personal

Wednesday

Today did not go exactly as planned. I didn’t even do my morning pages until two o’clock in the afternoon.

I hurt my back late yesterday, pulled something as I was leaning over the couch to plug in a surge protector. Because I lead just that kind of rugged and/or glamorous lifestyle. I took it easy the rest of the night, but the rest of that night involved taking a dog out at both three and six am, and around that second time I decided to e-mail in sick. My back was starting to feel better, but I really didn’t want to rush into it and make things worse. (It’s amazing what leaning over the wrong way can do when you already have a herniated disc and are in arguably the worst shape of your adult life.)

So I again did the whole laying about the house watching TV thing. Which, admittedly, isn’t the way towards getting into better shape, but it does seem like it’s helped my back. I also read some comics — Jack Kirby’s “Fourth World” stuff, fitting since today’s the anniversary of the day he died. (I didn’t know that, but Tumblr keeps me well informed.) I also discovered an interesting show called The Booth at the End on Hulu, which beat watching many hours of Star Trek Voyager while endlessly checking my work e-mail. (It definitely beats ABC’s new “the Nazis had evil clocks or something” Zero Hour. That was awful.)

I’m definitely going back to the office tomorrow. I need a break from television. I’d actually like to get back to reading and maybe even writing again. What was supposed to be a couple days off has turned into five. And while I enjoy them, I am not very productive on days off.

Tuesday

It’s been a weird couple of days.

I did a little food shopping on Monday, then picked up the dog from the kennel. He was, per usual, a little antsy upon release, so I spent the rest of the day just hanging around the house with him. And most of today, as well. I was aided and abetted by it’s being cold and snowy outside and my generally not wanting to do anything. I mostly watched a bunch of television — Bunheads and Supernatural and The Americans and Justified — and movies — Days of Wine and Roses and Slacker.

I also did laundry, so that counts for something, right?

I’d hoped to do some writing, beyond the morning pages, but haven’t. Or much reading. I wasn’t helped by twisting my back late this afternoon. I’m just trying to take it easy, since tomorrow I have to go back to work.

Trouble right here in River City

I spent the weekend in Maryland for my sister’s birthday. My father, my brother-in-law, and I went to the International Spy Museum while my sister and mother went shopping — something of a birthday tradition. Not the Spy Museum, but the splitting up to do something else while the womenfolk shop.

The Spy Museum was interesting, if very crowded. They have a new big exhibit on James Bond villains, which was interesting having only just recently watched all of the Bond movies in quick succession. I’m not sure the museum’s worth a trip from anywhere, especially since it’s one of the few museums in D.C. that you actually have to pay to get into. But it’s interesting.

After that, we had a nice dinner at a tapas restaurant in Gaithersburg.

My parents are on a road trip after this down south, to see family and to see the sights, so I came by my lonesome on the train. They were actually going to stay on another night in Maryland, but I think my father was shocked by the idea of how bad D.C.-bound traffic was going to be on Monday morning — if you don’t leave by six, my brother-in-law said, you probably don’t want to leave until after 8. From my trip down there this fall to UMD, I can say that’s pretty accurate. Traffic down there is terrible.

So my sister and brother-in-law drove me to the train station in Baltimore, and my parents checked out of the hotel and added another stop in a different city to their route. (I spoke with them earlier, and they’d been to a really nice Civil War museum, so apparently the added trip was a smart move.) I hate to wait an hour for my train, but at least it wasn’t delayed like a lot of the trains before it. I made really good time, getting into New York Penn Station around 3:45 and catching a 3:51 train to my home station.

I was home in plenty of time to completely ignore the Super Bowl.

I do mean ignore it, and I do mean completely. I kept seeing updates about in on my Twitter feed, which made me wish I’d at least seen Beyonce’s half-time show, but instead I spent the evening watching and enjoying The Music Man. I don’t have work tomorrow — I’m picking up the dog from the kennel — so I’m thinking about watching another movie or something.

And that was my weekend, more or less.

spymuseum

Friday

I knew I wasn’t going to finish the short story tonight, so I gave myself permission to take the night off from it completely. I’d rather return to it again in a day or two with fresh eyes, eager to finish, then struggle for hours and still not be anywhere near the end. There’s an end in sight, I think, but I didn’t want to rush to get just a little bit closer but still not there.

So I watched an episode of Bunheads instead.

I did finish a couple of reports on political psychology today and do my morning pages, so there’s that.