The Great To-Do!

I woke up and went about my morning ritual of the blessed day off. Make coffee, smoke cigarettes, practice the songs... As I putzed around the kitchen I noticed it there, the to-do list, written specifically for me, written by my roommate.

...

Jozka's Thursday to-do list:

-Read/edit recipe book
-Take a walk
-Write a song
-Go to the movies
-Stroll through a used bookstore
-Talk to a stranger
-Eat ice cream outside
-Take a nap
-Go out to the bar

...

I thought the idea was brilliant. Knowing when someone has an upcoming day off, free of most chores or responsibilities (my days off are mostly that way), write a to-do list for them, a little adventure for someone else on their day off.

I found especially thoughtful, considering the night before I came home from the bar in a dismal state of mind, having just drank away two hours of my life, sitting alone at the The Bar, writing feverishly in my notebook.

Yes, I am that guy at the bar.

Sometimes...

My emotions were out of order again. She commented I had come home early, and I rambled on and on, nearly on the verge of tears...

...

I accomplished a fair amount of the list. I did some editing on the book during breakfast. The book has been getting a very positive response from the community. My roommate is being interviewed by the Detroit paper sometime this weekend. The sponsor of the book has already pre-ordered six hundred copies.

After breakfast, I perused a used book store, and picked up a copy of Kafka's Metamorphosis, upon someone's suggestion. Then I stopped by the local mart to pick-up some toothpaste and ant traps, and then I stopped by the ice cream parlor and had me an ice cream cone as I walked around town, eventually settling in this little park I have a strange fondness for, and ate my treat.

The weather has been completely stellar today. Sunlight, fifty degrees! No coat weather! I'll admit I've entered the last stage of winter, utter and complete insanity. It is so close to ending, I cannot stand it.

Two friends passed by the park, and came over to say hi to me as I ate my ice cream. They were walking with a cell phone that was playing some sort of jazzy, easy listening tunes, that they were dancing to. So I stood up and joined them, three people dancing wildly in the middle of a park right in the heart of downtown. Many of the people that passed us by gave us odd looks. I say, to hell with you. Its finally somewhat decent outside, and we're gonna dance to celebrate it.

I bid them adieu and made my way home, when an old friend called me to invite me out for a beer. I almost said that according to my list I needed to take a nap, but then remembered the "go to the bar" item, and figured, hey, its on the list. Why not?

Plus, I hardly see my old friends anymore, and I thought it necessary to try to connect in some way again.

She's getting a divorce. And they weren't even married that long. I think they were engaged a little before I was... Sad. The great marriage rush and crush of 07' claims another victim. Why are all my friends ending relationships now? I still cannot determine the cause of this curse.

We then discussed the "slut phase" we seem to be going through, the urge for sex coursing through our veins. She's been a little more successful than I in that matter, and we traded stories. I'll admit, for a brief second I wondered about her motives for asking me out for a beer, half-hoping, half not, but then remembered our old vow we made together, that we would never sleep with each other.

Anyway, we parted after a couple beers and as I ventured home, I was trying to figure out the best way to approach a stranger. Usually they seem to find me, and I mean the really strange strangers. I did manage to get stopped by a somewhat disheveled man, asking for a cigarette. I offered him my pouch of tobacco, which usually foils most bummers of cigarettes, but he then asked me to roll one for him, which I did.

I figured now was the time to talk to a stranger, so I started asking him questions. His name is Lloyd, and he was having a really bad day. I thought he might have been fucked up on drugs or drunk or something, his eyes were red... but then he started crying, tears streaming down his cheeks. A younger me probably would have hugged him. Instead I handed him the cigarette and wished him a better evening. He said I had his brother's name, said he would have a better night, and walked off.

Dear Lloyd, I really hope you are having a better evening.

Then I went home to fulfill that nap part of the list, and fulfill it I did.

...

Ps. I have deposited the ant traps in strategic locations around the bathroom. I'm assuming the ants must have some kind of military intelligence working for them. I mean, if all of a sudden a giant black box showed up outside my front door, with a sign on it that said "food" and an arrow pointing inwards, I'd probably investigate it, but I wouldn't go in there either. I've been watching them dance around it, but then continue on their merry way.

I've also noticed them carting off the dead corpses that I had left stuck to the wall, much like a skull on a stick, that I had wanted to be a warning to them... They eat their dead! Thank god ants aren't like totally huge. We'd be goners.