"To Do" List

I can't speak for everyone, but I find life--even everyday life--overwhelming. There is no justifiable reason for this--it just seems like there are always more things to accomplish than I have the time, energy or resources to handle. In the face of these goals, I am often immobilized. It occurred to me that perhaps I should make a list.


I think the next step is to prioritize the items on the list and then begin to tackle them one by one. I have put that on the list, as well.

As with my life, there is no rhyme or reason to my list. These are actually all things I feel like I need to do to make my life complete. I know that I am forgetting some, and that I will occasionally add more that I have already done just to make it seem to me like I am actually making progress. (Am I really the only one who has ever added an item to a To Do list just because you knew you could cross it off right away? I didn't think so.) After a few days I'll post this list to the bottom of the page where I can adjust it as necessary.

You'd better wait to see if I find it beneficial before you try this yourself. Or, if you like to live dangerously, go right ahead. Who the hell am I to tell you what to do?

The List:

-Meet Dave Grohl
-Seal bat(s) out of attic
-Clean bat poop-filled attic
-See Ireland
-Fix leaky outside faucet, east side of house
-Finish writing novel “The Agoraphobic’s Guide to Cairo”
-Put captions under photos in Cairo photo book
-Fall in love
-Learn how to let it go when people write “your” instead of “you’re”
-Remove both sofas from house for disposal thanks to fucking cat
-See the movie “Taxi Driver”
-Eliminate cat urine odor from unknown location (s) on front porch
-Get married
-Clean the inside of my car
-Train Ginger when not to bark
-Eliminate cat in non-guilt-inducing fashion
-See Egypt, Jordan and Jerusalem
-Find a publisher for “The Agoraphobic’s Guide to Cairo”
-Vacuum
-Buy Vacuum
-Replace bass drum
-Prioritize the list
-Get a haircut
-Download all the photos on my computer to a CD
-Take snow blower to mom’s house before snow actually falls
-Finish writing novel “Below Sea Level”
-Teach niece how to ride horses
-Plane kitchen cupboard doors so they actually open and/or close
-Get divorced
-Teach SodaPop when to not bark
-Read Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”
-Re-paint kitchen cupboards
-Buy a house
-Plant Abraham Lincoln Lilacs on east side of house
-Find friend John Bigley
-Replace The Kelvinator with a real refrigerator
-Find a publisher for “Below Sea Level”
-Meet Chris Cornell and Kofi Annan (not necessarily at the same time)
-Move exercise cycle upstairs to hide absence of at least one sofa
-Learn to let it go when people say “seen” without the word “have”
-Teach niece how to swear in Arabic
-Buy new sofa: Vinyl if cat still lives; fabric if cat is—how shall we say—not living
-See London
-Clean litter boxes (I can never cross this off because when I'm cleaning one he's already using the other one)
-Get over the fact that Ginger and SodaPop bark excessively
-Utilize exercise bike for its God-given purpose
-Buy a horse
-Replace ink cartridge in printer
-Travel the United States
-Finish unpacking
-Finish Andrew Solomon’s “The Noonday Demon”
-Finish office filing
-Install the 87 year-old storm windows before first snowfall of 2012
-Do the dishes
-Buy a car
-Learn how to hang art on plaster walls
-Hang art
-Learn to drive a stick shift
-Dust ceiling fans
-Find friend Bob Newberry
-Have an adorable picket fence installed
-Re-build entire front porch of house before it falls into the front yard
-Mow the lawn