Montana n: A state of the northwest United States bordering on Canada. Admitted as the 41st state in 1889. The fourth largest state in the union, it includes vast prairies and numerous majestic mountain ranges.
Syn: Treasure State, Big Sky Country, Last Best Place.
Jones n: slang. An addiction or very deep craving.
Friday, April 01, 2005
There is a storm coming
Old hands can look at the clouds on the horizon or feel the wind shift to the south and know that a storm is coming. My storm is less subtle. My storm builds with the pages of the calendar. Another page torn down and a chill crawls my spine. I'm not going to be ready.
Preparation is everything. I have said it to myself a hundred times, make no move today that was not planned yesterday. Come summer if I am making things up as I go I will have failed in my spring planning. If I am making things up as I go I will have failed my customers. If I am making things up as I go my livelihood is in danger. Preparation is everything.
Then why am I wasting time? Why do I allow myself to grow weary and allow my attention to drift over to the games, to the blogs, to the television, to the bars, to my recreation? Time is slippery stuff and when I have too much I waste it like I waste the drought water from the leisurely daily shower that serves less to bath me and more as a warm security blanket while I stand naked and sleep dazed before the day.
My list of what I need to do today is not so great. My list for the week, a little more substantial. For the month, crucial. And yet as the morning sun peeks into my windows and my wits gather in the same haphazard fashion as those robins on the lawn. I am aware that a day well spent will bring me rewards of efficiency and a lack of crisis later on. I am aware that my crucial list of tasks needs to be plinked at a little bit today. I am aware that my daily needs allow time enough, before I turn to the schedules and books, to click one more link; and yet one more.
I know that if I am well prepared the storm will be easy to weather. I also know that a storm easily weathered does not show oneself in the most dramatic possible light, fighting against gale and gust and gods own lightning in an epic clash of human courage. There is little glory in making it look easy and no drama. Slacking today can create both glory and drama. I can set myself up to be a hero and all I have to do is to continue to stand naked, unconcerned, innocent as the water grows cold and the calendar pages flit away.
In the end I can't allow my subconscious schemes to play out. The stakes are too high to allow the heroics gambit. But I may still do it accidentally because today there is nice sunshine, and a little spare time, and the temptations of leisure, and yet one more blog to read.
There is more Jones in the archives: February 2005 March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 December 2009 January 2010 May 2014
