Mr Mascellani's Musings

Garden Update

I don't know. I'll see. But this may well be my last garden update until late February. The last month of
the Australian summer. Readings that I have done suggest that then (late February) would be a good time
to sow again for a "cool weather" crop that matures in autumn. But I need to improve my soil.

Warning If You Don't Like Self-Indulgent Journal Entries

Then stop reading now.

You have been warned.

Last night, I turned on the PC at 9.15pm. I opened up
Microsoft Word and logged onto the 'net. I browsed
through various poetry boards and ezines, I have read
articles, essays, poems, stories, and I searched for
sites for the 'links' section of my web log. I revised
some of my older writings, composed a new poem,
a new story, and worked on some crits. I also chatted
online to a couple of writer friends about writing.

It is now 2.26 am.

I have been reading, writing, rewriting, and chatting
about reading and writing for five hours and 11
minutes.

And you know what? It feels as if I have been working
for only about half an hour. And I stopped only because
I needed to go to the toilet. And when I come back
I know that I will continue to work until six am. And
one reason why I'll stop then is because I am using
my brother's PC and he is doing a night shift and he
gets home at around six am and his PC is in his
bedroom-and he'll, of course, want to sleep when
he gets home. Another reason is because I will
do a night shift tonight and I need to get a few hours
sleep myself.

So all up I would have spent about nine hours and
forty five minutes working on and at various levels
and ways of learning about writing, and I would have
done so, after having spent twelve hours at my day
job yesterday.

I woke up at four am started my day job at six am,
worked until six thirty pm and got home at about
eight pm, had a shower, something to eat and, then
- as I have already, said- I turned on the PC at 9.15.

(Oh, and on my way to and from work, I read through
a couple of essays as I waited for and travelled on the
train, and I read a few book reviews at lunch.)

In two nights time I will have four days off.and,like a
lotof people, those days off will be filled with various
obligations,chores and duties, and on at least one
of the nights I will socialise. But I know, because it
is often the case, for the other three nights I'll be
spending anything from to twelve to fourteen hours
reading and writing-stopping only for the occasional
cigarette, coffee or toilet break.

And that twelve or so hours will fly by and I will enjoy
almost all of it. And I will logoff and turn off the PC
feeling on the one hand, satisfied because I would
have done and learned a lot. And on the other hand,
feeling a bit depressed because I know that in the
greater scheme of things, the 'lot' that I have done
and learned is not really a lot at all.

I wrote this neither to confess nor brag. I do not
want a medal nor 'the chest to pin it on' as we
say in Australia. I just wanted to say it.