Everyday Life and Moving On
It does not seem obvious, even to me, that I'll really leave here in the time frame I've set for myself. That's because my idea is to move on to better things, and those better things will materialize when the time is right. So it doesn't feel real yet. It won't feel real until I know where I'm going.
In the meantime, I try to prepare, by living my life in the present, fully. By lightening my load (materially) and by polishing skills that will serve me well anywhere.
I'm becoming a better writer. I'm taking a class, keeping these blogs, and trying to make writing a daily -- or rather, (since I have a day job), a nightly exercise. My writing class meets on Tuesday evening. By the time this is posted it'll be Wednesday morning.
In this class, we typically: 1. hear readings and discuss them, 2. do a few writing exercises, 3. read the previous week's assignment out loud, sharing our work with each other, and 4. receive a new assignment.
Last week's assignment was fun. Take this famous first line from Raymond Chandler:
He was running the vacuum when the phone rang.
Start with this line, and write 2-4 pages.
I got lots of praise for my response to the assignment, and that made me feel like I've been spending my time well.
Most of the time, I don't think about my plans for leaving. I'm too busy living my life. Things could go on like this forever, in fact. That's why I've been so many years in a place I never really intended to settle into. So I deliberately look for ways I can feed the plan.
Whenever I have a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, I tackle a corner of my home and try to go through old things, with an eye to getting rid of more stuff. I've done pretty well at keeping my material possessions within reason. For years, I've lived in small apartments and tried to purge periodiically. The thing for me is, to be really sure of what I like living with, and what I don't. My goal is to jettison about a third of my possessions between now and when I'm ready to leave, and another third after that when I actually go. I'm not sentimental about very much, but I do have a few nice things. Not valuable, but meaningful.
Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, now. Two years is a ways off, and so for now I sift through belongings at a leisurely pace, a couple of hours on the weekend, and I work on my writing, and I try to connect to the world of possibilities. It is late. More tomorrow.
In the meantime, I try to prepare, by living my life in the present, fully. By lightening my load (materially) and by polishing skills that will serve me well anywhere.
I'm becoming a better writer. I'm taking a class, keeping these blogs, and trying to make writing a daily -- or rather, (since I have a day job), a nightly exercise. My writing class meets on Tuesday evening. By the time this is posted it'll be Wednesday morning.
In this class, we typically: 1. hear readings and discuss them, 2. do a few writing exercises, 3. read the previous week's assignment out loud, sharing our work with each other, and 4. receive a new assignment.
Last week's assignment was fun. Take this famous first line from Raymond Chandler:
He was running the vacuum when the phone rang.
Start with this line, and write 2-4 pages.
I got lots of praise for my response to the assignment, and that made me feel like I've been spending my time well.
Most of the time, I don't think about my plans for leaving. I'm too busy living my life. Things could go on like this forever, in fact. That's why I've been so many years in a place I never really intended to settle into. So I deliberately look for ways I can feed the plan.
Whenever I have a few hours on a Saturday afternoon, I tackle a corner of my home and try to go through old things, with an eye to getting rid of more stuff. I've done pretty well at keeping my material possessions within reason. For years, I've lived in small apartments and tried to purge periodiically. The thing for me is, to be really sure of what I like living with, and what I don't. My goal is to jettison about a third of my possessions between now and when I'm ready to leave, and another third after that when I actually go. I'm not sentimental about very much, but I do have a few nice things. Not valuable, but meaningful.
Well, I'm getting ahead of myself, now. Two years is a ways off, and so for now I sift through belongings at a leisurely pace, a couple of hours on the weekend, and I work on my writing, and I try to connect to the world of possibilities. It is late. More tomorrow.
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