I don't know whether or not my uncle is a procrastinator, but I sure am. And I just had the thought that maybe the resistance to starting something is a consequence of a less-conscious part of me dreading the size of the whole job.
They have a saying in the military, I've read, that when your C.O. tells you to eat an elephant, you say, "Yes, {Sir|Ma'am}!" And then you eat the elephant, one bite at a time.
Something to think about.
There's a lot more that I could say about this. Maybe I'll do it later.
Yeah, I know. Cheap and obvious way to end this post. But I am nothing if not cheap and obvious. Except when I'm ambiguous, obscurant, and high-maintenance. Need a date?
11 comments:
If you were obscurant (i.e., opposed to intellectual advancement and political reform), whence this blog?!?
Frankly, I think the only way to get a big job done is to bribe yourself constantly for small mileage markers along the way. I've always found peanut M&Ms very good for this. However, after your comment about the elephant, I'm worried. I hope this doesn't give me a military industrial complex.
I was using definition 2 under the adjective section where the link pointed. This agrees with Aaron Sorkin's usage, when Will Bailey was harshing on Toby before getting a job on/in The West Wing.
My Poem: Late Autumn, 2005
Rake
Rake Leaves
Rake Leaves Again
Shovel
Shovel Snow
Shovel Snow Again
That was KK coming at you, in the previous comment. He also talks some smack here.
Time for another little bit of the harsh on clare . . .
Whenever I hear someone say "frankly," especially as the first word in a phrase, this threatens to pin my bogometer.
"Frankly" has become code-word for "let me pre-apologize for my having a somewhat coherent and thoughtful opinion." It has the stench of politico-speak, if you will.
Crap. That Cheney phrase slipped out again. "If you will." ickkkkk.
"Frankly," to be fair about it, has some unusual resonance with me. It brings to mind the time when I was buying my first appliance, and the Sears salesman predicated, I mean, began every other sentence with "To be completely honest with you . . ."
To put this in temporal context, that's when Sears was the big store, which, frankly, makes me a bit of an old fogie.
If you will.
Can't fault you too much on the "frankly" diatribe. My bete noire is "clearly." Whenever anyone introduces a sentence with "Clearly," you know what follows will be anything but.
So, my question about the KK "smack" as to newspapers is: What's the angle of repose? I mean, at what point do boring "yesterday's newspapers" turn into fascinating newspapers of "a year ago"? Is it precisely 365 days (366 in leap years)?
Policy: All questions concerning clarification of entries on my quotes page are to be directed to the corresponding source.
I never thought about it before, but do you like the word "clarification?" Do you feel like it's somehow more yours than anybody else's?
I take it from your comments then that "clarified" butter is butter that
has been spread on a piece of bread by Clare?
"Clarified," on my bread? Ghee wiz.
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