My computer dictionary has a few words about procrastinate:

"fear of failure often causes people to procrastinate: delay, put off doing something, postpone action, defer action, be dilatory, use delaying tactics, stall, temporize, drag one's feet/heels, take one's time, play for time, play a waiting game."

I have more words, especially after yesterday. i procrastinated ALL DAY. At first it was very bad and I was beating myself up and then whipping a dead horse and then taking bigger and bigger lateral steps. And finally it turned into an almost good, fairly productive, non-guilt-inducing day. Procrastination can be very creative but you have to get out of the way and let it take over.

I actually completed a few tasks I had been putting off even while I kept poking my mental tongue into the deep cavity of my void. (Let no one think that staying at home and thinking is a safe, calming activity.) But here's the pay-off. Two separate thoughts about the work I wasn't doing actually coalesced and I woke this morning with a lead and possibly a new title.

Let's hear it for procrastination!

Ignore that list I gave you yesterday. I'm not ready to deal with that yet. I have been going through more files as well as my first draft manuscript and I think I'm ready to write an introduction to the next draft. So I'll just blog a little first, that is, prime the pump. Do people younger than you or I even know what that means? There are so many expressions bobbing around that have no meaning to kids today - kids, that is, anyone under 40. I remember the American anthropologist, Margaret Mead (1901-1978), said that anyone born on this planet before 1945 (the year the atomic bomb was unleashed) was an alien. Like me. I didn't really believe her until the metric system came into use in Canada (not the U.S,., as you know, so Americans are even more alien). Anything you learn by rote stays with you but new and imposed, not so much. So here is what I can tell you:

Weather: I know that 20 degrees Celsius is sweater weather and below 32 degrees is the freezing point. Other than that I have couple of palindromes I rely on: 28 is 82; 16 is 61. ,

Distance: I can't count kilometres so I go by time. A place is now an hour by car, or 20 minutes, or whatever.

Weight: Since I gave up my car I have Grocery Gateway deliver my food and I am learning the metric system by default. For instance, I learned that 900 grams of green beans is about 860 more grams of green beans that I can eat. Like that.

Liquids: I learned early on that a litre of wine is better than a bottle (was it measured in quarts?). And I can order a litre of milk quite smoothly.

That's enough for today.