Embracing the Present

8 days into my New Years Resolution to reduce my personal dependency on Chinese products I got really grumpy. I just moved to DC and move in requires lots of stuff made in China: packing stuff, unpacking stuff, cleaning stuff, plastic stuff, more plastic stuff...

I therefore have decided to abandon my New Year's Resolution. Not entirely. I think the general sentiment is still plausible: less stuff.

My New Year's re-boot plan instead is to embrace the present. It's a strategy that is immediately counter-intuitive. I'm hoping my embracing of the present will quell my anxieties, which hover at a high amber level on an ordinary day, and are especially heightened given my current job searching and new city explorations and dog whispering. So much like the Department of Homeland Security, I'm going to abandon my fixation on broad stroke or general fears and instead make strategic calculations of my sanity based on specfic threats to it. As a PS, I don't expect this will dash my hopes and dreams for the future where we'll all know a planet of love and peace. It's a coping mechanism for where I am right now full stop.

Results are already coming in! Rather than enter the well-worn groove of previous "Washington is not New York" bemoaners, I have decided to make smaller observations in the positive. For example, I've stopped bitching about the incessant badgering of the DC Metro PA system and have focused instead on the timely service. Today I got to the movies in 16 minutes, even with a train switch.

Rather than developing a chip on my shoulder about the seemingly high density of mediocre Americana restaurants that no one complains about here, I spotted a new restaurant and liked it a lot. (Bo Bay - a nuovo Vietnamese Restaurant with skimpy wine pours, but great chicken wings.)

Ok, I couldn't resist getting those two swipes in, but I'm working on me too: last night I even let go of my defcon 17 fear that my dog is never going to go off leash. There have been so many reasons for this fear: because I need to take him to obedience school and what if he'll never learn and oh it's the owner's fault and what am I doing wrong and will this dog ever enjoy the open plains of the endless dog parks of Capitol Hill...yikes. After one glass of courage nie wine I just let him off the leash. And he bounced around the park with Scout and Duncan and Charlie with no problemo.


This blog entry is dedicated to my friend Cora Michael who gave me a journal for Christmas entitled: "F You and Your F-ing Blog." Thanks also to the writers of Grosse Point Blank for further underscoring this sentiment with the borrowed adapted title of this blog.