12/25 Fever in waves. Slept many hours today, woke up in sweat-soaked sheets several times, as the pattern of daylight unfolded in grey clouds outside without much connection to myself. In the evening, J and I played the Sleigh Ride together, our first domestic Christmas music as a couple, and it was bliss.
12/24 This is an entirely different type of jetlag than when, because of the kids, we are forced to absorb it as good as we can within barely a few hours so we can spend a weekend with them. This one I’d be willing to stretch over as many days as I want, the only problem is that it’s Christmas and we have no supplies, don’t know how long stores will be open, or even where the stores are. We do know of a few in Kissamos, an hour from here. which is where we’ll drive. Also, the first time we can actually see the area around here in daylight is in heavily pouring rain, which is likely to last the entire week.
12/23 I am sick. Fortunately there is the clear indication of my body temperature saying that I am sick, because otherwise I would not know what is wrong with me – am I lazy, have I been underslept for months, is all ability to notice anything forever gone from me, maybe because I’m too old and have seen too much of everything already?
We have traveled a quarter around the globe just to be able to look at the sea, and the horizon, and the clouds, this time the mediterranean off the western end of Crete. Given how much coastline there is on the earth, it is remarkably difficult to do this, despite how simple it sounds.
It’s much more remote than we thought it would be – single-track, extremely winded roads with 180-degree switchbacks. Yet we haven’t been out in the daylight almost at all yet. Miraculous hospitality in the tavern ten kilometers from here, to which Google led us, which had a Closed sign that they decided to flip around when we showed up as the only guests.
12/22 After a thorough night of sleep, ready to sleep the entire upcoming day. And we do. Not even a desire to eat until the evening.
12/21 Twenty-four hours of travel, including four hours of driving across Crete.
12/20 Athens, Heraklion.
12/19 It’s again that time of the year when I take out large amounts of cash to put into the holiday gift envelopes for the building staff and parking garage staff. I am neither sure of the daily cash withdrawal limits nor of the names of the employees I’m giving some of the envelopes to, rather than throwing them into the big padlocked box where you never know what will happen to them. Also, tonight, the last night before we fly to Crete, there’s a Yeti-shaped homeless man in the ATM lobby of Chase down one block, he’s been there two hours ago and also now, standing menacingly behind the door, so I chose to rather not take out the remaining cash right now but sometime tomorrow during daylight.
12/18 J and I show up for adjacent appointments at our hair salon, and while I manage to exchange at most a single sentence with E during an appointment, J engages in endless chatter, effortlessly. I admire it and am in no way able to compete, ever.
12/17 Some discussion of theoretical computer science before going to bed. It took thirty years for me to realize just how good my education was, because it always resisted giving immediate, simple answers. Like my professor’s apology in the first lecture that he was teaching us computer science by coding – how he would do it another way if only he knew one. I found that boring at the time. But I remember it to this day.
12/16 The slightest glassy crackling in the air as I went out last night for a few seconds. This morning, as I open the door, the car and everything else is covered in a blanket of heavy wet snow.