Lockdown: They are new every morning

I continue to sleep terribly. I’m not worried just yet. I would like it to just stop, though.

If you know anyone who lives in Hawaii, you’ve probably already heard about how ridiculous and crazy the illegal aerial fireworks were New Year’s Eve. If you haven’t, do a YouTube search and you’ll certainly find several videos documenting the insanity.

Someone in my neighborhood — I’ve decided I don’t want to know who — likes setting off these enormous BOOMs from time to time in the middle of the night. They sound like they’re going off right over my house. No sparkles or candles or anything. Just BOOM. So I knew what I was in for.

The neighbors in general enjoy their fireworks, and this year was especially festive, people getting their good-riddances out, blowing 2020 out the door with red paper and black powder. I can’t say I blame them, and to each his or her own as long as nobody’s property is damaged (which happens somewhere on this island every year), but I would have preferred a much quieter night.

I’d considered all week the idea of starting 2021 with a sunrise swim, but after Thursday’s two visits and my overexertion, I knew it was best if I just let my body soak up as much rest as possible. I was out of bed around 9:00 on January 1 with definite plans for naps later.

I was thinking Taco Bell for breakfast with a bottle of Cava I picked up during Christmas shopping. I like Spanish wines but had never tried a bubbly. I quickly scribbled a list of to-dos for the day and took care of one item right away: called Mom and Dad to say Happy New Year.

Taco Bell serves breakfast until 11, and it was getting close. I got there with about thirty minutes to spare, only to discover it wasn’t opening January 1 until 11. So much for that plan.

Fine. I had other things scawled upon the napkin on my desk. Picked up a money order at 7-Eleven for the rent, then got back to Taco Bell to get some stuff for breakfast, only they were the lunch-dinner items. I figured I’d live, even if these days I far prefer the breakfast menu, while the regular menu has dimmed a bit.

I ate breakfast-slash-lunch and drank my Cava while reading the news and then my novel. Took a very long, glorious nap. I kind of lazed most of the day away until it got dark, and I realized I hadn’t done the stuff on the napkin. I still had time to redeem the first day of the year.

The big item was wrapping and packing the last of my Christmas gifts for the mail. Penny’s late gift, the one that I stupidly mailed to Kapio on Kauai. JB’s family in Virginia. My uncle in San Diego. I’d already paid for shipping labels and postage on it all, so all I had to do, once it was boxed up with the labels affixed, was drive it to the post office and slide it in the parcel drop.

It was a little late, so I saved the drive for Saturday morning. Then I kind of vegged for a few hours until forcing myself into bed at 3:30 in the morning. No, I don’t know why I didn’t just go to bed at half past midnight when I was finished with my tasks, except I hadn’t yet decided to do the mail drop Saturday — I thought I might combine a late trip with takeout from somewhere, only the more I thought about it the fewer my appealing options, and by then I was hungry, the Taco Bell feast only going so far with my metabolism.

So I made a bowl of instant ramen, a boring one with no additions except one egg and some rice vinegar. It was still delicious — if you’re paying attention, you’ll note it’s been months since I last had instant ramen.

There were a bunch of Happy New Year texts through the day, from my classmate Tiger, from Reid and Penny,. from Charles the Rock, from Jennifer, and from my uncle. I sent Crush Girl photos from both my beach visits, trying to nudge her into conversation but I knew she was busy and I never really got what I sought. It’s okay. She did mention she’d begun reading a book I think very highly of — one of those Newberys — and I asked her to let me know her thoughts when she’s done.

In addition to the two meals, I also had a slice of caramel apple pie sometime in the early evening. OH. I remember something else about the evening I mostly lazed away: my stomach was pretty upset about something. At first I thought it was hunger, but whatever my tum-tum wanted, it wasn’t caramel apple pie, because that just made it more upset. I tried to do the gift-wrapping feeling this way but it was really unpleasant so I went back to bed. THIS is another reason I was up so late. By the time I was feeling closer to normal it was already late, and the gift-wrapping took a while.

A nice combination of productive, lazy, gluttonous, ill, and wine-drunk to begin what must certainly be a better year, right?

Resolutions, next post.

Don’t wander the desert in solitude. If you need some connectivity, leave a comment and I’ll be happy to work something out so you have someone to send remedies for upset stomachs.

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