Day 88: Back to Work
I wake up at 4:00 am and feel fairly refreshed, having slept 6.5 hours. Nat, Julia, Calvin, Grace, Lydia, and my in-laws are in Taiwan so I don't know what they're doing at the moment. I think it's fair to say my jet lag won't last long. I'm going to try and keep up the early bed/rise thing because I'm looking to be healthy, wealthy, and wise someday. I may eat an apple today in lieu of going to the doctor. I may also try to take a bird in the hand at some point.
I brew coffee and make an open-faced sandwich: whole grain bread, avocado, cheese, and egg. My parents came by yesterday and dropped off some eggs and fruits/veggies as well as some prepared food which is awesome, as it means I don't have to cook for a week. Before they showed up I was dipping stale Fig Newmans in almond butter for an early lunch. I never lived alone as a bachelor but I think it's a natural way for men to live, where the word "way" in this instance means basically "what-the-hell-ever". The house is a total mess right now.
I currently have 3 projects to spend my time on, not counting work and bike riding. The first is the vacation picture posts, second is the baseball cards my parents dropped off yesterday, and third is cleaning up and organizing upstairs which is our natural Slob Area. We tend to put stuff up there and forget about it, so we effectively have an upstairs that isn't very useful. We complain our house is too small then waste half of it. I got time in on all 3 projects this morning, adding to and editing yesterday's picture post, bringing more books to the basement, and finishing another album of baseball cards.
I figure now is a good time to sort all the old baseball cards since I can spread them all over the living room floor. Some got wet and moldy over time so I need to do all this dirty work as fast as I can while I have the time and space. By the end of the week that should be done, if not sooner. I don't want that to linger because I don't want the mold to be around too long in our living area. Mold is nasty Most of the stuff is clean/dry so I'm just taking care of a few albums and throwing the bad stuff out. Anything of value seems to be perfectly safe upon initial inspection. I'm not sure it has a whole hell of a lot of value though. I seem to have collected cards in a time when cards were being overproduced. I guess that explains how I was able to get my hands on hundreds of rookie cards of this or that player at the time. Maybe I just sit on these and see if they appreciate in value over the coming years. It also turns out that all the players I "invested" in turned to steroids and basically rendered an entire generation of cards much less valuable than they might have been at one time. I should pick up a guide book to see what this stuff is worth. Also, if I'm going to get back into it as an investment idea, now is probably a good time since a lot of this stuff is probably at all-time low prices right now. The reality though is that I'd just as soon sell it all and turn it into bike parts.
Before I know it, I have burned almost 2.5 hours and it's time to shower and head to work, something I'm not looking forward to but I'm also not dreading. Work it what it is. If I had 2 more weeks off I would think about my empty house too much. The train pulls up among the swamps of north central New Jersey. If this were Taiwan, the parking spaces would be tighter and the fields would be used to grow rice since they're so naturally wet. There would also be scooters lined up along the parking lots. But we have plenty of room to spare here so no need to be terribly resourceful. We might be considered wasteful but if you have a couch, why stand? I get on the train, and my old reality starts again, and I am putting up faux travel narrative posts to entertain my faithful readers.
Not very exciting. Now I go to work and after work I'm going to ride my bike. I'll be damned if I'm going to wake up at 4:00 and ride in the dark and cold. It's cold here, colder than I had hoped, something like 26 today. This pattern will repeat for the next 1-2 weeks. Today is day 88 of un-vacation, where this counting system starts at 88. I'm tired on the train. By the time this day is over I may be astonishingly tired, as I feel gravity settling in on me as I sit here. I need to keep myself moving, and the commute plus the work day is a series of sitting, then sitting some more.
Don't worry, I won't keep up this articulation of my daily life. This is just a one-off, a day in the life. They say you come away from vacation with a new perspective. Maybe in a few days I will but right now I'm suddenly sleepy and still fighting jet lag. So I'll save the perspective for another day. Maybe Wednesday. Is there a band named Maybe Wednesday? It sounds very "current" to name a band that. In 10 years we're going to look back at all these bands and say the names all suck. Not for nothing but classic rock bands really split the difference with names. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were winners, but boy the Doors and the Who sound retarded if you think about it now. And the Guess Who, just not even trying there are you?
