The Ease of Routine

Lying on a secondhand sofa, 02:29 GMT.

Q: What am I doing, writing a post on Steemit after so long?

A1: Breaking habits, replacing them.

A2 (more honestly): I'm distractimg myself from
Güeros, which I'm watching for the fourth time. I began playing it for the fourth time because I didn't pause it the third time while I talked on the phone, catching up with a friend, although in other circumstances I would agree I have the diminished attention span characteristic of today's Homo sapiens ciuilis.

Now I must pause my writing a moment so as not to miss the scene I rewinded the movie to see. Nonetheless, I begin writing again I watch a different scene. There's a boy onscreen talking to a girl living on the floor below through a telephone cup connected to hers with string. His older brother tells her stories in exchange for an extension cord the brother uses for his own appliances, running up the electric bills for the girl's family.

"Are you asleep?" the boy says.
"Is the tiger there?" the girl replies.
Yes, he's here. Right next to me," the boy answers.

We wonder what tiger about which the older brother must have been telling stories.

Meanwhile, I know what the tiger means, and worry this is all becoming too routine.