What I Did This Week

I arrived home from LA Tuesday morning to find cold weather and a need to restock the wood piles (downstairs inside and out, and upstairs) . What I didn't anticipate was my dad's back acting up and the need for me to take my mom to Stanford for her 8:00 a.m. appointment on Wednesday morning. Without much time to relax, I updated myself on the world through the internet, then hauled some wood out in the cold.

Stacking and hauling wood affords me the opportunity to reflect on life; it's the time when I'm most introspective. I usually think about my house and what I want it to be like. I look out at the woods and picture what they could be like; I think about a vibrant and healthy forest. I look back towards the house and picture it in different colors, with different decks, and with a better kept garden. Basically, I picture my house as my paradise. I think this process is my way of dealing with loss. I think about what things will be like in a few years, how they'll change, and what will be good.

After finishing the wood it was time to head over to Palo Alto for the night. My mom and I left around three, just avoiding traffic, and got into Dinah's Garden Hotel around 4. I don't like dealing with people I don't know well (and even more so when they know of me), especially if what I'm doing is a personal matter, so when we arrived mom checked us in while I waited in the car. Through my parents frequent visits, my mom knows the whole staff of Dinah's Garden Hotel well. In particular, my parents have become friends with the concierge, David. David is an ex-navy man and, according to my parents, an exceptional concierge. He's in his late 40s and wears a smart blue suit, a buzz cut, a sizable belly, and small glasses with a strap the connects the ear pieces. After checking us in he showed us to our room and told us that we should feel free to ask if we needed anything.

He left us outside the apartment that was to be our room for the night. I was excited that we had an apartment, because I knew that whatever the room looked like, I was stuck with it as my stomping grounds for the next 18 hours or so. Basically, there was no way I would be roaming around Palo Alto looking for things to do. The space was nice. The living room had a couch, a typical hotel TV, and a nice desk. The kitchen was attached to the living room, in fact, the only reason it wasn't part of the living room was the floor changed from carpet to linoleum tiles. The kitchen was fully furnished with a small table, a stove, a microwave, and a full sized fridge stocked with soda, wine coolers, juices, and a coupe of Heinekens. The bedroom was sizable with two beds, and the bathroom was a typical hotel bathroom.

After having a quick look around, I helped my mom mover her stuff then settled down for a night of internet browsing and IM chatting. I had brought a couple of books, but I didn't feel like I had the focus it would require to read either of them. The night went on uneventfully and I eventually went to sleep around midnight. The following day was simple and went according to pan. I took my mom to the hospital then returned to the hotel. To my pleasant surprise I had the focus to read while I waited to go and pick up mom. When the time came, I went back to the hospital, picked up mom, then we went back to the hotel to pack and check out before heading home.

When we finally got home I went strait to work then had a typical Santa Cruz do nothing night.

Okay, so what's the point of this post. Well, I've started reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and I decided to write a little something now, and compare how I'd write similar things as I continue to read. Basically, I'll try and write little "What I did this week" posts every once and a while, and we'll see what happens. I think the first thing I've noticed is that I need to be more descriptive in my writing. I guess I'll see where this all leads, hopefully it'll make my blog a bit more readable.