25-50-75: Day 6

25
Officially off the wagon when it comes to the no fast food thing.  Why must McDonald's breakfast sing its siren song to me as I drive by in the morning, and why was I not smart enough to eat before I left the house?  Answer: because sometimes you want salt and fat and your body and car take you to it against your will.

I worked up in our school book room again today and loved every second of it.  So far I've packed up 52 boxes to be shipped off to our district office, and I am nowhere near done yet.  As much as I love the life of the mind I have cultivated for myself, there is a real intense pleasure that comes from working a physically strenuous job and being able to see the fruits of your labor at the end of the day.  And my arms are burning like a sonofabitch, so I must be doing something right.

Spent three hours at the pool this afternoon, then home to read and relax.  A good good day.

50
Almost done with The Wettest County in the World, and it is EXCELLENT.  The writer is a Bondurant himself, so he's writing about his own family history here, and while much of the story is embellished, the major events are all rooted in things that actually happened (scroll to the novel and epitaphs on the author's site to see) which makes for a pretty compelling narrative.  Also, I am a sucker for a good Southern voice, and this guy has it.  A bit like Woodrell in the way that the male characters are heartbreakingly flawed, but Bondurant's men are redeemed by their perfectly honorable intentions.  It's their piss poor execution and stubbornness that gets them in over their heads time and again.

I downloaded this song today--it's from the Hatfields & McCoys soundtrack--and it pretty much perfectly accompanies the novel.  You should give it a listen.

Next up is a short story collection by George Saunders called Pastoralia.  A number of my friends have read and loved him, he's actually been on my radar a long time but I've never gotten around to checking him out, so...heeeeeeeere's Georgie.

Finally, I have to note that my unstructured time thing has gotten to me a bit today.  I gave myself things to do, but without a goal or purpose my mind wanders, and it often makes it back to dark corners from days gone by.  I am not in a bad place, no need to fret, but I have discovered a new truth about myself: when given time to do nothing but think, my thinking tends towards the sad and painful.  I have always fancied myself an optimistic person, but I think much of that was the me born of distraction: when you're busy, who has time to be melancholy and reflective?

So the vow is to stay busy.  Not to the point of never relaxing, but busy enough that my time is spent LIVING my life rather than sitting about ruminating on it.