I have a habit of making giant to-do lists. Pages and pages of great hope that ends with me crossing out only one or two things. The rest usually goes straight down the toilet. One item ends up being so complicated and involved that everything else must be set aside, or unexpected things crop up that have to be taken care of or the world will end right that second in a burst of flames. Or out of nowhere, I spend the weekend on the couch (er blow up mattress) watching just one more Law & Order rerun.
I like to assume that the things I actually accomplish from said to-do lists were the right things to do, and the things that I let go might be somewhat less important in the grand scheme of things. Mopping, for instance. Who really needs to have a spotless floor? A communist. A communist cares about having a dustless floor, and I bet they also worry about having clean underwear in case they get into a car accident. Mopping the floor was on my list, but my floor remains uncleaned, and I'm (mostly) okay with that.
I'm also trying to be okay with sheets to be changed and curtains to be purchased and a dresser to finish assembling and phone calls to make, but I haven't managed to get to any of that. There was important curling-up-in-bed-to-read-a-novel to be done and I have decided that that is, in fact, important -- to my happiness, and well-being, and sanity.
Fortunately for the sake of my self-respect, this is not just an abstract, hippie-esque wahzoo (thanks Graham). There are more important things to worry about in this kind of shiny epiphany thing happening (though I am okay with that, even though it's the kind of epiphany I seem to endure every couple of weeks, which tells you something either about my attention span or my capacity for just letting go).
There are, of course, more concrete things on the list. And, maybe they're the things that let me be okay with the fact that my dishes aren't done –- my crazy, oddly fulfilling, never drama-less job for one. If I could keep up with that and maybe mix in a little of the dish-washing cleanliness kind of stuff, finally decorating my apartment, tackling some financial planning, going to the gym, and finally purchasing my computer (and using it to plan the Sumner/Norris 2009 Tour de South America), that would be impressive.
Try and keep all the balls in the air, for once. That will be when I'll finally be satisfied, right?
5 comments:
Leslie,
Thanks for emailing. I'm not sure is this reply to your noreply email address will go through or not so I'll also post this as a comment on your blog for all the world to read.
I forwarded your email to Katy along with your blog site address. She moves in on the 18th and starts work on the 24th. She is a runner and wants to try to do the NYC Marathon this fall or at least a 1/2 marathon and would love to find a running buddy or two. The company she's working for is called Artist Arena and their offices are at Union Square. They do music artist management and events and she'll be working on internet fan clubs for the artists.
Michael
2 Do:
1. Read sister's long, affected blog post (what, no vlog yet?!).
2. Scroll straight down to "comment" and input smart-assed remark about whatever the post says.
3. Change poopie diaper.
Ahh well... two outta three ain't bad... keep on keepin' on sis!
Heh, some of this made me think I was reading about myself. -- It's good to check in every once and a while for a treat... happy to see you're doing well. :)
~SMO
Smo! How are you? I love getting unexpected blog comments. I have no idea who reads this thing -- I thought it was jut my dad :)
I'm doing great! Life is insanely busy, but that's how I like it. -- Ileya is getting married in May, which is a partial contributor to the "busy." Other than that: I help dad run the family business, artist/photographer/obsessive blogger on the side, avid softball player, attempting to travel a lot, family... etc.
(I managed to stumble over here when you sent that "oops" e-mail to Brownie forever ago...)
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