the procrastinating girl

The Big Picture

I was lying in bed last night thinking about this blog (I actually do that, in spite of what the length between posts would indicate) and dredging up the minutiae to use for today.  As we know, it's never hard.  I am staring at a stack of paperwork so high it resembles an accordian for Zoe's American Girl doll.  But then I thought, I am getting better at this.  Yes, I've been to the Food Emporium three days in a row.  For the same purpose.  But overall, I have been on an upswing.  Birthday presents have been purchased days, not hours in advance.  I almost always seem to be able to find a writing utensil.  And only once did I risk running out of gas on the highway because my tank light had been on for, um, awhile, before I refueled.  I did so at Zoe's request.  So as I glanced to my bedside at the open space where my moving boxes sat for the previous two plus years, an air of self-assuredness came over me.  Until I thought, there is, of course, the big picture.  Here on TPG I usually play it very small.  The dishwasher detergent.  Am I guilty of ignoring the larger aspects of my life as well?  Do I have a master plan for myself and my family?  Should we be learning other languages?  Putting solar panels on our roof?   Eh, I'll think about it later.  I have to get the mail.  It's been there since Friday.

Game On

Yes, I'm back.  And yes, I know it's been quite a long time.  TypePad even told me so.  I'm wondering if you thought I had been reformed in some kind of radical personality change thereby rendering TPG obsolete.  Had my brain been switched with that of a monkey or woman in a neighboring suburban town who buys stamps in bulk and plans her meals weeks in advance?  It's a lovely thought. The truth is my beloved blog has sat untouched, much like my unpaid parking tickets, as yet another casualty of my protracted laziness.  But as the weather cools, the academic calendar settles in and the Jewish New Year is celebrated, I hereby recommit myself to The Procrastinating Girl. You with me?

HBD TPG!

Naturally, I'm a little behind.  But just over a year ago, I started The Procrastinating Girl.  I did so eagerly, but with zero expectation.  And I don't mean setting a bar for how many site visits or repeat users I would generate each week.  Or month.  I mean, I started it on a Tuesday.  Would I want to bail by Thursday?  But the frittering away of a blog specifically about frittering things away just felt like the ultimate, and most pathetic, tragedy.   I kept at it.  With zero expectation.   And very quickly, something entirely unexpected happened.  I loved it.   And it became a part of my routine.  But if we're taking stock on this occasion, it's tough to score.  Is the blog a true success?  It brings joy and a certain amount of quick fulfillment into my life.  On the other hand:

Conspiracy Theory

So I just sat down to write a very quick and simple post (it doesn't seem appropriate to say 'dirty' on this particular day), but for some reason, TypePad wasn't responding.  It's a bit of a puzzle.  Does someone want me off the air?  I find it difficult to believe there are millions of other bloggers writing away at 10:31am on Christmas morning.  Maybe a few dozen at the Boca Raton senior center.  But otherwise, I find this development distressing.  If my technology platform is going to start working against me, I am in serious trouble.  Hurdles are far from my forte.  In fact, the real-life version are my nemesis.  Just try having to face them before your classmates as a three-foot five-inch sixth-grader during the social experiment called gym.  This impediment now is different, yes, but I think we agree the simpler the process, the greater my chance for success.  Just ask my inner circle.  Or Jeff who inspects my car.  Anyway, Merry Christmas to all today and Happy Birthday to my dad and to Charlie!

Ah, Irony

I love the smell of it in summer.  So I had every intention of composing several fascinating posts and backlogging them for your reading pleasure while I was (am now) on vacation.  This was left to the last minute just after packing the toiletries (I felt that should probably take precedence).  And then...well... I procrastinated away TPG.  We knew it would happen at some point.  So apologies in advance for this coming week when I'm off to Nantucket, akin to the black hole of Vermont, but with the added bonus that it's, you know, an island.  But I promise to go WiFi hunting.  At some point.

Despair.com

I was reading one of my favorite design blogs the other day (back during a time long, long ago when I had daily Web access), and there was a post about posters (post about posters? Yes.) conveying all kinds of negative emotions from a site called despair.com.  The topic she chose to highlight from the collection wasn't procrastination, but I figured it just had to be there.  Sure enough, it was.  See it for yourself.  Interestingly enough, given all my empty walls, I didn't buy it.  I think because I was distracted by this other item for sale.

 

Hanukkah Comes Early, I Mean, Late

Well, this is a big week for the Jewish holidays. We have Yom Hazikaron coming tomorrow and Yom Ha'atzmaut right behind it on Thursday. You heard me. As the excitement rages, it's only natural that my mind drifts to that real family crowd pleaser, Hanukkah. With the forecast regularly reaching the 70's and the May flies making me rethink buying property with wetlands, the festival of lights feels like a faint memory. Fortunately, I still have a gift from my mother, a check as yet uncashed, sitting in my wallet as a pleasant reminder of those winter days we shared together. Of course it is still money. And Bedford Village Chase even has a drive-thru window. I swear Mom, I'll do it today. Or maybe by Lag B'Omer.

Happy Knobless Anniversary

This time last year we removed all the junky doorknobs from the second floor of our new house. It started when a nimble 8-year-old friend got stuck in my daughters' bathroom and had to crawl through the old, rusted screen window onto a tiny bit of roof to be rescued. Luckily, she was a good sport... and we weren't sued (both her parents are attorneys). We have been knobless ever since. At this point they seem purely decorative, like door jewelry, so I am wholly unbothered by their absence. I'm not exactly one to care about adornment. My engagement ring sits in a safety deposit box I can no longer access due to my own negligence (we'll get to that). So, four seasons later, I have yet to haul my cookies down to Home Depot Expo in New Rochelle to pick up my Baldwin Fillmore brushed steel non-locking knobs. See, it doesn't sound fun to you either. Meanwhile, the bathroom door? She waits nakedly...

The Culprit

So it is a bit of a cliche that I launched a blog about my inability to complete simple tasks and then proceeded to abandon it for several days. BUT unlike most other cases of performance anxiety, this time it wasn't completely my fault. Just after I went live with TPG, my router fried and I lost Web access. For me, this is the equivalent of being sent to Biosphere 2 (minus the fascinating ecological research). Good times. Thankfully, I am back up and running thanks to my new best friend, the Actiontec MI424WR, which I'm sure will last as long as its predecessor... until the week after its warranty expires.

Look, I have a blog

Ok, so it's not the parting of the Red Sea... But since my blog is based on this life-long personality flaw, it's kind of a miracle that I exercised my limited follow-through skills to get it up and running. So here it is, or rather, will be, a chronicle of what I don't do... for no good reason other than my own inertia. I'm hoping maybe the public humiliation will force me into a new, more organized state of being. People say blogging is powerful. Can it undo 36 years of saving everything until the very last minute? We shall see...