Experiment, minus hypothesis

Yesterday was the election, and though I did a pretty good job not being stressed about the returns in the evening, I was wrecked all day waiting for the returns to even become relevant…that is, waiting to wait. We haven’t gotten our results in Arizona yet, so in some emotional ways it’s less accurate to say “the election was yesterday” for me personally and more accurate to say “the election will persist, probably until at least Saturday.”

In the middle of my psychological tornado yesterday, our electrician chipped one of the brand-new tiles in the bathroom, and I almost exploded with sadness and rage. This was unnecessary: it is already fixed. The wonderful tile guys came back, and it all looks good as new. We are very close to having the bathroom finished, though there are still no fixtures hooked up and thus no possibility of a shower or a late-night glass of water from the sink, though I do keep walking blearily over to the sink (which again, has no faucet) and wondering why I can’t wash my hands.

This morning I went to the doctor for an annoying but not terrible appointment, and since then I have been mentally incompetent, and mostly just eating snacks. I was at least competent enough to procure the snacks, and to listen to Philip Glass records while talking with a friend about the snacks, and to feel a little smug about how many snacks I ate. Don’t I have actual work to do? Absolutely. But how can I be expected to do it when so much of my energy in the past 24 hours has been focused on a single bathroom tile and also the New York Times Election Needle? I can’t, I guess.

Anyway, that’s all to say the fact that I am sending these words out into the world is a kind of mental miracle. I don’t claim that it’s impressive, mind you, only miraculous; praiseworthy, no, but a victory against unlikely odds, yes. You have, by reading this, participated in the miracle. Good for you. Good for us. Let’s all get a good night’s sleep and start fresh in the morning.