Lately I have been really braindead every weekend. Because the week is usually so busy, I have this great list of things I’d like to do over the weekend - usually involving lots of blogging, reading, and generally catching up - but by the time the weekend rolls around, I just sit like a lump and do mostly nothing.
On Friday nights I am ready for bed by about 9pm (last Friday I was in bed at 8pm - yes I am a great party animal). Then, come Saturday mornings I find myself sleeping in and not doing much of anything at all, all day. Yesterday was a case in point - I was the last out of bed, then had cups of tea and just sat around all day watching M play WoW. How’s that for activity - I didn’t even play, I just watched. We did a few other chores (shopping, fixing up a cornice in the bedroom - but I let M do most of it, like carry the shopping bags and handle the cornice with my brother), and the rest of the time I just sat around.
I can’t believe I just sat around all day yesterday!
Not sure if today’s going to be any more productive, although I have done the laundry. Maybe I need the down time…
Published on 28 September 2006
in QotD.
This is from Vox. Yesterday’s QotD (Question of the Day) was What are 20 things in your life that you’re grateful for?
- Having a good relationship with M.
- Baubles the Cat.
- Being healthy.
- Living in a safe environment.
- Tea.
- The Internet!
- Being a part of a profession with a long tradition, with a lot of interesting questions ahead of us.
- Early mornings.
- Passionfruit.
- All the friends I’ve made over the years.
- My Malaysian-Dutch-Australian Family.
- My cultural heritage.
- Being able to learn.
- The evening sky just before sunset.
- Comfortable shoes.
- RSS.
- Fountain pens.
- Reading.
- Music.
- A cold beer at the end of a long hot day.
I really like the campus where I work. The gardens are really lush and beautiful, and there are lots of different plants.
This scene here (left) is part of what I look out on from one of the desks I use in the library. The plants are just blooming at the moment, and I love looking at them.
Despite my love of the gardens at work, however, I am no gardener. The only plants I don’t kill immediately are succulents and cacti - probably because they don’t require any mollycoddling and can survive my haphazard watering impulses. I’ve always had family and friends who’ve loved gardening and working in their gardens, but I’ve never been able to find any enjoyment in scrabbling in the dirt, despite having tried to cultivate this habit (pun intended) over the years. It’s not that I don’t like being dirty, it’s just that I can’t understand how spending hours weeding, or digging, or mulching, is enjoyable - I’ve tried, but it all seems like a chore to me. The fact is, when given a choice I’d always rather be doing something else. I watch the gardeners at work - and it is work for them - they spend hours maintaining all the plants around the campus.
M is the same when it comes to gardens. (He probably cares less about plants and gardens than I do.)
As a result, our front yard is looking a bit messy at the moment. The plant growth is lush, too, but it would probably make some of our gardening-loving friends apoplectic, as it’s all completely uncultivated and uncared for - and consists of plants gardeners spend hours banishing from their yards.
I do wonder whether I would put up with such a mess if I regularly spent time in our yard (I don’t), or if my study window overlooked the yard (it doesn’t).
