Odd Little Things

I have lists. Generally I just juggle them in my head, no pen and paper involved. I can remember that today I want to finish packing up the sorted video tapes, write some blog posts, go to Walmart for black plastic bags, the supermarket for groceries, pack up some Halloween decorations, give Charlie his pills, and work on cleaning up the studio some more. But if they're big lists or important lists or I'm just starting to feel overwhelmed, I write them down. I have grocery lists and holiday to-do lists and creative to-do lists and packing for a trip lists and books to read lists and on and on.

But then there are those ideas or projects that are so tiny and fleeting that I never remember to write them down. In fact it would seem silly to write them down. Sometimes the idea wanders through my head and I just watch it, like I'd watch a deer walking across the road at dusk. Oh, how pretty. That's nice. I let it pass by unnoticed. No, a deer is too big. Maybe they're like little bunnies. Cute but innocuous. (unless they eat your garden greens down to tiny stubs of course) It doesn't really matter if I remember them. Sometimes though these thoughts are like an intermittent problem, like a hole in your shoe or a leak in your roof - you don't remember at all until the next time it rains. They're important but...

And so I don't remember to check for that book at the bookstore unless I happen to drive by the bookstore. I don't remember I wanted to pick some autumn leaves until I'm bagging up all the soggy, color drained ones from my yard. My timing drives me nuts. I know there are things I need to do that I can only do on this side of town or when I'm in Reno or only before 8 p.m. and I never remember those things until I'm back on the other side of town or I'm already driving back home from Reno or after 9 p.m.

This morning I had a whole herd of this sort of thing pass through my consciousness and so I thought I'd try to fence them in by writing a list. The irony of course is that the list won't include all those thoughts that are so far off the radar right now as to not register. So it's not a real useful list. But it might be entertaining at some point in the future to look back and see what sort of Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontails were hopping around my brain.

Things to Remember

1. Rent Chariots of Fire so I can see the scene where they run up Arthur's Seat
2. call my sister before it's too late in her time zone
   
3. buy some new switchplates for the living room
4. find a new sugar bowl (old sugar bowl dropped out of the cabinet breaking both itself and the plate it landed on)
5. Burn some of the boxes sitting outside in the driveway (they've been rained on and aren't worth saving)
6. check what the monthly interest amount is paid down to on our property
   
7. uhm..........

See! I already forgot the rest of them. They won't stop hopping long enough for me to remember them. Oh well. I've certainly got enough to do just choosing between tasks that I haven't forgotten about.