Tales from the Steppes

2005-12-08

8:47 a.m.
Thursday, December 8

Above us only sky
- John Lennon

Has it really been 25 years? Man, I feel old..

I had a full day of fieldwork planned for today and was actually looking forward to it. I am reviewing the plans for a controversial road project and need to understand the site and it's limitations. I am always amazed when the perfect place to build the roads is through the streams, wetlands, forests, and crappy soils. I am happy, ecstatic even, that I will not be taking the lead on the entire project because it bodes to be full of people screaming at us. I just want to do my job of assessing the environment and leave the rest to someone else. This is not ducking on my part - I do not have the experience to be the one screamed at yet. The waters are deep and tricky and require a very senior person to navigate them.

But no fieldwork for me today - my eye infection came back with a vengeance. So I am at home, exuding green gunk, trying to figure out what to do with my day. My To Do list is a very long one so I have many choices but most of them require me to be able to see well. No Christmas shopping for me, as I don't want to drive that much and am communicable as well. I do have to make a quick trip to the grocery store, as we are completely out of the sacred triumverate - bread, eggs, and milk. I would love to get some baking done, as the dried fruits have been soaking in alcohol for some time now. But oh oops, no oozing into the food products.

So I am mostly left with loafing. I need to be able to drive the EM to her performance tonight so I'll be adding extra doses of anti-gook ointment to my eye, which blurs my vision even more. I really wish I had sewn her new soft shoes last night, instead of going to bed early. Arrrgh. Punished for trying to get a normal night's sleep.

Strangely enough, I am not particularly irritated by this. Sure, losing a productive day sort of sucks. But perhaps I will get some lower level stuff done that never seems to rise to the top of the list. Like bathroom cleaning. How well do I need to see to do that? Perhaps it is best to do it when slightly blurry. Lately I have made the male mongols handle cleaning up after themselves and their attention to detail is perhaps not what I prefer. Somehow they never seem to see the toilet in the bathroom. Don't ask, they're boys.