Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Dunk, dunk goose!





I'm knee deep in some work right now that has all my brain power allocated.

I know I owe you contest results. Honestly, I will get to it.

In the meantime, I'm doing gosling impressions by sticking my head in a sink of cold water to cool down. It's hot but not quite hot enough to install the new window AC and crank it up.


What do you postpone until you absolutely have to do it?

23 comments:

E.M. Goldsmith said...

Death. I am postponing that until I absolutely have to do it. And taxes.

Alyssa R said...

Um...also death. And room cleaning. Usually laundry. Occasionally writing. Getting stuff that yes, I actually do need.
Posting comments.

Carolynnwith2Ns said...

For years, as an op-ed writer and columnist, it was deadline.

Now I try to get everything done on time.

Get your s### together boys and girls. You never know when the lights will go out.

Kitty said...

I never particularly cared for grocery shopping, but I absolutely HATE it now. The Virus has sucked out any enjoyment of grocery shopping. I also hate planning meals and cooking.

But I do like watching movies. We watched Carrie Pilby on Netflix and liked it. Even my husband liked it :-O

french sojourn said...


After the second cup of coffee and 4 hours of work in the vines, or the guest suite remodel, I sit down and plug in. For me, the simple task of opening up the news to see what's new in the world, is something I put off and now find such little enjoyment in.

Stay healthy, be strong, and persevere everyone.

S.P. Bowers said...

Hot? AC? We got an inch of snow yesterday.

I put off organizing my kids clothes, which means they often wear things longer than they should (Too small, in shreds) and I have piles of clothes to put into the tubs in the garage stuffed under a chair in my room.

Brenda said...

Snow here too, SP, but only a few flakes. You have my sympathies.
Writing and I have a hate/hate love/love relationship. I hate to sit down and get to work and I hate interruptions once I’ve started. I love it when my fingers are flying and I especially love it when I’ve just finished being clever.

Not to distract from vital agent work, but did you see No Good Deed? Oh my.

KariV said...

Despite living in the desert, we usually hold off on turning on the AC until June. When May gets hot, we sweat it out because who needs AC in May, right?

This year we were confined to come with no escape to libraries, the Y, restaurants, or malls (ie, places with air conditioning). Temps hit triple digits the first week of May. Best believe we turned on the AC. And put up a pool.

Dena Pawling said...


>>It's hot but not quite hot enough to install the new window AC and crank it up.

I sense some defenestration in NYC in the coming days.................

Here in SoCal where I am, it was 102 yesterday and still 80 at 10pm when I went to bed. I'm sure KariV has me beat tho.

I generally put off housecleaning. In fact, I have this down to a science. I successfully put it off until my kids were old enough to do it for me. I still have two at home, so I still don't have to do it.

Kitty said...

Dena, it was 94 here in Upstate NY yesterday and 82 by sundown.

Melanie Sue Bowles said...

Hooves... trimming hooves. Whether I'm trying to do a few myself or have the farrier out. I didn't used to avoid it - it used to be sorta fun and satisfying. Now it's just a brutal amount of work.

One thing I do not want to postpone is booking a week at Hank's when the guest suite is ready. *call me!

Jennifer R. Donohue said...

Writing a synopsis....

Craig F said...

I put off the easy stuff and do the hard stuff. Makes me feel like I have accomplished something even when the list of of stuff id a mile long.

The synopsis is another matter altogether.

Fearless Reider said...

While the rest of the known world plays "Duck, Duck, Goose", we quirky Minnesotans play "Duck, Duck, Gray Duck" (or Grey Duck, if you're fancy.) I found that out the hard way when I moved from Minnesota to Iowa in second grade and became the object of playground ridicule.

Our neighborhood, Midway in St. Paul, was hit hard by the riots (bear with me, it's relevant!) Since the initial devastation on May 28, we have all been on high alert for white nationalists who have been roving the neighborhood, setting fires and racing their plateless cars around our streets in an intimidation campaign. While the curfews were in effect, we were all peeking out from our curtains like Gladys Kravitz, reporting outsiders and suspicious activities in our neighborhood Facebook group. Tensions were sky high as we tried to sort out friend from foe. I'll be forever grateful to the neighbor who broke the tension and posted the ultimate test to identify outside agitators: corner the suspect, get right up in their face and scream, "Duck, duck, WHAT, mother[hugger]?!" Works like a charm, unless the "outside agitators" come from the suburbs and exurbs, like the white teens who were charged today with looting the health food store down the street.

I'm sorry I missed the discussion last week, but I wouldn't have had anything coherent to add after too many nights doing neighborhood watch 'til 4am. If you're interested in a view from the epicenter, two weeks out, I'm heartened to report that we are rising from the ashes here. The outpouring of generosity from neighbors was immediate and overwhelming -- thousands upon thousands have shown up to clean up, donate food and supplies, and work toward rebuilding an equitable future. Lisa Bodenheim mentioned the silent clergy marches in Minneapolis and St. Paul last week. I was at the St. Paul march and the most important thing we did that day was bear witness to the devastation and the injustice. As writers, bearing witness is one crucial thing we can do during this extraordinary time.

The one thing I wish I had been around to say last week is that systemic racism isn't something you can choose to believe in or not, any more than you can choose to believe in gravity. It's baked in, literally codified in the laws, housing codes, education funding, and economic policies that built our cities. The freeways that literally split apart thriving black neighborhoods in the Twin Cities are just one example of the deep structures that caused our current metro to be built on a foundation of inequity. Systemic racism is not about your personal views, experiences, or grievances, nor is it about mine. It's the structure we were born into. We didn't create it, but if we are accidental beneficiaries, it's a moral imperative that we do everything in our power to dismantle it.

I procrastinate by ranting, obviously.

Scribe (Parchment & Ink) said...

Packing. You can't really sleep the night before a trip anyway, so why not spend that time throwing all of your things in your bag?

Jennifer R. Donohue said...

well said, Fearless Reider. All of it.

Lennon Faris said...

Checking the mail. I don't like getting un-fun mail that I have to deal with, so sometimes I put it off for a few weeks. I'm so sorry, mailperson.

Craig, I add finished items to my to-do list throughout the day just so I can cross them right off. I know it's a lie and yet it still makes me feel like a star.

Rio said...

Ooh, thanks for the reminder. I keep forgetting to schedule my vehicle for maintenance. This blog is helpful in so many ways.

Dibs on Hank's guest suite after Melanie!

S.P. Bowers said...

Lennon, it's not a lie. You did it. It can go on the to do list. Even if you put it on after completion it still belongs there.

Can you tell I do it, too?

Unknown said...

My Query letter. Ouch..... and reediting my first chapter. I know it's too wordy but I know the author and the two of us, me and myself, can't seem to feed it through the woodchipper one more time.

Katja said...

Going to bed. Like right now, for example.
I know I absolutely have to do it when Fiancé has already been sleeping for 1.5 - 2 hours. :/

Cecilia Ortiz Luna said...


Fearless Reider, thank you for your comment. Be safe.

Dibs on Hank's suite after Rio.

J.A. Haigh said...

Well said, Fearless Reider!