Wanting for Something To Do

I'm a bit lazy. Inertia. Can't help it. So I need to present myself with useful things to do (oh, and I don't sleep a lot... long days). While I do enjoy the hours of my life immensely, I often just wander around, or whatever, when I don't have work to do. Finding useful things to do gets tricky, because almost everything that the culture encourages me to do is counterproductive to the way I'd like-to-go through this world.

A few months ago, the school that employs me had a "service learning" event. All bullshit, obviously. They talk about ending the "walk for water" that many humans — especially women, the video tells us — have to suffer through. Predictably, the neo-libs who design these programs are desperate to get these women in jobs and schools. That's right. Rather than walking for water, the Water People who are trying to get us "involved" are all-about girls and women going to school and working jobs. (They also talk a lot about building roads, as if roads aren't responsible for death and destruction on an enormous scale — moving people and things is a bad idea... we clearly can't handle it).

Anyway, I tell my students that walking for water is an excellent way to spend one's time. It would be nice to shut down the factories and punch the assholes responsible for polluting the world's water supply — another useful thing to do. Scorecard:

Good: walking for water, punching industrial polluters (literally and symbolically, I suppose)

Bad: Going to school, having a job, building a road.

I'm very popular with the school's administration.

I'm not sure why I'm telling you that anecdote, I'm writing to present one of my new "things to do":

1) When I shower, I use this soap that my mythically beautiful wife-like creature makes. It's nice. And it's not toxic or anything like that (you have, perhaps, seen these commercial soaps that have little polymer "scrubbers" in them... fucking insanity).


2) Rather than letting that water wash away into the industrial water processing system, I plug the drain. Scoop it out with buckets, and go dump it in my rain barrels (this time of year, we use a lot more water than the barrels collect... so this is a very useful thing to do).

That's all: natural soaps, plug the drain, haul the water to the rain barrels. Use it to water the garden = something to do.

Goodnight.

I have an idea for a "fad"

When meeting someone, what one does physically is inherently impacting. It matters to you and to me. This stuff gets noticed and processed... at least somehow, some of the time.

I suggest to you: the next time you "meet" a new human, stretch your body. Yes-yes... stretch while speaking. What type of stretches? You may wonder.

Something with a little umph (perhaps something common, like a calf or hammy), like you really want it, feel your physical self, extend it. This would be good on several levels:

1) Obviously, people who stretch are healthy. Those who don't, are not. Those last two sentences are infallible, cosmic truths.

2) Exposing your grace and health may set your fellow human beast at ease. Wounded animals are more terribly frightening than healthy ones. Without anxiety, you'll be free to skip the bullshit posturing.

Give it a try.