Active Sunday (For A Change)

Most Sundays are spent in recovery. Not that I drink or do much that needs to be recovered from, but until this weekend I was busy every weekend this summer. Sundays were either spent lounging after a friend left from visiting all weekend or driving back from New York, or something else uneventful. It makes sense, then, that my first slow/low key weekend would find me busy on Sunday.

I have been reading a decent amount this past week. I have read the first five volumes of Scott Pilgrim as well as 2.5 more volumes of The Walking Dead. If you are not a comic book person then you might scoff at this being listed as an accomplishment. To me, however, this is a step in the right direction. I have somewhere between 75-90 minutes on my round trip train ride every day where I am able to be productive. Over the past 6 years of my life I have worked 9-5 jobs that I had to drive to. By the time I get home I don't feel like reading either. This time around, though, I am trying to use this time. I am both able to be in transit and do something else. For a few weeks I would read the paper, do a crossword, fall asleep, etc. Those weeks I found myself very tired getting into work. I started watching movies to keep myself more mentally engaged.

With the stack of Scott Pilgrim novels in my possession I decided I would give reading a go. I have a hard time staying awake on the train while reading, but I thought that since comics have images to them and have a faster pace I might be able to get into the routine of reading during these trips. After 5 days I knocked out all five volumes. I then used my low key weekend to plow through the rest of Vol. 2 and then Vol. 3 & 4 of the Walking Dead.

Today I woke up and quickly finished Volume 4 of the Walking Dead. I then drove to Delaware to pick up the next volume. I returned home and watched the Phillies game until it's rain delay. Then I drove to a my friend Alex's house and together we jouneyed into the city to Dave & Busters for a free Penrose show. Our parking voucher gave us 5 dollars off of food, and checking into using the app FourSquare we each got free $5 game cards. So I proceeded to eat, watch the remained of the Phils at the bar, kill some zombies, and then watch Penrose while sitting on the water with a great view of the Ben Franklin bridge over my shoulder.

For what is typically a day spent on the couch, I really enjoy this Sunday. I am also looking forward to this week for no other reason that for what I am going to read. After picking up the next volume in the Dead series, I also borrowed the latest Scott Pilgrim and the novel World War Z from Alex. Can't wait to get started on them.

Fresh Air

That term seems to refer to something I have not felt in weeks. This summer is really starting to wear on me. I don't care for summer as far as weather conditions go. I am a fall/spring person. I don't like the cold nor the heat. I really enjoy cool, light jacket weather. Weather where everything is calm. Too cold leaves you paralyzed and too hot leaves you exhausted and on edge.

One of the best things, though, about the summer is a fresh house. Over the winter, due to the cold, you leave your windows locked up tight. Something that I really enjoy is when it is finally nice enough out to have the windows open. Waking up in the morning, relaxing at night, lounging on the weekend - these moments are all enhanced a little when there is a natural air flow running through your home. Air literally gets to be stale, otherwise, and it has a different weight to it in a way.

This summer has been unbearable. I was out shopping the other day and saw some nice looking clothes for the fall that have started to fill the racks. I could not even fathom buying or trying anything on that was for cooler weather, however. Just the idea of wearing that stuff made me hot. It has been brutal for weeks straight. Today it reached a "feels like" of 108 here. I walked outside and laughed. It's about all I can do. The extreme heat that just has not let up has become so preposterous that my reaction is simply laughter. I am just baffled that with the sun setting its still in the 90 degree range.

I have had mixed feelings about the approaching month of September in the past. Some years it was dread for school, others it was the excitement of work ending and, strangely, more free time to come. In more recent years, September has meant New York and has always been met with excitement. Now, September is looking like pure relief. My life will not change, as far as routine is concerned, for the first time since I was 4 years old when September hits. I think my apprehension about how I might deal with that is completely overshadowed by the longing for a cool day. And these days, "cool" means less than 90, sadly.

(I don't know if I have mentioned it on here before, but the image above is something that hangs in my room. It is several pictures I took myself, printed and hung. The entire thins was conceived by me, designed by me, and executed by me. Most of the time, it has the effect of any other poster in my room. It is just cool decor. But every once in a while I look at it and really let it sink in that it's something I created myself. I am really proud of it.)

Moving

A very good friend of mine has been talking about moving away for a while now. Initially it was immediately after finishing college. He graduated in December, but was still here in the spring. The next date was June. He is a filmmaker and can't leave until he finishes his movie. As of June there was still a lot of editing to do.

Tonight we met up at the diner. I have been spending time and seeing friends of mine at the Llanerch Diner since Junior Year of high school. It has changed management, changed decor, changed menus, and even customers. No longer do we see our mini celebs like Denim Gandalf sitting at the counter. Friends of ours that used to be regulars with us have too ceased coming. Still, there remains a few core people who I can count on to get a cup of coffee at 11 pm and talk movies, music, and whatever else we can ramble on about.

