Odds and Ends

Why have I been writing at night lately? Probably because I can’t write while eating. Well, I can, but since I’ve been taking most of my meals with family lately that would probably be rude.

Perhaps I only write during meals to take away from the pitiful idea of eating meals alone.

I mean, it’s not like I think eating alone is sad, particularily. It’s more the fact that when you’re sitting in a public place eating something disgraceful (like the $6 triangle of greasy cardboard that is Sbarros pizza), there’s not really much to do.

What do you look at when you eat by yourself? The people around you? Your food?

If I don’t have my netbook with me to look at, I usually pull one of the books out of my bag (I’m always carrying at least two books; one that I’m reading and one in case I finish reading the first one.)  Most of my books are paperbacks, so they don’t drop open like a nice stately hardback and sit there, waiting for me to read them. No, most of my collection of books are stubborn paper backs that nudge themselves shut without constant vigilance. I usually end up sticking my cellphone at the joining of the pages to hold it open while I fold another slice of “nourishment” into my mouth.

An appealing picture, to be sure.

I haven’t been this depressing spectacle for about two weeks now, however. I’m on Christmas break. Which is awesome, because I have three weeks off from classes. It’s also kind of embarrassing, because I’ve spent the last week playing videogames for several hours a day while “grown-ups” go back to their day jobs. I realize I should enjoy this while I still can. But the joy of Christmas vacation is not as pure for me as it was as a child. For the sheer recognition that I’m not, actually, a child.

That’s not what my driver’s license tells me anyway.

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