I have had a really hard time getting moving the last few days. The Me of last week made all these plans about what would be the best use of time, but the Me of this week is feeling rebellious. I don’t want to do what I told myself I should do. Or rather I do want to have done these things, I just can find the motivation to do them right this minute.
Much of this stems from the fact that I don’t know when the books are going to arrive. I’m hoping they’ll arrive early next week. If they do, then next week becomes very busy and I’ll kick myself for the things I didn’t get done this week. But if the books do not arrive next week, then I’ll need to have things to do to distract myself from the lack of books. If I do all the preparatory things this week, then I may have nothing to fill the emptiness of next week. I say “nothing,” I will have many things to do, they just won’t be helpful in getting books mailed out on schedule and so in the twisted logic of a “waiting” mind-state those other things won’t count.
I somewhat resolve this by moseying my way through shipping tasks. I really want to go into high-energy mode and get stuff done, but I know that I can only sustain high-energy for a limited period of time. Thus I’m not allowed to go high-energy until we have a firm date on book delivery. Then I’ll know how to manage my flow of energy so that I don’t burn out too soon.
My kids get home from school in just over two hours. At that point I am officially on vacation. I will only be doing the minimally necessary business tasks while the kids are out of school. I need the break and the kids need my time and attention. They need the attention now because between the arrival of books and the end of the book release party I’ll have very little to spare.
So here I sit. Not on vacation yet, but not feeling like doing any of the non-vacation things which need me to do them.
Ok, annoying nitpick.
“Wherefore” is ‘why’ not ‘where’.
Shakespeare’s “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?” set the precedent several hundred years before this blog post. Literary critics will tell you that the “wherefore” there means “why” and that Juliet is not asking WHERE Romeo is, but why he remains a Montague.
It’s one of those weird cases where meaning breaks usage, and forces reinterpretation.
By that same token, “wherefore art thou, motivation?” can be similarly reinterpreted, using the example set forth by The Bard (especially since this is obviously a quotation, and invites comparison through contextual juxtaposition.)
Thank you for your honesty in identifying your nitpick as “annoying,” though. 🙂
Since Sandra is quite literate, and has read a lot more Shakespeare than have I, it is quite fair to afford her this, rather than senselessly nitpicking because you think you know the definition of a word that she does not.
This could indeed be interpreted as “why am I feeling the need to be motivated _now_, when intellectually I think I should be relaxing into vacation mode?” Thus, the “why” in the nitpick could indeed have been satisfied…
Ah, the fun of deconstructionism!
Hmm, LiveJournal didn’t like my “humor” pseudo-html tags. They’re supposed to be around all but my last sentence.
(the word humor directly surrounded by brackets)
…testing…
< humor > (the word humor with a space between it and brackets)
I just usually assume people like you and Sandra know what you’re doing, and do my best to read the big words without moving my lips… 🙂
So when’s the book party you two?
Here, here.
I count myself fortunate that I have both friends who are willing to point out my literary errors, and friends who are ready to jump to my defense if they perceive me as attacked.
I’ve changed the title of this entry because now that I remember about the wherefore/why thing it will bug me every time I see the post.
< sad puppy dog eyes > But now some of the comments won’t make sense! Perhaps by editing the entry to include a statement like: “Previously titiled…”. < / sad puppy dog eyes >
It is nice to have friends who will both point out our errors and help us to fix them, as well as those who will defend us no matter what. Having an understanding, compassionate, strong, helpful, etc. spouse is a very nice person to have available too! 🙂