Note on procrastination....

You'll remember that not procrastinating was my goal for the year, and you may wonder how that's going. There are times when it goes splendidly--I walk past the washing machine, and I take out the clothes and hang them on the line. There are times when it goes miserably, I let the clothes in the washing machine weigh on my mind while I avoid them and they grow musty smelling.

It's not just housework that I procrastinate about...

Let's say, for instance, that I received a really awesome gift on January 25th that totally made my week and a collection of follow-up gifts, I would have totally procrastinated on writing a thank you note. Two months later, I would have not even penned a thank you note, but I would have probably spent a lot of time fantasizing about writing the thank you note.

I may have even had my kids draw pictures to send with the thank you notes, and then, I may have thrown their lame sketches of golden temples to represent gratitude-for-cash in the garbage in a Joan-Crawford-like outburst because I knew they could make better sketches.

I may have even spent a few days accidentally getting rich and buying the person who sent the gift a house, but if I've learned anything from obsessively watching Louis C.K. stand-up while avoiding housework it's that people like to fantasize about themselves doing nice things because it's easier than doing nice things, and at heart, they're just assholes.

I'm not sure what accounts for the difference between the assholes who just think of nice things and the nice people who actually do the nice things, but I'm glad there's nice people in the world--it makes it more bearable for the rest of us.