Knee-Deep In It
No, I did not fall off a mountain in Colorado. Or into one. And I did not murder my in-laws or my children or my spouse or myself in Colorado. Nor was I murdered by any of them, miracle of miracles.
Lena and I made it back to Austin in time for New Year’s Eve and spent some quality girl time together. The husband and man-child were snowbound a few more days in the mountains but they eventually made it back to Texas unscathed. For the most part.
I have since been confined indoors again, thanks to the bully I call Winter, this time in my own house but again with those little people not yet acquainted with indoor plumbing. Held hostage by freezing rain and a fear of Texan drivers flailing about poorly managed highways.
But we’re all alive and I think I feel it getting warmer. Although I could be imagining it. I do that in winter.
I’ve started two new jobs. It’s work and it pays; I’m working with interesting people so I’ve got no complaints. There’s a lot to be said for interesting. It can carry you through most things.
I joined a writers’ group. And although you fair readers wouldn’t know it, I have been writing. Mostly over this past month, I’ve been listening. To myself and to friends and to strangers, believe it or not. I have been paying attention. I have been quietly eavesdropping in restaurants and bars and coffee shops. I’ve overheard college kids cracking each other up, overweight mothers bribing their kids with Twix bars at the grocery store, a man briefly lamenting his uninteresting wife and his own underappreciated talent to a disinterested cigar salesman. I have been listening to people and really looking into myself to figure out what those things are that have held my interest over the years. Something keeps me going. I think it has to do with this town.
This town is full of people that I find incredibly attractive. Interesting. Intelligent. Textured. Sexy. You know who you are. I’m very content to live here knee deep in all this rich and livable substance. Sometimes of late, I have been convinced I’m missing something, but life has been good recently. I guess I have to suck it up and admit that I am OK, that simple can be good. Who needs the drama anyway? I can get a good bit of rejuvenating drama just by sitting down at Flipnotics and watching the guys in the corner laughing and comparing hickeys. Yeah. That’s just the kind of drama I need at 35 years of age: somebody else’s.
So that’s what I’m doing. Paying attention. Listening. Soaking it up and seeing who I find right next to me. I consider it research. If I were you I’d be careful what you say around town. You never know who’s listening.
Lena and I made it back to Austin in time for New Year’s Eve and spent some quality girl time together. The husband and man-child were snowbound a few more days in the mountains but they eventually made it back to Texas unscathed. For the most part.
I have since been confined indoors again, thanks to the bully I call Winter, this time in my own house but again with those little people not yet acquainted with indoor plumbing. Held hostage by freezing rain and a fear of Texan drivers flailing about poorly managed highways.
But we’re all alive and I think I feel it getting warmer. Although I could be imagining it. I do that in winter.
I’ve started two new jobs. It’s work and it pays; I’m working with interesting people so I’ve got no complaints. There’s a lot to be said for interesting. It can carry you through most things.
I joined a writers’ group. And although you fair readers wouldn’t know it, I have been writing. Mostly over this past month, I’ve been listening. To myself and to friends and to strangers, believe it or not. I have been paying attention. I have been quietly eavesdropping in restaurants and bars and coffee shops. I’ve overheard college kids cracking each other up, overweight mothers bribing their kids with Twix bars at the grocery store, a man briefly lamenting his uninteresting wife and his own underappreciated talent to a disinterested cigar salesman. I have been listening to people and really looking into myself to figure out what those things are that have held my interest over the years. Something keeps me going. I think it has to do with this town.
This town is full of people that I find incredibly attractive. Interesting. Intelligent. Textured. Sexy. You know who you are. I’m very content to live here knee deep in all this rich and livable substance. Sometimes of late, I have been convinced I’m missing something, but life has been good recently. I guess I have to suck it up and admit that I am OK, that simple can be good. Who needs the drama anyway? I can get a good bit of rejuvenating drama just by sitting down at Flipnotics and watching the guys in the corner laughing and comparing hickeys. Yeah. That’s just the kind of drama I need at 35 years of age: somebody else’s.
So that’s what I’m doing. Paying attention. Listening. Soaking it up and seeing who I find right next to me. I consider it research. If I were you I’d be careful what you say around town. You never know who’s listening.
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Dan