in which hermitage is doubted but ultimately embraced

I wasn't quite as productive as I would have liked to have been today. I started off pretty strong, but it all sort of faded away in the afternoon. I spent the morning in the Union Square/Yerba Buena Gardens area -- first, I returned the original formal dress to Nordstrom, and then I spent a couple of hours at Samovar eating quiche and drinking masala chai. I made a terrible mistake and had a second masala chai -- while it was the right thing to do from the standpoint of wanting to spend a bit more time in the absolute loveliness of the patio overlooking the gardens, I always seem to conveniently forget that two chais makes me feel really, really ill. So, with my stomach hurting, I walked back up the street to Borders, where I browsed romance novel titles for a bit before catching a bus home.

Despite being loaded with more caffeine than a trucker pulling an illegal double shift, I still managed to nap for almost two hours when I got home. Then, I futzed around on the internet for awhile, before spending the rest of the afternoon/evening working on my romance novel website. Katrina succeeded in getting me to go out for dinner after multiple attempts at trying to hang out with me; we went to the Moroccan place down the street, where I had my usual extremely moist and messy chicken schwarma sandwich while we caught up on life. Then, I came home, worked on the website some more, and then spent too much time reading textsfromlastnight (which my brother loves, so perhaps he'll be happy to hear that).

It should be clear to long-time readers that, while I see tons of people at work and often have dinner/social plans a few nights a week, I am not nearly as social as I once was. In fact, dinner with Katrina is likely the only social activity I will engage in this weekend. I sometimes have moments of doubt about this -- if I spend the next few years focused with single-minded intensity on becoming a successful writer, will I regret the damage to my relationships when I'm older? But, I also feel convinced that I will regret things even more if I don't pursue my passions, and all the friends in the world wouldn't make me feel good about failing to live up to my potential. So, my decision to become a hermit stands. I may change my mind later -- but I've got so much to do over the next couple of months that I don't have much choice. And that means I should go to bed so that I can get cracking tomorrow!