random thoughts – Day 1,605 – (Friday) – sneakers and crown

It was another isolated, random vacation day and another day without a plan beyond sleeping until I woke up. Today, that meant dismissing the regular alarm at 6:15 and then waking up naturally at 8:00. The fitness watch declared I had enjoyed eight hours and 48 minutes of sleep. I do love sleep. Now, anyway. It wasn’t always the case.

It seems as if I’m reclaiming some of the sleep that was recklessly forsaken in my younger decades of being constantly busy, running on steady streams of caffeine plus adrenaline, and some people called me “our lady of perpetual motion.” Those days involved working two jobs, attending grad school, taking photography class, participating in art exhibits, and maintaining a social life, and I thought sleep was overrated.

Now, it’s one job, no extra classes, minimal social life, zero artistic inspiration, and it's more a case of near-perpetual stillness. If more time was available, I would enjoy a solid eight or nine hours each night, but writing, Duolingo lessons (1,488 day streak), Words with Friends, and reading creep into the sleeping time nearly every night. I have no idea how I used to pull off the high level of activity, but the key may have been to not ever think about it and just keep going.

Sneakers.

The day of leisure was spent (wasted?) searching for a local store from which I could find a certain pair of sneakers that keep appearing in the ads interrupting my Duolingo lessons. I liked them the first time I saw them, and by the hundredth time in a week, they were burned into my brain and now I must have them. This is clearly a demonstration of the power of advertising. Or propaganda. Or how, I can, eventually, be worn down.

No store was found to have them in stock, but they could be shipped to a store in four to seven days and then I could go to said store to pick them up. Of course, none of the stores are in Lowell. 

The big online retailers won again. Amazon was out of stock, but Zappos, which is owned by Amazon, had the sneakers at the same price as the shoe company and the brick-and-mortar retailers, with free delivery to my house tomorrow, plus, Rakuten is having a 10% cash back special and money will come back to me.

The Crown.

After all the research/shopping, there was reading for pleasure (The River is Everywhere by Emilie-Noelle Provost). The story involves a bad thing that happened (a drowning) and then a series of increasingly bad decisions. 

The book was set aside to watch the Netflix series The Crown, a party to which I have arrived eight years late (Thursday night, to be exact). Suddenly it was 3:00. Then 5:00. Then 9:00. The time kept jumping ahead much like the bunnies jump across the yard when startled.

Except for the time flying by so quickly, it was a nice day of sneakers and crown. And tomorrow, when the sneakers arrive, will also be a nice day.