Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Monday, June 20, 2011
A picture from the archive of my messy desk. This is nothing. Nothing, I tell you!
I can't even find the top of my desk today. The heat has been awful, and I just can't get the energy to clean. And this morning I had an email asking if I'd done something I was supposed to have done two or three weeks ago. No. Damn.
I look at this impossibly clean desks on Lifehacker and wonder why I can't achieve some of that zen. I temper my jealousy by supposing the mess is probably in the next room, or just outside of the frame.
The to-do list would be a good start, but I seem to have a problem with those. I've tried written lists, computer apps, synced apps, whiteboards - everything short of writing on my skin with an indelible marker - and nothing seems to work. Partly it's the "joy" of freelancing. Stuff comes up, and I admit that I drop things when paying work lands in my lap. I have a need to keep my air conditioner running. This is Texas, and when it's 102F with no breeze, I tend to melt.
I've never been good with the heat, and being blond-haired, blue-eyed, and fair-skinned doesn't help. I sweat (excuse me, I'm a southern lady. I perspire) at the drop of a hat, and now that I'm at "that age," the brain tends to fry, even though I drink like a fish to stay hydrated. (Water. What else do fish drink?)
So the desk is a mess, the to-do list is shot, and I'm staring at the computer, trying to prioritize things? What's a girl to do?
Given the time, it means I need to start dinner and finish laundry. But then I need to sit down, dig in, and see what has to be accomplished over the next few days. It's a convention week, so I'm going even more crazy than usual. I'll make another list. It might last me through the next few days, if I'm lucky.
How do you cope with the heat and the press of the never-ending to-do list?
Tags: Life