Summer doldrums
by Matt Worley

Sunny days, rainy nights. Or something like that. The weather is the most interesting story to me right now. Will I have to wait until eight at night to open all the windows in the house, hoping a bit of cooler breeze might move through the stifling heat of the day trapped inside? Or will the clouds cover the sun in the afternoon and allow me to open them at three or four? The air conditioner (swamp cooler) only cools down one room. And it only works when the thing is on. It doesn't cool the room down for all of posterity, just for about fifteen minutes. And then the sweat begins again. Look outside to see if those clouds are just passing in front of the sun or actually threatening some rain. Usually it's only a threat, but occasionally little outbursts of cloud tears spittle down on the desert scene--just as a tease.

There is nothing on TV--which is good. Too much time watching imaginary people talk about trivial problems in the space of an hour or so. And even when the news is on, it seems imaginary. Is it time for another anti-drug campaign? Haven't we heard all these slogans before? Is the World Cup about sports or drinking? I can't really tell, but I like the songs. Drunken rhythmic yelling and dancing in the name of national pride. Reminds me of 50 cent beer nights before they were outlawed.

But these are merely passing fancies. Most of the time, I feel like I'm recovering from the work week--even in the middle of the work week. Sometimes I see the sun come up, sometimes I have to sneak peeks from my cubicle. Afternoons are siesta time, and it doesn't get much more productive after the sleep nuggets are pushed from my eyes. I can't read anything because I can't keep my eyes open. Or maybe I just don't even care anymore. The new movies all seem to suck, and the cheap movies houses are suffering from all the crappy spring movies no one went to see. Of course, they should get Titanic sometime soon. Maybe I'll actually see that monster.

The Dukes, our local Triple-A baseball team, have been out of town for a month or so. The All-Star Game took away my daily question of "how much are the Royals sucking now?" I saw a Royals game on WGN last night--they're sucking just enough to lose. Which means if they try just a little bit harder, they might actually win. But 11 games under .500 just after the All-Star break? I don't have a lot of hope. And they're not on the tube that much. It's the Kansas City Royals.

And it's summer. Everything has slowed down to a crawl, and people aren't even very excited the Powerball has climbed into the big numbers again. It's a little too hot to care, or just a little too summer. No life or death decisions now--that's why we have those really big, loud and strong movies. So we can watch computer effects fight out the big battles.

But I don't care. I don't want to stay at home, but I don't want to go anywhere either. Hide from the sun, try to stay comfortable. That's my agenda for now.

Of course, it won't stay like this forever. A couple of Dukes games (free Kazoos on Thursday!), a couple of cool bands (the Red Aunts final tour, Morphine), and maybe a good movie (uhhh....) will break up this monotony soon.

And if not, well, at least I get to go to work everyday and hear everyone else bitch about the weather.

Matt Worley keeps wondering if life is the stuff we pay for or what we get for free. Those MasterCard commercials are really screwing him up.

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