To Do

It’s late at night or early in the morning and all is still outside and I wonder how normal people get everything done. I mean, I don’t really have a schedule these days and I can’t seem to get everything on my To Do list done. But I find many things about this normal life thing interesting. Not that I have an extraordinary life, but it’s been a different schedule, different places, different priorities kind of life I’ve been leading.
About a year ago I found an advertisement in the travel section of the Times. I cut it out (as I tend to do, saving it for later, saving it for a time when I would have time to put all my clippings into some sort of order, sorting out my life, my desires; will I have time for that now? Put it on the To Do list) and I cannot seem to find it in my pile, but it went something like this. A woman kayaking through the early morning mist, mountains (snow capped, of course) rising up from the glassy water, a smile on her face, chiseled happy husband trailing behind her in another kayak, breathing in the clear clean pure snowy mountain air, and the caption reads: “Seven days that make the other 358 bearable.” I laughed aloud, a pitying, incredulous titter; I never want to feel that way. How can people feel that way? How can you live your life looking forward to a week out of a year that you actually enjoy? Am I just lucky or smart or really stupid or cursed to expect more?
I found another ad today. I got it with the cable/internet/phone bill that I just paid (the first of any such bill I have paid since the aquatic life got me in a headlock) and one of the “exciting innovations from Time Warner” includes “Caller ID on TV: The easiest way to know who’s calling when you are watching TV.” So that you don’t have to move your lazy ass from the couch to talk to friend you may or may not want to interrupt your Desperate Housewives addiction to talk to? I mean, I guess it makes sense, it’s convenient and all, and I personally hate the phone, but just the idea of it makes me once again feel like I can check that off on my snarky list of people I do not ever want to be.
Am I being too judgmental here? Maybe so, but all this free time… my To Do and To Be (or Not to Be…) lists multiply exponentially.
Or maybe I just need to get out of the house and make friends with normal people who live normal lives.
Who is that anyway?