Wilco and My Morning Jacket are in my CD player, along with Feist. All 3 are good solid music in 2008. With the exception of Walter, I suggest you all go out and try some. MMJ sounds a bit like the new Flaming Lips. And the Blue Sky Blue album by Wilco is just goddamn good.
I brew coffee and make an open-faced sandwich: whole grain bread, avocado, cheese, and egg. My parents came by yesterday and dropped off some eggs and fruits/veggies as well as some prepared food which is awesome, as it means I don't have to cook for a week. Before they showed up I was dipping stale Fig Newmans in almond butter for an early lunch. I never lived alone as a bachelor but I think it's a natural way for men to live, where the word "way" in this instance means basically "what-the-hell-ever". The house is a total mess right now.
I currently have 3 projects to spend my time on, not counting work and bike riding. The first is the vacation picture posts, second is the baseball cards my parents dropped off yesterday, and third is cleaning up and organizing upstairs which is our natural Slob Area. We tend to put stuff up there and forget about it, so we effectively have an upstairs that isn't very useful. We complain our house is too small then waste half of it. I got time in on all 3 projects this morning, adding to and editing yesterday's picture post, bringing more books to the basement, and finishing another album of baseball cards.
I figure now is a good time to sort all the old baseball cards since I can spread them all over the living room floor. Some got wet and moldy over time so I need to do all this dirty work as fast as I can while I have the time and space. By the end of the week that should be done, if not sooner. I don't want that to linger because I don't want the mold to be around too long in our living area. Mold is nasty Most of the stuff is clean/dry so I'm just taking care of a few albums and throwing the bad stuff out. Anything of value seems to be perfectly safe upon initial inspection. I'm not sure it has a whole hell of a lot of value though. I seem to have collected cards in a time when cards were being overproduced. I guess that explains how I was able to get my hands on hundreds of rookie cards of this or that player at the time. Maybe I just sit on these and see if they appreciate in value over the coming years. It also turns out that all the players I "invested" in turned to steroids and basically rendered an entire generation of cards much less valuable than they might have been at one time. I should pick up a guide book to see what this stuff is worth. Also, if I'm going to get back into it as an investment idea, now is probably a good time since a lot of this stuff is probably at all-time low prices right now. The reality though is that I'd just as soon sell it all and turn it into bike parts.
Before I know it, I have burned almost 2.5 hours and it's time to shower and head to work, something I'm not looking forward to but I'm also not dreading. Work it what it is. If I had 2 more weeks off I would think about my empty house too much. The train pulls up among the swamps of north central New Jersey. If this were Taiwan, the parking spaces would be tighter and the fields would be used to grow rice since they're so naturally wet. There would also be scooters lined up along the parking lots. But we have plenty of room to spare here so no need to be terribly resourceful. We might be considered wasteful but if you have a couch, why stand? I get on the train, and my old reality starts again, and I am putting up faux travel narrative posts to entertain my faithful readers.
Not very exciting. Now I go to work and after work I'm going to ride my bike. I'll be damned if I'm going to wake up at 4:00 and ride in the dark and cold. It's cold here, colder than I had hoped, something like 26 today. This pattern will repeat for the next 1-2 weeks. Today is day 88 of un-vacation, where this counting system starts at 88. I'm tired on the train. By the time this day is over I may be astonishingly tired, as I feel gravity settling in on me as I sit here. I need to keep myself moving, and the commute plus the work day is a series of sitting, then sitting some more.
Don't worry, I won't keep up this articulation of my daily life. This is just a one-off, a day in the life. They say you come away from vacation with a new perspective. Maybe in a few days I will but right now I'm suddenly sleepy and still fighting jet lag. So I'll save the perspective for another day. Maybe Wednesday. Is there a band named Maybe Wednesday? It sounds very "current" to name a band that. In 10 years we're going to look back at all these bands and say the names all suck. Not for nothing but classic rock bands really split the difference with names. Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd were winners, but boy the Doors and the Who sound retarded if you think about it now. And the Guess Who, just not even trying there are you?
Wilco and My Morning Jacket are in my CD player, along with Feist. All 3 are good solid music in 2008. With the exception of Walter, I suggest you all go out and try some. MMJ sounds a bit like the new Flaming Lips. And the Blue Sky Blue album by Wilco is just goddamn good.
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