By “dry” I mean no longer in a place where the humidity has trouble dipping below 90%, and by “high” I mean… heh heh… you know…
Denver. I mean Denver. That’s where I am. Elevation 5,280 feet. I’m not acclimated to the altitude yet, though, so I do feel a bit high. I’m only here for a brief time, but there’s a lot to do. The engine misfire on the van got fixed, but now something has come up with the radiator fan and the a/c, so it’s good that I’m in a place that’s relatively easy to get around on foot/bike/bus/etc. while that gets looked at.
Beyond this, there’s a lot of people to see. Both I and my best friend Jesse lived here for a long time (not that long in my case, but certainly longer than I’ve lived in any other single place), so there’s folks to catch up on the state of things out at the farm. I’m girding myself to tell the same story over and over for a few weeks. I’ve got as much blood family here as I do anywhere, too. Both my parents, my brother, and his fiancee, mainly. Also theoretically my uncle and his wife and their two kids, but I haven’t seen them in years, which is normal. I’m not totally sure anyone has seen them in years.
The van’s a/c issue made the journey here harrowing. I’m still very much resolved on the idea that I will not be doing long road journeys in August in the future, if at all possible, and I’m going to be a little more picky about where I am stationary during that time. Chronic hyperthermia is no joke and I’m tired of being sticky all the time. Before I take the van into the shop on Monday, I’m hoping to find the time to pull all my stuff out long enough to do a deep clean. I’ve been sweating all over the interior 24/7 for days and it’s getting a patina. Granted I live in a van (although blessedly I am staying in a guest room at this exact moment) and my grooming standards are never going to be bourgeois caliber, but this summer’s mugginess has been on another level entirely. Anyway I’m here now, and for the first time in many months, I am not sweating.
What I want to be doing is work on my manuscripts, and as the ancient, eldritch thing that made me is my witness, I am going to find the time. Storytelling is always what brings me back to myself on the hardest of days, it is always what I will get out of bed for. The more stressed I am, the harder it is to do it, but as with so many things in life, at a certain point the way I make it happen is, I make it happen. Certainly not every difficulty in this world can be overcome by pushing through it, not even remotely. But man, I know myself.
I haven’t been in the city long, but it’s been nice so far. Everyone we cross paths with comments on how Mutiny looks so spry and muscly, courtesy of spending the spring and summer running around farm fields with chickens and goats (and occasionally getting chased by Barn Swallows when she got too close to a nest, or yelled at by crows when they determined her to be misbehaving). I’ve tightened up myself. Beauty standards are bullshit, which is good because “more beautiful” is not necessarily how I’d describe the changes in my body over the past couple seasons, but I feel good. I like the way moving around feels when my body is this kind of shape. Always have. Physical health and mental health feed back into each other, for me, though mental health is usually the one leading the dance. When I work on myself and start feeling better in my skin, my skin starts feeling better on me.
One big excitement I’m looking forward to here is seeing my brother’s new house. Supposedly there’s a bookshelf wall (he has mentioned this to me on multiple occasions). Sometime in July I got a group call on speakerphone from a family dinner where he and his now-fiancee had announced their engagement. I got to act surprised, when really I had put two and two together when I saw the redfin listing for the house. I’ll be seeing them tomorrow, then my local squishy-face person on Saturday, and on from there.
Last year, when a group of my Denver friends got together to see the unassailable modern classic Sinners, one of them mentioned to me how much she loves a big, bloody revenge payoff ending. I seized the opportunity and said, “Oh my dear, have you seen Silent Hill?” She had not. Long story short, we have both been waiting to watch the recently released Return to Silent Hill until we are in the same place again. That’s happening Sunday. It’s gonna be special. I’ll probably do a post entirely about my relationship to the Silent Hill franchise in the near future, because it’s too much to put in this post.
More people still to check in with, many more chores to do, and much, much more to write.