"When anyone reads anything he wishes to study, he does not despise the letters and punctuation marks, and call them illusion, chance and worthless shells, but he reads them, he studies and loves them, letter by letter."
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
Still working on that damned catalog! I finally finished all the individual college files, but can't display them on my mom's PC because ... actually, I can't remember specifically why, but I was too tired to argue with a machine!
Her PC is hopelessly underpowered, very slow and hard to use. But it sufficed and I was grateful for it at the end of today! I am nearly finished! All I need to do is convert the application forms and post it on the web (and, of course, repair the inevitable problems when they're identified).
"Remember, my dear Govinda, the world of appearances is transitory, the style of our clothes and hair is extremely transitory. Our hair and our bodies are themselves transitory."
Siddhartha, Herman Hesse
Ha! Just when I thought I was finished, I came in this morning to clean things up and lo and behold — approximately 10 files hadn't been transmitted! I finished everything I had, and even got the application forms to print out on one sheet, then discovered the oversight.
Finally getting this monster done is somewhat anticlimactic. Sure, there are other projects to go on to now, but there's something so energizing about working against a deadline when you're not sure whether or not you can complete the work in time. Especially when it's tangible, when you can actually see some progress being made.
Maybe it's the secretary in me, but I like having a list and being able to cross things off that list. It gives me a sense of satisfaction. Speaking of satisfaction, now that this thing is over, I finally got to sit down and watch a television show last night. "Nova" had a program on called "Runaway Universe." I can't claim to understand all of it, but I liked the fact that I could sit down and actually become engaged in something that wasn't work-related. It was quite a novelty!
One thing did capture my interest though ... a scientist said that he'd become a scientist because he was consumed with the idea of answering the questions of:
Where did the universe come from?
How did it come into being?
How will it end?
I thought about that (and it may have distracted me from the rest of the program) and came to the conclusion that in the final analysis, what does it matter? Of what practical value is the information? What matters is the here and now, and to a limited degree, the near future. Anything else is too abstract to signify.
Maybe I am being influenced by all of the Buddhist reading I've been doing. This sounds very much like mindfulness.
VACATION
