Day 103, 19 April: A 'Talking' Day

Norfolk Terrace, Norwich, Day 103. A ‘Talking’ Day

In my silent room half without the purple carpet that I took for granted (I now wear sandals to endure the sticky, white surface), I realized that I can occupy my time in a day purely with my own activities…but the day itself feels unproductive at some level. Around three in the afternoon today, I realized that apart from a few short conversations with various flatmates in the kitchen in the sleepy morning, I had done all my communicating to people through typed words alone. It made me think, am I still ‘talking’ when my voice remains mute all day? Am I being sociable while remaining at my desk all day? The answers for me were both no. Talking and socializing imply movement beyond the tapping of fingers on square buttons with the letters on them. But in this day and age and when a lot of friends and all family are back home, sometimes internet messaging has to suffice (and there’s skype which helps bring it closer to real talking).

      Nevertheless, it felt good to walk over to the library and do something. I was able to meet up with Stef in the library in early evening and we chatted about the upcoming examinations in the next few weeks, since we’re in both the Romanticism and 19^th Century Writing modules. It was nice to see both her and her friend Helen. Hitting up the libs (lie-bs, gangstifying the partially mundane word ‘library’) offered another thing: I picked out short stories by Hemingway and Ian McEwan to help me on my quest to get my assigned short story on the road.

         Meditate-read-write-nap-read-run for the second day in forever-forget to put away laundry-cook the same meal as last night-check out favourite bands online-chat Katya and family-sleep. The other elements of my day. As I cooked, Alvin, Charlie, Gemma, and I sang to tunes in the kitchen. It was really fun, especially singing Tracy Chapman’s ‘Fast Car’, a favourite song of mine. In other music news, I discovered that one of my ex-favourite bands, Linkin Park, might return to the style of its earlier stuff—the last album disappointed heavily, but I have hope for this summer one. By the sleeping hour, I felt content.