|
Monday, Memorial Day Observed May 29, 2000
"Spent some happy times reading over old diaries. I was grieved and surprised to find how much I had forgotten. to forget the past so easily seems scarcely loyal to oneself. I am so selfishly absorbed in my present self that I have grown not to care a damn about that ever increasing collection of past selves--those dear, dead gentlemen who one after the other have tenanted the temple of this flesh and handed on the torch of my life and personal identity before creeping away silently and modestly to rest." W.N.P. Barbellion, The Journal of a Disappointed Man, May 19, 1911
A wonderful addition to Austin
inviting pool
it's a suite life |
|
a real day off and the SoCo scene SuRu didn't call. Instead, I get up and dress and call her. She's trying to say that it is too humid. Perhaps it is. But we go. We go to the other side of the creek. Two inoperable vehicles are tagged with orange citations. That's odd. They are parked on the street. I guess that's it. But people don't usually complain about this stuff. These don't even seem to have been there all that long. There isn't the usual tell-tale coating of dust and vegetation. Their neighbors must have complained. It's a pleasant neighborhood on the other side of the creek, bounded by the creek and 45th and Bull Creek Blvd. and Hancock. Everything is quiet. Papers are still in a number of yards. It is overcast and people sleep in, delaying the firing up of charcoal grills or whatever their Memorial Day promises. A few fly an American flag. What would it be like to read the papers all the way through in the morning? Over coffee and a few strawberries. Work the puzzles even. It was very pleasant indeed. Read everything I wanted in the two papers. Worked the crossword in the Statesman. Showered. Worked the crossword in The New York Times over another coffee from my Capresso. Gayle, our bookkeeper, came and helped Forrest prepare his billing for his business. We all had lunch at Houston's. As chain restaurants go, they have very good food. I had swordfish, salad and spinach. The salad had a lot of bits of (apparently real) bacon. I sort of conquered the newspaper piles in my apparently futile attempt to control the mess of my life. I thought I'd actually disposed of all of the old ones I'd saved until I discovered a new pile. Not a large one, though. I really did exactly what I pleased all day. Read papers, did crossword puzzles, sorted some old slides of my mom's and even wrote a short story for the Chronicle contest. (Or else it was just for me or maybe for publishing on the WEB.) I've just done one draft and it may never go further. It's has a bizarre point of view. An eight-year-old boy in the year 2000 Anyway, I enjoy doing such things just to exercise the imagination. After Forrest had finished his work, he suggested we go out to South Congress and see the Hotel San José. It has gotten a lot of press and we are very proud of our friends Liz and Margaret for putting together such a wonderful Austin thing. They call South Congress SoCo now. At least there is a SoCo Gallery and some retail area breaking ground that used the term. Seems a little pretentious to me. But the Hotel San José is so perfectly wonderful. Almost Zen-like courtyards, spare but beautiful rooms, a truly convivial place. Liz and Margaret are playing maid because some of the maids didn't show up. Guests are enjoying the pool and shady patio. Must stay here soon. We walk down the street and visit Aqua and a gallery (SoCo Galery) and just take our leisure. The rest of my day of leisure was music and reading. I didn't even do that much at the computer. A pleasant day. One which makes me realize that I could easily quit working. And be quite busy. |
|
