The Tuesday Currents: June 26
Currently…
Listening to: Azam Ali, “In Other Worlds” (see below)
Eating: Nothing at the moment, but there’s about to be a bagel up in here.
Drinking: Iced soy vanilla latte. It’s a little disappointing – last week I got the same drink at a local place, Cherrywood Coffee Shop, and it was soooooooo good. I would have gone there today but it’s in the middle of a part of town that is absolute torture to drive to during rush hour (which in Austin is from 3:30pm to about 6:30pm). Local places are way better earlier in the day (or really late at night if they’re open); the busier they get the surlier the baristas are and the more crowded and overheated the atmosphere.
Reading: Farm Sanctuary‘s Spring 2012 magazine.
Watching: People come and go. You get the most interesting mix of people here – Starbucks is considered the devil by the “shop local” folks, so there’s a much higher yuppie-to-hipster ratio, but still, the siren call of the mocha Frappuccino reaches people from all walks of life.
Wearing: Grey “boyfriend” t-shirt (I guess it’s “boyfriend” because it has a little pocket for a condom), jeans, tennies.
Writing: Attempt #5 at starting the new book. I’m having the damnedest time getting this one started – I’m trying not to rush the process, just to write down what comes to me and save it so I can harvest from it later even if it doesn’t work as-is. I got nearly an entire chapter written before I had to ditch it. Sometimes you just have to step back and let the pieces come back together like a botched Mist and hope you don’t end up missing a finger.
Thinking: I’m trying to decide what topic to start off Wellness Wednesdays with. There are so many ideas! That’s part of why I wanted to do weekly series – so I can build up ideas for posts instead of blowing them all over one week while the iron’s hot and then having nothing to write about later. The average writer comes up with 100 ideas a day, only 20 of which are remotely viable; 10 of those will be workable if given proper attention and cultivation, while the other 10 are put in storage; and of the 10 useful ideas 5 will make it to the page. Add caffeine and you can double the 100 to 200, but the viability still remains at 20. (All numbers are approximate, but you get the idea.)
Feeling: Better. This weekend was kind of the Ubersuck. Who knew this whole mood disorder thing would be such a pain in the rear?
Wanting: A ginger ale to combat the faint intermittent nausea I’ve been dealing with since changing my meds. It’s way better than it was at first, so I’m reluctant to futz with dosages until I see if it’s going to fade completely. Psychopharmacology is two parts science and one part Voodoo – you throw things in the cauldron and see what happens, but in many cases they don’t know why a drug works, just that it does under circumstances A, B, and C. There are so many factors like the patient’s body chemistry, severity of symptoms, hormone levels, diet, genetics–the same antidepressant can save one person’s life and drive another off the deep end. It’s frustrating as hell, infuriating at times, but also fascinating. My brain and I are learning a lot about each other.
Needing: To sneeze, but I can’t! Doesn’t that make you insane?
Enjoying: My new pen: a Sharpie pen. Did you know they make pens? They’re awesome! Smooth ink flow, comfortable in the hand, and they come in lots of colors.
Grateful for: Cheap and widely available ice.
and, the Weather: HOT. We’re having a brief but intense heat wave this week – four or five days above 100 before it dips back down again into the 90s by Friday. Soon it’ll be triple digits every day, but even so, this year hasn’t been as hellish as 2011 was; that gives me hope that we won’t have the terrifying wildfire situation we did last year. That’s welcome to never happen again.
