Rise at ~11:00am,
shower and shave and trim nails. Almost out of soap, I will have to visit the health-food store for a refill of Doc Bronner's peppermint liquid soap. I plan to do this today, but it cascades to tomorrow by nightfall.
Grocery shopping. I have needed fresh
smilk for weeks, and I actually feel like shopping today! Bread,
Sunday breakfast bagels and cinnamon buns, 2 glasses to replace the one (my only) that my
flatmate broke, coffee ("
french roast", my consistent favorite), cereal, a
stir-fry pan and some
tofu and veggies. You'd think I was
vegetarian or something, until we reach the
cold cuts. A pound of
cajun roast beef should dispel that notion.
I'm not vegetarian, I just hate cooking meat.
Around the house: I truly intend to paint the small bedroom, which I use for a big
junk closet but which would make a fine
guest room. In preparation, I completely empty it. Flatmate is trying to sleep off a
sick headache, so I refrain from vacuuming; instead I wash dishes, clean the stove, prepare the new
non-stick stir-fry pan by heating some olive oil in it, and rearrange my
pantry cabinets.
Then flatmate's sister arrives, we smoke a little and chat. I start getting
antsy for my friends Adam & Cris to call by about 5:00.
Night Out. I had proposed a movie, but we end up at the Montclair Book Center. Adam browses for-freaking-ever. I used to love
book shopping; since the most recent move, every book and CD is a reminder that
I have a problem with accumulating Stuff that I definitely don't need and often don't even use. I
almost buy a CD, I almost buy a book (twice), and I almost buy a magazine.
From the bookstore, we walk to a Mexican restaurant (
Mexicali Rose), with a 20-minute wait; while we wait, we check out a Thai restaurant (
Tup Tim), and stay there instead. I have iced
chi and
shrimp scampi (
it was in Thai on the menu, I swear), Adam has
duck with curry and pineapple, Cris has broccoli & tofu in curry. I have been asking them out for dinner for their April birthdays since April, now I can finally buy them dinner. They are going to
Milan for their wedding (neither of them is remotely Italian) in two weeks; Adam has at least 5 plans for "when we get back, we'll have to..." try the Mexican restaurant, go to the
Cloisters museum in Manhattan, visit our favorite Mongolian restaurant (
The Magic Pan in
Garwood), go
clubbing, etc.
Thoughts on my domestic burst of energy. I did something nice for me yesterday (visited the library), so today I'm
returning the favor. Rewards are important in self-motivation, how does it work when the reward precedes the desired behavior?