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| North |
You'd never guess, looking at these photos, that they were taken on one of the most beautiful days. The temperature was mild and there was no wind; the air felt soft and welcoming.
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| South. Whaddayamean, treeless? |
I set office hours for myself, to encourage focus and discourage distractions. They change with the seasons. In the summer I start at 10 a.m. and go till 2:30, remaining indoors during the hottest hours of the day except for 10-minute breaks after every hour to go out to the garden and hoe up weeds.
This winter I decided to try keeping away from the computer during the mornings, working only in the afternoons. This past week I’ve adjusted my schedule a little, allowing myself to put in an hour or two in the morning as long as I’ve done other things first — like eating, washing up (myself and the kitchen), brushing my teeth. Otherwise I can easily get caught up here all morning and still be in my housecoat at noon.
To avoid that, I actually set the timer on the stove before I sit down here, to make sure I get up and move around often and don’t let the blood pool in my ass.
Between timed hours I’ve begun in the mornings to pick up the bass and strum it for a few minutes to get my fingers callused up again. I’ve never been able to play and sing at the same time, as I can do with the piano, but suddenly I can croon along with a bass run … woo hoo! How fun is that! It seemed to happen by itself, after all these years, like an unexpected gift.
Later in the day I’ve also started setting the timer for 15-minute increments of working instead of waiting till I’ve got an uninterrupted hour to log in time. Got this idea from The Happiness Project, whose author suggested it as a perfectly good way to get things done. And she is right. Last night while making supper and then waiting for Scott to be ready to go to his mom and dad’s, I got 6 of those little increments in. They add up.
