Saturday, February 23, 2008
*ring*
"hello ?"
"this is your landlord, just wanted to make sure that you're all right."
"um, sure..."
"you see, the neighbor across the street hasn't seen you in a while, and your mailbox is packed, so he gave me a call."
"well, that's nice, neighbors looking out for each other."
"why don't you put in an appearance and go get your mail, that will reassure the guy."
"yeak, ok, gotcha."
*click*
that's a highly paraphrased version of a telephone encounter recently. kinda answers some questions brought up in recent discussions with family members about what would happen if i just dropped dead or something. by the way, i don't think i've talked to any neighbors in years, and i'm certain i haven't talked to anyone across the street.
thing is, that "full mailbox" alert normally wouldn't have worked. used to be that the mailman would take all the mail back to the post office for safe keeping when it accumulated like that. not sure why that didn't happen this time. it's a pain in the ass when it does, but it's the right thing to do. of course, i've got whoever it is trained to realize that i only grab the mail out of the box after random lengthy periods. it's a type of behavioral reinforcement schedule.
but ok, sure, i admit, i've been just working on my website or watching tv or reading or playing games for the last six weeks or so, and i haven't really cared about schedules. been getting to sleep between four & six a.m., more or less, and getting up six to ten hours later. and growing a beard. also been primarily living on delivered food, with a weekly stop at the local pub being my only outing. so i bet it does look awfully deserted around here. especially with the snow covered trackless driveway (until the other day), which conceals the drifts of undisturbed pine needles and cones.
oh yeah - i waited until after dark to get my mail. i'm such a stinker ;-)