I was "cleaning out" my phone during rehearsal today. When I have an outright tacet I can read my book, but when we play once every hundred measures of so I need to pass the time in such a way that a sliver of my attention is spared for noting that we're at "78...2...3...4..." And so on.
I sorted emails into their appropriate folders "39...2...3...4."
I checked off "Water the orchid" and "Clean out trumpets" off of my to-do list, thereby removing the pesky red 2 that was appearing over my Reminders app. "45...2...3...4." We don't actually have an orchid anymore, because I didn't water it enough and it died. We do, however, have a rubbery aspidistra-like plant that my friend Bill gave us, assuring us that it is practically indestructible and can survive periods of long neglect. Once a week I put two or three ice cubes in its pot, and this is apparently not enough. The indestructible plant is slowly passing from this life. Owen is not helping to prolong its life. I didn't actually clean my trumpets either, by the way. Theoretically I should snake them out every Wednesday, but on a week like this one when my Low F has spoken every time I've needed it so far, I don't want to risk altering the inner balance of the instrument. If I start to frack notes or air out I'll take it as a sign that I either need to clean the horn or buy another new mouthpiece.
58...2...3...4. I opened up my Clear app. Clear is a list app that lets you make lists and then check items off by swiping. Among other lists, I have a list of books to look for at the library, a list of projects to take care of around the house, a list of fun things to do with the boys, a list called "Groceries" that consists entirely of things I can only find at Lowe's, and a list of New Year's Resolutions. And then there is a list called Long-Term purchases. Each item has an approximate cost listed beforehand, so I can see that Sealing the Driveway will probably be about $300, whenever we get around to getting that done.
This was a much bigger list about a year and a half ago. We were new homeowners, and there were big items like $500 Replace Carpet on the list, or & $120 Push Mower that had to be taken care of before the spring. But there were also a bunch of items that we put on there that haven't turned out to be that important after all. Items like $500-1000 Treadmill. At the time, it seemed like a treadmill would be a great idea. You can't run outside in the winter in upstate New York, right? As it turns out, a 5:30 am -10 degree run is the perfect way to wake up on a dark January morning.
Or, $30 CB Soap and Fragrance. In a moment of domestic inspiration after finishing our bathroom last summer (but before the damage started dripping through the kitchen ceiling) we decided that we wanted a Japanese Cherry Blossom theme to our upstairs bathroom. J thought that if she was sharing the space with three men it ought to have a feminine touch. The cherry blossom shower curtain looks great on there. At one point I had the Bath and Body Works Cherry Blossom set in my hand, ready to check out. But we waited, and things have been fine. Someday the bathroom will look nicer. Someday we will get the nice "guests-only" set of soaps. But our boys are both at imperfect stages of housebreaking, and fancy well-coordinated soaps would not contribute meaningfully to our happiness and weal at this time. The only way in which Cherry Blossom soap would enter our awareness would be as one of us said to the other "Owen threw the Cherry Blossom soap into the toilet again."
$150 Bathroom Exhaust Fan was also on the list. The lack of bathroom ventilation was bothering me for awhile. I saw mold on the ceiling, and I had bad dreams about the whole house becoming structurally unsound because of the moisture that accumulated in our invented bathroom. A $15 bottle of concrobium and opening-the-window later, the bathroom is still standing. (And more importantly, I haven't had to drill holes into the attic.)
A $25 TV wall mount doesn't turn out to be that important if you only watch TV 16 times a year. (Although, if anyone from the Buffalo Bills organization is reading this, I would happily spring for a wall mount to get a proper viewing angle on your next Super Bowl appearance.)
We were sure we would need to get a $900-1200 Sofa when we brought the old, ratty one to the curb. It turns out that we have more downstairs space and can sit just as comfortably on the one blue sofa. And our fears about "what about when we have people over" haven't been an issue at all. It turns out that we hardly ever have people over, because we work on evenings and weekends and aren't terribly social. (Any readers of this blog who want to come visit us, however, are welcome to free prime seats on the blue couch at the time of their visit along with a complimentary cup of coffee and Owen wiping his nose on their pants.)
$75 Big Wall Clock was something we thought we had to have. The previous owner had one in the house when we looked at it, and it looked great. I had exactly what I wanted picked out. (I wanted Roman Numerals, because Semper Latinum!) But it turns out that the living room looks great with the Grandparent Clock (the story of which merits its own blog sometime hence), and really, if we need to know the time, we can just look at our phones. Or our watches, since both of us wear watches now. Watches are a coming-of-age present when a wizard turns 17. Apparently in the muggle world watches are a turning-30 present. I like mine. It's a more discrete way of checking how much time a student has left than looking at my phone.
HIC IACET SUITABLE MORAL: Writing down the material things that you think you have to buy and then sitting on the list helps you sift out the things that you actually need from the useless and keeps your life from cluttering up.
Note to J: I still think a Greek Vase would look great in the library.
No comments:
Post a Comment