The World Tour Rolls On

I'm in heaven. Also known (at the present moment) as upstate New York; also also known, actually, as my in-laws' house. More generally speaking, you could call it anywhere i can sleep till eight and wake up to fresh-brewed coffee, broadband, and cable news. All for free! And beer in the fridge! (I mean, um, for after lunch.) But they are great people, and very kind. Staying with my parents was completely wonderful too, although we were busier there with all those annoying little things like grilling fresh corn on the cob and hiking 9000 feet up in the Rockies and eating BBQ and cream puffs at State Fair. It was rough.

So our long-planned World Professional Mooch Tour, i mean, the World Family And Friends Visiting Tour, is progressing in considerable style. Just being off the ship is still kind of new. There's still something really kind of fun about sleeping in a room larger than most people's smallest bathroom. And having a bathroom larger than a broom closet, one that doesn't periodically roll and pitch itself about fifteen degrees either side of level - that's quite exciting, too. Really, it all feels a bit naughty. But i've decided that i never want to get to a point in life where staying in an average suburban spare bedroom no longer feels like a luxury experience. I'm happy for most people i know in the way that they live, especially when they take me in, but i just can't stand the thought of living that way myself for its own sake. Neither do i want to live in poverty for its own sake. But simplicity, as an end, and frugality in certain areas as a means to others? Gimme. If a night in a Motel 6 doesn't feel like a spendy exercise in novel near-decadence to me, i have not been living the way i want to live.

In any case, i am thoroughly enjoying myself this week. I mow their lawn periodically to salve the uneasiness of my productivity-schooled conscience. It almost works. I drink my coffee, and laugh at the national news anchor who just uttered the phrase "anals of history," and am happy. If only that were all it ever took.