I’m multitasking. I am trying to absorb as much TV and Radio as possible and simultaneously typing my Blog. Currently it’s an episode of Trading Spaces which I miss terribly and some vague and indiscernible piece of music playing on a radio station that I can, also, not identify. I’m big on having background noise while I read, work etc.
We arrived in Illinois on Wednesday night and I went straight to sleep at 6 p.m. I awoke at 3 a.m. on Thursday morning full of energy, only to find little food in the house and the sudden realization that breakfast would be at least 2 hours away when the Kingsway opened.
I decided not to attempt to adjust to the time change, I decided to 'just do it'. This well-thought-out plan seemed to be working out fine and with no ill effects until yesterday afternoon when I was driving through town and came to a 4-way stop and stopped. Yes. That was good. The problem was that I forgot to keep going after that. I think I was waiting for a green light (?), but perhaps I really just fell asleep. I turned to see the woman at the cross street looking at me with arms raised in the obvious question ‘what the hell are you waiting for’. I moved on at that point but then wondered how long I had actually been there. Frightening. You should all consider yourselves quite lucky to be at work while I’m on the road.
Today is to be devoted to shopping and errands. Those who know me would think that this is a wonderful treat for me, but in fact, it’s not. I’m not shopping for fun, I'm shopping with a purpose and goal in mind and it’s really more like work. While still in France I, in all my anal-ness, created a shopping list. A shopping list in Excel. Yes with columns and formulas and colors and... and all that is missing is colorful 3-D pie charts. I first broke the list down by store. I listed items under the store in which I would purchase the item. Then I color coded the items on each list in 4 colors to signify level of importance. Then I 'shopped' on line to price out each item. I then put in formulas to give me a total for level one, then a total for level 1 plus level 2 items and so on, so that I could have a cost estimate by priority and also by store. (If I'd had time I would also have gotten dimensions for each item to ascertain whether it would all fit in my suitcases or not. Alas, time ran out)
So while shopping I’m supposed to, in theory, stick to the list. There are two reasons for this. First, obviously, is cost, but more importantly, I may have space issues. I brought my giant suitcase and inside it I put a smaller suitcase. I therefore have only two suitcases to put all this stuff into; this brings me to the next part of my traveling anomaly.
I packed lightly. Unbelievable but true. I arrived for a weeks visit without the usual 12 outfits and 6 pairs of shoes. I know La is reading this and laughing in total and complete disbelief, because she has seen many a time how I really travel. I packed exactly 2 ½ outfits and 1 pair of shoes (well 2 if you count the ones I was wearing.) I have to launder clothes every other day, but I damned well will be bringing every item on the list back to France with me.
One of the items on my list is my favorite coffee from Borders. Holiday Traditions. I went in to Borders today and CJ told me that he had just put it out a few days ago. I snatched up 6 bags of the stuff and asked him to grind it for me. (I hate having my coffee pre-ground, but my coffee grinder doesn’t work well on French electricity) CJ ground the coffee for me while I browsed. When he was done he came over to tell me that Borders is running a promotion where you get 1 cup of free coffee with every bag you buy. I thought cool, that’s 6 cups of coffee. That’ll last me the whole week I’m here.
“No, the coupons are good only for the day of purchase.”
“I love coffee CJ and I drink a lot, but even I couldn’t drink 6 cups in one day. But I’ll try”
I’m reading Douglas Adams’ The Salmon of Doubt again for probably the 10th time. It’s a compilation of stories, articles, quotes and ideas that were gleaned from his beloved Mac after his death. Have you read it? I highly recommend it. It’s of course in true Adams style, humorous, but also thought provoking and in a way sad. Sad because he’s gone and we will never be able to benefit from his quirky point of view again.
I’m quite frankly exhausted beyond all belief. This ‘just jumping into the new time’ idea is so far not working out for me. Oh, I’m doing it, but around 3 or 4 in the afternoon I find my mind keeps trying to shut down.
I want to see and talk with as many people as possible while I’m here because that’s what I miss the most. I know that La and Z and my Mom will never forgive me for not taking advantage of the weekend ‘Netsaver’ but I just couldn’t get on another plane, even if you put a gun to my head. I promise to spend at least 2 weeks with you in the summer though ok. I don’t actually want to be in France in August when the French seem to all lose their minds.
So far the oddest thing about this visit is people asking me what I’ve been doing in France. I’ve been there two months, and though I know they don’t mean it that way, I keep feeling that I must justify my existence there. That if I can’t account for every minute productively, I’m squandering an opportunity. I, however, cannot account for every minute productively. S and I have our weekend excursions, but the weeks are by and large dominated by domestic activities, Blogging and large, copious and mind boggling amounts of reading.
I haven’t read this voraciously in years. I used to read like this years ago when I had time. I had gotten out of the habit but I’m making up for it now. All those books I kept buying and stacking on my nightstand to read when I had a few minutes have now been read. Even the truly bad and completely unreadable books have been read, because I didn’t want to squander a single precious and rapidly dwindling word. I spent a small fortune on books (as well as coffee) at Borders yesterday because even though I can order from Amazon.com in France, the shipping is the price of another book and I cannot bear the loss.
Must sleep now.
