20140918.0645

Yesterday's health screening had the expected result. I got my flu shot, and I got told that I am overweight and under-active and that if I do not fix both I am likely to develop diabetes and heart problems. Nothing I did not already know, although I admit that I have not been good about doing anything to help matters. I do not think I quite qualify as Grade A beef anymore, being either past my shelf life or some other thing, but I am not sure how I feel about the matter. If it makes me less desirable, perhaps it saves me for something else...

The work continues--oh, my, does it continue. Grading piles up, despite my efforts; I have two classes of job materials to review today, as well as a couple of quizzes. None of it will take terribly long, of course, but it will take time, and there are other projects that need attention. Freelance work is still coming in, and, given how mercurial it is, I am inclined to devote my attentions to it. But The Work also needs doing, and if neglecting it in favor of other things is good for short-term things, it is far less so for long-term plans. The Work is what, if anything over which I have control, will conduce to my having the kind of job I want, and so I need to attend to it, although I also need to be able to eat in the meantime.

That is always the balance, of course, judging short-term needs against long-term goals, for the long term will not matter save that the short terms preceding it allow it to happen, yet without planning for the long term, the short term becomes all--and that is no way to live. (It is, of course, becoming the only way people are allowed to live. Which I suppose was the case 150 years and further back for most. But that "it used to be this way" is not necessarily a reason it should be that way again; there is a reason appeal to tradition is regarded as fallacious.)

I know that I am not alone in trying to find the balance between the two, and I will not belabor the point here. There are other times and places for it. What I will do, though, is note that the time I spend in composing these posts is not wasted, at least not in my view. If nothing else, writing in this webspace offers me exercise of hands and mind with which to begin the day; I am convinced that I have worked more and better since making this writing a regular part of my day than I did before. Maybe it is something in the pressure of the potential audience (which I admit I would like to see grow) that spurs it, and maybe it is something about having a regular task to accomplish and the satisfaction of doing so pervading more of the day that helps. Whatever it is, though, I approve of it.