Tip of the Quill: A Journal
Afloat, adrift, and (briefly) alone.

I’m writing this on Liwet, my silver sliver of a laptop (a 2011 MacBook Air that I bought for the precise purpose of grabbing writing time in strange places) while seated behind the wheel of my car, waiting for the ferry to shove off from Edmonds and cross the sound over to Kingston. I’ve got Imogen Heap’s Eclipse on the stereo, and I’ve just discovered I’m three scant days older than Heap. That might have something to do with how much I enjoy her unique style of work. Perhaps something was up with the moon that week.

This morning I put Laura the Wifeâ„¢ on a plane to Ohio, where she is throwing a baby shower for her sister. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll be an uncle for the first time right around Thanksgiving, which is both odd and kind of cool for the kid. Although it’s rough to have your birthday dominated by a holiday (turkey and birthday cake every year?), it’s also rather a perk for everyone to be on vacation for your birthday. I’m hoping the kid shows up at least after November 22nd. This family needs more Sagittarians. (Sagittarii? Sagittariuses?)

Anyway, this temporary reversion to bachelorhood is weird. I’d been making a list of things to do for weeks once I had the place to myself (play Deus Ex and Gears of War 3 until the wee hours of the morning! Eat an entire box of Count Chocula!) but now that I’m actually on my own, I feel more unmoored than anything else. So far the most adventurous thing I’ve done is spend the better part of an hour wandering around a Half-Price Books – and I didn’t even buy anything. I am apparently growing dull in my old age.

Still, there are some things I might try to crank up while I have this focus time. Prep for the Fall 2011 Lecture Circuit! Do some more writing! Catch up on work! Record an album of esoteric, Heap-esque music! Finish off some long, long, long-overdue projects! Achieve Inbox Zero!

First up, though: the video games. Or maybe one of the horror movies The Wife refuses to watch with me. Then the video games. Hey, it’s research.

How long until The Wife comes home again…?