VAGARIES - Saturday Apr. 2, 2011
today’s Musing written and published from Cranston in south- east Calgary, near the Bow River valley
About music/video links – I find on Saturday and Sunday mornings I have time, and perhaps my readers do to, to listen to some music. I choose pieces I like that connect, in some way, to the subject matter or to my mood… hope you like them]
Here are today’s selections: Rod Stewart First Cut is the Deepest , Cat Stevens Morning Has Broken and Longer Boats , Fred Eaglesmith I Like Trains , Horowitz Liszt Consolation No. 3
Morning walk: -1C/29F, blowing swirling wet snow, heavier now, cascading atop overnight blanketing; each time winter appears gone, a little encore – again - feels so good, freshness hides grungy grimy gritty winter leavings . . . but Gusta, oblivious to the overnight season-shift romped happily where no tracks could be found enjoying the wind, while I returned to a 6” deep driveway shovel challenge, consistency of standing water, now moved to where the lawn was yesterday . . . this is weather only loved by farmers, chiropractors and auto-body shops expecting financial benefit from this lovely dump;
Weekends same seeming (maybe going stir crazy waiting for spring) on my agenda; après-breakfast/newspaper idea percolations - munching fruit and treadmill vagaries (or mouse-on-a-wheel?) from inside this swirl – view altered, assumption shift . . .
Frank urges me, every week (not in person – but his words keep playing in my head from our last lunch meeting a year ago … or was it two?) to lift myself off-treadmill, out of routine and habit. So easy, I’ve said - uh-huh, yes, sure .. makes sense, but . . . my actions seem to change so little, so slowly.
Old-way choices: re-order priorities, make lists, sort, pile, attack, file, repeat - attacking come Monday morning …. but only after my spending weekend cleaning off leftover tasks that simply didn’t get done. Soon, day is half-gone, weekend one-third evaporated, repeat, repeat, repeat.
The BIG PROBLEM with change, without regard to magnitude, when I make those decision points; lifestyle changes, spend/save/invest changes, work/play changes, people changes, diet/exercise changes . . . results come slowly. So challenging, to stay on new tracks long enough to see results . . .
Torn-ness betwixt what I’d set aside/scheduled, spillovers from Friday, sleep, reading a book someone recommended, making new AGENDA or – cranking up some music while I stare out the window at the falling snow. Too many things still fill agenda, too many rapid-fire thoughts exploding between my ears . . . so much to do, so little time, like some bumper sticker – leaves my drained body and active mind wondering why . . . ?
Why, and why not?
Week done – what is left, obviously - things not important enough to drive my agenda last week. So, should they drive my agenda this weekend, or next week, or for the month . . . or be left in the cracks in which they fell, to be paved over with freshness and newness, covered but new starts.
Question then - which ones, if any – of week’s leavings on my plate should drive next week’s agenda?
Same things, rearranged, likely produce little change in results by next Friday – some thrills from deal-doing all week, anxiety about promises I’ve made (or those which clients perceive I’ve made), that which simply MUST be done – ongoing . . .
Struggle in my mind each day, sort truly meaningful priorities into segments of time where I have the availability, motivation and creative juices flowing in harmony to be most effective . . .
I am at same moments – clearly focused and erratically unpredictable; this is some manifestation of brilliance or stupidity and, this morning, I’m challenged to figure out the difference between those two, realizing they are not at opposite ends of my spectrum, but snuggled up, side-by-each, waiting for sparks to ignite this stupefying astonishing fuel.
~~~
Last year I did a poem a day for a year – THE POETRY PROJECT. This Musing year (my 9th), starting March 21, 2011, I set a new goal - to write a short story a week do post a new one each Monday morning for 52 weeks. To check out this week’s story: RECIPE FOR MURDER, link to: Short Story Project
~~~
Mark Kolke
313,724M~~~
April 1– EMBRACE THIS DAY - Comments Received
I was expecting an April fool-joke column; instead I got this good advice. Thanks., EC, Chicago
RECIPE FOR MURDER - Comments Received
Hi, I must apologize for taking so long to get back to you regarding A Recipe for Murder. You must have received many comments by now. You can add my "Yeah" to the positive side. .... a really great short story. Looking forward to the next one...and the next one... Just in case you might be wondering, I have had a great week... some much needed clarity pushed through the fog in my brain and allowed me to see things as they are and were. My priorities in life were reinforced by spending a day with two of my favorite men...boys actually ..1 and 3 years old. There is nothing like holding a sleepy child in your arms with his head cuddled into you shoulder to put everything in perspective. (I know that sentence runs on but you can deal with it) :) None of this would have been possible with the help of great friends .. and you are included in the list.take care, PC, Nanton, AB
