Note: I suck at titles. I always have. So when something I’ve written is accessorized with a title that is remotely clever, I feel I should explain, although I do accede that this one may need no explanation. I stole it from Sir Paul McCartney’s and the late John Lennon’s “I am the Walrus” (side note: I had to Google the title to make sure that it was indeed the Beatles who had penned the song – my parents’ musical tastes in the ‘70s of my childhood ran to Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers and John Phillips Sousa, and that annoyingly insistent-but-inaccurate voice in my head was certain that it was Pink Floyd. (Yes, I recall now that theirs is called “The Wall.”)). I suspect that McCartney’s and Lennon’s song was somehow connected to Lewis Carroll’s “Through the Looking Glass,” but since those same parents considered Ludlum, Clancy and the editors of “Better Homes and Gardens” the purveyors of classic literature, I’m hazy on that point as well. Anyway, since I like this title, I figured I should thank Messrs. McCartney and Lennon, along with Lewis Carroll and my parents. And Roger Waters, for good measure.
“Quick to commit, slow to achieve” – it could be my personal tagline.
I am a decision maker, not prone to a lot of internal debate about things. Which is not to say I have a lot of answers. I make up a lot of answers, but that’s a whole ‘nother post.
I generally make commitments, take on projects, sign up for whatever, buy airline tickets / expensive bras / ukuleles without a whole lot of forethought. It’s one of my many charms.
But much of the time, the aforementioned projects languish for a loooooooong time before I get them complete. A long time. Quite long. And I think about them. Every. Day. While experiencing feelings of guilt.
For instance, there’s one particular project that I initiated and volunteered for SIX MONTHS ago, which is about 85% done. It’s been about 85% done for the last month-and-a-half. It doesn’t help anyone until it’s 100% done, but that seems to be beyond my reach. Except….
Tomorrow is a powerful day. The final day of 2009. A day for reflection, resolutions, and in my case, cramming. Because if I do nothing else, I’m finishing that &%*@$ project tomorrow, before 2010 sweeps in. And since I want to ring in the new year with people I love, I’d like be done by the time 2010 arrives in Madrid.
It’s time for the tortoise to step aside for the hare.
And as far as resolutions go, in 2010 I’ll conceive for myself a hybrid of those fabled animals, one with the perseverance of the tortoise and the energy of the hare. Good thing I have 365 days to get right on it.
Pickle Dreams 