1. I’ve switched to briefs.
Hey I said personal, didn’t I?
Had been buying boxer-briefs forever out of habit. Why? Why do I need half my thigh wrapped in polyester all day? I don’t. (Ex-Officio, black, medium, if you’re looking to do a screen-accurate cosplay.)
2022 Update: Back to boxer-briefs most days, but there are still briefs in the mix.
2. I followed my ex-wife on Twitter.
We’re talking more now. Just texts here and there, about dogs and TV shows and the world. It’s nice.
3. My folks are visiting soon.
They’re on a road trip! Isn’t that adorable? I love it. I called yesterday and caught them heading north through the Oklahoma panhandle.
Mom’s been going through treatment for a metastatic cancer. Back in the spring when it all started up it wasn’t a given that she’d be able to travel again. So, awful as the healthcare industry can be, I’m feeling grateful for modern medicine.
2022 Update: It was a very nice visit. The cancer came back aggressively, and Mom passed in 2018.
4. I’m writing a book.
There’s a contract and everything! If you design internet things you might like it and will surely hear about it. More later; don’t want to jinx it. One nice side effect is that it has me writing more overall. When I run out of steam on the book I just switch to something else. One bad side effect is that I’m hanging out in coffee shops many evenings to write, and I panic at the counter and end up ordering coffee, and then I drink it because it’s there, and then I’m nooooot sleeeeeepppppinnngggg wellllll because of the caffeine! Decaf, Scott. Ask for decaf.
2022 Update: Book’s real!
5. I’m single again.
This is getting old.
2022 Update: “All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again.“
6. I’m into yoga now apparently???
Got to get into something new when you get dumped. So yoga. Sort of. I have a mat. It’s yellow. I pull up YouTube videos and try to follow along except everyone goes too fast and acts like you have all of the positions memorized, even in the ones with titles like A GREAT VIDEO FOR LITERALLY THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE EVER DONE YOGA AND YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING but you do, you do need to know something. That they are liars.
I’m trying to work that don’t just stand, push back against the Earth vibe off of the mat (that’s how yoga people refer to the non-yoga world, “off the mat”) and it’s a good vibe.
7. I ran on an NFL field.
Did a 5K race last weekend and the course led through a tunnel into the new Vikings stadium, finishing on the 50-yard line. I was surprised at just how thrilling it all was. They had video set up to see yourself emerge from the tunnel on an enormous screen, and there were people cheering everywhere, and I high-fived a professional cheerleader.
The field felt smaller than I expected. I think my impression of the size of a football field is still tied to tackle football in 7th grade, when I myself was a good bit smaller. Set a personal record and took two Gatorades. Good race.
There’s a game today. My neighborhood’s already filling up with purple-clad people who prefer free parking and long walks to whatever the alternative is. An interesting day to be a football fan, I expect.
*** Originally published as List No. 29 of the 7x77 newsletter project.