Late start…
Got a really late start on the book today, mainly due to my doorbell going off last night.
It was about midnight, and I probably crashed on the couch at about 10:30 p.m., to ensure that I would wake up early, hit the gym, and be in book mode by 8 or 9 a.m.
The doorbell starts ringing, someone just holding it in, and then hitting it repeatedly. This happens often as my apartment number sounds similar to the apartment on the ground floor, so there are always food delivery people and people looking to, umm, well, let’s just say one effect of marijuana might be impaired hearing. And you might push the doorbell frantically if you were trying to score some more late at night.
I stumble into the hallway, clearly coming out of some advanced dream state, and I have no clue how to make the doorbell stop. I recall fumbling for the nearby kitchen lightswitch, but then realizing I don’t want to wake up anymore than I already am. I look out the pepphole, no one there (always want to make sure someone is trying to just get into the building and not my apartment). Finally, my mind pieces together how to buzz someone in, and that’s the end of the ordeal.
There is almost never a case of someone actually coming to my door when they are buzzed in. It is always other tenants who locked themselves out, and usually people who want the people on the ground floor.
But for some reason, my system flooded with adrenaline, and I couldn’t fall asleep again until 3 a.m. It wasn’t a good awake feeling, more like a bit of insomnia, where sleep was desired but unobtainable.
I still woke up around 6:30 a.m., but knew from how I felt that it would be a bad idea to stay awake and try to push through the day, so I went back to sleep, and woke up at around 9:30 a.m., at which point I would normally have already had breakfast, worked out, showered, and been into book editing mode.
Of course, nothing preventing me from just sliding things around and still crossing everything off my list, which is what I’m doing, but it was still freaky.
My schedule is something that does seem to come up a lot, in that people don’t really think of it as a schedule. The perception seems to be that I just sit around and get to do nothing all day. And, I do understand how that perception could exist, although it doesn’t quite represent the truth.
Recently someone asked me when I was free for dinner, and I told them that I had nothing at all on my calendar for the next three and a half weeks, so just book whatever they wanted, and just let me know when they wanted to get together. No need to go back and forth on days and times, whatever is good for them works for me.
Now, this could easily be misconstrued as my having nothing to do, were it not for the fact that it takes a lot of work to keep a schedule this free. Personally, I think filling my schedule up with dinners and hanging out and everything else would be ten times easier. There is no discipline in doing everything. I don’t initiate a lot of events anymore. I skip a lot of concerts that I would have definitely gone to in the past. Touring broadway shows are skipped far more often than attended these days.
My schedule is kept wide open because I want there to be space in which I can move around. Right now, in my refrigerator, there are probably a dozen already-prepared, already-portioned meals in containers. There are also salad fixings. This means I can have dinner within five minutes of wanting it. Grocery store runs are attached to other times when I am out running other errands. When I do coo, it is usually 2-3 dishes at once, resulting in a fridge full of containers.
Basically, it is a LOT of work to have a schedule this open. But given how most people do things, it isn’t surprising that it is interpreted incorrectly.
Not to mention, a lot of the stuff that does occur during the day are things I consider to be part of my workday. So, if I am reading, it isn’t that I’m not working. Reading is a fundamental requirement to get better at writing. This isn’t the same as most people reading for entertainment, although it does entertain me, as well.
Even going out for an afternoon walk can be a good way to refresh myself for another round of writing. I would say that I have three or four writing sessions per day lately. Probably hitting about 6 or 7 hours total. In between, I work out, watch a movie, read a book, go for a walk, run some errands.
But it is always clear to me when I am done for the day, and when I’m taking a break, and until I’m done for the day, the book occupies the majority of my thoughts.
I guess it’s just frustrating when you get that sense of people not respecting my schedule, or even thinking I have one. Sure, it is very flexible, but that is why I like to know what is happening in advance, so I can make sure all of my checklist items for the day get done.
It is similar to when people ask me what my next job will be. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am applying for work right now, but again, there seems to be that underpinning of not taking what I do seriously. That I’m here on vacation from reality.
Oh well… not really much I can do about this stuff aside from continuing to work on the book. Which is what I’ll be doing right after clicking "Post" on this.
