weekly check in
What a week its been. I took a three day weekend last weekend, had plans to go to a show with a friend in the Hudson Valley, decided a week before the show that it wasn't financially a good choice to make (hotels are expensive and they were unfortunately unable to host at the moment), and ended up spending a couple days in the the Pioneer Valley with my sibling instead. It was wonderful. They live in a rented farmhouse with about 4 other folks, and have a pretty big back yard with a garden and lots of woods. The day I drove in was very rainy and stormy, and I relented to convenience and took my smart phone for navigation purposes only so I could make sure to avoid driving south to Boston and the pike. Though now, after doing that, I now am slightly more comfortable knowing which of the many tiny highways I can use to get around. Saturday night was a chill night. We made chicken and broccoli, pasta, with some tomato sauce (a comfort food from our childhood), and just caught up. In the morning, after a breakfast of potatoes, drove up to visit the Bookmill in Montague, one of my favorite places, in search of the second Wheel of Time book. We didn't find it there, but we did have a good time browsing and a wonderful lunch in their cafe, before walking down to the stream behind. I had a roll of cheap Target Fuji film that I put in my Minolta X-500, and took a lot of photos that day (like I used to, without abandon, without trying to make a perfect photograph, just shooting). After, we drove to Northampton to check Raven books for The Great Hunt, and it was there! For only $6! Happy to have found it, we browsed around for a little bit and then went to the music store to look at guitars we couldn't afford. A Taylor rep was there and I said "I'm not in the market for a guitar, I have one I love, but I want to try something. Throw something at me" and he handed me a $5,000 koa wood acoustic that sounded and felt better than anything I've ever played before.
After, we drove back home, and said our good byes so I could get back across the state before it got really dark. It is getting really dark now, which I'm into. After getting used to it, of course. Something about the quick days makes everything feel a little cozier, maybe its because I don't feel as bad staying inside all day listening to records and watching tv and reading my books.
On Sunday, my sister Sarah came to visit in my new apartment, and we talked and walked around the new city (even though I've known this city well for my whole life) that I call home now. It was really nice seeing two of my siblings in the same weekend. We walked through the new Noguchi exhibit at the PEM and I was floored. It was incredible. I don't think I've ever seen his work in real life, and also somehow didn't think he did anything other than the lamps he was known for.
Tuesday I was back at work, and it wasn't a very good day. I guess this is part of getting older, but my body decided to hit me with a ton of heartburn, and having never experienced that before, I think I went into an anxiety attack and left work early to take myself to the emergency room. A few hours later, after they took an EKG, lots of bloodwork, various tests for things I didn't know needed testing, and lots of waiting with my mom, I was given a reassuringly clean bill of health and was recommended Tums or Pepcid. I've been feeling a lot better since, now that I know I'm okay. Thank god I have a good health insurance plan with this job.
The rest of the week has been good, comparatively. The rest of the work week was fine. I took off Wednesday to recover from Tuesday's excitement. I spent the whole day taking every record off my shelf and organizing them into a new system, something I have always found to be wholly relaxing. Of course, I still have a few stacks of records sitting around my living room, but they will eventually find their homes. Thursday and Friday were fairly normal days.
This month marks month 2 of my dumbphone journey! It going amazingly. The only things I have to get used to are navigation when driving somewhere new, and not being able to look up anything on the spot in any given moment. Its actually really nice. When I get that urge, I just sit with it, and eventually it passes and I realize, oh I really don't need to look that up right now. I have been taking a lot of little photos with the camera, and want to compile them into a little tiny zine of every day snaps.