AC slug

I’ve been worthless today and yesterday, loitering around my own house, playing poker online and watching old TV series at hulu.com. It’s supercool.

Robert’s gone to do a sleep study, so it’s just me and the monsters tonight. I’m 20 miles away from everything and bored. I should be writing. I should be cleaning the kitchen. I should be doing laundry. I should be doing a lot of things. But I’m an AC slug.

When I was a kid my parents would turn the AC off to get us up and outside in the summer. Such a vicious, effective tactic! I guess I could parent myself and turn off the AC and make myself do work, but we all know that’s not going to happen.

I’m reading Old Friend from Far Away by Natalie Goldberg. It’s all about writing the personal memoir. I think it’s narcissistic to be writing one’s memoirs, but, shit, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing on paper for 18 years, online for 6.

She writes beautifully, and there are all these great exercises designed to jog your memory. It’s emotional, the kind of book you have to take a break from, which I guess is what I’ve been doing. Very interesting. Here are some examples of her writing prompts:

Give me a memory of sound. Try not to use the word sound in your writing.

Give me a memory of the color red. Do not write the word “red” but use words that engender the color red when you hear them: ruby, apple, blood.

I just watered the flowers, which are barely hanging on in this oppressive heat. I’m hosting a Mary Kay party at my house for Nancy, my friend from college who never wore makeup. Never thought Nancy would be a Mary Kay rep, but babies change everything. I’m going to string these cool lights around the back deck. They are just clear christmas lights with miniature chinese lanterns over them. They look so cool!

I’ll get a bouquet of flowers and finger foods, drinks. Besides cleaning, I guess that’s it. Not a party hoster, so it’s all new to me. Robert knows all about it, coming from such a big family. I’m learning.