Finishing a novel…going qajaqing/kayaking…happiness.
The Inuit preferred spelling for “kayak” is “qajaq” and I’m trying to switch over!
Adventures du jour! (March 9)
I don’t really have the brain cells to write a long essay today, but there are things I want to remember.
I got out fairly early this morning, took a selfie–and my face was blank. Not a good sign, like I was suppressing pain or something. Decided once again not to go qajaqing. Did a short walk, picked up some new pens for pen-and-ink sketching, came back.
It was another day where time passed in blinks. Suddenly it was one o’clock and I knew I had been busy doing things, but I don’t remember most of them. I could probably track them down. A bunch of emails went away. I talked to some friends. The Friend Project had arrived!
I danced to things, including a spoken-word piece that I particularly liked, which popped up after the song that was my current earworm. I learned in a visceral way what obliques were. I went over the short story opening I’m working on, trying to get it to where I could feel the character come through. I couldn’t.
I stopped to take a shower. When I got out, I was profoundly depressed. Not sad, just exhausted. But I started chewing on myself anyway; I was a “bad person” and everything I did was “pointless.” I fixed myself a big silly salad (including both chocolate and cheese) and ate it, felt briefly better, and went back to writing.
–And found that I had figured out how to bring the characters out after all.
I wrote another scene, then just about fell asleep on the keyboard, I was so suddenly exhausted. I had blinked and it was three thirty.
I stopped, recorded a video because I just felt so freaking weird, was glad to see that I had recovered the use of my face, pushed a little bit further in the story, then lay down for a nap. I wasn’t sure if I’d have a reset while I slept or what. It felt like it. I told myself that I should do whatever I needed to do, reset or not reset.
Woke up at seven; didn’t have a reset. Talked to Ray about things (she had come back from class while I was sleeping) and figured out where I wanted to take the story, told her about it. She said, “Nobody would do it that way but you.” Which made me feel pretty good. The friend responded to the letter attached to the Friend Project in a way that delighted me and cracked me up at the same time. Over the moon.
I ordered a new hat a couple of days ago; it arrived and I went to pick it up, got itchy feet, and off I went instead to consult with Most Favored Tree.
I went backward from my usual route, danced twice out in the dark in the big park, ended up at the tree, just feeling happy. I didn’t need any advice by then.
Went back, picked up the hat. It’s too small, slowly rising up off my head. I have a large head; apparently it’s full of ideas or something.
I’m gonna get up and dance the same song again. Then I’m gonna post my photos from the walk. I can’t remember whether I took a selfie. So be it.
The moon is gorgeous out. I highly recommend it.
Side quest (March 10)
Post-novel celebratory qajaqing: Happy, sunburnt, sore.
This was a new place, the General Store & Market, Gibsonton Florida.–Gibsonton, just north of Sarasota and the Ringling Brothers stuff, is where a bunch of circus folk go to retire. I passed by some old circus trucks as I was paddling out.
I found the place online on a 2-hour Groupon, went, “That…looks like a family thing? But cool?” and looked it up outside the Groupon system. They have a Facebook page that currently starts off with a Bible verse and some admonitions to be nice to one another. All right. I gave them a call and they said to just show up.
The place is PACKED with local grocery stuff. I didn’t get any; I went, “I’ll check it out on the way back!” and then was too tired. Very kitsch.
The guy at the counter was Southern Hipster, one of those gentlemanly drawls. As I was filling out the paperwork, I asked him what day it was, and he said, “I don’t actually, uh, know,” so I drawled back (I can do that now, although I’m sure I’d get busted in a heartbeat if anyone made me keep it up for more than a line or two): “Well, that’s it then, I can’t go,” and put the pen down and pretended to walk away. He cracked up. I signed up for three hours of paddling, thinking I wouldn’t use them all.
I went south through a bunch of mangroves, water flat and still and calm but uphill due to the tide coming in, then navigated out onto the bay.
It was my first time paddling out onto Tampa Bay. I was only out around the edges, but it was choppy. At first I wasn’t sure whether I’d get motion sickness or not, but I got used to it quickly. I paddled down to Port Redwing, about 3.5 miles each way, most of that on the bay. Took about 4.5 hours. If I had gone another mile I would have made it to the manatee viewing area at Apollo Beach, but it just wasn’t happening today. There were BIG ships at the port and the water got rougher and I knew I’d passed my halfway mark for energy, so it wasn’t safe to keep going.
I’m normally a 2-hour qajaker and I don’t get very far. So this was COOL. After I got the hang of being out on the bay water, I loved it.
Perfect day for it, about 85 degrees, clear skies but breezy.
As I got back in (an hour and a half later than I should have), a second guy was waiting for me to pull in, asked if I wanted to keep going up the river (no!) and we chatted a bit about the store (this is its second season under the new owners) and how I’d found the place. I told him; he said, “Yeah, with the Groupon we’re pretty strict, but for people who sign up for three hours we just tell em to go out and come back when they’re too tired to paddle.”
THAT I WAS.
I went back to the car, spread out a towel, and ate most of a bag of pickle chips and drank a not-Sunny-D that I had obtained earlier as part of my recovery plan. I didn’t get hungry out on the water, but I was looking forward to that salt, all through the last hour of paddling.
Got home, chatted with Ray, took a shower, slept for two hours, watched one of the two new Iruma episodes with her while we ate broccoli cheese soup she made, and here we are. I drank a beer.
My forearms hurt, my core hurts. I have a dry bag and paddling gloves now, though, so no blisters and I had plenty of water, snacks, etc.
A good day.
…
Here’s the video I recorded while out on the water, about happiness.
A nice set of Florida-style posts.
A devil bunny ring designed on Midjourney, while playing with Ray <3