Dopp Juice Archive

It begins when I leave my house in the morning (anything before that is not yet routinized, and totally up for grabs). My neighbor meets me at the corner, and together we walk into the local cafe. Jenny, the owner, perks up and says to both of us, “The usual?” We nod.

Then my neighbor and I spend the next forty minutes catching up on our lives — which, really, is just what’s happened in the last twenty-four hours since we last rode to work together. We’re both poets who work in the web industry, so we compare notes about the latest happenings. When it’s finally time to part ways, we end with our mantra: “Today is going to be awesome!” It’s usually accompanied by some kind of victorious hand gesture.

She goes above ground; I switch to another train. Once on board, I pull out my day planner, review my goals for the week, review what i did (and didn’t do) yesterday, and write down a few bullet points of things I want to focus on today.

When I get to my stop, I pull out my ipod and stick it on shuffle (let the universe determine my theme songs for the last leg of my journey). In my ten-minute walk to the office, I make a point to pass by the recycling center, because the squashed cubes of metal feel like art to me. The two fork-lift operators recognize me, stop what they’re lifting, and wave vigorously to me as I walk by. I wave back, dancing in my walk to whatever song has ended up at the top of my playlist.

I walk into the office, drop my things, and chuckle to myself that I’m still, always, the first one here. So fortunately, there’s time to blog.