The nice thing about writing on a laptop is that you don't feel as if you're working. Until you're finished and realize that you are quite tired. But that comes later. Right now I am sitting on my sofa (missing my balcony) with my legs stretched out, feet on a footstool, my little pal on a lap desk as I try to think of something useful, constructive, beautiful and arresting. Ay, there's the rub, trying to think of soothing useful, constructive, beautiful and arresting - Hey, my auto-correct just changed something to soothing and that's quite good, isn't it? I think I'll keep it.

This effortless effort makes me think of Stephen Leacock's words about writing being so simple: you just jot down things as they occur to you. The jotting is easy; the occurring is hard. And then there's Ring Lardner's line about sitting in front of the paper/typewriter until drops of blood appear on your forehead. Now i'm going to have to look those up so see if I'm right. ...

“Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you. The jotting is simplicity itself--it is the occurring which is difficult.” Stephen Leacock (1869-1944)

"Writing is easy, you just stare at the paper until little drops of blood appear on your forehead" --Ring Lardner Jr. (1885-1933)

Well, that's not bad, is it? I can't remember the numbers in a bridge hand from one end of the hand to the other, but I always remember a good punch line.

Laptops are fun.

Spelchek wants to change noodges (sic) to noodles and I have to be very firm with it, and repetitive. I have a lot going on right now, almost what you might call stressful but I'm too old for that sort of thing. In my ulcer days, in my Other Life, I used to get a stress pain (building an ulcer) if the cleaning lady didn't show up. Right now, the loss of my wallet has complicated things a bit (a lot), but it will all work out. I hope.

I looked up confluence. It has to do with rivers, as I'm sure you know, but the image in my mind is of several streams coming together. The streams are my various to-do lists, and the mighty river is my trip to Boston at the end of the week. But I will find pauses in the ongoing rush and I will enjoy the large, calm pool at the end of it. I hope.

I saw the film, Lucy, yesterday. The premise is that we all use only 10% of our brain and this poor (beautiful Scarlett Johansson) girl is forced to use all of hers. That has been a myth for as long as I can remember, that we function with such a small percentage of our potential. It's true in this way, that if a person suffers damage through a stroke, for example, and loses some skill or cognition he formerly had, new areas of the brain can be trained to take over to compensate for the loss. It's also true that we are lazy and mostly content to muzzy along doing what is absolutely necessary for our survival and well-being without making any effort to do more, improve, achieve, broaden our horizons - all that stuff you read in self-help books. The brain is ready but we aren't, including me.

This week I'll try.