duck-shaped pain

16 April 2006
Dependency.

I have a pretty settled Sunday routine. I get up, preferably at a time that lets me sleep in a bit, but that is also relatively early (8 a.m. is a good time.) I put the water kettle on the stove, and then, while it heats up, I walk down the street to the nearest convenience store (in my case, the Tri-H Ranch Store on Yale and Lead) and buy the Sunday paper. When I get home, I grind my coffee, put it in my French press, and, during the three minutes and thirty seconds that my coffee brews, make the rest of my breakfast (oatmeal in winter and fall, fruit smoothie in warmer times). Then I sit down and drink coffee and read the paper.

I enjoy reading the paper, and Sunday is pretty much the only day I have time to do it regularly. I enjoy different parts of different papers, of course, but one thing that is consistent, wherever I live and whatever paper I am reading, is the thing I look forward to the most: the Target ad.

This feels almost shameful, since shouldn't I be looking forward to, like, the news? Or the editorial page? Or something else? I read those things, of course, but the thing I save for last, no matter what else is in there, is the Target ad. That's what determines what the rest of my day is going to be like, because if there's something there I want, I have to go get it. I don't really have time during the week to go, and then, next Saturday, it almost feels too late, because there's going to be a new ad tomorrow, and then, what if there's something I want in that ad, and then I'll have to go twice. It's a fairly unhealthy dependency.

Of course, since today is a holiday, there is no ad. Easter never seems like a real store-closing holiday to me, so I'm always surprised when big stores aren't open. My Sunday feels out of whack anyway, since I overslept (power outage overnight reset my clock), and I was out of half-and-half (reducing the pleasure of coffee), and I feel far too sore to exercise later (I went for a seven-mile walk yesterday). I'll cope, of course, but it's interesting to me how much of a creature of habit I actually am on weekends, even though I always think during the week that I will be free to do whatever I want on Saturday and Sunday. This is the weekend I'm going to do something neat and different, I think, but I usually end up doing the same things, which, when I think about it, is perfectly okay.

the past + the future


also, see here.

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