Time to do nothing

Writing the blog every day is an exercise in reading, writing, and thinking. Often about nothing in particular. Some little thing I see out for a walk after coffee becomes some thread in my head. Like a feeling or even an idea that many people have likely never seen the routine things in Cambodia I see. I take for granted taking a ride in a tuktuk and have done so for a long time since living in India and riding around there. We called them rickshaws then but the look is the same. There are different kinds of them. Big ones that have room for maybe 4 people. Small ones suitable for 2. I see them chugging along all around the city.

Today becomes a day to do nothing really. Did not sleep well last night for whatever reason. Then the call at 530am was a bother. Even my wife’s usual stability seemed shaken with the idea one of her friends would call her then complaining about another. She just laughs it off and I write it off. Or I go for coffee and think it off.

What really happened though was this lack of decent sleep. I went for a shorter walk today and realized what I wanted to do. I want to go sit this afternoon and drink beer and do nothing elsewhere. First though I’ll go off in the required tuktuk and do coffee at Noi Coffee. There is no reason. A ride downtown using a friendly ride hailing service will cost me about $1.50. From there, I can amble over to the restaurant and bar I wish to sit at today and do nothing there.

So when I started thinking about doing nothing; of course it became apparent I needed to write on the whole effort of nothing. I seem to do nothing quite a bit these days. Other people seem to insist on doing things for me. My wife will ensure I am happy and have food each day. She will look after me to make sure I look happy doing nothing. We have this nice Khmer woman that helps around the house and we pay her about $100 a month to just do things. It means I don’t do my laundry or even have household duties. Yeah. I know I’m lazy.

I figure though “why not”. Why not be lazy and write when i want. Listen to some history documentary almost. Figure out a huge step.

When shall I leave for downtown?

I doubt I will finish this sitting in our room with the fan going and the guy droning on about some kingdom in Mesopotamia. Perhaps at one point I had some abiding interest. Now it just goes. My little iPhone 13 charges up. It reminds me I paid $30 for a new battery in it months ago and battery life lately has been stellar on it. It is an old phone and I am an old guy so the two things fit. I don’t worry much about some analog lifestyle because I don’t want an analog lifestyle. My phone is my buddy. It goes with me. My laptop is an enhancement, an addition, a nice thing but it doesn’t. It likes staying home so I just do what it wants.

Every day I enjoy doing some restorative yoga and meditation because it makes me feel better. It has always seemed like a counterpoint to the walking for me. Like a different emphasis on different practices ^[1].

To downtown and whatever else

I’ll be going when I go. Sitting at a nice coffee shop and practicing doing nothing there. I will likely eat some kind of food at the restaurant that I enjoy and also imbibe some beers that for some reason I feel I need today. When it is time to go, an easy app gives me the ride. The majority of the tuktuk drivers here now my repertoire. The app shows where I am going and the price. The money in local currency comes out of my linked ABA bank account. Everything these days comes out of it. I don’t carry cash here because it is not required. Paying by QR code seems so much nicer and easier.

So turn it all around. And I come up with nothing. From an unwanted morning call to a shorter than usual walk. Then some yoga and a tuktuk ride. So what’s the price of all this nothing? Well my wife tells me to go enjoy my coffee and food and beer. She’s a dedicated and happy soul with life. The money that would he a pittance other places is enough for us to have a better life here than some.

I’ll just go ahead and do nothing some more. Except maybe with cheap cold draft beer and an appetizer. Today I feel like all of it. Or nothing. Take your pick.

☕️ 5 min read

• reading
• writing
• thinking