I took care of a wedding present today. Just walked into Wms-Sonoma, bought a couple hundred dollars worth of knives, had them gift-wrapped and shipped. Left. Paid cash. It felt great.

Came home from work, curled up in bed and napped for a few hours.  Got up at noon and went out to lunch at Zaidy’s Deli with my wife.  Then we went to 3 bookstores.  It was a great day. 

(She didnt find the book she wanted.)

I’ve been sleeping in short bursts lately, and it actually feels pretty good.  It leaves me with no energy to do hardly anything, so I get the pleasure of being lazy.  Today it was all I cld do to walk 3½ blox to buy some cookies from the Greek guy…and some Circus Peanuts, which I got cause apparently I’ll eat anything in one of those celophane 2/$100(or 59¢ ea.) packages and cause I’d never had them before.  They’re disgusting.  He didnt have change fer my twenny so he let me owe him a dollar. 

We’ve got three fans running, but at 86° it’s noticeably cooler than the 92 or so we’re used to.  Chilling out on a long Sunday afternoon with my baby, drinking rum & Mexican Coke.  With a lime.  She, gin & Reed’s, with a lime as well.  Lots of ice. 

It was stuffy in the house and I was out of sorts til I ventured outside for the supplies, walked down the avenue and bought my Cokes from the Ethiopian lady who calls me “brother.”  Actually enjoyd th warmth, until I stayed outside long enuf to start sweating and wishing I could jump into the ocean to cool off (but the ocean’s a thousand miles away). 

For a day or 2 I had a tiny speck of glass stuck under the skin on th tip of my forefinger.  It felt like it was poisoning my whole body from my finger up to my brain.  My arm ached; my head hurt.  It was destroying me.  Saturday morning I dug it out with a razor blade. 

Filled with determination, I bought supplies at the store: the razor blades—double edged, and in a fancy “safety” dispenser (single edged would have been better but I wasnt being picky)—”sterile pads,” matches—sure, I had matches in the house, but god knows where, and anyway it felt right to buy them special for the purpose. 

It wz much easier than I expected.  The razor blade was the perfect tool for the job, way better than a needle.  Sterilized it with a match, wiped it with a “sterile pad,” and went to work.  Didnt draw blood…it barely even hurt.  I never saw the glass come out, it wz so tiny.  At first I wznt sure I got it all, but after 48 hours I’m sure it’s all gone.  It’s an amazing relief. 

eyes popped open at 6:43, barely 3½ hours after I went to sleep.  Lay on the bed in denial that I was even awake; finally had to get up.  Jen’s alarm had started going off.  Formed a plan and tried to pretend it wasnt futile: I’d chill out for a while, have a snack etc, and try to sleep again after Jen left for work.  Took a couple valerian caps, a couple 5HTP caps, a milligram of melatonin.  Put 2 ice cubes in a short glass and coverd them with whiskey.  Later I had a cheddar toast.  And a ****.  Still, my eyes wdnt shut.  Spent the morning in a stew pour.  Could barely make coffee.  Thought about breakfast.  Wanted some diner action.  Had business at the college bookstore, a half-hour busride away, into the eastern wilderness.  Something on the way maybe, I thot. 

It was one by th time I got it together to leave.  I cleard the old shit off the memory chip in my walkman and put on a bunch of new shit.  Latest Fufu Stew…On The Media…Radiolab.  A Love Supreme, which I’ve been obsessed with lately.  Feel like lisning to it multiple times a day.  The album, the live version, the outtakes, the whole schmear.  My familiarity with Coltrane is very limited, and I must remedy that sharpish.  Showerd.  Put on my pink pinpoint dress shirt, the crazy blue/purple/green tie my grandmother-in-law gave me (Jen speculated that Grandma enjoyd buying that for me becuz she couldnt buy such a tie [“My, my, my, my, my…this is such a tie.”—Russian lady] for my father-in-law cuz of his color blindness.), tan dockers from the Goodwill on South Broadwy, my brown jacket, a light-blue puff for th pocket, my purple sox with things on them, brown cloven-hooft shoes from the St. Vincent dePaul thrift sto down by Fax & Krameria, and my tan-colerd synthetic Stetson hat. 

Walkt to th post office and mailed a new copy of the spring mix to my brother A.…cuz apparently the first disc I maild him was blank.  Oops.  (“Har har,” that wuz his response.)  Now I’m worried he wasnt the only one I sent a blank disc to.  Started walking up 11th to th next buzz top and—typical—a 10 bus past me by.  Now I gotta wait half an hour for the next one.  Let’s keep walking for a bit then and see if I cn find any breakfast action.  No good.  Sat down at the bus top by Dayton.  Lisend ta Dusty Springfield and read Reklaw’s Ten Thousand Things To Do (#4).  Bus came.  Cranky driver.  Rode over to th college eyes peeld for a breakfast joint.  Nothing but Mexican and Chinese places in evry strip mall.  Wd’ve been happy to see a Village Inn even.  Nearing destination, passed a Denny’s.  Last resort.  If I don’t see anything else, I’ll hit it on the way back. 

Arrived, went to the bookstore.  The man arrogantly fetcht me the textbooks for my classes, double checking that I’d had the prereqs.  Zark off.  Apparently no self-service anymore.  I wrote down the ISBN #s and left.  I’ll look for them on Bookfinder.  Caught the bus back home after a bit of a wait beside a kid in a Malcolm X T-shirt smoking Black & Milds.  Same driver.  Shaggy hair & chinscruff.  Pulling from a two-liter of generic soda.  Silently hating evryone.  Won’t give passengers a break—let em out at th red lite or anything like that.  Honkt at a woman who crossed in front of th bus after disembarking. 

I missd th Denny’s somehow.  So I rode all th way down to Zorba’s on 11th & Elizabeth.  Hadnt been in a long time; uset to live a block from there.  Neighborhood place.  Decent food.  Waitresses and patrons chat, catching up on family etc, like actual friends.  Had a tomato onion & feta omelette, rye toast, mixed fruit jelly—my nemesis!  3, 4 cups of coffee.  Walkt home.  3 miles.  Beautiful day.  60° but it felt warmer.  Mighty comftrbl.  Snowstorm coming. 

Going for a drink downtown with C. later, around 10 or so.  Looking forward to a martini.  I might not be too coherent, after or before.