Today was a day to finish the laundry I started on Saturday, when I only had enough quarters for one load. Today I took a fiver with me and, armed with 20 additional quarters, I did one large(r) load and third minutes of drying, which was exactly enough. I took Donna Tartt’s The Secret History with me, and I still have about 500 pages to go.
It starts out — and probably continues — as a “college story,” a novel involving college students and their experiences, but focused on, centered around an eccentric, peculiar, guru of a professor, in this case Julian Morrow, older yet still a bit elfin.
On the first page the protagonist and his peers kill another peer, so in that regard it is not a “mystery,” but mysteries tend toward the analytic, as it is, a matter of analyzing the plot and figuring out who did it, yet this works in a similar fashion, for even though we know “who,” we’re still unclear about motive, the how and why of the “crime,” and so on. The characters are just pretentious enough to annoy me if they become too idealized, but so far it’s enjoyable.
I woke up this morning around 10, far later than usual or expected, but I got to bed last night only after midnight and only after a beer on an already exhausted if not empty stomach. All-nighters do that to me. It can be nice having a guest because it’s an excuse to clean, an excuse to keep things neat, an excuse to get out and not mope around home.
Andrea left shortly after I showered and decided to go to town to wander around all day. I had coffee, oatmeal, and some soy milk, and then worked online a bit, reading things, answering some email, etc.
Then off to the laundromat. Evidently the owner, mid-50s?, has a daughter, who was there helping him clean while he worked on the seams of the wallpaper. I say daughter because I’ve never seen anyone else there, she didn’t seem like a regular employee (too little work to justify paying someone), and she seemed far too young (20s? mid or late, or well-preserved early 30s) to be a girlfriend or spouse.
Upon returning home I took care of some online stuff then walked to Fair Trade. I planned on taking the 4pm #3, but it was early, and I missed it by 30 seconds. Instead I walked, and a block later I ran into Jesse, freshly home after a day on campus, so I went down Paterson with him and waved to Regina. A gorgeous day and well-worth the walk. At the Capitol there was a fire alarm, so I couldn’t walk through. I did see Governor Doyle near his “limmo,” a large black sedan. At Fair Trade I got coffee and a fritter and began writing, though I got very little reading done. A Russian couple sat to my right at the middle window-table, but they just left. Andrea just arrived and after he finishes his coffee I suspect we’ll head out for dinner.
They’re playing the Doctor Who soundtrack as muzak — excellent.
The people watching remains entertaining. It’s above freezing but not much so, so heavier jackets have returned, but there is less “bundling.”
