WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO DO? i DON'T SMOKE

WHAT ELSE IS THERE TO DO?  I DON’T SMOKE!

During a recent interview, that was the answer given by a relatively senior lady when asked why she was sleeping more during the day.  My initial reaction was “There is a lady who knows what’s going on.”

I don’t smoke either, but it seems that I haven’t had any problem finding something else to do other than sleep.  Although, I see no problem using that pastime as an alternative. 

Problem is “it doesn’t help reduce the “to do” list.  I have been accused of “overplaying” the existence of the list, but I assure you it does exist, even if in unwritten form.   As time rolls by, the ”to do’s” start to accumulate and are occasionally replaced by items that, at the time, may be considered of higher importance or urgency.  Over long periods of time, such as the life of my “to do” list, the cost of both erasers and erasures would probably prove prohibitive.  Thus the reliance upon a mental (call it personal cloud) list.

The ability to whittle away at your list is often controlled by external factors, weather probably being the primary one.  Thunderstorms (5 months a year) preclude taking friends fishing on the big lake.  They also curtailed even local pleasure flights from and to little airports.  Snow and frigid temps eliminated ventures into our little forest in Wild Rose to tangle with the villainous Buckthorn, a never ender on the list.

Other items on the list are more easily kept in the shadow. Those items require not only the cooperation of the weatherman or lady, but of the mind and body also.  They are fueled by ambition and are often shuttled down the list by replacements more easily undertaken, even if by reason of pure simplicity or enjoyment.  The rule: take the easy ones first, take the fun ones first.   

I must admit that I applied the rule today when I skillfully shuttled the completion of my garden fountain down the list and opened the laptop to convey my thoughts on the lady’s response to that question.  I don’t smoke, but I certainly hope you don’t think that I am just “blowing smoke”…….