Escaping the heat

 I’m at the library today, escaping the midday heat. I’m typing this up offline, because the library wifi does not like my computer.

A lot of things are going well, and a lot of things are chaotic. I’m not sure how much, if anything, I want to write about that. Admirably vague, I know.

This morning I woke up, talked to mom briefly, had tea and toast, cleaned the kitchen, started a load of laundry, watered orchids, read a lot of news and profiles about Tim Kaine, watched an episode of Pokemon XY, and packed myself up to go to the library. I plan to write some fiction, some nonfiction, review my brother’s CV, update my online dating profile, and do some work for my day job. Some of those depend on me having wifi, but a lot of them don’t. I went swimming yesterday and plan to go swimming tomorrow. I’m going to eat lunch in town, probably at the co-op, and have chicken curry for dinner. Today is likely to be a day low of socialization. The weather is in the mid-80s and clear, bringing the temperature at my house to about 77 when I left, because I don’t believe in air conditioning houses if you don’t live in Arizona.

A few things on my mind today:

• I like Tim Kaine more than I expected to. He adds ‘likable’ to a Democratic ticket best characterized by no one liking Hillary Clinton very much. I suspect people would like Clinton better if she got along better with the press, since they’re the filter we see her through, but it’s probably a few decades too late to change that. Clinton is described as privately warm and publically awkward, while Kaine is described as publically boring but likable and privately… boring but likable. I like him being bilingual, too. I don’t know where he stands on my key issue, torture and expansive overseas wars, but given that he’s described as ‘generic democrat’ I suspect I won’t object too hard. His stance on the death penalty suggests he’s someone who understands the value of human life. So, yay.
• Pokemon Go is improving my view on humanity, one brief friendly encounter at a time. I did not realize how cynical about people, how standoffish, I have been, until I come around to looking forward to conversations with strangers, and seeing what’s over the next hill. A delightful positive development in my life.