Lockdown: Don’t walk this way

Well that was a strange day.

Saturday I got up just before noon. Breakfast was the last of the shoyu chicken with brown rice. I did the NY Times crossword puzzle and read the news and I’m not really sure what else. I was sleepy all day. Seems like whenever I sat still for more than a couple of minutes, I drifted off.

Around 3:30 I was just going to surrender to the sleepiness and take a nap for as long as my body wanted, but then I got a text from Sylvia. She was on her way back to town from Waianae, after volunteering with some group to hand out face masks to whoever needed them. She wanted to know if she could stop by or meet me, to get some of that yeast I bought last week from the restaurant.

I had to say yes, mostly because I offered last week, but also because Sylvia gave me the sourdough starter. Good reason to get up and about. I’ve been wanting to check out this liquor store, the storefront for a local distillery in my neighborhood, so I told her to meet me in the parking lot of the local strip mall where the storefront and tasting room are.

The liquor store was going to close too early for me to get anything, but I had a few other things to do. I have internet access at home, but it’s sort of a limited data plan (I don’t want to get into it). I have wifi access through a wide network of hotspots in town, so at times like these when I can’t avail myself of wifi at one of the boba cafes I hang out in, I take my laptop near one of the hotspots and update my software.

I was due for several updates, including an iOS update on my phone. I found a nice isolated parking stall and got to work. Sylvia drove up in the opposite direction so our windows were facing each other. I handed her the yeast. She handed me two bags of chopped kale I asked her to pick up since she made a stop at Whole Foods.

The updates took an hour or more. I thought I’d get some boba; the tea cafe in the strip mall was open. That’s when my dad called. So I chatted with my folks for a little while there in the parking lot. My dad and I both said that whenever we thought to call each other these past two weeks, it seemed a little late to call.

I grabbed takeout at the Korean place. Barbecue chicken and beef for Saturday lunch. And a veggie plate for dinner and leftovers. So yeah, I finally got some veggies in me: broccoli, tofu, bean sprouts, kim chi, cabbage, and seaweed.

I watched most of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood again. Like many Tarantino flicks, it definitely rewards repeat viewings.

I relaxed in bed, goofing around on my phone and finally, after freaking midnight, I got out for a walk. It was ridiculous.

I had a bag of empty bottles to tie to a trash can at a bus stop. I figure someone needs the nickels more than me. I was about to cross the street near Lanakila Park (behind Joey Desa Field, on School Street), where I usually tie up my bottles, when I saw someone lurking in the shadows there. It’s pretty dark along the outfield fence, and homeless people often sleep right against the fence or behind the bleachers so you can’t seem them from the street.

I’m not afraid of anyone down there, but I do try to be cautious, especially at 1:30 in the morning. So when I saw the person in the dark, walking toward me from where I about to cross, I crossed the other street instead. Against the light. It was 1:30 in the morning. There were a couple of cars coming, but they were far enough away that I knew I could trot through the intersection and get across safely.

I did. Right in front of a police car with its blue lights turned off.

Sooooooo yeah. A $130 ticket for jaywalking.

It’s kind of funny, because people who walk places with me know I’m the one who always waits for the WALK light. It’s less true (far less true) late at night in the streets of Kalihi, especially in these social distancing days, but pretty much I’m a stickler for crossing at the crosswalk, with the light. My writing partner teases me about it.

A hundred and thirty bucks is pretty steep, but I figure for as many times as I’ve gotten away with it without being cited, I was due, and it comes out to maybe ten cents per jaywalk total in just the past ten years.

I’ll say what I said when I got the trespassing ticket for walking through the parking lot at Honolulu Community College a few years ago. What I did was clearly illegal and I don’t deny it. But it’s pretty difficult to make the argument that it’s wrong.

I accepted the citation and continued with my walk. I mostly listened to new albums, Katatonia’s City Burials and I Am Abomination’s The Passion of the Heist II. Both excellent, excellent albums. My two favorite albums of the year so far.

I didn’t get home until around 3:30, with 14,000 steps logged. It’s the first day all week I went over the line within a single day (that is, not straddling two days). Not my best week walking for sure.

During the walk I stopped at a 7-Eleven and had an ice cream bar and a ham sandwich. That was dinner, then, so the leftover Korean veggies from lunch will wait until tomorrow.

The only other person I really connected with besides Sylvia and my parents was Crush Girl, who texted me to tell me she finally tried this takeout place we’ve been talking about for a couple of weeks. Sent me a photo. It looks delicious, but she said it was just okay. She’s looking forward to trying some of the other dishes there.

I have to say it really makes me happy when Crush Girl reaches out to me first. I’ve pretty much given up any hope of having a relationship with her, but our friendship is definitely a huge positive in my life, and it means something to me that perhaps she gets something out of the connection as well.

I’m wondering if the sleepiness is my brain trying to avoid the darkness. It happens. I mean, sometimes sleep is the darkness, you know? When it’s at its worst, which thankfully it hasn’t been for quite a long time, the symptom is very long amounts of time in bed. And let me say that the sleep I got throughout Saturday wasn’t satisfying in any way, which is characteristic of the avoidance sleep depression often brings.

I wasn’t really feeling yucky though, so maybe not. Maybe it’s the ‘rona.

It’s creeping up on 6:00 a.m. and I can hear the birds chirping excitedly outside my window. This is the latest I’ve been up since the lockdown began, not counting those mornings when I wake up at 2:30 to do the laundry. I’m not sure what this all implies for Sunday, but I’m going to bed, and when I wake up, I’m going to face the day full of ambition and drive.

I’m blessed to have parents who are getting through this pretty well, friends who bring me kale who also allow me to share my yeast, a Crush Girl to send me photos of what she’s eating, and only one jaywalking ticket after decades of crossing the street against the light. Here’s to more of it Sunday.

If for whatever reason you’re not feeling as blessed and you want to chat about it, I’m encouraging you to reach out. Let’s text or DM or IM and commiserate. I can give you advice on jaywalking; you can give me advice on paying for my jaywalking tickets. Or something!

Not going to proofread this one until sometime late Sunday morning or early afternoon. Don’t judge.

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