Friday, October 4, 2002

clarinet player got a haircut today

"Liberty is being free from the things we don't like in order to be slaves of the things we do like."
Ernest Benn

• I drink less. I don't know why this is. Maybe I'm afraid of not feeling like doing what I please in the morning. Maybe I have less reason to drink. I didn't say I didn't drink, though. Just less.
• I exercise more. This was a goal. Not sure if there is a relationship with the above. I feel better, too. I am not however losing weight. Yeah, I eat a lot.
• I eat breakfast sometimes. But, if I do, it's late and then I don't have lunch.
• I'm even less tolerant of people wasting my time.
• I am getting in touch with the things I own. It's slow, however. Chopping the bamboo invasion is a good example. In my ideal life I don't think I'd own over half an acre. But since I do I think it's good to get out there and see what it is I own. I even took the lopers apart and cleaned and oiled them after they started to misbehave. (I'm not sure if this actually helped the lopers. But the point is that I had time to do it. To get in touch with my errant bamboo and my lopers.)
• I drive more. It seems that I get out and go several places every day. Not today, though. I didn't get out of the house until we went to the ballet event. Forrest drove.
• I think about how my money should earn money, not earning money. Several people suggested I should 'consult' or do other money-making things. I'm not tempted just now.
• I spend more time with FFP. This is good. He says he likes it, too. (Of course, if I go off traveling without him he will get the opportunity to miss me.)

So I chopped more bamboo. I made sure that I drank water before, during and after. I didn't get dehydrated and get a headache this time.

Other than that, it's hard to point to many accomplishments. I made a sympathy card for a friend in South Africa whose mother died. I hung the picture my work mates gave me. I read newspapers. I made lists. I ate a small salad and I ate some chips and cheese and salsa. I drank more water.

Tonight we go to a Ballet event. The dress is 'dramatic' black tie. I decide on a tuxedo with a silver turtle neck and silver socks. I have no idea if this is dramatic or mundane.

The event is at the Driskill. Things of this ilk are usually at Four Seasons. I am not really in the mood for this sort of event. We stand up balancing glasses and eating a few hors d'oeuvres. The lobby is beautiful, a lot of people look great in their outfits, we talk to some nice people. But it is kind of hard to hear. Then we eat. We are in the Maximillian Room. I have trouble hearing but it isn't as bad as the main room. Dessert and dancing are in the bar. We don't actually get near the dessert. The dancing is for youngsters and it doesn't stir us. We head out for home. We are old. But I do wonder how some of the other folks, much older and wiser than we are, maintain their enthusiasm for such events. Perhaps I should drink more.

JUST TYPING
There is time.
To work at something a little longer.
To try to repair the tools.
To clean up the dog doo one tracks in.
Without anger, calmly.