1/13/2007

Lacking the Clever Funny Thought

Perhaps my worst habit is that when I'm feeling stressed and overwhelmed by the seemingly endless length of my mental "To Do" list, I cope by wasting as much time as possible in as meaningless way as possible. It's a serious failing.

I thought of something very funny and clever to post while I was at work today. Of course, I can't remember a word of it now. We're all iced in this weekend. . ."iced in" is the term used when the roads are dangerous, but there has not been any snow. We've received a good bit of sleet and freezing rain since noon today, but the snow has yet to appear. The same is predicted for tomorrow, and I'm planning to go nowhere.

I wish I could remember my funny clever thought.

I am listening (not right this moment, but in the sense of "I am reading. . .") Nathaniel Hawthorne's The House of Seven Gables. I really like Hawthorne. His deep recognization of guilt and redemption in human lives pulls at me. Anyway, I like this quote from chapter 2:
Life is made up of marble and mud.


I am also reading (and no, I really shouldn't try to take in both at once) Wise Blood, by Flannery O'Connor, in the collected works of the same that I received for Christmas. I like her vivid description of characters in the opening chapter:
[His eyes] were the color of pecan shells. . . .
That's my favorite bit.

I was listening to my "Favorites" list on iTunes the other day and thinking what great evidence of my eclecticism it is. I, of course, have my downloaded music divided into categories by genre. But the "Favorites" category is the conglomeration of. . .you'll never guess. . .my favorites. Thus, it switches at random from a 1930's Frank Sinatra love song to Spanish praise to early 90's Amy Grant pseudo-Christian pop, with classic movie and musical bits like If I Were a Rich Man and the occasional Kirk Franklin thrown in. Oh, and then there's the Cathedrals, unforgettable essence of Southern Gospel. And a nice twangy Country tune now and then. And don't forget the switch back to stately traditional hymnody. All in all, it's pretty odd.

So much for my clever funny thought. Maybe next time.