Not Doing Anything

Most of us are constantly doing things. Or at least thinking about doing things.

"How was your weekend?"

"Good"

"What did you do?"

"Nothing much - went to the city to meet friends on Friday - had dinner at this hole in the wall Ethiopian place. You should try it out sometime! On Saturday - did a short hike near Fremont. Took it easy on Sunday. You?"

In this age of constant Facebook brag, all of us, to some degree or other, feel the "pressure" to lead exciting lives. To do cool things. Be different. Work hard, party harder, right?

I'm as guilty of this as anybody else - constantly feeling like I need to do something or be somewhere. Last Sunday, though there was a 3 hour window in the afternoon when I absolutely did not do anything. And it was unbelievable.

I had already check marked the "yes, I did something this weekend" box by going to Santa Cruz for lunch on Saturday and meeting a friend in the city on Friday (doubled with listening to an awesome local band at Cafe du Nord - The Ponies). So after a heavy lunch, the temptation to just lay down on one of the chairs by the pool (what do you call them, by the way?) with the temperatures in the 70s, was just too much. I went in with the intention of reading a book but within 15 minutes had slipped into a reverie. 

Every now and then the whir of a plane would wake me up and I would go back to my book - Steinbeck's "Cannery Row". I had deliberately picked that book since it was based out of Monterey, a place now familiar to me. Also I have always wanted to read more of him after reading "Travels With Charley".

But the reading would last only a few minutes and I would soon change postures to go back to a half awake, half asleep state. At one time, the 2 ducks in the swimming pool, who till then had been absolutely stationary, (perhaps sleeping too?) decided to wake up, get wet and then jump out and dry themselves by flapping their wings. My friend and I watched the routine intently for a minute.

It doesn't take a lot to be happy. Well, let's try to say this differently. You can have a great time without anything really happening. After 3 hours I had read a total of 40 odd pages, seen a few planes fly by, witnessed the ducks do their dance and a hummingbird hover over a pot of flowers hung in the balcony. And it made me super happy and content. So much so that I decided to give a shot at this blog after a hiatus lasting over a year.