And I’m not just talking about where my body is physically in transit to at the moment.
Alternative Title (as suggested by ChatGPT when I gave it what I randomly wrote; I find it interesting to see what a system makes of what I’m saying, slangs and all):
Running Late, Still Learning: A Morning of Tangents, Time, and Tiny Triumphs
Eighteen minutes after nine, en route to a gig. Call time was nine. It’s okay, they’ll be fine. I would say that I tried my hardest to be on time. That would be a lie. Today, I didn’t really try.
Now was I thinking I’d be an entire hour late? No. But was I pressed about arriving exactly an hour before the mall even opens its door to customers when there’s barely anything for us to set up at our activation? No.
On Thanksgiving, day-before-yesterday, I had a virtual coaching session with this Polish, no-nonsense-demeanor lady that lives in Jersey. I’m all a’kee’kee’kee, open-mouth smiles, and she’s staring at me, thin lips sealed.
That’s what I need, someone that’s not going to play with me. ‘Cause me?! Oh, I’m no good, I’ll distract us. We’ll be on a tangent that peeled off from a tangent three tangents ago. And will enjoy it too, yeah, a good kee’kee, that’s why I need somebody that won’t play with me.
We’re not here to clown. We’re here to get down, down to business. Pick apart these patterns of procrastination and get on the path to producing.
I feel the best when I’m producing. It doesn’t have to be a physical product, though those are definitely satisfying, something the eye can see right there in the palm of the hand. What’s even better, though, are the intangibles.
Producing smiles. Producing warm, fuzzy feelings in the center of the chest. Producing inspiration, hope or belief. Producing the sights of something that someone needs to see.
“I needed to see that.”
“I needed to hear that.”
Yeah, me too. That’s what we do. That’s what we’re supposed to. We’re pack animals put together on this planet to produce and procreate for future posterities.
Posterities. I remember learning that word in school, which wasn’t a usual occurrence in my classrooms as my reading level throughout primary and secondary school was always grades beyond the grade that I was in. So, usually, by the time we got to something in the classroom, I’d already come across it on my own, playing around in one of the elder grandchildren’s schoolwork. That’s the benefit of being the baby of the bunch, so long as the baby isn’t babied and has some sort of built-in sense of independence and interest.
I notice an advanced performance in my sister Taylor’s baby boy, and that’s a bit of what made me realize how I came to be advance as an adolescent.
Oop! Twenty ‘til ten and there’s my stop. How long has it been? [starts computing] Oh shoot, 09:20 to 09:40, that ain’t shit but 20 damn minutes.
On the call with the career coach or whatever, we decided that I’ll set my goal for the week to be writing 90 minutes per day. I thought I could knock out 60, or at least 45, of those 90 on my commute to this Glendale Galleria that I’m crossing the street over to now.
Dang. I’m working 9-9, 12 hours today! And I’m going directly to a mutual friend’s art show DTLA from here. When in the world will I get the other 70 minutes in?!
Whew child. I’m glad that I started my day with a cold shower. Cold showers have a plethora of benefits, but my main motivation today was that I wanted to take a shower without getting caught up in the shower for an hour. I can’t stand cold water, so I know that if that water is cold, oh baby, I ain’t staying in long.
See, who says that I have poor time management skills?!
I’m at the door on the mall now and the marketing activation that I’m booked on as a brand ambassador is RIGHT at this entrance in front of JCPenny. It’s enough that I was supposed to be here 49 minutes ago; I don’t need to walk up and be on my phone too.
I’m here, stepping slowly one foot in front of the other as I inch closer without the lead on the event having seen me yet.
Oh girl! I still have this felt roller in my head.
[rolls eyes] [WhatsApp notification] “@Krystal, eta?”
“I see you,” I respond. Here I come, shit.
Let me go. Later, y’all!