Yes, that's right, we absolutely have to--wait, what?

[mrissa]

Sometimes I find myself in the middle of doing something and think, "Wait, what? How did this get to be so completely vital?"

This evening it was inventorying my fountain pen ink. The to-do list is full of stuff, and then there's the stuff that isn't even on the list. But somehow my brain--thanks, brain!--decided that if one cartridge was discovered dried up when I tried to put it in the pen, by crackey, they might all be! And soon I had a skirt full of dusty half-boxes of cartridges and a pile of "good" ones, where the ink was still clearly running, and the entirety of the top right drawer of my grandpa's desk cleared out to better organize these things. Oh, brain.

And there even were other defunct cartridges. Thank heavens they are not taking up entire inches of space now! What a relief that I have handled this vital situation! Your sleep can be peaceful tonight!

I mean, in some ways this is better than putting it on my list as a thing I hypothetically should do sometime and then never doing it. But really. Those should not be the only options.

Comments

[catlinye-maker.livejournal.com]

I am glad to hear I'm not the only one to get sidetracked from actually urgent tasks by faux-urgent tasks. And if anyone has any suggestions for how to stop derailing brain from derailing, I'd love to hear them!

[diatryma.livejournal.com]

My only suggestion is to make sure the derailing task requires at least a partial rerailing task-- I often get sidetracked by sorting change, which means having at least enough desk space to sort change. The office is cleaned from there outward.

[blue-hat-guru.livejournal.com]

I think this might fall under the category of "why did we have to evolve from frickin' monkeys?" but I may be mistaken.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My dog provides some evidence that wolves would not have helped as an ancestor, when it comes to useless fixations.

[nenya_kanadka]

You have just described my general panic mode at work. "But I need orange highlighters. ORANGE! What, we don't stock them in the supplies cupboard anymore? Obviously it is time for a trip across town to a stationery store! ...what do you mean, I have work backed up from here til Tuesday? ORANGE HIGHLIGHTERS!"

[anef.livejournal.com]

May I just say how much I like your icon?

[nenya_kanadka]

Ha, thank you! I think I got it during November, though really my nocturnal state is year-round.

[vcmw]

I think for me it's some weird glitch that happens when I'm tired. Those are always the times when I think "sure, I'm running a bit late getting out the door for work, but it's very important I stop and find all the shoes in the house and organize them on the shoe rack."
Or that I clean combs, or something.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Combs! Must clean combs!

Do all the things!

Um.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

When I do that sort of thing, it means my fish brain is working on something and needs to distract my neocortex.

B

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

It's entirely possible that's the case here also.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

But...but...it needed to be done! What a good thing you can now rest easy knowing that desk drawer is clear.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

It's true! There's nothing more irritating than needing a cartridge and finding that they're all dried up.

Excuse me, I have a shortbread tin to clear out.

(When I do that kind of thing, I tell myself it's a form of productive catwaxing.)

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Mine today was at least vaguely necessary, in that "put farmers' market acquisitions away" turned into "scrub off the shelves of the refrigerator" by way of "must clean junk out of fridge to make space." But yeah. Scrubbing the fridge was not actually high on my list of things to do -- or even anywhere on said list.

[lynnal.livejournal.com]

Yes, these things happen. I had a long list of things to get done this weekend and ended up doing mostly other things. Sometimes conquering one little annoying thing is a lot more satisfying than slogging away on a bigger, more important project. My composite list for 2013 could be described as "sort every item I own and find a place for it in the new house or get rid of it". That puts nearly everything on the list somewhere. I try to rotate between tackling the important, annoying and satisfying-to-me tasks on my list.