Lockdown: Saltwater therapy

Thursday was another short day even though it was kind of a long day.

I went to the beach after the laundry, and all the good parking was gone. I had to park on the other side of the drive-through, but at least it was close to the good spots. Though I planned to take a leisurely swim and just enjoy being in the water, I found myself doing an easy sprint for kind of a long time. It felt good. I went a little further than usual, then lingered in a nice wide-open space for a little while before coming in.

It was an especially nice morning, visually and physically. I could feel myself breathing out of every part of me, just getting bad air out and soaking good air in. I’m glad I took the time, because a few hours later, the mayor closed the beaches until at least September 5.

I had no way of knowing, of course. I stopped at one of the breakfast spots in my hood, picking up a pork belly omelette (pretty good) and a strawberry shortcake pancake (excellent). I kinda thought they might be breakfast and lunch, but my body burned right through the whole thing.

I had the 9:00 training on Zoom. It was okay. It was meant for development officers, and I don’t really know what they do, so a lot of it was way over my head. I stopped trying to follow everything and just grasped onto the things within my comprehension. It was difficult, but I was glad to be included.

For lunch I had the leftover pasta with the not-quite-enough gorgonzola. Didn’t even heat it up — just ate it cold right from the container.

I struggled with the stories I was trying to finish. It was a very warm afternoon, and I had a lot of trouble focusing, though I really tried. Around five I packed it in and went to bed. I was in bed by six or so, waking up a few times in the night, with the alarm set for 2:00 so I could get up and finish my task in the cool, quiet night.

I skipped dinner and I didn’t go for a walk. My body was still a little tired from the swim, tired but not achey. And it appreciated the early sleep.

Ali and I did quite a bit of texting, starting with a couple of funny photos we saw elsewhere and shared in text. We talked a little about the mayor’s edict, and I asked her if there was anything in Hawaii she missed that I could mail her. It was nice.

Crush Girl texted me just as I got into bed, so I stayed up a little longer just to have the conversation. I sent her a photo of the three new varieties of Lay’s chips I scored at Safeway. She sent me a link to a review of a spot in Manoa that apparently has a killer lobster roll.

I think that was about it. A day that started very early and ended very early without a whole lot to make it remarkable besides a good swim and a new lockdown. The beaches and parks have reverted to the restrictions we had in March. Great. I can still go to the beach, but I’ll have to park at Kewalo and walk over. It’s not really that big a deal, but I’ll have to beat the surfers to the parking, which means I’ll have to get there very early.

Don’t forget to hit me up if you’re looking for a little bit of pandemic connectivity. This thing isn’t going anywhere any time soon, despite what certain elected officials would like us to believe. Reach out if you need to or want to.

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