Joining M.A.

I've sat down just about every day this week with the intention of posting to this blog. But all that happens is that I stare for a while at the empty frame and then log out having found nothing to write. I have written in my journal but that's a whole other thing and you certainly shouldn't be subjected to it. This morning, however, I have found something to write about. I was inspired by Karen's post on Worst Mama Ever.

On Saturday I went out shopping. It was a serious trip. I started at Columbus Circle, walked all the way up to Columbia University and then back down to 85th Street. I really enjoy walking around New York though by the end my dogs were barkin'. Concrete is tough on the feets. On my way back down from 116th I passed my old hood, the place I spent the first 7 years of my life. After 30 years a lot has changed. There used to be a handball wall in the playground on Amsterdam between 97th and 98th. It had a fabulous graffiti tiger on it that seemed to leap out of the wall. And there was a pizza parlor that sold Italian ices in those little paper cups. There was also a Woolworth's. Do any of you remember Woolworth's? I loved it when I was a kid. It seemed to have everything including a lunch counter. I never got to eat there since my grandmother would have to have been starving before she ate at a lunch counter but it was great anyway. And I loved the sewing section, filled with ribbons and thread and patterns. I miss Woolworth's. It's kind of been replaced by the Duane Reade which carries everything from cold medicine to nail polish to cookies to light bulbs. But it just isn't the same. And there's no lunch counter.

I realized, as I was wallowing in nostalgia, that I've reached an age where I've started to really notice how things have changed-what's gone and what's new. Progress always brings loss with it as it grinds forward. I love being able to access all sorts of information on the web and I love being able to keep up with friends and family with the ease of email. But I miss real live letters and I hate cell phones. I really do. I think they are vile, nasty things that have attached themselves to our lives like parasites. Work has bled into our private lives and we have become incapable of waiting for anything.

I'm also appalled by the fact that I multi-task all the time. It has become so difficult to do just one thing. If I'm watching tv I do things during the commercials. If I'm surfing on the web I may have the tv on in the background or the radio so I can hear the news. I don't just cook dinner, I do computer work while I wait for water to boil or a pan to get hot. Being completely present for just one task has become very difficult. Silence has become deafening. I might be forced to contemplation and I certainly don't want that. I am also much more impatient than I used to be (not that I was ever the poster child for patience). A line of two people at the coffee bar is too long. Why, I might have to wait a 2 whole minutes. Interminable.

They do say that accepting that you have a problem is half the battle.

My name is Plaid Sheep and I am a multi-tasker.

There's only one thing for it. Cold turkey. At least at home. I don't think I could get away with it at work, there it's actually necessary. But when I 'm at home I will do just one thing at a time. We'll see how it goes. I should probably get a sponsor. Someone to talk me down when I have the urge to watch tv, surf the web, and make dinner while knitting a hat.