January 3 Diary
Awoke at 7:05—too early! I was up late last night for no good reason, just reading. Rolled over and thought about the day ahead. A Sunday, one last day of time off from work, so I’m forcing myself not to do anything. Taking the last few days off in the midst of the holidays seems to have had the needed effect. I am actually in some ways looking forward to getting back into work, at least to some extent. Dozed off….
Awoke again, 8:10. Felt stiff as I climbed out of bed and walked downstairs. Boiled water for tea, pulled a bagel from the freezer and popped in to the toaster. Not just any bagel—a real-life chewy New-York-City bagel. (I’d driven my daughter back to NYC during the week and her boyfriend grabbed us some bagels to bring home.). Started reading the morning news on my iPad. Politics—ugh, still a mess even after the election. Worried about the Georgia Senate vote even thought I don’t hold out much hope of the two Democrats pulling it out. Read an essay on the Hillbilly Elegy film, defending it to some extent. Read some sports news too. I’m looking forward to the evening football game where the Washington Football Team (no longer with the racist nickname) tries to qualify for the NFL playoffs. I’ve long been a fan of the team, since my family had season tickets when I was a kid, so that will be fun, even if they are not all that good this year and are just lucky to have a chance to qualify.
After reading, I make a list of a few things to grab from the grocery store. The list includes fruit, veggies, milk. B. adds to the list and I head out around 9:30. Before leaving I texted C. about going for a walk later. He replied and we set a plan to meet at 11. The store, Meijer, is fine, not too crowded, pretty much full mask compliance as far as I could see, which is not always the case. Hurried through, snatching the few things I’d need and headed back. Home by about 10:30, unloaded and put things away. I got teased for buying the ingredients for one of the few meals I tend to prepare: tacos. But they’re great—easy to make, people can tailor their servings to their tastes (M. is a vegetarian), and they are, or can be, pretty healthy.
Texted C. to adjust meeting place and push it back to 11:10—running a bit late. Headed out and met up near the river. Walked for about 90 minutes, chatting about all sorts of topics—chiefly sports, politics, family, and work.
Checked my phone’s step counter when I get home. Already over 9,000. Good! I need to do some extra walking to make up for the driving I did midweek, when I barely moved at all.
After arriving home around 12:30, I spent some time in the yard pulling down Christmas lights. As usual it’s a slightly sad exercise, marking the end of the holidays. I find the winter in Indiana especially gloomy, since we so rarely see the sun. Now that things have warmed up, we don’t get that much snow either, it seems, so it’s not a very appealing time. After the lights are down, I replace the windshield wipers on our car, and clean out our back porch. Listened to a pair of sports podcasts while I worked, prepping for that evenings WFT game.
Lunch around 1:30, not many options despite my trip to the store. Made a green salad and had that with some crackers and cheddar cheese, followed by an apple. Read some more news via Twitter, seeing that Trump was still trying to cheat to win the election. I hope his ridiculousness and his inevitable defeat breaks this fever. Kept reading for a while after eating—mostly the NY Times and Washington Post.
Around three realized I had to do another store run because I’d forgotten a few things. Ran out to Payless, closer, quicker. Dashed in and out, and back home around 3:30.
I was feeling pretty tired by now, so I retreated up to my office/exercise room (created for the pandemic), put my feet up and watched some of the football (Giants-Cowboys). Not that interesting, and I really want both teams to lose. Maybe a tie with a few minor injuries. Switched over to the Colts but that seemed a mismatch. Checked my step count: 11,450! That’s good.
Browsed Twitter while watching—more on politics, and I could feel my blood pressure increasing. This is truly what political scientists who specialize in authoritarianism call an autocratic attempt and it didn’t end on election day. I put my iPad down before I threw it against the wall. Was feeling pretty tired and ended up dozing off (the football was bad and boring).
Drifted in and out before fully waking up around 5:45. I decided some light exercise would wake me up. Peddled on my bike for a few minutes and did a series of core exercises and push-ups. (I miss going to the gym during the pandemic. That is one habit I will definitely resume when it’s over.)
After a quick shower I went down to fix dinner around 6:30. B. then informed me that I’d gotten the wrong beans—refried instead of regular. We (me, B., M.) agreed to a “fend-for-yourself” night and I’d make my veggie tacos another night in the coming week. I decided to drink a beer and watch the last few minutes of the Colts game, which they pulled out after making it closer than it should have been.
My backup meal was a home-made pizza on naan crust, which I prepared and then finished eating at 8. Chatted with B. and M. as they prepared their own food. Joked about my cooking limitations, which are substantial. My plan for the evening was just to watch the Washington Football Team against the Eagles. WFT needed to win to make the playoffs, despite its poor record.
WFT jumped out to an early lead but I wasn’t overly confident. That was the proper stance as the Eagles came back to make it close. This happened even though the Eagles were not actually trying to win. Most of their top players were not playing and the coach benched the starting quarterback, putting in a backup who struggled mightily. WFT was not impressive, but managed to hang on for the win. Good thing they weren’t playing a team that was trying. I texted an old college friend who was a Giants fan and apologized. (The Giants would have made the playoffs if WFT lost.). Headed to bed when the game ended.
All in all, a low-stress day, as planned. Tomorrow will be different. I wrapped up my day off by reading a little of a sci-fi novel I’d started over Christmas and then fell asleep.