In a description of everyday life, what makes the difference between compelling and boring? In my blog this week I will explore the concept of boring, including examples of boring and discussions of some of the aspects of boringness in writing and conversation.
Boring Sampler (featuring the basic three: what I ate, what I did at work, and exercise)
Yesterday I got up in the morning and I made breakfast. I ate toast with cottage cheese and jam. The bread was from Cobs bakery. The cottage cheese was from Safeway. The jam was home made jam. I used two spoons so I would not get jam in the cottage cheese. I also ate a mango. I used another spoon for the mango. I drank water and coffee. I did not drink milk because I ate cottage cheese. I did not have a snack. At lunch I had noodles with parmesan cheese. I drank milk, water and green tea. I did not have an afternoon snack. For supper I ate rice and stir fried pork and vegetables. The vegetables were carrots, green beans, broccoli, green pepper, onions and garlic. I drank milk and black tea. I had a snack in the evening. It was a cup of coffee and a muffin.
On Friday at work I checked my email. I had a meeting with Karla. We got some files out of storage and we also picked up the tub with stuff to make bath sizzlers for Marnie so she would not have to go to the storage shed. I proof-read a memo and sent my comments. I worked in CLASS and created 4 new activities. I also revised the default ages on 8 other activities. I reviewed the revised names document for preschool programs. I found one issue and wrote a follow-up memo to the members of the committee. I formatted minutes for the summer meeting and the Salmon Sendoff meeting and sent them to the members of the committees. I created a spreadsheet for the summer leader training school budget and sent an email to the committee asking members to enter their anticipated expenditures on the shared drive. I sent an email to Joan about volunteers from the high school. I answered approximately 15 phone calls, mostly about camp. I signed timesheets. I filled out my timecard. I authorized MasterCard bills and sent them to the Purchasing Department. I phoned my supervisor to ask her a question. It was so boring I forget what it was. Oh yeah, it was about playground development grants. I proofread school program surveys, asked for corrections and sent final copies to the printshop. On my break I went for a walk with Laurie.
Oh my goodness, I can't do any more. I feel like the kid in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night which opens another insight into boring that I hadn't thought about until just now...Is boring a product of an inability to interact or anticipate how others perceive your reality or your interpretation of it? I'll think about that.
What I meant to say about boring this morning is that boring is intimate. Not intimacy is boring, but boring is intimate. The only person I could think of inflicting this amount of boring on is my husband or maybe one of the kids. And that's not to torture them or because we don't have anything to discuss. It's just that when you are very close, sometimes boring actually comes back around to interesting. Maybe it's a demonstration of devotion: "Okay honey, give me your boringest. I'll stay with you despite it all." But more likely its part of the sewing together of our experience. At some point during the day we need to soak in each others' juices and put our experience together. If it was an un-interesting experience that does not matter. I do not find it fascinating that my husband had 3 printers down when he arrived at work yesterday morning. He doesn't really want to know that I moved the coffee table before I vacuumed yesterday. But by telling each other we laminate ourselves into something more in line. When my son tells me what kind of pizza he ordered at the high school cafeteria, or my daughter tells me that a kid in the show calls her "Daytona," we superimpose ourselves on each other. Sure we talk about a lot of interesting things too, but we need to share boring or it would seem as if we were trying to hard.
So I guess it boils down to: I love you. I want to be you. Let's transfuse each other with the minutiae of our daily life.
question: how the heck did you read this far???
mompoet - determined to be one with boring
No comments:
Post a Comment