Working from Home

I’m working from home today.

I had a pretty good workout at aikido last night. Enough to make me sleep really well, though I am a bit tired. So it’s nice to be at home, getting some work done, without the noise of the office  all around me. Sitting here on the couch while my wife runs some errands, with the dog and cat in here asleep. No TV on. Nice weather outside so the door to the patio is open. Peaceful. Easy to relax and get some things done.

The war against people working from home is bullshit. If people can work from home once or twice a week I think it is good for their mental health. It’s great to be able to get a load of laundry done during your work day. It’s nice to take five minutes too write a blog post or play with your dog. It’s nice to not have fluorescent lights assaulting your eyes all day. It’s nice to not have to rush out of the house in the morning and face traffic. Most of all, it’s nice to not have to “perform”, turn on the extrovert disguise, or otherwise meet the social expectations of the office once or twice a week. Even if you like your coworkers and your job, which I do,  everyone can sometimes use a break.

Ukemi

In Aikido, “Ukemi” goes beyond taking falls. It is the entire art of being Uke — the person who attacks and receives the aikido technique. However, in this little video I just do some rolls. I got to practice early and was curious how my various rolls and falls look. I’ve been practicing for over 18 years now, but I’ve only shot video a couple of times, and that was years ago.

Anyway, this is me warming up last night. I feel pretty good about my ability to move. I wasn’t really loose and warmed up. Next week I’ll shoot some more difficult rolls.

Marc Maron Live

I’ve been a Marc Maron fan for a long time. These days I don’t really listen to the podcast very much. When I worked in a one-person library for years I listened to podcasts all day. Things are different now. For some reason I can’t concentrate on work when I have headphones one, whereas I can if a podcast is just playing on the speakers.

We went to see him perform last night at the Majestic Theatre, in Dallas.

It was a great show. Marc performed for two hours. That’s a solid show. We were supposed to see him last year but the tour was rescheduled. The show would have been quite different back then. Last night Marc came out and talked about Trump and his band of lunatics and kooks for a bit, but unlike when I do it Marc was funny. He had some really nice creative insulting names for them. It was cathartic and much appreciated.

The rest of the show was pretty typical Maron, which is fine. We laughed hard. We needed that. Honestly, I could listen to Marc talk about his cats for a long time. I love cats. Marc loves cats. He’s my people.

I was trying to remember when I read his first couple of books. They were super good. Then I remember that I blogged about them when I read them! That is a benefit of being a longtime compulsive blogger.

Here’s the stage before the show started last night. I love the Majestic. Great place to see a show.

the stage at the Majestic theater in Dallas