Routines
I think I'm a person who pretty much does the same things over and over. I'm not embarrassed by this. I suspect it leaves my mind free to think and do new things because the mundane activities are on automatic pilot.
I'm in no great hurry in the mornings. Each morning I awake at about the same time, five or six, and light a cigarette. I make my coffee and drink two cups on the porch while smoking a couple more cigarettes as I watch the world come to life.
I check my email and take a quick look at Facebook. If Linda gets up early enough, she makes breakfast for me and I, naturally, eat it along with a glass of V-8. She usually gives me my pills along with my breakfast, yummy.
I go to my studio, smoke a couple more cigarettes, glance at the clutter which is usually on the floor and the print of Janis Joplin, my muse, on the wall. Then I go to work.
That's pretty much the morning of most days through the year.
At 2:30, Linda and I sit together to have a coffee for me and a Dr. Pepper for her.
I watch The Five at 4:00 during the weekdays. I find it a pleasant way to keep up with the happenings of the day.
Around 5:00, I check my email and check Facebook. Occasionally I send old friends emails just to touch base with them.
Often I work on essays between 5:00 and 7:00. Linda usually interrupts this to feed me an evening meal and make sure I take my evening pills. A long, long time ago, we reduced our meals to two each day. If it's only a few days from the publication of oldartguy.com, I work on preparation for the publication of the site.
At 7:00 I usually say, “Enough,” go to my easy chair, and hope there is something on TV worth watching. On Mondays I can depend on The Antique Road Show. The rest of the week is hit and miss, but I do like American Pickers and Aliens and sometimes Pawn Stars. If God delivers a good movie, I'll watch that.
I'm usually asleep by10:00 or 11:00.
There are some interruptions to our routines, but even these are routine.
Each Friday, we go out to eat around 5:30 or 6:00. We usually go to the fish place, Texas Seafood and Steaks, where I harass strangers or the Mexican food place, Las Fuentes, if I feel a need to please Linda. Afterwards, we take a 20 minute tour of our town, Somerville. We count cats and take note of the deer and the turkeys and guineas.
One week a month, we deliver and pick up paintings from galleries in Bryan and Round Top. These are more like social meetings than business affairs.
Recently my doctor visits have been less frequent. It's not because the doctors have solved anything. I think they're just hoping I'll go away or heal myself.
The weekends are pretty much like the weekdays, but since football has started again, my schedule may be thrown off a tad by games I want to watch…but not often.
I guess this regularity of habits is pretty boring for most folks, but it suits us just fine.
enough