I don’t know if this is really more important than that
April 9, 2006Got a call from my parents last night. Mom said “We’re in Dayton.” I’m thinking, “Wha’?? How could you get from Lakeland to Dayton in one day?” See, last I heard, they were leaving their winter nest Saturday morning (ie. yesterday morning) and expected to get home sometime on Monday (ie. tomorrow). The thought of how fast they’d've had to have driven to get all the way to Dayton, OH in one day boggled my mind (and, let’s admit it, impressed me, heh-heh-heh–go, Dad!). But it seems they decided to leave Florida a day early to get home a day early. And I found this out the evening before the afternoon when they’d be here.
Is this some kinda dirty trick? Coming home a day early?? Isn’t this the sorta stunt you pull on a teenager who’s been left alone in charge of the house for the first time?!
This was alarming news, indeed, for somebody like me, who tends to leave personal stuff ’til the last minute to do… (Fortunately I’m not like this at my job, where my anal tendencies kick in. It’s easier to prioritize at work, I find.) I mean, back in school, essays were left ’til the last minute–and then I pulled all-nighters, sucking back turbocharged coffee (or, equally likely, rum & cola, which also fueled a good number of essays) to get them done by morning. And I always did get them done by morning. The essays went in on time (and they even got good marks, so nyah to you keeners who wrote yours days or weeks in advance–yes, I’m talking to you, Roseanne).
Anyhow, while I’d gotten a lot of stuff ready for my parents’ return from their winter vacation, I still had things to do. So then comes the whole “prioritizing” thang that I have never really mastered in my personal life… And so the car got gassed up and washed, but the bar fridge remained an unplugged and sticky mess. Some neighbours had been keeping an eye on the house until I got home and apparently something exploded in the bar fridge a few weeks ago–there were pop and beer cans that had been shredded into shrapnel–and the neighbours just left the unperishable contents of the fridge in a washtub. The fridge had been unplugged and wiped down, but it needed to be thoroughly cleaned. I washed the car instead.
I mean well, but I think I might’ve been dropped on my head as a baby.
There have been times in my life when I’ve tried to use the “What would [insert name here] do?” trick to help me prioritize things. But it is useless to me because I hafta already know how to prioritize to do that. Besides, the people I tend to look up to (the “[insert name here]” people) are not necessarily folks who have displayed excellent judgement throughout their lives. I suppose that’s a topic for another day, though…
Hey, I think I just prioritized. Right? Today’s subject would be the inability to prioritize and some future day’s subject would be my odd choices for heros. There. I feel like I have accomplished something, now.
I suppose I could’ve used this time to clean out the bar fridge, instead, though…
And, okay, I know you’re all dying to know the Week Two music that soured milk in Southwestern Ontario:
New Order, “Power, Corruption & Lies”
Bobby Darin, “The Capitol Years” box set
The Knitters, “The Modern Sounds Of…”
Lastly, my own mix of iTunes downloads and scrapings from the shared music folder at my former place of employment… I call it “Big Hits From Planet Cool”:
Common People, William Shatner & Joe Jackson
Psychotic Reaction, Count Five
No Myth - Michael Penn
Dony - Big Star
Don’t Fear the Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult
Heat of the Moment - Asia
Ballroom Blitz - Sweet
5 songs by Dwight Yoakam
Brick House - Earth, Wind & Fire
I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - Soggy Bottom Boys
We Got the Beat - Go Go’s
(Get Your Kicks) On Route 66 - Nat King Cole
Anarchy in the UK - Sex Pistols
Low Rider - War
2 songs by The Violent Femmes
