Lazy and a half

If I were a rock, there would be lichen growing on me by now.

Meaning, even a rock would have been more productive today than I was.

I did go to work, and I did get up very early to do so. But I got off at noon, and activities since have included:

make and eat mac and cheese
watch America's Next Top Model
shower
take five minute nap
watch more TV
play solitaire on the computer
play solitaire with real cards
create an event on facebook and freak out a few times with frustration in the process
eat bowl of cereal
eat graham cracker

Yep. That is in fact, it. Oh wait, I picked my car up from the shop. Yay! I have wheels again! And I played secretary, as our family phone rang approximately 20 times today. "Thank you for calling the Daily residence, how may I help you?" (Eye roll. Let's just say I have put in my time as a receptionist for the corporate world, so I'm not too thrilled about revisiting such work at home.)

Can I keep him?

I am loving the book I'm reading right now. I've been extremely busy, meaning consequently late nights are becoming my norm; since pre-pillow time is reading time, my fatigue has only allowed two to three pages at a time to be ingested before the eyelids quit resisting gravity for the day. This is unfortunate because a)I love to read and haven't done tons and tons of it lately, and b)it just so happens that one of my largest pet peeves in life is being unable to read at least 30 pages of a book in one sitting.

Point being.

This book I'm reading

(which, by the way, is called John Chancellor Makes Me Cry by Anne Rivers Siddons)

is so wonderful that it is not only a treat to read even a few pages each night if that is all I am allowed, but I also kind of like that the book is taking some time to get through. It's being savored, and I'm sipping* it, like tea. Siddons is from Atlanta, and the book was published in 1975. It's a compilation of essays following her through a year of life, offering a beautiful blend of snarky, feminine humor, inner calm, tastes of married life, the stress and value of a working life. I also love her timeless archaism (yes, oxymoron), and many of the book's main characters are rescued stray pets. Cats, mostly, which obviously gains Anne points.

I found John Chancellor (the book, not the journalist) while wandering from the history section to the travel section to the...I don't know, essay section? I went to the self check-out and was rejected! in my scanning of John. Rude. So I visited my human librarian at the front desk who said, "Hmm," and informed me that it was not even in the system!

I found an orphan book! She put John in the database so he could make some friends in cyberspace, and then let me take him home for three weeks. I'm loving him so much that I feel I want to keep him. The library didn't even know what they had! If it weren't for me, he wouldn't be in the system. I mean, People. So I don't know about you, but I feel like I have automatic adoption rights here. Anne gets to keep her cats, why can't I keep John?

*I cannot take credit for this term "sip" concerning a book; while she may not even remember saying it, I first heard this phrase from my friend Carly. Hey girl.

Nontraditional

I did not watch fireworks tonight. I did not shoot off any combustibles. I did not eat a hot dog, watermelon, chips, or corn on the cob. I did not wear red, white and blue. (I did drink beer.)

But I had lunch with a dear friend, and I hung out with three fabulous people. In a cozy, quiet apartment on an overcast Fourth. And when the rain started to fall, we went out and conquered the puddles with our stomps.

My kind of day. :) Thanks for all who contributed to the much-needed therapy.

Ponderment

I think I'm maybe experiencing a stereotypical summer for the first time in my life. I am up late most nights, always tired but always moving, swimming, running, working. Tonight I went to see Annie (holla!) at an outdoor theater--so very summer. What else? There has been a lot of beer (in moderation, just cold beer on hot nights), I've been to the movie theater at least twice...Lots of pizza, I've made new friends.

This is all just so weird for me, because I seldom participate in stereotypical activities. I so often reach a breaking point of too much fun and activity where I say, "See ya" and head home to go to bed while everyone else pretends they're teenagers and stay up 'til 2am.

It feels good to be involved in these communal bonding activities, and it is helping thwart my need to always be different and my always-there-under-the-surface-somewhere feeling of being left out. Lonely in a crowd? Yep, that's me. But maybe I'm shedding a piece of my shell, and popping out is a new limb. One that's not always too cool for school, one that's reaching out for contact with other limbs. Always being different makes you stand out, but it often leaves you always different and thus, always alone in one way or another.

Thoughts...my apologies if I've confused anyone.

Virtuality

I played a video game tonight. While I have some expertise in, namely, the departments of Dr. Mario and Donkey Kong Country, thanks to years of childhood with brothers and then some, it's been a while since I've really bonded with a controller. Tonight I played a game called Trine (?), and at first I didn't expect to really get into it, but I laughed a lot. I also enjoyed slicing skeletons with my fire sword. (Why a fire sword would kill a creature that should, presumably, already be dead, is beyond me.)