Monday, February 21, 2005

Flat Out

There’s something about this time of year. It seems we are all working too hard and too much of the time, and unlike other turns of the calendar, this one doesn’t yield to an agricultural metaphor. Some people say it’s that we aren’t getting enough light and it makes us cranky. Some say it’s the push to spring, that we are putting our shoulders into it, hoping to drive through into that welcome season of new life. Some are avowedly crabby; some relish the rough-and-tumble of legislative highjinks. As for me, I just can’t keep up.

Whatever it is, I’m tired. The long weekend—complete with another blogfirst, meeting in person blogger Robert of Beginner’s Mind—was fun, but not so very long once I added in shopping on Saturday and a catch-up day in the office today, during which I accomplished….oh, maybe 25%...of what I intended.

Robert introduced me to a cozy coffee shop that could have been right in New York, complete with good Greek favorites. We had a lot in common, including that we both found it a little spooky to be getting to know someone already well known in many ways. I’m looking forward to meeting wife Karen and comparing gardening notes as spring advances. We gossiped like old friends, then Robert adjourned to get his car fixed, and I moved on to Costco and beyond.

I really needed clothes, and it was great fun to hit the holiday sales. As I agonized between the gray shirt and the lavender one, at last I threw caution to the winds and bought both! At $3 each, it’s a cheap thrill. $7 pants and $11 blazers round out the flagging wardrobe.

Sunday’s big accomplishment was a nap; today’s was rebuilding my office computer. I guess that I can finally declare the hard drive crash of December 21 resolved, a full two months after the fact. Is this what a warranty is meant to achieve? Maybe it’s just because I am crabby that I don’t think so. Never buy a Dell. I know, I KNOW, I had several with no problems at all. I was a loyal Dell customer. But once you hit the customer dis-service meatgrinder, you never want to go back there.

Tomorrow it’s back to the routine. What can I do to break up this grind of expectations unmet? How can I rise above my to-do list? It’s not that life is boring, not exactly, but somehow I am stressed, scattered and very tired. It’s a comfort to know that this phase will pass, that no matter what I do, spring will come. Hurry, springtime!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Normally I would say it's too early to be expecting spring, except for the warm weather we had a few weeks ago. That was an unfair tease.

Jean said...

Karen, I am feeling just like you: tired, scattered and 'how can I rise above my to do list?' - and somehow just having someone else describe it so poignantly helps. February is indeed the pits, the grey funk before the sky lifts and a little bit of gold and green creeps back into life.

I've been enjoying your blog and meaning to say so for a while

Karen said...

Oh, Robert, I know. It is way too early to expect spring. But it always helps me to name my malaise. Every year I forget how much I hate hate hate February. Good thing it is such short month. If it weren't that wishing your life away is a sin, I would pray for a tuck in the calendar to ease our slide from post holiday soft landing right into Town Meeting Day.