Since returning from my trip to Atlanta last Monday I have been in a bit of a funk.
I’m enduring my second cold of the year and the month, and my desire to cure it with fresh air has been thwarted by Arctic temperatures that I’m reluctant to face or lose my face to. At the end of my driveway is a ridiculous pile of snow that I haven’t taken a shovel to yet, because of the potential coughing attack the exertion will win me. My car, like myself, is stuck on the wrong side of this blockade (and CP with all his helpful energy is housesitting for a friend while being similarly crushed by a bout of illness…) When I look outside I feel rather overcome, so I’ve stopped doing so.
I have not been reading either. This comes as a shock to me every time I notice my small pile of books. Why am I not picking them up? Why am I finding Palace of Desire less than enthralling all of a sudden? Why have I not even started Bread Givers? Why are Ann Beattie’s New Yorker stories not enticing me? Granted, my head has been in a fog all week, but the words don’t go swimming around when I attempt to read. They sit patiently on the page waiting to grab my interest. But for the time being they are failing.
When I have not been sleeping, I have been resolutely working through the first seasons of Arrested Development and Heroes. Once I finished those I turned to lavish BBC costume dramas like North & South, and The Buccaneers. My attention span is as long as ever, but I just can’t focus it on reading or projects or even (until tonight) playing on the computer.
This will pass. Tomorrow is a new day. Tomorrow I will go outside and poke that pile of snow with my shovel. I’ll start Bread Givers. I’ll watch Pillars of the Earth. I’ll get caught up on the new items in my Google Reader. The cloud of funk will dissipate. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love you tomorrow…
what we have here is a failure to communicate 
This funk shall pass. And although not in a funk at the moment (give me a week or two), I am having a hard time with The Cairo Trilogy in general. I finished the first book late but still have not posted on it. I am not even half way through the second. Hard to explain the effect on me but it is… nothing. I feel nothing. Just going through the motions. Plan on trying to redeem myself next month by writing a splendid trilogy post. And hope Richard forgives me.
Winter is brutal this year, and who can blame you for not wanting to get out as much as usual especially since you are sick too. I prescribe indulging the inertia and ordering in some really spicy foods. Feel better!!!
By: Frances on January 24, 2011
at 10:07 am
Mmm, spicy foods sound amazing. Unfortunately I live in an area decidedly lacking in good spicy food – or delivery… At least I now have a hole in the pile of snow at the end of my driveway just wide enough for my car to slip through. That’s progress. And I finished Palace of Desire, which is satisfying, but I’m not feeling excited about the book. I’ll be curious to see what (and if) you think about it…
By: tuulenhaiven on January 24, 2011
at 4:03 pm
“Why am I finding Palace of Desire less than enthralling all of a sudden?”
Maybe because every single character in it is a spoiled freakin’ brat? Just a thought. 🙂
Ugh, I feel you on the sickness. I am using all of my paid time off for France and so seriously CANNOT get sick before then, and as a result have become super-paranoid about exposing myself to illness. Glowering at sick co-workers. Avoiding sick friends and family members. Et cetera. Hope you feel better soon, lady!
By: Emily on January 24, 2011
at 3:52 pm
Yikes, stay well! I’m finally feeling a bit better. Finished a book, did laundry, shoveled just enough…
I do think that my lack of interest in any of those unfortunate characters in Palace of Desire is definitely adding to my funk. At least I’m through with them now for a few weeks!
By: tuulenhaiven on January 24, 2011
at 4:06 pm
hope you the illness goes soon and that the temperatures will let you out of the house and rid you off that pile on the driveway. was a vegetable all weekend, letting Sean convince me we should catch up on past seasons of the tv show Lie to Me…
~L
By: L on January 24, 2011
at 11:25 pm
I’ve been curious about that show – any good? And I did get outside to shovel, but now it’s snowing again so the effort seems pointless… Oh, winter.
By: tuulenhaiven on January 25, 2011
at 3:10 pm
we’ve been enjoying it quite a bit. great character dynamics, good plots with nice twists, and the questions raised about Lying and keeping Secrets are thought-provoking and makes for fun (and potentially dangerous) conversations. Netflix is streaming the first two seasons.
By: L on January 25, 2011
at 3:25 pm
[…] and uninteresting. I didn’t think the relationship could be resuscitated, but as the great funk of 2011 drew to a close, it was Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by Maggie Stiefvater that gave me […]
By: What We Have Here Is…an appendix of sorts « what we have here is a failure to communicate on January 5, 2012
at 1:53 am