Okay Thursday.
Thursday is already a blur and it’s only Friday night. Evidence that if this is important to me, I need to log this stuff with minimal delay.
Breakfast was overnight oats. I kind of skipped lunch because I had breakfast a little late, and I kind of dragged it out all morning. I had turkey chili with brown rice for dinner, and I made a loaf of bread in the bread machine. Had that for a late snack. Somewhere in the middle were a handful of Kettle potato chips, the Bourbon BBQ flavor. They were yummy.
Traded quite a few texts with JB, who asked me if I could help him find some poetry to read. You know I love a question like this. My usual response is to ask someone some poems they remember enjoying (not as many people say Shel Silverstein as you’d expect; I wonder if people feel silly naming him), and go from there.
He said he liked “The Raven” and some other poet I hadn’t heard of. So I started him on “The Charge of the Light Brigade” and “The Highwayman.” He liked “The Highwayman.” Then I shared “Reflections on a Gift of Watermelong Pickle Put Up by a Friend Called Felicity” and “The One Girl at the Boys’ Party.” He was pretty amped and wondered why he never got into poetry before. I resisted the urge to say, “Because you didn’t have me as a teacher.”
Also traded texts with Crush Girl, which was nice. I called mom and dad on the phone. They seem to be in good spirits, although I can tell my mom’s getting a little restless.
I skipped the walk so I could get up early Friday for another try at Ala Moana. More about that in a few hours.
Work was pretty productive. I didn’t get those revisions on the proposal done until very late, like around 11:30 in the evening. It was slightly distressing as I was trying to get to bed early. But I feel pretty good about the work. Haven’t heard back from the fundraiser yet for feedback, but I kind of expected that. It’s a holiday, after all.
The mayor of Honolulu declared a “pilot” curfew for the long weekend. 11:00 in the evening until 5:00 in the morning, beginning Friday evening and ending Monday morning. He’s worried the Easter weekend will be too tempting for people who are already incapable of social distancing. Nobody on the roads for the entire island unless they’re driving to get medicine or driving to or from work!
Luckily, the police chief says if you’re out on foot, you’re probably okay. She just doesn’t want anyone on wheels. I’m about to test this when I go out for a nice long walk in a moment.
The mayor also said he and the police are ramping up their enforcement of the stay-home mandate by hitting the beaches hard. We’re still allowed to go into the water, to cross through parks and across beaches to get to the ocean. We just can’t linger. Can’t hang out. Can’t congregate. His edict was accompanied by a slide with an illustration of the beach. Crossed out with red Xes were a couple of beach chairs and several peaches. “No peaches on beaches,” he said, which is incredibly clever for this mayor. He was either really inspired or he’s got a pretty good writer on this team.
Hawaii’s new cases continue to hold at about the 25 new cases per day line. I’m trying not to be encouraged by this, but I’m encouraged.
I’m so grateful for a three-day weekend. Spent today taking it easy, if you can call writing my first film review in MONTHS taking it easy. I swear, sometimes it’s like opening a vein. I struggled with it all day and it’s still not very good. And then I had to lie down for a couple of hours after.
I might have to do a review every day, even if it’s a short one, to get those muscles back into shape. It shouldn’t be this difficult but I think that part of my writing brain is atrophied.
It took me four days to watch The Lighthouse twice. Partially because of business. Partially because of lack of attention span. I’m okay with this. On my walk this evening I’m going to decide what to watch next!
Hey listen. The news has been optimistic these past couple of days, but I think we’re at least three weeks from really being optimistic. If that’s a challenge for you, please reach out. I don’t know why, but I’m handling this pretty well — it’s almost as if I’ve been practicing for it for years. Get in touch if you could use some encouragement. And no peaches on beaches!