Sunday, July 27, 2008

"You May Say I'm a Dreamer..."


"A dream is just a dream. A goal is a dream with a plan and a deadline."--Harvey Mackay

Tears of frustration were shed this week. Twice. For 10 minutes on Tuesday morning, I was rendered in a sobbing fetal position on my office floor, just for the hell of it.

The good news, however, is that tears as a result of feeling entirely overwhelmed were only shed once this week. On Wednesday. Kind of a like a passing New England summer rainstorm. Again, for the hell of it.

Tears of fear concerning my academic debt and unknown future? Nearly shed-- but let's face it--that one is so played. Perhaps I could shed a tear for my indifference to my unknown future at this moment, but I would rather be writing...

Number of total words written this week: 2,876. They say that this is "a lot". I see it as paltry. Negligible at best. I see it as a drop in the ocean, but try to remind myself that it is one drop is more than I had a week ago. I also try to remind myself that I have re-read countless number of articles in addition to writing this week. Yesterday, my pen and post-it tabs swallowed yet another scholarly book.

I sometimes have to force myself to leave the house. Otherwise, I am entirely too comfortable reading horizontally in my lounge attire of tank tops and boy-short underwear. I shower and shave occasionally. I sometimes remotely ponder what to do with my shadowy mane of hair. At the moment my long hair serves as my only reminder that my youth has not been forsaken. Once upon a time, my hair was my amulet of sexual power. Now, since its renewal, it just serves as a friendly reminder of the woman I was once in a state of becoming in contrast to the woman that I have since become.

The writing persists, and the thinking never stops. Even in dreams, I am thinking. But the good news is that I am sleeping better. This may sound like a complete contradiction in terms. This is because I have begun doing yoga again. The nice man at the yoga place is only charging me $9/class.

Maybe one day I will long for a return of these halcyon moments of solitude when all I did one summer was write a doctoral dissertation in my underwear.

Oh, and in the meantime, I am neglecting to mention that in my moments of procrastination, I have renewed my fiendish love of music. I woke up singing John Lennon this morning. I made a cup of tea, sat down, and here we are.

As I write about war and the continuing violation of life itself in Israel-Palestine, I find it necessary to take the time to indulge in the small comfort of hope...

...hope that I will finish this darn writing thing sooner or later.

...hope that I won't crash and burn in the face of another long semester of teaching ahead of me.

...hope that when the time comes to go abroad again, I won't still be the veritable shell of myself that I have been since last October...

...and hope that all of this time spent writing about the world will actually matter to the world...

Namaste

ps: I love the way that Yoko opens all of the windows in this video. It is so subtle (and seemingly bizarre), but there would be no light if she didn't do this. I am a big fan of people who know how to let in the light.

6 comments:

Alan Ward said...

Random thoughts:

- You have been alone too long.

- Israel/Palestine: life is a bit like the oil in a Land Rover. If it's leaking, that means there still is some left inside.

- Yoko: why did the couple go inside in the first place?

- I maintain: you have been alone too long. In the soul sense. But you're still leaking.

Namaste said...

agreed, alan.

i think they had to go inside so that john could play the piano?

thanks for putting up with me. two weeks until i take a little vacation from the heavy intellectual stuff.

namaste

Brian said...

a) you're not going to crash and burn. Anyone who's spent more than about three minutes talking to you (or reading you, I'm guessing) knows that perfectly well, and I have the sneaking suspicion that you do, too. :)

b)the nice thing about you, even as shell: those who choose to listen, even a little, will hear far more than just the ocean.

c) just keep writing, and somewhere along the line, the world will catch up. :)

Anonymous said...

Hope things are looking up soon. Cheers & Good Luck, 'VJ'

Anonymous said...

I know that fetal position pretty well. I also know the healing power of yoga. Yin and yang.

And per being alone and being overwhelmed, if you figure out how to take the pressure off of yourself -- let me know because I need to as well.

Good luck writing. It'll come.

Restaurant Gal said...

I think it's time we had that drink on the beach and marvel at how vastly different people living vastly diferent lives can share so many fundamental elements of living. You'll be okay; so will I.