Monday, January 27, 2014

Monday night ambition

I haven't written much lately.  I'm inclined to invoke the admonition "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" in my defense.  The past few months have been grueling at work, and the resilience with which I normally meet those challenges seems finally to have been worn out.  It's definitely time for a break.  It might even be time for a different job.  

But gloom notwithstanding, I do have nice things to say.  In the past few weeks, I've seen some excellent plays, art exhibitions and a poetry slam.  I've made new friends and reconnected with old friends.  I've seen a few movies and eaten good food.  It's just that, with work, I haven't felt like I've had the time to even think about these experiences, let alone write about them.

And I've missed the writing.  I've missed the fun of looking for the stories in my daily life and sharing them with the people who care enough to read them.  So even though I really don't have enough time to craft a proper narrative right now, I'm going to say that these things happened tonight:
  • Dinner with Nicole at the Kennedy Center, followed by a chamber music recital with pianist Christoph Eschenbach and baritone Matthias Goerne performing Schubert's Die schone Mullerin (a musically enchanting, thematically distressing set of songs about a miller who loves a girl and then drowns himself when she doesn't reciprocate).
  • Bought airplane tickets for a lightning-fast weekend trip to El Paso at the end of February.
  • Signed up to run a half marathon while in El Paso.
  • Thought seriously about what I want to do when I grow up.
  • Avoided thinking about all the work I should have been doing instead of the foregoing.
These things motivate me and energize me, and they're part of the "good life" that I want to have:  I want to be a person who goes to a recital on a Monday night and flies across the country to run a half marathon with friends.  So maybe, if I can manage to actually take a meaningful vacation next week (when I'll be in Nevada and Idaho), I'll be recharged enough to make the most of these crazy plans! 

(Who would ever have thought that I'd go to El Paso twice within a year? Get ready for some more green chili!)

3 comments:

Ashley said...

I read everything you write... and I miss it when it's not there. I love your stories! Best of luck! (I have always wanted to be a lego designer when I grow up. Food for thought)

Mary said...

What is a poetry slam? (I hope you read that in the voice of the dowager countess, as it was intended!)

Anonymous said...

...and then just out of the blue, you go run a half marathon! Lady