It almost seems like a truism that after leaving/moving, you have a brief period of bliss where you have no commitments or obligations that take away your daily time. Before moving I can't remember having time to read any fiction. I think since arriving I've read three books this month. When packing up my office, there were a giant pile of articles that I kept in hopes of reading again or for the first time. I've probably read on average an article a day since starting work. I have open access to journals now so I scraped the web for every Keith Beven article ever written.
But unpacking those stacks of old articles, and looking at the stack of new articles that have accumulated, and the crushing new deadlines ahead of me.... It just seems unthinkable that I'll have the time to go back and leisurely revisit all that.
I also tried to record my entire music collection to the computer before we left but had to give up when it came to vinyl records. I used to be quite a collector and I had some real gems. I left behind everything that I figured was common enough that I could easily get it again, but kept anything rare or unique (which still ended up being about 200 records!) My hope was to move them over to the computer once I arrived here... Mmmn, I'm kind of thinking that's not going to happen. Wish I could just send them to someone to record for me. Even $3/record would be worth it I think. We found a service to scan old photographs for about 20 for a $1 and let me just say it was the best money I've ever spent. The boxes upon boxes of old letters from high school were sent back to my Mom's house because I was overwhelmed with making sense of them all.
Is it inevitable, though, that any new footprint in the sand will flood in with water in time? That these periods of peacefulness and thoughtfulness and presence must come to an end? Maybe that comes with retirement? (doubt it...) One of my new years resolutions was to not let work take over the rest of my life. Seems tougher than that resolution to exercise more! Was doing good there for a bit. Tom
Thank you for a Decade of Cute!
8 years ago
I have theses weird phase-swings between moves: move, be really active and involved and motivated, sink into stagnation and stasis, move.
ReplyDeletePart, I know, is due to the exhaustion imparted by the actual process of moving. Part is likely emotional upheaval. But why my life seems to repeat these endless cycles? Beyond me.
Good luck staying motivated! I'm just about ready for another move, alas.