Study Abroad, Pay for Coffee

The Roomie is astounded at how she can leave for the lab in the morning, and come back and find me in roughly the same position on either the couch in our living room or at my desk. Everything will look the same even if I have left the spot for successive cups of tea or lunch: the glass of water, the labeled mug, the stack of articles and books, the "no really, I'm cool" music playing softly but rockingly in the background.

I really like freaking her out by doing this at odd hours, so that she'll go to bed and wake up and I'll still be on the couch, saying "good morning!" with as much gusto as I said "goodnight!" six hours previously.

Clearly she has met few law professors in her life. "So...you just read and write all day?" her sad expression seems to inquire of me. I don't have an office at our underfunded school (in fact, I just had to ask a conference organizer for cheaper hotel suggestions at the next conference since I have to pay for them out of my own pocket). I work from home a lot because all of my files, books, and cache of caffeine and cookies are here, and it's much comfier than going to the library (and our law library is woefully uncomfortable). So, yes, Roomie, I just read and write all day. Perhaps if I had my own office, as most of my readers do, I could conduct this pathetic life with a little more professional dignity, or at least privacy. Who knows what you profs do behind closed doors? I've seen the state of disarray and the espresso machines. You live like I do, but because you have an employer-provided office, that makes you look a little more dignified and
hard-working.

Maybe I should stop wearing pajamas all day.

So at any rate, she's trying to get me out of the house more. Be a more social animal, rejoin the human race. Don't be so Aspergery, monkish and self-isolating, if that's a quality I dislike* in others. So for just a few hours, I'm supposed to try to do work at a library on campus. If I hate the law library, maybe the music library will be better! And the music is for free! I'm also to try cafes, something I never really got into. The espresso machines are always too loud, and in this college city the music is too emo. But since it's summer, I'm giving it a go. It is as I predicted: yesterday I sipped tea I had to pay for (WTF?!) and listened to Iron and Wine and Rufus Wainwright while reading through some org theory. And then I got hungry, and so instead of buying overpriced baked goods I trekked back home for some of my own homemade cake.

I'll still give this "study abroad" thing it a go. She's being awful nice to me, taking me out to a baseball game tomorrow night. Again, "get out of the house" medicine. It's not the team I support, but I appreciate the gesture, and I love baseball.

I still think I'm being a good sport and giving it great effort though. Just as I increased from 1 mile to 6 mile runs, I've now started doing at least two social things per weekend. This weekend is an all-time high at three: dessert party tonight, brunch tomorrow, and then a baseball game.

Is it bad to admit that I am thinking of how much work I could be doing instead?

Nevermind. Off to the city.

*which disappoints, to be more precise. as in, disappointed hopes.