To Do List

It was my mother who first sat down with me and made a list of things I could do when I got bored. As a rural child, it was a common complaint of mine. I probably sat through it, hardly trying not to roll my eyes, and dismissed it as soon as I could get away. But it was reinforced whenever I'd complain. "I'm bored!" "Don't you have a list of things you can do when you're bored?" I'm sure I grumbled, or at the least wouldn't ask again.
I think I revisited the idea of a to do list in sixth grade. There was a period in which I was doing my homework, was ready to go in the mornings, was eating three square meals a day, getting a good amount of sleep, etc. It was between books, and as soon as I found another good one, it fell apart.
Later, when I stopped being able to keep my mind on one thing at a time for very long, I took it up again. This time it was necessary, because that's when I could no longer stand being idle. If I had time to think... I didn't want to know what was lurking in my mind. If I kept on one thing too long, my mind would drift and that was bad.
I built up blocks: I'd start fidgeting. I'd screw up my sleeping pattern. I wouldn't eat. I'd get physically sick. I'd intentionally hurt someone or piss someone off. I still have those blocks. I need to be doing something.
I haven't had to put together a to do list for a while, but apparently I've been keeping a mental list of things to keep myself occupied with. Like the first list that my mother wrote down for me, it has things I want to do, and things that I should or need to do. Big things, small things, whimsical things, not so whimsical things, things I'll probably never finish. All of them are things that I can "work on" and feel somewhat productive even if I never have any hope of completing them, or small things that are complete when I decide they are. None of them (at the time of writing) are particularly dire. Or if they are, they're there because I don't want to stress about them and this makes them less... distasteful. Everything is approachable.


The current list (excluding some things that I'm choosing to keep private to avoid harassment or to surprise people with later *mischievous grin*):

1. Learn to read Latin.
2. Start a bookstore.
3. Clean
4. Read
5. Do Bank Errands (rent, paychecks, invoices)
6. Buy food.
7. Clean fridge
8. Write comparative essay between I and Thou translations OR
9. Expand, lengthen and clean up other essay.
10. Find Johnnies (or other such people) to argue with pointlessly
11. N00b hunt
12. Role Play
13. Study the Bible
14. Go through old papers
15. dishes
16. sort out Adbusters subscription
17. Stalk/scare tourists
18. Find people to play New Games with
19. Join Diplomacy game
20. Listen to lectures
21. Paint (walls)
22. rehang fallen posters
23. sweep
24. get birdseed
25. archive and discard unnecessary files on computer
26. mp3 dumpster-dive
27. cook
28. answer emails from relatives
29. mend clothes
30. do laundry
31. volunteer at library
32. get wireless