12/28 We’re not going anywhere. Not to any of the pristine beaches supposed to be a stone’s throw from here, because we’ve been to pristine beaches before and nothing can beat being right here at our bungalow with its pool and not having to do anything. I’m playing through some of my jazz standards every couple of hours, and J is building content for her business. Started an essay I’ve meant to write for a while.
12/27 We were invited to a concert at the weed shop tonight, and we gladly skipped it.
12/26 The weed shop, or let’s say: the weed oasis in the village three minutes from here invited J to play electric violin in their open mike tonight – which she did, and it was amazing. (The owner also proclaimed happily within three minutes of meeting us that we would now be friends for life.) I did not expect I would witness in such a spectacular way what excites me about electric violin: sounds that do not at all sound like a violin, but which could only be made with a violin.
12/25 Our bungalow and private pool breathes so much of the sixties in which it was built, and in which it must have been one of the most luxurious places you could be on the planet. It is well kept, even though paint is withering and the plaster has cracks all over the place. There must have been a clear view of the bay from here, which is now hidden by giant palm trees that have grown since. We can hear the waves though. And balls bouncing on the tennis courts. A silvery frog smaller than the tip of a finger came to visit us, or well, has been sitting motionless on and around our wooden pool chairs for the entire day.
12/24 St. Thomas. Got up before five and took an Uber through a city with traffic patterns that felt slightly off due to Christmas Eve, to JFK. Four hour flight. A band with a stilt dancer whose head almost hits the terminal roof welcomes us at the airport – the runway being about one tenth the length of the island. Immediate sense that, unlike Puerto Rico, which is only one island away, this is much more of a getaway and partying spot for rich Americans.
12/23 It is the first time in my life I am moving into a smaller town, come to think of it.
12/22 Changed my residence address in several places, for example the company, for example the bank. Eerie feeling.
12/21 Limp.
12/20 My son in Germany makes the remarkable suggestion that the new word for “google” could simply be “ask”. Asking without an addressee: why don’t we just ask.
12/19 I have lost 6 pounds in 4 months, and another 7 pounds to go where I want to be. Though this is less and less about pounds than about losing fat in the last stubborn holdouts. But I’m now changing horses. Got hold of some GLP-1 drug, first injection today.
I am starting to see slide presentations that were beautified with AI. Elaborate designs with a dream-like character. Bullet points for the sermon on the mount.