Let’s continue the tour of 70s and 80s-inspired post titles, shall we?
Today’s selection: the Eagles.
Category: Stuff about Stuff
Small Comforts
I haven’t left the house or yard for 2 weeks now.
Well, that’s a bit of an overstatement. I did help with the pre-social-distancing grocery shopping back on Sunday March 15th.
So, more truthfully: I’ve been mostly in lockdown mode for 2 weeks, and I haven’t left the house at all for 11 days.
To a large degree, very little on the surface of my life has changed. I’m fortunate that I can still do my work from home, so my weekdays are as busy as they’ve ever been. It isn’t even that much of an adjustment for shifting to working from home all week—since I had to do exactly that during November when my elbow was broken and I wasn’t legally allowed to drive anywhere.
Matt has been a telecommuter ever since we moved here to Boston, so him working from home is a complete nothing-burger. We don’t have kids, so we don’t have to cope with the side effects of school closures. And I’m mostly a homebody, so these quiet evenings reading and writing and watching bad TV aren’t really all that different from my quiet evenings pre-COVID.
In many ways, little has changed. And yet everything feels so different.
Call it the change in perspective.
Alphabet Groove
I will likely get back to posting about the State of the World tomorrow or on the weekend.*
Tonight, in an effort to bring myself back from several days’ worth of wailing and gnashing of teeth, I’m going to be a bit more whimsical.
Let me introduce you to part of my media collection:
Voices from the Past
One the fascinating (to me) pieces of this “alphabetic CD tour” I do every few years is how many of these 1300-or-so albums still hold a place in my heart and my affections. I have different reasons for liking different things, but considering I started collecting CDs back in 1989 or so, it’s kind of surprising to me how infrequently I listen to a long-forgotten/rediscovered album and say to myself.
Eh. No longer my bag.
Given that, it’s kind of notable that in the last 2 weeks, I’ve come across not one, but two different artists/albums I’m thinking of adding to the Goodwill pile.
Reindeer Rampant
So I guess I’m a bit of a rebel, posting here on GOT night. But it’s early in the evening, and it’ s a quick post, so that makes it easier for JALC and GOT to co-exist in the same evening.
No new books, and one new movie that I won’t talk about yet.(1) But I did finish a stitching project.
The Victorious After
So yes, I made good use of Patriots’ Day Weekend to get my home office/goddess room in good order. I’ll toss in one glossy “After” shot right here.
For the “Before,” you can just go back to my whiny post from Friday night. However much courage it took to post that picture 4 days ago, I do not have enough extra bravery lying around to post that embarrassing picture again….
So: rather a big change. I’m a little bit proud of myself for pulling it off.
Seeing Through New Specs
There’s a famous quote by Marcel Proust that (ostensibly) says:
The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.
Remembrance of Things Past has never been on my reading bucket list, so I don’t expect to ever learn whether the most accurate translation of this quote is the popular one or the alternate choice postulated by Craig Thompson, as linked above.(1)
It doesn’t really matter, I suppose. Especially since today’s linkage to that quote is very tenuous indeed: I’m pondering the status of my adjustment to those bifocals I mentioned a few months ago. And thinking about seeing through new eyeglasses reminded me of that quote about seeing through new eyes. That prompted me to look up the Proust quote, whereupon I discovered this slight controversy about its correct wording….which I couldn’t resist from sharing here, in my own pedantic way.
But yeah: I’m really just posting tonight about having new eyeglasses. Nothing more.
These Two Feet
Well, I made good progress in the “goddess room” today. It’s still not together enough for me to take a photo to show off my accomplishment. I’d say the job is about halfway done. I also spent slices of time doing some organizational work elsewhere in the house.
Including cleaning out my sock drawer.
Reclaiming My Space
Words can scarcely describe how grateful I am to be home again. Over the last week, I covered 1,500 miles and 4 big cities (if you count my Boston originating and end-point). Every leg of the trip was worthwhile, but add all those miles and unfamiliar residences together and a girl just gets tired, you know?(1)
So I’m glad it’s the weekend, and also that the unique Massachusetts tradition of Patriots’ Day means I can stay mostly in nesting mode for the next 3 days.
And I know exactly what I want to do with the time.
The Shirt Off My Back
QUICK HIT: Still deep in deadline-land.
I’ve posted now and again about the general clutteredness of my life: too many interests, too much indulging of those diverse interests with too much shopping.(1) Mix in some mild hoarding tendencies with not nearly enough free time to dig in for a full “Kondo-ing,” and you can probably get the picture from there.
Obviously, I ain’t been doing any decluttering whilst traversing deadline-land. In all honesty, it’s gonna be a mother-forking miracle if I get laundry done and my suitcase packed before I leave town next week.
But I have been getting an inordinate(2) amount of pleasure from one small victory in this area.
Self-Love: It's Just Another Lifestyle Change 