personal

At least I don’t work at Dunder-Mifflin

I spent the day, again, cleaning, and watching episodes of The Office. I now have a much cozier bedroom, with more floor space than I had before, and lots of trash for recycling next week. (We had trash delivery but no recycling pickup this week, because of Labor Day.) I’m also now caught up on the first two seasons of the show. (I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to watch this much of the US version. Thanks, Netflix Watch Instantly.)

Other than that, it was a slow day. My vacation is slowly drawing to its end. I heard from my parents this evening. They had a nice visit in Bath, will spend tomorrow morning seeing a few last things in London, and then get a flight home tomorrow evening. So this presumably will be the last night in a while that the dog will wake me up at 1 in the morning, convinced it’s a reasonable hour for him to walk and have breakfast.

And I managed to do a little writing tonight for a change. All my grandiose plans of writing each day, getting a lot read, getting caught up on Kaleidotrope slush, getting caught up on saved newsreader links…nope, none of that really came to pass.

There’s still the regular weekend, though, right? I don’t back to work for another two days.

Is the fact that I’ve been watching The Office, of all things, a sign that I’m ready to go back to my cubicle? I wonder.

Beachfront property

So this morning, I got up early and went to the beach. No particular reason, except that the weather’s still been pretty nice, and, despite living maybe twenty minutes from the Atlantic ocean, I can’t remember the last time I went near the beach.

It was nice. I walked along the boardwalk for a few miles, listened to a podcast, and took some photographs. I left before parking lots started to fill up.

I’m not sure if I got my full $10-parking-fee’s worth, but I’m glad I went. I’ve never been too much of a beach person — partly because I don’t have that bathing-suit, Charles Atlas physique, partly because I don’t like sand in my shoes — but it was quite pretty out by the water in the morning sun.

The rest of the day, I spent mostly just cleaning. It’s amazing how much of that there can be when you a) have too much stuff, b) are way too disorganized for your own good, and c) decide foolishly to rearrange all the furniture in your room all by yourself.

I think I may finish tomorrow.

And then tonight, I ordered Chinese food. I ended up with more food than I expected — it’s just me, still, with my parents due back Saturday — but there’s always leftovers. My fortune…well, I’m not quite sure how to interpret this: “Your luck is about to change.” Hopeful, ominous, inscrutable?

Today was allegedly Tuesday

I slept in a little this morning. Yesterday’s heavy lifting tired me out more than I thought.

This afternoon, I drove over to the Massapequa Preserve, mostly because the weather was nice and I’d never been. And I kind of needed to get out of the house. I had a little trouble finding a spot to park — the preserve doesn’t have just one entrance, or a parking lot of its own — but I hiked around a little and took some photographs. I think ultimately I only saw a little of the place, but it was nice to be out and about.

Then this evening, I treated myself to dinner out at a local Japanese seafood buffet. I’m not usually a big fan of sushi, but it’s quite good at this place, lots of variety, and lots of other food to choose from if you don’t like the whole raw fish thing.

And that’s about. I’m watching episodes of The Office now on cable. An exciting vacation, no?

“You should know upfront, this is not a love story.”

Having been on my own the past couple of days, except for the dog, and except for a few brief trips out into the world yesterday, I’m starting to feel weirdly disconnected already. My normal routine has been pretty much shot. The dog wakes me up very early to go out and be fed, and then today I hadn’t planned to go anywhere, thanks to the Labor Day holiday.

The day got off to a strange start when I discovered a dead mouse stuck in a trap in the basement. It was a bit of a production getting rid of it, working up the nerve to actually pick the thing up — with rubber gloves, obviously — and tossing it into a garbage bag. Not exactly fun. Though I guess I shouldn’t complain. The last time I stumbled across a mouse caught in a trap, many years ago, it wasn’t quite dead yet. That’s not something I want to experience again.

Luckily, the rest of the day wasn’t so bad. I spent it mostly cleaning, moving some furniture around in my bedroom. I paid for the hard work this evening, though, with allergies that just won’t quit. (Not even after I made my sole excursion from the house to buy some Claritin.) And then this evening, I watched 500 Days of Summer. It’s not a perfect movie, but the leads and the soundtrack are quite nice.

So there’s that.

I hope to actually leave the house a little tomorrow.