Tuesday, January 8, 2013

There is a dream I sometimes have, where I’m either late to class or negligent in submitting a paper, and while the setting changes, the underlying sentiment doesn’t–a brief moment of panic, followed by relief and the assurance of an era far behind me. But what if the panic were warranted? I woke up this morning after oddly dreaming about the office, wholly refreshed and unequivocally fucking late for work. I tore out of bed, rushed through the shower, and was out the door in a record 12 minutes. Didn’t even stop to grab breakfast.

That’s because it was almost lunchtime. I had set my alarm for 8 AM, but neglected to activate it, so in place of the usual shrill beeping was my cellphone ringing at 11:07 AM. Work buddy wanted to know where precisely I was. Shameful, I know. I’m still employed, fortunately. To be completely honest, though, today was one of rare stretches where I was truly awake throughout the workday, not that I’m eager to reenact this anytime soon. Or, like, ever.

This weekend marked the first major milestone of my cleaning initiative. My living room is now officially free of computer parts. It took a few hours to build and vacuum two grossly outdated desktops. The experience was grueling, in a way. Those waferboards and pins sure boast some sharp edges, and small cuts would promptly lead to localized swelling, since I was effectively injecting my body with ancient allergens. It felt like a self-administered allergy test, Puritanical in sensibility, as if I were being punished for putting off this project for so long. But I crossed the finish line and handed two heavy metal cases to the Goodwill worker, who promptly dumped them in a bin with an unceremonious clang. Now that I’ve honed my ability to build junk, it’s time to sell it. Next stop for the home improvement train: eBay.