Stealing away to my ivory tower

I seem to have hit, well, some sort of funk. It's not a malaise, per se. But I definitely seem lethargic in certain ways.

The crux of it is that all I ever seem to want to do these days is to read. Maybe mix in some Czech studying as well, but mainly I'm just interested in spending long hours working my way through the volumes of books on Joe's bookcase. I've made quite impressive progress -- I'm all the way up to Lieven, which isn't bad considering I really didn't get started until about two months ago.

Still, I feel so thoroughly unmotivated to do much else. When I take the train to work in the morning, I try to cram in a half-hour or so of reading. During my lunch hour, I usually try to sneak in another 20 to 30 pages. And on the ride home it's headphones on, nose buried deep in my book. Often I'll read as I'm walking to and from the train, only casually paying attention to where I'm going. (Though I still exercise due caution in crossing the street!)

When I arrive home I usually change into something more casual, fire up my computer, surf the Web for a bit, fix something to eat, then settle back into my rut. It's really kind of a shame. And granted, I don't spend all my evenings or weekends reading, but I'm often tempted by the thought.

It's frustrating because it's becoming dramatically apparent how much I frittered away my time while I was unemployed. Had I exhibited anything resembling discipline, I'd probably be all the way through Joe's bookcase by now, and tackling the many piles of other books on the floor of our map room/library/art studio.

But it goes beyond reading. I really, really need to be more diligent about studying Czech at least an hour a day. And I was doing quite well in this regard until a couple of weeks ago, when Norm came to visit. It wasn't realistic or reasonable or polite to just ignore our houseguest from Luxembourg to keep up with it. Unfortunately, I have failed in resuming my course of study in the week since he left.

And I have other myriad tasks to work on. There's that thesis I'm trying to turn into an article. Or developing this blog into something that vaguely resembles an editorial page column, with well-written and -reasoned essays on important subjects.

Then there's those art supplies I've been neglecting. It'd be a shame not to try to develop my interest, and to waste the box of pastels and sketch pad I bought two-odd months ago.

Plus, I should try to have fun. At least a little. Every once in a while. Or at least to start playing the Sims with enough regularity to get the Novák family (Jan and Alzbeta) off the ground.

But, instead, it just seems like the days, especially the weekends, are never long enough. Maybe this will improve at some point. Or maybe not. But I'm resolving to make a concerted effort again.

First thing tomorrow.