Y —

I admit, I “reflect” a little a too much. It comes honestly, the habit of both an introvert and an intellect. So I thought I would try a descriptive approach this time.

(You’ll see why I never do this.)

I’ll start at the beginning. I wake up each morning around 6:30 a.m. I live in Los Angeles but work for a New York City agency, so my work day starts at 10:00 a.m. EST or 7:00 a.m. PST.

Actually, I wake up around 5:30 a.m. each day but just lie in bed half awake, half asleep for that hour — yes, you guessed it — reflecting on things.

Around 6:30 a.m. each day — still in bed — I do a quick scan of social media, check my email, then land on the New York Times.

(I am obsessed with politics and have been ever since high school. I may have mentioned, I once seriously considered becoming a diplomat.)

I read through as much of the newspaper as I can before my daily, morning team conference call — which I take from bed, with my camera off of course.

After the call (where we discuss all the job priorities for the day) I make an Americano using the fussiest espresso machine ever made. (It’s Italian, of course, and constantly needs maintenance.) My grinder, too.

I typically have 3-4 coffees each morning. I don’t have breakfast, or lunch. Instead, I have a small snack around 2:00 p.m. before I go to the gym. The coffee fills me up so I’m not hungry.

With my first morning coffee, I usually have a cigar. People like to have whisky with cigars typically (I prefer rum) though neither of those make for a healthy breakfast.

(As far as coffee beans are concerned, I despise African beans. I love beans from the Americas, especially Guatamala Antigua. My favorite blend I always buy in Santa Barbara from this boutique coffee shop.)

(As far as cigars are concerned, I detest Dominicans and Hondurans. I love Nicaraguans — Nicaraguan filler, binder, and wrapper. They taste of coffee, chocolate, and nuts, the feeling of being warm on a cold winter day.)

When work is busy, I can work from 7 to 2 or 3 or 4 without any sort of break. When work is not busy, I work on my own creative projects, constantly switching between my “work” and “personal” laptops.

(I actually have three “personal” laptops — a MacBook Air and two Chromebooks. I don’t know why but I feel less distracted when writing on a Chromebook, which I”m doing right now.)

After work I hit the gym. I had a personal trainer for a couple of years so I know how to build my own work out routines.

I used to box until I hurt my shoulder and I used to bike until I broke my knee. I still do both though, occasionally. I have excellent cardio. I could do a full 12 rounds of boxing easily. I think I still can.

Usually I buy groceries after the gym. I never know what I want to eat until the moment just before so I never shop in advance. I love grocery stores. I almost never go to the same one twice in a row.

I’ve recently gotten back into going to farmer’s markets, which are like flea markets with produce.

Weekends I sleep in. I love doing laundry, especially folding clean clothes and putting them away. I fold Marie Kondo-style. Did you know she stole her folding technique from the US Navy?

I love washing dirty dishes but I hate putting clean dishes away. Is that weird? Everybody tells me that’s weird. I don’t think so. It feels more satisfying to me. I feel more accomplished.

Maybe I have always just loved doing the dirty work.

You will never have to wash a dirty dish again.

(That’s my small gift to you.)

I also obsess over my beard, usually on Sunday. I use three clippers and two razors to get it right. I confess, I model mine after Ernest Hemingway. He had flair so I don’t apologize for it.

Sunday nights are also for complicated dinners. I can spend the whole afternoon preparing dinner. I look forward to cooking all day, any day. It relieves my stress.

When I cook, I am completely in the moment. It is — besides writing and smoking — where I am. I feel completely free and completely myself. I love that feeling and I love all those activities for that reason.

(I love grocery stores so much in fact that I actually created a playlist on Spotify of songs all about grocery stores. To be honest, I’m more proud of that than most things I have done.)

These days, after dinner, I will have a second cigar. Although I love cigars, I’m not too proud of smoking so much. I have been pretty stressed out lately, so I’m not judging myself for it and allowing it for now. I will cut back though.

Once I’ve finished smoking (and I smoke down to the very end where I literally burn my fingers each time) I move on to the highlight of my day — movie time.

I have a ton of streaming services. It often takes me a while to figure out what I want to watch, way too long sometimes. I usually am “in the mood” for a particular kind of movie and have to find one that fits.

I have cut back on my movie watching only because I want to increase my movie writing. I’ll write afterwards — sometimes for a little while and sometimes for a long while.

I used to stay up late (until 3 or 4 in the morning) but now that I have to get up early for work I have to get to bed before 1 a.m. Sometimes I don’t though.

When I had my old house, I converted my “garage” into a writer’s room. I’d stay up into the early morning hours writing and smoking with the window by my desk open onto the back yard. (I miss those days.)

Oh, before I forget, one of my favorite things is to watch movies with my friend Sarah long distance. I ‘m not sure how that got started but we will watch together and text together throughout the film.

It really, truly is one of the things I cherish most.

Actually, what I cherish most is Sarah herself. We met over 10 years ago when we both actively blogged. We had a rocky start. I think she chewed me out over something, anyway, we got into a huge fight.

We then didn’t talk for months. Then, I think simultaneously, we both apologized to each other and asked if we could start over. (Thank God) She is more than a friend to me; she is like a sister.

This isn’t a letter about Sarah but I have to say, I honestly don’t know what I would do, what I would have done, without her. I trust her completely and can trust her with anything — there is no judgment, ever.

She has seen me at my best (which happens occasionally) and my worst (which happens more often). She is a spark of joy in my life and I am blessed to call her my friend.

(Oh and did I mention we are not in the least alike and I have no idea how we are friends at all? It makes no sense but it works. I could not possibly love her more.)

Sarah lives in Tacoma, and as a matter of fact, most of my closest friends live in different parts of the country, so I never see them in person — and I never, ever call anyone on the phone lol.

I do text like a madman though, that’s how I stay in touch with people. As a writer and introvert, I think texting is an absolute Godsend and total genius. I’m more comfortable in writing…

Actually, I was going to say I am more comfortable in writing than talking but that’s not true. I love talking to people (even strangers) one-on-one but I completely shut down in a group of 3 or more.

I’d make a great talk show host, think Charlie Rose. I actually love people and find them fascinating. What I love most though is human connection.

For example, I have this vintage watch. It looks expensive but I bought it for 40 dollars. I put it on a striped, nylon strap with my college colors, burgundy and white.

One day at the grocery store, the checkout girl complimented me on it, said it reminded her of her grandfather. I said, –This is a real watch, it ticks, hardly anything is real anymore.

She nodded and we both just pondered that thought for a moment. I live for that — when you can arrive at the same place with a total stranger and each learn something about each other.

I’m probably reading too much into it. She probably just thought I was a weird guy bringing up esoteric topics out of loneliness. Maybe both perspectives are true.

Skipping back a few thoughts, I don’t just write my own stuff at night. I literally write all day:

Some of it I type out on my laptop between jobs at work. Some of it I tap out on my phone whenever it pops into my head. (I am an obsessive not taker; I must have thousands of notes on my phone.)

Most of it, however, I write in my head and I just keep it there until I can write it down later.

Like this letter: most of it I wrote in my head while just going about my day today.

You wouldn’t think by looking at that guy sitting there, doing nothing, staring off into space constantly that there was actually anything happening but…

I’m really sleepy right now so I will end with one final thought.

There’s this book called A Little Life — I despise the book but I love the title.

That’s pretty much me: I have a little life but it makes me extremely happy and I love it so much.

I really, really do.

Like right now, for example.

— E