A Great Morning

When I walked out my door at 8:30 this morning to walk a very anxious Grim (she woke me up this morning, that is unlike her), I was taken aback (in a good way) by the silence I found.

Not that I live in a noisy neighborhood, but I am in the city. Noises of cars, if not neighbors etc, are all to be expected. But this morning, it was so silent. Not "Minnesota on a January Night" silent, but more silent than perhaps I have ever heard it. I listened to the birds. It was really nice. It was so peaceful out, I actually doubled the length of Grim's normal walk. I wonder why it was so silent, its not just because it was Sunday morning, I have been out then before. I think it likely had something to do with the thin layer of ice that was coating everything. I had to be careful when I walked, but I only slipped once, and Grim caught my fall (as usual). You would be surprised how useful holding onto the leash of a 90 pound dog can be to catch your balance.

Back inside I took perhaps the world's longest shower, so long that when I came out DH went to take one and complained he had no hot water. That has never happened to us in this house before. Then, I made myself a big breakfast. Bacon, Eggs, and rye toast with rediscovered raspberry-jalepeno jam. So tasty.

So, the morning was excellent. Unfortunately, I never made the transition from that wonderful relaxing morning into productivity. Unfortunately, I got sucked into bad television for an hour or two, and then into a nap, and then into football, and now we are going to dinner. I have officially done nothing for school since Friday, and what I did on Friday was not very much. I am certainly struggling to reform work habits. One thing is clear. I am hopelessly addicted to fiction. Books, movies, TV. Fiction sucks me in in a way that is bad for school, and I have been seriously indulging that addiction lately (especially the book part... I perhaps have been taking my "read more for fun" resolution too far). Sometimes I wonder if I have the commitment that it takes to do a PhD. I have never been one to narrowly focus on one topic. I never had a favorite class in high school because I liked so many different things, and here I have put myself in a situation where I am supposed to be thinking about the same topic for hours and hours each day, and at this moment its just not happening, not even close.