A Rather Pleasant Day.

Today was the kind of Sunday I really enjoy. I caught up on some sleep, cleaned up my apartment, read a few news stories, prepared a talk I have to give twice next week, prepared both an omelette and a sandwich (two of my favorite things in the world), had a long conversation over Skype with my father, listened to a great deal of good music, saw a few things that made me smile and finished Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata. Most significantly, I did not walk anywhere at all.

In truth, the talk took longer than I planned. I had intended to work on some writing for another project as well, meaning I have more to do tomorrow morning. However, I feel so refreshed and contented, it is hard to worry about that now. A day like today makes me think of how I used to spend Sundays in my past life. In the morning, I would take the dog for a walk. We would deviate from our normal route to grab a cappuccino with a bran muffin for me and some citrus bread with a hot chocolate for Amber from Peet's Coffee (world's best coffee and pastries ... believe it). Then, during breakfast we would sit on the couch, share bites with the dog and watch a movie from our Netflix queue. Depending upon whether or not I had chosen the movie, I could also peruse my Economist or New Yorker from that week. Then, I could give my weekly call to my parents, friends and grandparents and still by around 10:30 AM or so, sit down at my desk in the bedroom to do a bit of work for a few hours. Amber would go to church, work, organize, clean, deal with grad school applications or just relax a bit more. Later, we would have a late lunch, run errands, make dinner or possibly have dinner with friends or family. All in all, it was not exciting, but rather comforting, productive and enjoyable.

Though they were simple and uneventful, those Sundays linger in my mind as an ideal, haunting the emptiness and disorganization of those spent alone or in an unfamiliar place. It is odd how hard it is to find a routine when you live by yourself. Theoretically, you should be able to set your own schedule and hence establish a routine more easily, but any plans you make are really empty promises to yourself or set by some outside party based on their schedule as well. There is not the stabilizing force of someone else's schedule, habits, needs and wants interacting constantly with yours. In the parlance of my particular craft, the other person acts either like a confining potential for your energy or perhaps there is some sort of nonlinear interaction between two individuals that leads to the focusing of both energies. Alone, you are left more to your own whims, adrift in the vast sea of responsibilities and interests you have before you that day, meaning you often search for the motivation and wind up wasting away a day on only one or two items that require the least effort. Fortunately, today was not one of those days.