I don’t know if you’ve ever worked nights before. If you have, you know what I mean when I say my brain feels like cottage cheese a good portion of the week; namely during the day, when Cottage Cheese Brain is exactly what I don’t need. Important phone calls are not returned, car maintainence appointments are forgotten, and toenails frequently go unclipped for weeks at a time. In short my life, like my panty hose, is coming apart at the seams. The toe seams.

To combat this trend, last night I made a decision that goes against my nature. I decided to make a list. Not the kind that reminds me of all the bad things I’ve done that need to be set straight. No, the kind that reminds me of all of the necessary things I keep forgetting to do so I can keep my life straight. For example:

– Pay your Visa bill, you idiot!!!!!! It was due last Thursday!!!!!! Late fees!!!! Ack!!!!!

– There’s a bag of nectarines in the back of the crisper. It’s been there forever. Throw it way.

– You finished Adrift in America last week. You forgot to blog about it.

Now that my overdue Visa bill and soupy nectarines have been taken care of, it’s time to tell you guys about Sid Leavitt’s Adrift in America, a “diary of a minimalist mariner.”

In the late 1980s, Mr. Leavitt–having been unceremoniously let go from his editor’s job at a Portland, Maine newsaper–sold his house and most of his belongings, bought a truck, and set off to see America. It wasn’t wanderlust that inspired him…at least not mostly. He hit the road because he wanted to live deliberately; to live frugally and suck out all the bituminous concrete of life. He was looking for freedom, too, the kind that meant “being able to say ‘Fuck you’ to your boss and be out of town 10 minutes later with everything you own.” Oh, to know such freedom! But what I love most about this book is that we get a glimpse of everyday America. Not the touristy, post card America; but real towns with real people. The ones we overlook when we’re on vacation.

So check it out. It’s posted at Readers and Writers Blog, here by chapters and here in its entirety.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go clip my toenails.