Thursday, March 4, 2010

My break out role into television will be on the show "Hoarders."

Today I'm going to write about writer's block. Not very interesting, I know. But I feel like the only way I can get through the block is to just WRITE something. ANYTHING. I've tried writing in a Word document. I've tried writing in a notebook. But both times as I've stared at the blank screen or page, I've just felt as blank as the page I'm staring at. So I'm going to try the whole blog thing again. This is for myself, mainly, but somehow the idea of having an audience helps the words to come out.

I feel this pressing urgency to write about Angus. I know that this time in his life is so fleeting, and since I have the memory of an Alzheimer's patient already, I know that it's important to document everything, otherwise I'm going to forget! I don't want to forget anything! Already I know I've forgotten certain things from the last few months of his life, and that just makes me panic. The reason I write is so that I can hold on to these memories. It's the same reason those people on Hoarder's hoard things. They can't throw anything away because every little thing represents a memory of their life. Why are we so desperate to hang on to the past? I don't know the answer to that; all I know is that if I don't document everything in writing, I'm going to end up on Hoarder's. I'll be living in the last uncluttered corner of the house, wearing adult diapers because I can't find the toilet anymore. You'll find dead, flattened cats under piles of shit that have taken 30 years to accumulate.
Nobody wants that, now do they?

I should be working right now. I've been doing transcription from home for the last two months. At first, I was incredibly proud of myself for figuring out how to find employment from home, without any experience. I work for two amazingly nice people, who are reflexologists by day, and have a transcription company by night. They pay slave wages, but they're just so freaking nice, that I don't really mind.
I don't mind the work, because it combines what I like best; the English language, and not having to move much. I find something very therapeutic about typing.
But lately it's been losing it's appeal. Currently I'm transcribing a University interview with a dry, boring, uppity science major. I've done a lot of these, and it's the same boring old questions directed at the same narrow-minded, boring people. This particular student incites rage within me. She talks about how her father says of her and her three siblings, "As long as I have a doctor, a vet, an accountant, and a lawyer, my needs are covered." I want to climb into the computer, and slap this girl a little bit. She talks of how her parents are very encouraging of what she chooses to do, "as long as it's nothing artistic."
SLAP!
She even talks about how her mother got her bachelors in electrical engineering, and never used it! Now what is the point of that? I don't think it's the most important thing in the world to get a University degree. But then, I didn't even finish high school so I probably don't know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, supposed to be working. I have a very small time frame in which I can work; when Angus sleeps. It's about two hours during the day. Unfortunately, that's also the only time I get to myself, so I often all I want to do is surf the Internet and Google things like, "How to get rich without having to do anything." And stalk people on Facebook.
I complain about not having any time to do anything, and I complain about how the house is always a mess, but the real problem is actually probably my organizational skills. I am terrible at managing my time.
It takes me about two hours to wake up in the morning. I turn on The Mom Show and sit on the couch blinking, guzzling coffee and feeling hatred towards the morning, while Angus sits on the floor eating cardboard. By the time he goes down for his morning nap, I'm FINALLY awake and have stopped grumbling and swearing and bumping into walls. This is the time I start working, but then I get hungry, so I make breakfast and surf the net. By the time he wakes up, I haven't accomplished anything, and then the next three hours are spent entertaining or pacifying my Velcro baby. (That's a reference to the Separation Anxiety he is going through.)
Then he goes down for his afternoon nap, and I'm tired and I want to nap with him. Sometimes I do, and then hate myself afterwards because I didn't get anything done. Sometimes I "work."

Anyway, the point is, some people manage to shower and get dressed in the morning. Somehow I always miss that part because I'm too busy... doing what? I FEEL busy, so busy that it makes my head spin, but NOTHING IS DONE!? I don't get it.

The mess drives me mental, but I HATE HATE HATE housework. I feel like I'm always doing it, but it never gets finished.  And the reason I hate it is because I never feel a sense of accomplishment. You do the dishes, but then you have to eat again and make more dishes. You clean the floors, and your husband stomps all over them in his dirty boots and you have to clean them again. You do laundry and your baby barfs on himself and makes more laundry. You wash the baby, and he smears food in his hair and have to wash him again.
IT NEVER ENDS!
I guess it's a fact of life. I know I need to just accept it.

Angus is awake. I kind of went off in a totally irrelevant tangent. I wanted to write about Angus but I just didn't get there. I almost said "and I haven't accomplished anything," but I HAVE! I broke my block.
As a chronic under-achiever, this is good.

2 comments:

noahandme said...

I've been stalking your blog since I was pregnant and you don't even now how excited i was to see a new post when I randomly decided to check your blog out AGAIN to see if you've decided to entertain your public again. I FEEL THE SAME WAY! busy busy busy but you've spent most the day in your pj's and un-showered. Also, angus is some handsome :) I am also the mother of a chubby velcro baby.

Barclay said...

Thank you so much! I really, really appreciate that. :) I'm going to try to keep it up from now on.