Category: Words

A brief pause in the flow of words

Dear blog,

Please excuse Michelle for not writing any words tonight.

She was spinning. Bike spinning, not yarn spinning.
Then she was cooking bacon and mushrooms.
Then she was talking.
And maybe drinking adult beverages.
And then they had to eat the bacon and mushrooms. And the avocado.
There was Boneyard beer in the house. You know how that usually goes.
Then she was singing and forcing someone to listen to French and Arabic pop music. (Sorry)
Then she took the trash out, and it was a little too late for words.

She had the best of intentions, but her execution was flawed.

She promises to try to do better tomorrow.

On an unrelated note: can you believe it’s almost the end of January already? Christmas was just a minute ago, and now it’s practically Hallmark Day. Crazy.

Time doesn’t fly, it vaporizes. Sometimes it doesn’t even seem like it was ever even here at all.

I saw the movie “Boyhood” on Sunday, and at the end a girl says:

You know how everyone’s always saying seize the moment? I don’t know, I’m kind of thinking it’s the other way around, you know, like the moment seizes us.

That. That is what happened. The moments got me completely tonight. Which is a very good thing. I got to talk to someone I love to talk to, and then I got to sing. We got to laugh. And talk some more.

It was all good. All of the moments were good.

On not doing things I enjoy doing

Have you ever noticed that you tend to have a really long list of things you enjoy doing, most of which you don’t actually do very often?

Music, reading, writing, photography, travel, pedicures, massages, yoga, drawing, knitting, learning new languages, ice skating and roller skating, spin classes, long walks, going to the beach, going to the gym, etc ad nauseam..

Then there’s the list of things you’d like to learn to do. Learning to cast jewelry, welding, bungee jumping, sky diving, flying an airplane, making furniture, pottery…

A certain number of those things are just too expensive. Maybe there isn’t somewhere in your area that teaches something you want to learn. Maybe you just don’t have time.

Flying lessons are not in my budget. I can afford the occasional massage or pedicure, but not as often as I would like.

In my case, I could do a lot of the things on both lists. Somehow I don’t though. There’s an ice skating rink a few miles away, and it doesn’t cost very much. I’ve gone once in the last year. Yoga? Love it. They offer it at the community college and at most gyms. I haven’t done a session for three or four years. Spin class? Not since September. Maybe that is a bad example since I have a spin bike of my own.

Still.

Jewelry making? I have a class that is all paid for. All I need to do is schedule it and go. Why haven’t I? I like jewelry. I like making things. It seems like it would be a perfect fit. It’s once a week. I have the time.

Same for learning another language. I have time. It isn’t very expensive. I am good at it, and I know I would enjoy it. It’s even good for me. It wouldn’t even have to be a new one–I could pick up one of the ones I studied that I never got very proficient with. It would be good for my brain.

Some activities are simply more fun with someone. Going to a movie alone is OK, but then you don’t have anyone to talk it over with. Skating is more fun with someone to laugh at you when you fall and help you back onto your feet. Going to the beach or the mountains or wherever is better when you have someone to talk with along the way.

A lot of things are fine alone. The gym. Going for a walk. Art classes.

So what is the hang up, if it isn’t time, money or a lack of company? I don’t think it’s laziness. It’s not like I am sitting around watching TV. I’m sitting around reading and writing, but I could take a few nights off. I might even meet some lovely new people.

Oh. People. New people. Could that be the problem? I really don’t think so. I mean, I signed up for online dating. I must want to meet a few new people.

It’s pretty simple, really.

Pure inertia.

I have enough pleasant things to do at home that I am not very motivated to go out.

At this point, I’m not even sure that is a bad thing. I do need to do the jewelry class. Casting silver sounds fun. I should really call.

Somebody give me a shove…

An imaginary conversation about going to the movies alone

Maybe I should go see a movie. I found some movie tickets today.

They do sort of tend to accumulate.

We missed the window of opportunity for the Christmas movies though.

Yeah, we kind of forgot to go and see some stuff.

We suck.

No we don’t. Things just happened.

True.

So what are you going to see?

No clue. I still haven’t talked myself into it.

What’s the big deal?

No big deal, I don’t mind going to movies alone. It’s just that then there isn’t anyone to talk about it after the movie is over. And no one to hold hands with, or lean on.

That’s also the case if you stay home.

Oh, I am well aware of that.

I didn’t mean to rub it in. It’s the same thing here.

I know.

So why do you have to talk yourself into it?

Part of it is that whole woman going out alone at night thing–the movies I am thinking about all start between 9:45 and 10:15. I am not super nervous about going out in this neighborhood alone, but it does make me think.

Plus you’d be walking to your car alone at midnight. I don’t know if I like that, either.

Right. The joys of being a woman.

There are compensations, aren’t there?

Are there?

There must be…

I don’t know. I’ve never been anything but female. I have no idea what it’s like to be anything else.

Boobs must be nice to have.

They are. I’m not sure they are adequate compensation for a lifetime of less pay and more risk of sexual violence.

Probably not. Would you be a man if you had a choice?

Not a chance.

Why not?

I’d get my dick caught in my zipper too often.

It really isn’t a frequent problem.

Still. I would just as soon keep my internal genitalia.

How did you get from movie tickets to genitals?

It’s a gift.