The World of Tasks

  I love when you go to a hotel and there is ONLY the barest framework of furniture plus the stuff you brought to work on. (I looked up the exact hotel I am thinking of and one of the listed amenities is an electrical outlet. That is a level of simplicity I am not going to achieve in this lifetime.) First I'm setting out my receipts for the day with my notebook on the empty writing desk. Now I'm hanging my swimsuit on one of eight empty hangers permanently attached to the closet rod. Those are not things I ever do at home. I love reconciling my receipts. I use a crayon to highlight them so the thermo ink doesn't disappear. I pore over them. I have such a feeling of order and control. But, I might love this less than almost anything else I choose to do. So once they get wrinkled up in my purse I just let them go. As for the swimsuit- Instead of balling them up into a bag, I spread them out on the rear windshield in the car. Now they're dry and ready for next time, plus they are in the car already. 

For years and years I have tried to achieve this empty, open ended space at home through minimalism and I just don't think it is going to happen. There will never be a time when no laundry needs to be washed and the roomba has just been run but also just detail cleaned and the houseplants are all optimally placed, pruned, and watered and the donations bag has been dropped off and there are no more donations. I must not even really want that or I'd have achieved it with the work I've put in. 

I've found that going into VR has a similar feeling in my brain. Where's all the stuff I have to do? Where's the smudges on the outside of my en suite bathroom door from where I grab it to stop it swinging on my way to wash my hands? Where's the cell phone case I am glueing together one and a half inches at a time because I only have two binder clips? Well, they're not in the focus cave. They're not in the ski chalet with no door where I just sit and type. It doesn't sit perfectly with me that the alternative path to minimalism peace is a computer I strap to my head that is covered in cameras, plugs in as well as taking batteries, and won't work without wifi. 

                                                         

This is the same reason I like the gym- where are the jade plants I cut off the main jade plant so it could stand up straight? The ones that need little pots, soil, and a sunny place to live? And also the pots have to be heavy so they won't tip over? Well, they're not in the gym. 

I have found a new alternative to mentally get away from my visual to do list without doing away with it, while staying in this place and this reality. But, it only works at night. First thing in the morning, I don't put on any white lights or turn on my screens. I do anything I need to do, starting with working out, by the light of the salt lamp. It lets me keep from bumping into stuff but doesn't provide the corner-to-corner illumination of the overhead light or daylight. It doesn't even spotlight the glues I was trying on the phone case I am making one and a half inches at a time like my task lamp. After an hour hanging out in the dark with no external input except music, I am ready to go back to the World of Tasks.