the floors are swept, the dishes are done....
10. ...the bad part is that Tom isn't here.
Likely this is an entry to be read by only a few.
1. I read the Red Tent. Awesome.
2. Is the proper spelling 'sike' or 'psych' when you 'sike/psych' someone out?
3. I've been trying to run every day. But I finally realized that what I've been doing isn't running; it's walking briskly and with a bounce. Still, I intend keep wearing my running shoes while I do this.
4. Transcribing interviews took me well over 30 hours, and plenty more immeasurable emotional energy. Now I have to keep reading the transcripts over and over until themes and patterns emerge. Just the right themes and patterns.
5. In a monumental effort at procrastination last week, I hung curtains along fishing line strung taut between either side of a wide room in this apartment. The purpose was to provide mental separation between living and sleeping areas. First of all, the line isn't exactly taut anymore. Second of all, when I'm sitting in the 'living area', I still know the bed is right over there. Sometimes the bed calls my name mid-afternoon; I employ all my will-power and rest on the futon instead. Third of all, it didn't take long enough to really count as procrastination.
6. In reference to aforementioned brisk and bouncy walking techniques-- the task is most easily performed when listening to archived stories from This American Life. Sometimes I dream of producing stories for the series....
7. I'll see my brother for the first time since January when I visited him in Peru. He's coming through on Sunday night. It'll be a short visit. Maybe 18 hours.
8. Tom is in Haiti...
9. ...the good part is that I'm keeping things clean-- the sinks are scrubbed, the floors are swept, the dishes are done....
10. ...the bad part is that Tom isn't here.
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