Saturday

August 19, 2000

"Think nothing done while aught remains to do."

Samuel Rogers, Human Life

barber pole for sale on ebay

Meta: I may be a little erratic in updating for the next few weeks.

I have all these little things I want to get done. It isn't like I desperately need to do any of them, really. The world would go on spinning if my hair wasn't trimmed. I still have some hair gel and stuff to last a bit longer. What if I didn't gel my hair, anyway? I can sleep on it and not wash it in the morning and get an even more radical effect! And if I don't get an ink cartridge for my printer, so what? I'm just printing for fun anyway. This pose and that of Jack, the wonder boy, and his entourage.

I visit the drugstore while I wait for Jane's more eager customers to get out of my way. I stock up on my favorite hair gel, travel shampoos. I buy a new dual voltage travel hair dryer. I buy some CD jewel cases because I imagine I'm going to cut some CDs with pictures of recent events and send them to people.

I surf some on-line diaries while Jane finishes up the guy before me.

I like Jane's haircuts and the way she shaves the back of your neck with a razor and uses the shaving foam and hot towel.

Then I go to the camera store. I end up with the color cartridges. And some more photo paper and a leather case for my S20 and an extra battery for it. I've gotten used to just getting whatever I think I might need. And being sure that the credit card bill will get paid at the end of the day. I guess if I want to retire this behavior will need to change. I guess. I will need to think about every penny I spend (as oppose to save). I'll need to clip coupons. Price shop. Not eat out ten times a week. I guess.

At home, I make a homemade card for a friend who has a new granddaughter. I decorate a store sack to contain the gift and recycle the tissue from a gift I received for my birthday. Saving money, huh? Hardly...I have to use the color ink to print the things to decorate the card and the sack. And it takes time. But I no longer enjoy just buying a card. Making something makes it special. Thinking about the person. All that.

The day drifts away. Inventorying the stuff we got for file editing, taking a trip out to my parents' house to look in on it, getting a new surge surpressor (I have so many gadgets that it seems I buy one a week of these). Stop by the in-laws who have a birthday card, money and some cute little toys from me. (Stop it, stop it, birthday's over! Oh, well, it's OK.)

I like spending Saturday night at home, drinking German beer and eating cheese and sushi and reading and playing with my color printer and doing what I please.