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Jan. 5th, 2004 03:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ann_leckieWow, it's cold today. It's been pretty warm for most of the winter, and suddenly today it's in the twenties. It was a cold wait on the schoolyard, when Paidhi Girl got out of school. Paidhi boy is also back to school, and my sanity is grateful.
I got the two or so hours he's in school for the morning to go to the coffee shop and write. Or stare out the window and try to figure out what to write, and how to fix the problems with what I've already written. I've gotten into the habit of bringing headphones and starting up winamp even though they generally (though not always) play fairly decent music there. For one thing, it's almost always vocal, and anything with words in English tends to distract me while I'm working. And for another thing, every now and then someone sits down at a nearby table and proceeds to have an involved conversation.
Now, folks drinking coffee in a coffee shop have every right to have an involved conversation. I can't criticize them for it, but sometimes it's very distracting, so I put on the headphones, and that fixes it right up. Except every now and then, there will be someone with a voice that cuts right through the headphones, and right through the music, and buries itself in my brain, and I'll be stuck there trying to write except all that my brain is doing is listening to someone say something like "Everyone totally assumed you guys were together. I mean, you've never actually dated or anything, but everyone knew you were, like, totally together." When it happens, which is really only every now and then, it isn't anybody's fault, but it's distracting, and it can make it really hard to think about what I'm there to work on instead of what the person is talking about.
Today, it was not only annoying, but mystifying and appalling. The two folks who were talking were discussing a woman of their acquaintance who had been divorced and her ex had moved in with someone else. Except he'd gotten some dire illness recently, so she'd moved in with him to take care of him. The two very concerned, presumably nice folks talked on about how hard this must be for her. They moved on eventually and were replaced by people with more normal voices, but it was bothering me, the more I thought about what I'd unavoidably heard. Why in the world would anyone do something like that? Was she insane? Of course it was painful for her--and if I'd been her I'd have told the ex to ask his new squeeze for nursing services and then sent him a nice get well card. Now, there are probably more details that if I only knew them would make the whole crazy business make sense. And I have no idea who these people are, and I wouldn't have listened in on them if I could have avoided it. But holy cow!
So eventually I managed to focus on what I was there for, and got some quality window-staring done. When it was time to get Paidhi Boy from school, I pulled off the headphones, shut down, stood up to pack--only to discover that two ladies were next to me discussing my laptop and the fact that I was writing. It took me a few moments to realize, because I wasn't actually listening to them, but having the word "laptop" repeatedly hit my ear finally got my attention. When I realized that they were talking about me as though I were deaf while I stood two feet away from them, packing up the laptop they were staring at, I figured the best thing to do was just keep packing up and go. It was a very weird experience.
Anyway, after the cold and the brain-racking, and the fact that I got to bed late last night, and up early, I'm now feeling very unmotivated. Even though there's a hamper full of laundry, not to mention a dozen other chores that I should be taking care of right now. And I need to do some baking for tonight's singing, since I haven't brought anything for awhile. I've got a very basic, quick oatmeal cookie recipe, but if I don't get off my butt they won't get made, will they?
I got the two or so hours he's in school for the morning to go to the coffee shop and write. Or stare out the window and try to figure out what to write, and how to fix the problems with what I've already written. I've gotten into the habit of bringing headphones and starting up winamp even though they generally (though not always) play fairly decent music there. For one thing, it's almost always vocal, and anything with words in English tends to distract me while I'm working. And for another thing, every now and then someone sits down at a nearby table and proceeds to have an involved conversation.
Now, folks drinking coffee in a coffee shop have every right to have an involved conversation. I can't criticize them for it, but sometimes it's very distracting, so I put on the headphones, and that fixes it right up. Except every now and then, there will be someone with a voice that cuts right through the headphones, and right through the music, and buries itself in my brain, and I'll be stuck there trying to write except all that my brain is doing is listening to someone say something like "Everyone totally assumed you guys were together. I mean, you've never actually dated or anything, but everyone knew you were, like, totally together." When it happens, which is really only every now and then, it isn't anybody's fault, but it's distracting, and it can make it really hard to think about what I'm there to work on instead of what the person is talking about.
Today, it was not only annoying, but mystifying and appalling. The two folks who were talking were discussing a woman of their acquaintance who had been divorced and her ex had moved in with someone else. Except he'd gotten some dire illness recently, so she'd moved in with him to take care of him. The two very concerned, presumably nice folks talked on about how hard this must be for her. They moved on eventually and were replaced by people with more normal voices, but it was bothering me, the more I thought about what I'd unavoidably heard. Why in the world would anyone do something like that? Was she insane? Of course it was painful for her--and if I'd been her I'd have told the ex to ask his new squeeze for nursing services and then sent him a nice get well card. Now, there are probably more details that if I only knew them would make the whole crazy business make sense. And I have no idea who these people are, and I wouldn't have listened in on them if I could have avoided it. But holy cow!
So eventually I managed to focus on what I was there for, and got some quality window-staring done. When it was time to get Paidhi Boy from school, I pulled off the headphones, shut down, stood up to pack--only to discover that two ladies were next to me discussing my laptop and the fact that I was writing. It took me a few moments to realize, because I wasn't actually listening to them, but having the word "laptop" repeatedly hit my ear finally got my attention. When I realized that they were talking about me as though I were deaf while I stood two feet away from them, packing up the laptop they were staring at, I figured the best thing to do was just keep packing up and go. It was a very weird experience.
Anyway, after the cold and the brain-racking, and the fact that I got to bed late last night, and up early, I'm now feeling very unmotivated. Even though there's a hamper full of laundry, not to mention a dozen other chores that I should be taking care of right now. And I need to do some baking for tonight's singing, since I haven't brought anything for awhile. I've got a very basic, quick oatmeal cookie recipe, but if I don't get off my butt they won't get made, will they?