Polynesian pork.

Cajun rice.

Caribbean fried plantains.

California-blend vegetables.

At least our taste buds got to leave the apartment.

Well, I guess they can’t all be winners.

Rough one today. My mom called me way too early Pacific Time. I answered in a panic thinking one of my parents had gotten sick. What else could it be at that hour?

Computer problems. She was unable to get her webcam to activate so she could Zoom her doctor for a routine appointment. I was relived she was OK but couldn’t fall back to sleep afterwards and never really fully woke for the rest of the day.

Here’s hoping tomorrow goes better.

Another good one today.

Instead of opening Twitter this morning, I meditated then read in bed with some coffee. Thanks to one of the most recent episodes of Back to Work, I was reminded of the book It’s All Too Much which has been on my reading list in some capacity for years but I never got around to starting.

So I downloaded it the other day from the library and knocked out a few chapters this morning. I like it. It’s a bit dated but feels more grounded in my type of reality than Marie Kondo’s stuff, which I like, but probably more because of how Japanese it is and less for what it recommends. Only owning things that bring one joy seems like a noble goal but not very realistic. “I’d love to print you a copy of that report but my printer didn’t amuse me, so I tossed it.”

Anyway, while I hadn’t planned for today to be a big cleaning and sorting day, that’s what it turned into. My wife and I cranked up the Fluxblog Survey Mix from her birth year and started with all the stuff under our bed. I’m embarrassed at how much of the space was taken up by all of the boxes I’ve saved for the electronics we own. Giant TV box, multiple hard drive boxes, boxes for my computer, turntables and speakers. Even a box for Sony 5-disc CD changer that neither of us have ever owned, so there’s that.

Always hard for me to throw out electronics boxes due to a “when we move, we may need them” mentality which just shows I’m preoccupied with the future or – in the case of all of the Japanese files and memorabilia that I’ve been lugging around for the past decade – holding on to my past, neither of which is conducive to just living in the present; a present which may not be great at the moment due to a global pandemic and whatnot but, as I’ve been reminded with the wide array of books I’ve been reading this past year, “now is all we ever have”. Namaste.

Our purge continued through the afternoon and into the evening. We ended up with several bags of garbage/recycling and a tub or 2 of stuff to donate once society resumes. Then I grilled salmon on cedar planks, made loaded potatoes and a side of green bean for dinner, and then we had apple tarts and a little too much bourbon for dessert. Wrapped up the night with the new Westworld and John Oliver and, at the moment, it appears I’ll have done another day of blogging before midnight.

Add another X to the chain!

This morning, I was fortunate enough to stumble across this article about it being OK to not be productive right now when I started my usual “AM headline scan/spiral into depression” and it managed to set the right tone for my day.

Let myself take it easy. And I took it easy on myself.

Ironically, I ended up being pretty productive. Did some reading. Made “sweet potato hash brown waffles” for my wife and me, did 4 loads of laundry and some office work. Opened a fresh bottle of tequila with dinner. And am still managing to write a blog post before meditating and going to sleep.

Normally, I would count all of the above as just daily tasks that I needed to do before I could start actually being “productive”. But, in the middle of a pandemic, I’m gonna count today as a win.

Night, gang.

My wife and I watched “Crimson Tide” tonight as a distraction from the horrors of the world.

It worked. Right up until the final frame.