Being separated from my wife is hard. This is a no brainer, perhaps it's the kind of statement that necessitates not even one mention. The economy is "suck" and we have houses we can't move. But we do have jobs, two of them in fact. It gets depressing yet I try to do what I can, which means the chores of daily life.
My life is simple. I teach and I work, a lot. Monday is a 12 hour workday of workdays for me, with five hours devoted to lecturing. So, when I leave campus I like to do my laundry and just stare at something. It's my moment of being, just watching the clothes go round. There's a TV in my landromat, but I don't watch it. It's always on Heroes and Chuck, but they are too demanding. I haven't followed the shows and there is no entry point for me. The TV there has no cable and I couldn't change it if it did. Frankly, it's a problem. Because I am not committed to these narratives I am on the outside. However, so much "quality TV" demands commitment. I have and do commit to a few shows, but I miss my easy in easy out TV of yore. On a night like this I could really use a good variety show. And that's what I gave myself.
My trust iPhone provided me with the following: episodes of This American Life, a few hit singles, a couple of YouTube vids (Cats, lotsa cats doing silly things), phone calls to my lovely wife and wikipedia searches for trivia. It's not that I didn't want to think, I just didn't need another world system of meaning. I just don't care on a day this exhausting.
So when I wash my clothes, I try to rest a little. Put it all on pause and laugh a little. Life's too hard sometimes and, frankly, on days like today, I don't need great art. I need a little song, a little dance, and a few cats.
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