The day-to-day

Last week I had epic plans to watch this:

No explanation necessary.

However, right when I was cozying up in bed, my tiny old TV/VCR combo freshly moved merely feet from my face for effective from-bed viewing, something horrendous happened: on the final test to make sure all was prepared before I turned off the light for a sound 4 hours of sleep before waking for the 1am coverage, the TV would not turn on! Well the TV would turn on, and the converter box would turn on, but somehow they weren't connecting. A bit of a panic arose, partly because it was a bit exciting to be panicked and partly because I simply was panicked. I scurried around the house testing any TV I could find; I was the only one that had an antenna but certainly we could make this work somehow, but to no avail.

As the clock struck 10pm I drew my impending conclusion: I simply must go get another television (partly because the ridiculousness of it all seemed like it would make a great story and partly because... I was panicked). Luckily, Wal-Mart closed at 11pm, so off Chelsea and I went to get this:

Plus a dodgy antenna.

A tiny splurge for a tiny TV. Victory for me and the monarchy alike (because they would've been upset for me to miss out). While watching in hushed volumes around 2:50 (dress reveal!) I concluded that this adventure was indeed one of the best decisions of my life.

However over the past few days the antenna has disappointed: I simply can't be watching a spotty Today show in the morning with such epic news going on (seriously this time). I bought another antenna and had the same results. So late last night I tried my old faithful TV (it entertained me during many childhood roadtrips--yes, that kind of TV), and within about an hour of fiddling and a switch of some chords, I got it to work--even the ever ambivalent (signaled) PBS. Great! But also not great--my guilty conscience that just spent $200 on a spree told me that I should go ahead and take the new one back (apparently I'm ambivalent too).

So today I attended to the mundane and did what needed to be done. I returned the new TV and both antennae (?) to their respective retailers, and bought a new chord for this gem:

Impressive lasting capabilities.

All set up and good to go. And you might be wondering: what does this have to do with daily practices? In reality, days can't be completely filled with romantic notions of simplistic transcendence--most of the time there are things that just need to get done in order to exist (some might debate the necessity of watching this epic event in order to exist, so I'm refiling it under "self-care"--can't say anything against that, can you?). I think where these times can be tied in with more seemingly sacred or creative daily practices lies in this: how do you carry yourself during the day-to-day? How do you interact with the mundane? In a positive light, after a while they might all blend together as daily intentional living. Now for that to happen, it's got to be spiritual!

So what about me? How did I carry myself in my day-to-day? How did I interact with the mundane reality of returning things, driving, repairing, etc? I just did. I simply let it come, moment by moment. And I even let myself get lost along the way. But in this positive light, I was happy to consider that as "discovering my surroundings."

In Progress,

Lacy