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Think tank: Too much time, so little chance to do it

By George Pelletier - Milford Bureau Chief | May 30, 2020

George Pelletier

Not often, I miss living in New York. As a magazine reporter there, the perks were great like getting a good table at a booked restaurant. But not so great a perk, that someone would recognize you and interrupt your meal.

As I’ve gotten older, I don’t miss the city so much, especially because I could ever deal with all the walking. If people now asked me to meet them in the middle of Central Park, I’d probably Uber it there.

I remember living there; many times I would have to take a cab after getting off the subway. The train, not the sandwich shop.

I recall always being fascinated, that when I left New York City, the rest of the world was so damn clean.

As a journalist, you learn certain things. Such as in life, there is no such thing as algebra. And proof reading isn’t the same if what you’re reading doesn’t say “80 percent proof.”

The self-distancing and stay-at-home order has been illuminating. With so much time to think, read and watch so much TV, I have reached the conclusion that people should think before they speak. And read before they think.

I know a good book is lost on many, including Mr. Trump. He doesn’t like to read. It’s not crime. But I’m imagining that his presidential library will look more like an old PhotoMat. And instead of books, there will be Cliff Notes.

Being home so much I have tried to find some inner peace through meditation. All I’ve come up with is anxiety and what color would be nice to repaint the study. (In our house, the study is more actually called, the bar.)

I realize that life is what happens when you have trouble falling asleep. It’s also a terrible time to paint.

I like it when the phone doesn’t ring Age teaches you that when the phone is for you, your mind rolls its eyes. When you’re a teen and the phone is for you, you say, “It’s not for me. They would have texted.”

I’m on the Noom diet. Seriously. I have to weigh in each morning, on a stupid Bluetooth scale that does everything but yell, “Get the hell off of me.” I have lost weight. But I also weigh myself el buffo. I swear, if my scale reads that I have gained even a pound, I will cut my own hair right there.

I like watching the news, even if it is a certain network I don’t typically watch. I like following a hard-hitting news channel, which will report everything that’s going on. Then I’ll switch to another fluffier network, you know, that network. While there’s breaking news on the other channel, on this one, they’re busy showing you how to make bundt cake.

I never thought that talking behind someone’s back was cool. Now I realize that by doing it, they hear what you’re saying twice.

I have friends who say that they wish they were writers. “My life would be an amazing book!” they exclaim. Perhaps a pamphlet, I suspect.

I notice that one thing missing from federal, state and local politics, sadly, is that of the state of embarrassment.

Everyone always said how smart their kid is. I have met these children as adults. What happened?

We have a new dog, named Riley because that is the life that he leads. I love him. My other favorite animal is filet mignon.

We do not like Riley to jump on the furniture, unless he can carry a clever conversation or mix a mean martini.

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