Come With Us And Go Everywhere

Today, well.  Today was a just discrete task after discrete task.  I was convinced that if I just finished the things on my list I could turn to write a long thoughtful letter to a friend.  I’ve notes on this letter.  He writes such remarkable letters to me and so the bar is up high.  I can’t just pen of off anything in response.  But freeing up uninterrupted time is no small task.  And then doing that task, on the very device that is your work tool, the portal to the broad, myriad of obligation you have pressing, out there is just too hard.

Sit down and try to write.  But there are noises that alert me to new emails and pop up windows that suggest breaking news.  I know I could invest some time and figure out how to turn them all off.  I could simply disconnect the Wifi.  Instead, I pretend that I can block them out.  But as soon as one’s writing reaches a vista, a point where you ought to stare off in space and think, I hear the Sirens of connectivity.  Come with us and go everywhere. 

I have been up since just before 4:00AM.  I didn’t have any say in this.  That’s simply when my body announced that consciousness would be returning.  Relieve myself, lumber down the steps, check emails.  Consider which ones can be disposed of quickly.  Meditate for thirty minutes and see if you can’t avoid falling asleep during the “process.”  Kneel over to the computer and put on some funky music to do calisthenics to.  Then sit down and consider the New York Times in a bit more detail before finally starting to respond to the emails that require proper thought.  By now, it’s coming up on six o’clock and I suit up and drive to the girl’s school, where I stride through the empty cafeteria out towards the gym.

This morning I rode with my earphones in the whole time.  Someone was about to call.  But they didn’t.  By the time they did I was just about to get on the stair master.  OK.  So I took the call and sat on a couch and considered what to do.  By the time I began the routine, it was clear I wouldn’t have the time for much of anything.  “Look I gotta go.” 

Heading out I made another call.  The person couldn’t talk now. Hadn’t been expecting my call.  I called someone else back home.  They didn’t pick up.  This is how it went for the whole day, squeezing bits from every minute, running through the the to-do list that governed my actions.