on to-do lists, by pen & m

[Reading this discussion, which took place over the course of several emails, I have concluded we are either really brilliant, or deeply neurotic.]

 

pen: have written a to-do list! in a notebook! the dunder-mifflin notebook. and this will be the beginning of an era. i can't get by without them, it is clear.

 

m: to lists!!

it’s a life long pursuit of lists- you might have something on there a year- but it'll get done. perhaps in the back of said awesome notebook you should have a 'long term' to do list. ?

 

pen: yeah, it's like, i don't know why i ever stopped with the lists. they free my mind up, and i feel less stressed knowing it's on paper and not slipping through the cracks. because stuff is slipping through the cracks, and the worst part is that i've stopped caring! not cool. i mean, it's good that i'm not as panicked about shit (i guess??), but i'm really surprised at the length of my list. like all those particles were just floating around in my brain, and i had this vague sense of urgency about them? but i would never have remembered everything. and it feels good to cross stuff off. i'm not sure about this wayward, boundless notebook, but it will work for now. eventually maybe a planner again, but the day boxes need to be the right size. not too small. or too big. definitely a long-term list is in order. [omg, i sound like a cross between goldilocks and rainman.] the background projects. i've already started one. :)

 

m: and listmaking -- i started it for the very same reason- all the things i want to do eat up my head and short circuit my brainpower. it’s terribly inconvenient not to mention the rampant undercurrent of anxiety.

 

pen: listmaking! how i ever thought i could manage my own life, much less 2-3 others w/o a list?! i don't even know. definitely we are just some very active minds and can't be consumed with the trivial details, it will stand in the way of our greatness. best to put it down on paper, cross off, and be done.

 

m: i'm so happy for you and your [gym going/loop walking—separate part of convo]/list making self- it seems like ordered and good and nourishing.

 

pen: my list is long. how did it get so long? also, there are a few different tiers to the list, and i'm worried items will be lost... but at least it's all down on paper.

Summer Goals, by M

Oh Shenanigans.

A Summer Goals List:

1. Obsess about the TRIP
2. Think about ways to earn money for the TRIP
3. Think about ways to stay employed bcs of the TRIP
4. Start buying things for the TRIP
5. Continue to be irritated for the $1000+ I have to pay for registration and car insurance in July.
   

Normally I would obsess about things like:

1. Go Whale Watching for the great blue whale.
2. Go kayaking in La Jolla Cove
3. Go sailing on a replica of an 1847 Schooner
4. Go swimming
5. Go seaweed collecting
6. Go to the beach more... it's like a nautical summer.
   
7. Read at least 2 books aloud to mom outside in the garden.
8. Take conversational french despite my utter reluctance.
   

And then if I want to go hard core:

1. Stitch together quilt
2. Make summer dress from last year
3. Finish tear drop walkway
4. Create walkway for front house.
5. Figure out a way to go to Seattle to visit Matt and visit Pen in NC. Both also in nautical oriented locations.
   

You see how the summer could go a couple ways here. Utter fixation on funds and or lack there of in anticipation of the trip, consumed with arduous tasks that yield long term results, or brief flings that also cost money or.... sitting in my yard and trying to do as little as possible since we still don't have air conditioning. I don't know. I just don't. Though I have a feeling it's going to be a good one. Let's hope.

Minuit Thoughts

1. I feel unemployable, right at this moment. There isn't a job I've searched on the boards that I've felt qualified for, enthusiastic about or slightly envious over. Surely there must be something.
2. My skin is dry.
3. I found another thing to give away.
4. I flossed.
5. Melting chocolate in hottea is great.
6. Rain is wonderful.
7. Stop me from things I don't need.
8. Things I want to start: Read the Bible in chronological order (for kicks). Why it is not already in order I don't know. Study for French II. Sell R2D2. Shots for International travel. Check thyroid. Transfer balances. Go to zoo.
9. My hair in curls with nowhere to go.