I’m sitting in a different Starbucks than I usually go to. First, when I pulled into the parking lot, I thought swell, not many cars, it’s not too busy here. But when I walked inside, there was a long line. And then, looking around, it quickly dawned on me: this is the Starbucks that’s just a couple of blocks from Gainesville High School. And judging by the shrill, loud voices around here, they do a lot of business with the teen student crowd. Hey, if I were in their shoes (and had the money at that age to burn), I’d rather hang out here before school than at my dreary old high school, too. Only I think I’d just bring a book to quietly sit with and read. Wait--I think all that noise just walked out with a couple of very loud teens. Yep, there they go on their way to school. Suddenly I can hear myself think again!
I’ve been trying to spend a little quality time lately studying and writing instead of going back to sleep after taking my daughter to school in the morning. Then, upon getting back home a little later on, I can still nap for an hour or two. And when I finally do get up for good, I feel that I’ve already accomplished something in the day. So far so good, although I’ll have to admit that I am mentally just not quite as sharp as I usually am in mid-afternoon.
I’m not looking forward to mowing my lawn, which I’ve let grow too much lately. The problem is that my old lawn mower recently has not been starting up too well. Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to keep it running long enough to make a “dent” in the sea of grass. And then, I’ll be counting on the weather to change enough to slow down the growth. But then again, I may just wait for this weekend to try to get that task done. [This entry was written last week. I just switched to an older mower I had and breezed through the yard!]
One thing that I can do by not immediately going back to bed in the morning (I report to my job at 3:30 PM) is plan out what I am going to do with my day. This helps to focus on simple things when I do finally get up from my later “nap” and gives me a sense of continuity for the day as well. So that’s what I’m going to do now!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
It's interesting to me to see how the marketing for coffee has changed. The idea that teens would drink coffee regularly, especially expensive coffee concoctions, is amusing: we certainly didn't drink coffee at that age (at least I didn't; did you?).
ReplyDeleteOn my way to work, I pass a bagel store that I sometimes stop at (at about 7 a.m.), and it's across the street from two high schools (one public, one Catholic). So it gets a lot of the student crowd in the morning, and if I'm running ten minutes late or so I'll get caught in it. (And a bit later, it's flooded with the school-bus drivers.)
One thing I like about having moved to New York is that lawn mowing is not a year-long task. I mow from mid-April to mid-October, and then get about six months off. On the other hand, I like mowing the lawn, mostly. The hour of rhythmically going back and forth to the drone of the mower and the smell of the newly cut grass is a rather "Zen" time.
I've never worked evening shifts regularly, and I've always wondered whether it's better to come home from it and go to bed, sleeping when everyone else does and then being awake during the "normal" part of the day... or to have quiet time late at night and use some of the day for sleeping. I guess you've usually chosen the latter.
I drank coffee a lot, as far back as I can remember into my childhood. Only at our house, it was inexpensive instant coffee (usually Winn-Dixie's Astor brand), spooned into a cup out of the jar, with boiling water poured on top. Nowadays, drinking coffee seems to be a more social upwardly-mobile experience, with all of the espresso bars around. I wonder when the bottom will fall out of the coffee market like it did with the real estate market.
ReplyDelete