Free Time
For those of you who are lucky enough to have the free time that I am currently able to enjoy, and if you have the interest in hearing about what I'm doing with mine, please allow me to spend some of that time by letting me tell you how much I appreciate it. Or perhaps I'm just easily amused. You be the judge. Awaking without an alarm at 6:00am, I rode my bike to Anytime Fitness on Canal and got to spend two hours exercising to some of my favorite music on my new Koss headphones and spent some minutes on the tanning bed before stopping at the new Winn Dixie on North Carrollton for ingredients to make fresh guacamole which I enjoyed while watching reruns of Will & Grace. Then I watched Leslie Jordan's "My Trip Down the Pink Carpet" on Netflix which I've already recommended for you to see. Very few of my very few friends were available for a road trip. (I wanted to go fishing.) Having to drop off some letters at the post office and feeling the need for some live human contact, I decided to stop in at the Bayou Beer Garden at 2:00 in the afternoon. You have to make an effort nowadays to initiate conversation even at a New Orleans neighborhood bar since most everyone is attentively plugged in to their electronic devices. It's mostly just a comfort crutch for us that can be easily knocked aside. Thanks to the bartender Kelly I acquired a most enjoyable buzz by four different beers from around the world. She had to shoosh one poor patron who was obviously having a bad day and swearing out loud to someone on his device and asked if it was bothering me. I said jokingly, "Hell, sounds just like my family at the breakfast table." I had a great time chatting with a couple of black women who weren't having much luck at the poker machines. Then I was ready to saunter back to Dumaine Street stopping at the Ideal store for a six pack of Fat Tire beer to prolong this spontaneous bout of fun-loving which I'm sure by now you can tell is dangerously approaching maudlin. Anyway, if there's anything you can take away from this, enjoy your free time. It's an invaluable gift beyond belief. If you take into consideration how much of our precious time is spent in the service of others, it shouldn't be hard to relate to what I'm saying and I wish you all the success in achieving such appreciation and congratulate those of you who already do. Now what the hell am I going to do now?
