2 cups of coffee down, and I'm still waking up - guess I shoulda gone to bed earlier? - but I also have to start in on some major projects, so maybe that's making me a little worn out in advance... not that I mind doing these projects. It's still a bit daunting - always a bit daunting - getting started.
But I love being home.
I always have. My mom gave me the above little side table, and seriously, what one piece of furniture can do to make a room THAT MUCH MORE inviting. I'm getting closer to my dream of epic midcentury kitsch decoration. ...Though mostly I just want things to look homey and full (though not necessarily over-full... I think that would be stuffed). Since I don't really buy a lot of furniture, or wall art, or other decorative things, it's often slow-going. And why don't I buy a lot of such things? Too busy spending money at thrift stores on clothes and stuff. Someday I will branch out a bit, house-wise. Will still be thrift about it. But a used dress is $10. A used table is usually, like, $50.
And I need to have time to write, and read, which means I need to spend the summer working less (job-wise), which I am DOING, and I consider it an AWESOME INVESTMENT!!!
Last week I read seven plays, and a great playwriting book. I made a writer page on Facebook, largely for my students, so I could let them know about things I've found, read, etc. But it is for anyone so interested in my theatre-and-writing goings-on and thoughts. (In addition to here, of course. And conversation. And elsewhere.)
It is a weird summer, weather-wise, but this doesn't bother me. I'm wearing a sweatshirt right now. And socks. I don't care. Cleveland is strange. I like it.
I really do.
I like the Cleveland Play House's old building, now owned by Cleveland Clinic. I do wish it was being used as a theater, still, but I get it. At least CC hasn't torn it down. And I hope they won't. They keep some great old buildings. And raze others. And I don't know the reasons, so I'm not really opinionated on it. Unless they raze this one.
ALAN ALDA PLAYED HERE, for crying out loud. I just got a tear in my eye, thinking about it.
Theatre. Ahhhhh. Well, I've been working on a one-act, which is a good project to kind of mess around with off-and-on. And I have my commission. And when the summer is over I'll start in on a few other projects that I've been dying to do.
And of course I always am trying to work on my book-length epic work of fiction. By trying I mean I actually do work on it. I'm very close to re-starting it. This is why I'm blogging right now, because I'm scarily close and therefore I'm scared.
I might take a walk to wake up. Sirens aren't as frequent during the day. I will walk past my current neighborhood favorite discovery.
Why yes, yes that is a cherry tree.
I walked past it and saw red dollops of fruit on the ground and was like, Is that a crabapple? And I looked up. And down. And up. And scratched my head. And concerned the neighbors who might've been looking out the window. But yes, it's a cherry tree. A huge one, at that. ...At least, I'm pretty damn sure it is. I better go take a look and double-check.
Why is this important? Why does it matter? Because fruit grows on trees. It's like on Return to Oz, when Dorothy finds the lunchpail tree. I just think it is SO COOL. And honestly, novel. I want one. Someday.
Right now I have coat trees and clothes racks that DO NOT WITHSTAND THE PRESSURES of their lifestyle in my home. In efforts to keep my listing formal-rack from listing its way to the floor I ended up causing it to collapse. Which is standard clothes rack behavior, I know, but I don't really have another option right now. So I hacked the life out of the problem with this life hack:
If it's even a life hack. I don't care. But I opened the "closet" door and propped the rack against it and all is well, and now I can see myself in my mirror again (on the other side), if that's what I want. Sometimes I don't.
Because I'm not really Wearing Things of a great variety as previously mentioned, like, two weeks ago or something crazy like that.
I'm writing. At my desk. At one of them. I really like this desk. And you know what else I like? Essential oils. I will probably devote a sole post to them but right now, I'll just say that my sister wanted me to get some and I did because she wanted me to; and while I did believe her in that they are A Very Good Thing, I really really really like that fact that I now am living with A Really Good Thing. Mostly I just find them making me feel better. Even when I feel ok. You know I love candles and perfume, but for whatever reason, lavender, peppermint, citrus, geranium, etc., wafting through the air, does a whole lot more for me. Aromatherapy rocks. It really does.
Alright. I feel more awake now. For real. Back to work.