Folding the Fitted Sheet

It's the weekend, or so they tell me.  The calendar on my pocket computer says it's a Saturday, but after so many days/weeks of barely leaving home it's hard to tell a difference.  I've never been a big fan of "working a regular job" or "living on a regimented schedule," but a little structure is perhaps more necessary than even the most resistant to common societal norms would typically admit.  I do enjoy a regular paycheck when I'm not on unpaid leave, as is my current circumstance, and the older I get - the more I appreciate things like insurance, being able to afford new jeans, a subscription to mlb.tv so I can watch my beloved Cardinals play baseball (whenever that happens again), fancy natural peanut butter, so on, so forth.  This didn't come naturally to me. I'm as resistant to The American Way as they get.  But I do appreciate my creature comforts these days, and I'm with an incredibly strong and focused woman who wouldn't bother with someone that didn't have their shit together.  I choose to be equal to that, despite my free wheeling, stubbornly punk rock nature, and to fortify myself with intentional adultiness. It's a daily practice, like the yoga I've recently re-discovered.

As I stated in my first entry, shit is weird right now.  We moved to Los Angeles a month ago.  I was armed with a shiny new job as Market Manager for a pretty amazing hard kombucha company (the most LA thing ever), and we signed a lease for a nice one-bedroom apartment at the foot of the Hollywood Hills and Runyon Canyon.  This is my second time moving to the City of Angels, but I'm much older and probably wiser than I was the first go-round. Certainly I'm more driven to keep my head above water and make some damn money out here than I was 16 years ago. I was immature, even for my more formative age back then, and I didn't have the mojo to stay afloat. I also didn't have a car, so failure was imminent. The public transportation out here is about as effective as it is in St. Louis - my hometown - which is to say not very effective. Possibly even lesser so.

Anyway, so here we are. The notoriously congested streets are free and open to navigate should we have to take an anxiety ridden trip to the store. It's the entertainment capital of the universe, but all of the fun shit to do here is on indefinite pause. It's earily quiet, save for the more-than-occasional presence of police helicopters. For the most part, people (as disappointingly dim as we/they can be) have finally come around to embracing the social distancing thing. It took the mayor closing the beaches, trails and parks for it to really take hold, but it seems there are way fewer gatherings taking place - although our neighbors in the building next door did inexplicably have a mostly Madonna, 80's themed karaoke type party the other night.  The music was welcome and fun, but I couldn't help but think they were being incredibly stupid. Some peoples' kids, I tell you.  Gotta take their toys away before they fucking listen.

So yeah..  not exactly the way anyone would ever imagine being welcomed into a new city and new era of life. It feels like we moved into the upside down.  The only thing that really separates our experience from anyone else's is the timing of it all, and the fact that we have palm trees and mountains outside our windows. It's regrettable that we can't immediately enjoy all of the juice this city has to offer around every corner, but it hasn't been as much of a focus as one might think. The constant threat of this viral bully certainly has our attention, as it does for most everyone. Learning how to navigate this strange predicament is like trying to fold a fitted sheet. The mechanics of it are awkward and unfamiliar. When humanity collectively overcomes this world changing experience, those first trips to the bars and restaurants, hiking trails and beaches, friend's houses and parties in the hills - are all going to be so very sweet.  Music, fashion and art will reflect that feeling. Everything will taste better and look prettier, and I'm going to have better balance and a stronger core to greet it all with. I still can't fold a fitted sheet for shit though. Some things won't change.




Until next time - Stay safe, eat the ice cream and wash your damn hands.  Deuces.

-M

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