I find it hard to write anything here when I’m feeling down.* I’m buried at work, my body is not feeling quite right, and there’s the ever-present feeling that this country is free-falling into one or more disasters. The stress has wrecked my sleep schedule and seriously cut into my time with Nicole, who is doing everything within her considerable power to prop me up right now.
Fortunately, she’s very, very good at propping me up.
This is a long way of saying that I haven’t been good for much anything beyond “showing up at work” over the last couple of weeks, although there have been a few tidbits of interest:
- We have learned that camping in triple-digit weather is a Very Bad Idea.
- Our pet snails are getting along worryingly well.
- One of my aliases** may have secured an interesting writing gig on the side.
- “Burn Notice” was a damn fine show for three seasons.***
- Warren Ellis completed the script for Fell #10 (#1-9 were insanely good).
- The gap between starting a long-term plan and seeing measurable progress is the worst.
That last point concerns our long-term business plan. We’ve taken some steps forward, but the goal is still well over the horizon. It’s like starting an exercise program: The hardest part is the time after you’ve started it but before you start seeing measurable results. We’ll get there but it’s going to take a minute or two.
I guess the long and short of it is that I’ve allowed myself to fall in to a rut. I do that as sort of a self-preservation technique (of highly debatable effectiveness) when I’m overwhelmed at work. The best way I’ve found to get out of these ruts is to wallow in ’em as long as I need to, and then to force myself to put one foot forward and do the things I mean to do but haven’t. Things like posting to this blog even when I don’t have a great deal to say.
-RK
* In this sense, this site is the anti-LiveJournal.
** If “pseudonym” is correct, then shouldn’t “alianym” be acceptable as well?
*** Did you know that, before he starred in “Burn Notice,” Jeffrey Donovan was in Blair Witch 2? In fairness, I’m not sure anyone ever saw Blair Witch 2, but still..