Bionic Teutonic

I love living in the city. Normally it feels vibrant, creative, and full of opportunities. Other times (like, oh, say, today) it feels like you are running a guantlet of noise, traffic congestion, and crazy people. Take for example the guy this morning who was yelling at every passerby at the top of his lungs that they were all “fucking morons” and were all “out to steal his bread”. While I can’t verify the accuracy of the statement, the fact that he had a large piece of newspaper sticking out of his hair encouraged me cross the street before I became the object of one his pronouncements. I’m totally fascinated by people that are this stereotypically insane. I wonder what their perspective on themselves is. Do they ever stop and think “Holy shit. I’m totally bat-shit crazy”? I kind of doubt it, but I like the image of that guy with the newspaper sticking out of his hair having a random moment of lucidity, laughing about his own personal character eccentricities, then going right back to berating the public. I wonder if the cold weather we are having is somehow bringing the crazy people out of the woodwork. There sure seemed to be a lot of them this morning. I’m assuming life gets much more difficult for crazy homeless people when they have to deal with the cold as well as whatever hallucinations are chasing them.

Apart from continued work on the bathroom this weekend, I managed to take a break to go to the Stranger’s annual Genius awards on Saturday. For those of you not in Seattle, the Stranger is our local independent weekly, filled with sarcasm, humor, and some great writing thrown in. They also throw a swanky awards party. Free booze, people in various states of formal attire, and smartness oozing out of the people there. I think my favorite honoree of the evening was the literature Genius, Jonathan Raban. He seemed genuinely stoked to get the award and was just all around endearing. As he put it, “for a paper that is the arbiter of all that is young, hip, and cool in this city to give an award to somebody as old, unhip, and uncool as me I find totally awesome.” Me too. You ARE cool Jonathan Raban. The 20 something gay hipster next to me at one point asked “Do you think he’s single?” I am now going to go out and buy one of his books.

Getting close to being done with the bathroom. The final touches are taking longer than I was expecting and have been bringing out some sort of psychosis of perfection. I blame the German in me.

Also, this had me in stitches all morning.

So I’ve been reading about St. Paul the Hermit (don’t ask) and in every bio I read, it mentions that he became good friends with Anthony the Abbot. I’ve been totally obsessed about this all day. Hermits have friends? Doesn’t that sort of defeat the whole purpose? I wonder what kind of etiquette one needs to follow when one is the friend of a hermit. Can you just swing by for tea, or is that considered rude? Of course, I imagine a Hermit rarely leaves his cave (solitude being harder to come by when one does), so it’s not like you run in to him at parties or the grocery store. How else are you going to stay in touch? Did Paul ever feel the urge to pump Anthony for all the latest village gossip? (So-and-so just got married. So-and-so was fed to the lions last week, etc.). Did they ever just hang out and kick it? Perhaps their friendship was based on taking care of each-others errands while the other was undertaking 40 days of silence and fasting. And how does a hermit maintain their solitude and still feed themselves anyway? Maybe Paul was just putting up with Anthony because he needed somebody to bring food, perhaps an occasional bottle of wine. Maybe every hermit has a friend who they rely on in such as way. Also, when your friend the Hermit starts to smell a little bit, do you tell him? Because really, who else will?

OK, so I’ve been super busy with the bathroom lately and haven’t had much time to post anything. So, until I’m done, I will leave you with some music that my friend Brian and I wrote while I was living in L.A. Hope you enjoy.

For the last two days, I’ve been feeling slightly off. At first I thought I was getting a little sick (That scratchy feeling in the back of your throat. You know. That feeling) but it hasn’t developed into anything more. Perhaps I’ve just been inhaling too much drywall dust (I haven’t been consistent about wearing my mask, and even when I have, I can still feel it seeping in, so that’s definitely a possibility). I’ve also thought perhaps it’s just a high level of stress taking its toll. I’ve been craving chocolate lately too, which a very cursory internet search seemed to indicate could be a sign of stress. I don’t like feeling like I can’t pinpoint what is going on with my body, and therefore have no idea which lever to pull to make myself feel better. Foods have been having odd effects. You know how you can normally rely on certain foods to give you a sense of wellness? I’ve been trying to eat all those foods all day, but they have been leaving me feeling strange. I’m really looking forward to being done with the bathroom and having some time for myself again.

Eep, the slow creep of stress has invaded my existence the last week or two. I’ve been taking on extra responsibilities at work due to a coworker leaving, plus there is the home remodel, painting, and other various other stress inducing chores. I feel a little bit like the free time that I do have is a necessity in order to keep plowing forward. I’ve not been able to fully enjoy it as I’m aware that I must return to chores/work/whatever at 7:30 sharp! Yesterday, I found myself getting stressed out and generally peeved at my soccer game, which I normally find to be a stress reliever (I blame the referee). I also feel like kind of a baby for feeling stressed out. It’s not like I don’t have ANY free time, and sometimes I feel like my tolerance to stress is a little low, but on the other hand, it’s my sanity and personal well-being we’re talking about, which is important. Somewhere I read once that most people’s first insinct when faced with stress it to try and increase their tolerance to it, instead of avoiding introducing it in the first place. It’s a balance I suppose, and right now, I’m feeling a little lopsided. Stupid adulthood.