-Taking my time, and possibly much of yours, as well-

When there’s a large project hanging over you, never do things by halves. Either finish it three weeks before the due date, or three minutes. One’s as good as the other, provided you’re equally unenthusiastic about the project. Consider the six hardbound volumes rising off the reference desk, all of them sources for famous quotations. It would be a simple matter to peruse them and doing so, to complete some of the reference questions. Too bad for the forces of productivity, then, that my mind is a fen of stagnant waters.

Last night I stared at the ceiling, filling my inner ears with potential dialogue with friends and acquaintances. Thinking, editing, thinking again, using this sleepless time between 2 A.M. and dawn to reconstruct the conversations of the previous day, and to listen to the cat’s hunting dreams.

Her jaws twitch, and she makes soft growling sounds, so I assume that’s what it is. Maybe she’s doing the same thing I am, but in a feline manner. Perhaps, she imagines the interior of our apartment to be a fen, a habitat teeming with vermin. It isn’t, but I suspect she might enjoy a niche where the toilet paper rolls take on a sinister cast, and where Venetian blinds are capable of hurt.