I was recently asked about the myriad tasks I commented about: “Do you make a list? Is it a written list?”
I’m always making a list. But I don’t write it down because seeing the same items every day would lead to despair.
Let’s look at Friday, January 16. But it isn’t much different than any other day.
I decided to go to bed early on Thursday; well, 10:30 pm is early for me. As usual, I wake up a few hours later, my head filled with my to-do roster. I get up, do my Wordle (in 3), then go back to bed.
After breakfast, my wife is getting ready to depart, and she suggests I get a haircut. This is mildly disappointing because I was going to do it on my own.
ON LIST: I need to check my email. Action items, most notably bill-paying, appear. Also, a lovely message from an old friend. Done.
ON LIST: From yesterday, but undone: We’re going out to eat. I’d better make a reservation! DONE.
ON LIST, though I forgot: Has Sunday Stealing dropped yet? It HAS. That is the easiest post of the week to write because it allows for free association that doesn’t generally require a lot of fact-checking, just a couple of links. DONE.
ON LIST, though later in the day: Go get the haircut! Now I look beautiful. Then return home, eat lunch, and fast forward through the previous night’s news. DONE.
Orphan Works
NOT ON LIST: My friend Bill Anderson, whom I saw but once in 2025, calls me. (He called on his cellphone, with no display ID, so I did not pick up until he identified himself. I do that a LOT.) He’s doing a Kickstarter called Orphan Works. (It’s now funded!) We discussed our mutual mixed results participating in other people’s fundraisers. (One roils me to this day.)
ON LIST: Take a shower. Possibly TMI, but I don’t take a shower until AFTER I get a haircut. Those little hairs can end up going down my back, even with a towel around my neck. DONE.
ON LIST: My wife takes me to the CVS to get another cane. I set down my previous cane in a store the previous day, but it was never turned in. Done.
ON LIST: We go out to dinner. It doesn’t always work out, but we try to go out once a month, on or around the 15th. DONE.
NOT ON LIST: My wife had a work event the following morning, so she was going to pick up some snacks. But the forecast for Saturday morning was iffy, so she decided to visit the grocery store. Since we also needed items for the home, this became a two-cart shopping trip.
LEFT UNDONE: One of my fellow choir members couldn’t attend Thursday night’s rehearsal, so they asked me to send pictures of the music. It was high on the list, but fell off. However, I did achieve it on Saturday morning; if I waited much longer, it might not been worth doing at all.
MONEY!
LEFT UNDONE: To get reimbursed for the money I’ve spent on medical procedures and medicine, I need to complete some online forms. I finally figured out the procedure and knocked off a bunch of them on Wednesday.
I wanted to work on it on Thursday, but it was the deadline for the Friends and Foundation of the Albany Public Library for March and April. We were one book review short, so I volunteered to read Mona’s Eyes by Thomas Schlesser for the April 14 slot. My wife had given me the book for Christmas, albeit a couple of weeks after the holiday.
LEFT UNDONE: Re: the reimbursement, I do need to call the company to resolve a complication: I was reimbursed at one rate for an insurance company I was no longer using, but I was paying more for my new coverage.
LEFT UNDONE: I didn’t call my podiatrist for a new appointment. I canceled a visit due to a scheduling conflict two weeks ago.
LEFT UNDONE: Reading a week’s worth of newspapers. Yeah, one is online, but I LIKE reading physical newspapers.
NONE of this is unusual. But it IS why I don’t make a list: it would depress the hell out of me.