I am happy that I write these memories for posterity.
This afternoon I read some entries to see where I was on this day in recent years. I was hoping I could justify sleeping in and being a home body most of the day, save for doing some laundry and walking to the river. I've got plans with family tomorrow, and I'm tired from working, so today seemed as good a day as any to take it easy, but reading about recent years made me feel even better.
A year ago I worked a really long day. That's nothing new. All I wrote in my journal was that it was a "great day" and that I had "new classes next week." All I remember is that I taught in the morning, part of the afternoon, and late in the evening, until 10 pm.
2 years ago I was sitting in traffic for more than an hour, trying to go across the bridge from Oakland to San Francisco, which is usually a 25 minute commute on the train, but thanks to the train strike, I had to drive, along with everyone else driving who would normally take the train, and it took 80 minutes to get to work. Afterward, I went to my old home in San Francisco, cleaned it up, and got my security deposit from my landlord. Then I said one last good bye to the 101 highway I had lived alongside for six months. Broadway is noisy, but I feel good about it in comparison.
3 years ago I woke up in an empty field. In Nebraska. I once met a girl from Nebraska. The last time I had talked to her, she'd royally chewed me out. As you can imagine, I didn't really want to be in Nebraska very long, and especially not completely alone in a deserted field. I swear there was nothing there, except for my car, that is. I had spent the previous evening being hassled by park police for filling up my water in a free picnic area, driving around after 1 am looking for an entrance to a federal grassland surrounded by barbed wire fencing along the highway, and trying to get just far enough away from the wildfires I saw burning in the distance. I slept in the car, because I felt strange sleeping in a field outdoors so close to a highway.
I eventually drove to Denver, but because my friend had been fighting with her boyfriend and couldn't offer me a place to stay, I once again found myself driving around after midnight, up into the mountains near Boulder, searching for a place to park. I almost tore up the bottom of my car driving over large rocks. Soon it became scarily steep, as I was driving mostly downward at a snail's pace because the bumpy rocks were so large, and searching for a spot in vain because everybody had snatched one up for the holiday weekend. It was yet another one of those nights just wishing I could lay my head down, but instead I had to be more focused than ever, or who knows... I finally decided to sleep in an area that said no parking but seemed remote enough. It was the third straight night I'd slept behind the wheel of my car.
Tonight I'm happy to have a room and a bed, and to be able to see family tomorrow.
If you've had a tough, hard or rough experience today, my thoughts are with you, and I encourage you to remember a brand new day is on the way!
This afternoon I read some entries to see where I was on this day in recent years. I was hoping I could justify sleeping in and being a home body most of the day, save for doing some laundry and walking to the river. I've got plans with family tomorrow, and I'm tired from working, so today seemed as good a day as any to take it easy, but reading about recent years made me feel even better.
A year ago I worked a really long day. That's nothing new. All I wrote in my journal was that it was a "great day" and that I had "new classes next week." All I remember is that I taught in the morning, part of the afternoon, and late in the evening, until 10 pm.
2 years ago I was sitting in traffic for more than an hour, trying to go across the bridge from Oakland to San Francisco, which is usually a 25 minute commute on the train, but thanks to the train strike, I had to drive, along with everyone else driving who would normally take the train, and it took 80 minutes to get to work. Afterward, I went to my old home in San Francisco, cleaned it up, and got my security deposit from my landlord. Then I said one last good bye to the 101 highway I had lived alongside for six months. Broadway is noisy, but I feel good about it in comparison.
3 years ago I woke up in an empty field. In Nebraska. I once met a girl from Nebraska. The last time I had talked to her, she'd royally chewed me out. As you can imagine, I didn't really want to be in Nebraska very long, and especially not completely alone in a deserted field. I swear there was nothing there, except for my car, that is. I had spent the previous evening being hassled by park police for filling up my water in a free picnic area, driving around after 1 am looking for an entrance to a federal grassland surrounded by barbed wire fencing along the highway, and trying to get just far enough away from the wildfires I saw burning in the distance. I slept in the car, because I felt strange sleeping in a field outdoors so close to a highway.
I eventually drove to Denver, but because my friend had been fighting with her boyfriend and couldn't offer me a place to stay, I once again found myself driving around after midnight, up into the mountains near Boulder, searching for a place to park. I almost tore up the bottom of my car driving over large rocks. Soon it became scarily steep, as I was driving mostly downward at a snail's pace because the bumpy rocks were so large, and searching for a spot in vain because everybody had snatched one up for the holiday weekend. It was yet another one of those nights just wishing I could lay my head down, but instead I had to be more focused than ever, or who knows... I finally decided to sleep in an area that said no parking but seemed remote enough. It was the third straight night I'd slept behind the wheel of my car.
Tonight I'm happy to have a room and a bed, and to be able to see family tomorrow.
If you've had a tough, hard or rough experience today, my thoughts are with you, and I encourage you to remember a brand new day is on the way!
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