John told us that the movie is done. He leaves August 5th. This is not just some short distance move. He is not moving back to Boston (where he went to school) or New York. In a few weeks John will be relocating to Austin, TX permanently. I think because I have been so busy, so wrapped up in my job that not seeing people much this summer has not felt at all strange. I've made several NY trips and have had visits as well. As far as seeing my home friends, my high school friends, goes - there has not really be much time for it.

I knew John would be leaving soon, but again with my schedule, having not seen him since my first week home after graduation, I felt like I had plenty of time. Now knowing that he'll be gone after a few more outings, I am really upset. Reasons to relocate to TX for grad school just got another one in it's column. There is no one else who can tolerate and engage my film ramblings quite like he can. If we had the money and the time we would spend a full 24 hours straight in that diner just chatting film and theory. People like that are few in my life and worth keeping close.

Anyone else up for Texas?

Repaired

Thanks to having a father and grandfather who know their way around a car better than I know my way around a computer, my car is fixed. The damage, well that is to be determined. Looking to be well over 200 dollars though.

With one thing being fixed there must be another thing breaking. Our air conditioning went today. My sister, who was home alone, was unaware. My dad got home to find the inside temperature at 86 degrees. So, I am going to bed. It is too hot to even have this computer on my lap.

Working From Home Is Still Work

Yesterday I had some car trouble and was forced to work from home today. In the long run, it was actually better. There are just certain things that you need your own headspace for. Luckily I was able to do everything I would normally do at work as well as get to the things I wouldn't have been able to do.

I had never worked from home before and thought maybe it would be this glorious thing. Sure, cutting out having to commute to do work, as well as getting an extra hour of sleep was great. But there was no real sleeping in. I started working at 7:30 (which is actually earlier). I worked straight through, except lunch, until after 3.

My car is still not totally fixed, but it is drivable. I will be back in the office tomorrow.

In other news, I got my new shoes today. The one pair: shoe within a shoe (pictured below).

I also found out that I am due for an upgrade on my cell contract. No more worrying about what to ask my parents/siblings for for my birthday. Hello, iPhone 4. Ordered it today. Expected delivery is 2 weeks. Woohoo!

Finally - started watching Veronica Mars today. It's pretty cool for a show about a teenage private investigator.

Sometimes Late Is Better

On The Right Track

There comes a point when routine can trap you. I find myself working out my daily routine down to the minute. If I wake up at 6:22 and am out of the shower and dressed by 6:50 I can make the 7:13 train which means I am in the city by 7:46 and can get the 4:05 train home. That puts me in the house at 5:15 which gives me four hours to do...

And that's when I realize, I am timing everything perfectly to get home and do exactly what I do all day. Sit, stare, repeat. I wake up tired in the morning, but my complete and utter inactivity all day long leaves me wide awake at night. This however contradicts my motivation. While I have too much energy to fall asleep early, I have no motivation to do anything other than get home immediately and lounge.

Another thing I wish I did more of but cannot seem to is read. I get really interested in stories and pick up books but have a hard time getting into them and finishing them. Ever since college, opening a book is like taking an Ambien. I just pass out, without realizing it, after 5 minutes of reading.

This past weekend, while in NY, I borrowed the Scott Pilgrim series from my roommate. The movie is coming out, I had hear great things before, and it is something light. I figure, I can start small. I don't have to start reading historical non-fiction. If I can get used to sitting on the train at 7 am and reading for that 40 minute ride without falling asleep, maybe I can move on to novels later. The comics are fast paced enough and engaging enough that I am able to stay alert (for the most part) the entire ride. Hopefully after I get through the entire series (takes about a day per book and theres 4 more to go after today) I can move to something a bit more dense, or even more graphic novels. Regardless, I want to use this time to read, and I am making a serious effort to train my brain to do so.

Back to the inactivity - I am not a gym person. I have been to gyms in the past. By the past I mean when I was 12 or 13 and would tag along with my dad because I liked sports then and thought it was exciting to go to the gym. It was one of those "I'm old enough to do something adults/athletes do now" mentality. I maybe went 5 times total over several months before I stopped caring.

Flash to present and I still have that 'who cares' mentality when it comes to being in shape. I don't to do anything physically to keep from gaining weight and so staying in shape for my lifestyle seems silly. That has always been my mentality. It still remains that way. However, I have recently decided that going to the gym affords me with the following - A. Something else to do at night except sit more and watch more screens and B. An energy outlet that will hopefully leave me tired enough at the end of the night so that I can get a good rest in and not be up until 12:30 or 1 am. If, after this, I am in better shape or a bit healthier then so be it. But, if it does not satisfy those first two, this gym thing might be short lived.

Side note: funny how most comic personalities on shows/in cartoons are depicted as out of shape/overweight and yet in my case they go hand in hand as far as getting on track with positive things.

(and if you are going to scoff at my reading of comics as my reading activity, feeling as though comics are not a legitimate source of literature then clearly you are ignorant to an entire genre.)