A Scarcity of Me

Yep, life interferes with blogging, even a reduced, twice-a-week demand I’ve yoked myself with these past eighteen months.

I still have four weeks before I officially start my second job preparing taxes in the evening, but they got me taking fifteen hours of classes a week leading up to Day One of the Tax Season. This time, though, I am being paid for it. Last night’s class earned me $30. Which promptly went into Patch’s pocket, for her Christmas gifts shopping for the family they do with third graders at her school.

Anyway, the training is intense, to say the least. So much to learn, so much to retain. Add to those weekly fifteen hours basketball practices and games for Little One, girl scouting for her and Patch, Christmas concerts, Christmas shopping, year-end projects at the day job, and, uh, well, things are so hectic that writing has to take a back seat.

Even reading and hot baths, my two number one relaxation, rest and recovery activities, now find themselves careless discarded, set aside for more urgent and important tasks (much to my psychological detriment, I must add). For the first time since I’ve had to take care of a newborn, about seven years or so ago, I find myself almost too in demand. The days whirl by, and while things are getting done, I feel like time is slipping by and that To-Do List between my ears never quite gets whittled down.

A hundred-and-eighty degree shift from a year ago, when I’d have hours and hours of the day to fill once I’d checked all the online job searches or had my weekly update with the recruiters or went to the occasional interview. Back then I walked that tightrope over the abyss of depression and feelings of worthlessness; now my mind screams for an hour of uninterrupted down time.

Which I do get at the expense of healthy, restorative sleep. Everyone’s in bed and nodding out by 10 p.m., but the lure of a quiet house keeps me up. It’s then that I read my current read, or watch a DVR’d show, or type up a blog post. Before I know it the clock on the TV is shouting 11:30, 11:45 at me, and I have to force myself into bed or I’ll pay for it when the alarm goes off at 6:30 (or when Patch awakens me a half-hour or forty-five minutes before that).

All right; enough whining and crying, bitchin’ and moanin’. Overall, I’m happy and excited. The family has money. Our future looks bright, as they say. There’s a path before me. Both jobs seem to agree with me, and the people in charge at both places like me. The girls are well, developing into responsible, smart, funny, well-adjusted young ladies. And I got lots and lots of books on the horizon (more on that tomorrow).

But that’s why my posting’s been scarce, sparse, sporadic, occasional, in short supply, few and far between, infrequent, unabundant, disabundant, and nonabundant. Though my potential for synonym retrieval has been anything but.

More tomorrow …