Friday was the kind of day when a demanding week has caught up to you. Too little sleep, too much work, too early when the alarm clock sings its shrill pre-dawn tattoo. My run was like pushing through – and breathing in – pea soup, the humidity shimmering in the air.
Friday was the kind of day when the 140-page policy document you’ve been working on – with the end nearly in sight, just the last twenty pages of corrections to make and then it goes off to the boss for the final read-through – corrupts, the program “quitting unexpectedly” every twenty minutes or so, the last dozen corrections unremembered when you reopen the thing, like you’re stuck on some sort of editing treadmill. I dashed my drinking-water cup against the wall in frustration and was surprised to see the white plastic shatter into a dozen pieces.
I put the paper on my flash drive to take it home and see if a real computer could get somewhere with it.
On my way, I rented Hollywoodland from Video Americain and picked up a few groceries. My mother, who is staying the weekend as a break from the weekly “commute” to West Virginia, was at the house when I arrived. My brother and I installed the downstairs air conditioner, a process eased somewhat by thephoto documentation I recorded last year, plus my decision to keep all of the lumber pieces in one of those suitcase-sized ziplocs they sell now. Go me.
Dinner, a cold beer, the movie on at 8:30.
I was asleep in my chair by 9:30.