A year ago, I weighed more than I do now. First, I went dry in January. A month later, a friend gifted me an exercise bike. After a few months of neighborhood long walks, I got on and started pedaling. Since then, logging helps, but a number trend isn’t what matters to me. #mbnov
I had my motivation handed to me this evening as soon as I got a microphone on my hand. A lovely song was all I needed to hear. Sadly, it was first sung by someone I hadn’t thought about in years, and who I’d only learned a day or so ago had passed away quite recently. What would that leave? An opening, empty space, and one of many things left behind to revisit. #mbnov
For the third straight night, it’s mall restaurant takeaway: a couple of orders of chicken boti kabob for me, and a Tandoori chicken leg and some chicken kabobs for A., which she finds spicier than ones she sometimes gets at one of her lunch spots. Commitment can be tasty. #mbnov
We spent Black Friday as one does: questioning colonialism, debating war and disease and nation-state folly and thinking about grievance as fuel for grudges instead of justice. After a possible second viewing, there’ll be further fodder to interrogate social ritual roles. #mbnov
Working on a holiday meant staying in until we finally got too hungry. All the local eateries were closed, except the Pakistani-Indian restaurant at the mall a few blocks away. On my way there, closed doors at our nearby strip mall’s venues managed to retain their charm. #mbnov
I’m behind on time but still in time, more than ready to take a few days off work but still signing up for an extra shift when the opportunity presents. I’m a few days behind on journaling too. Most importantly, I’m thinking hard about how to update my tools and platforms. #mbnov
A visit to the old neighborhood is no longer a full meal, not that it was ever a buffet. No matter how long one lived there, there’s always bits and pieces to which one won’t be privy. These days, I graze. I pick up what fits on my plate, place it with care and move along. #mbnov
These days, ice isn’t something I put in my drinks to cool them. More often than not, it comes to mind as initials: the internal communication engine, or the Inter-City Express high-speed trains between German cities. “Der ICE ist auf gleis zwei,” as Duolingo keeps saying #mbnov
Some things I do because I don’t mind, it’s no imposition. Some things I do with the ease of knowing they mean danger I can’t see, but also protection for others. I may never get used to their strangeness, their uncanny reflections of our world, so long as I repeat them. #mbnov
Looking forward to picking up a couple of friends for today’s book club. We’ll talk about last month’s pick: “Certain Dark Things” by Silvia Moreno Garcia. Club members enjoyed her “Mexican Gothic” novel last year. A. and I will bring pupusas from a local grocery to share. #mbnov
