* Manifesto for a Sunday Morning
Posted on December 2nd, 2010 by Mike Shriver. Filed under Creative Writing, Journal.
I am going to accomplish things, today.
I’m going to read, I’m going to write. I am going to call my grandmother, change my oil, and finish up those nagging around-the-apartment tasks that stare at me like failure whenever I walk through my home. I am going to refinish the dining room table. I am going to take the hinges off my refrigerator, then put them back on so the door swings the other way.
I am going to fix not only the things that are broken in my apartment, but the things that are broken in my body. I am going to shave, cut my hair, and clean out the gung under my nails. I am going to get that weird pain in my joints checked out. I am going to go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned: now, again in six months, and then once every six months until they fall out of my head.
I am god of getting shit done.
The world is a grab-bag of unfinished errands. I will reach into into its oily maw, and it will regurgitate to me the pregnant abstract of potential accomplishment, ready to be brought into the concrete through the confident and unwavering work of my own hands. They are the points on a compass, the notes of the scale, the coaches book of plays: the ‘to’ begging that I ‘do.’
My list is long; my tasks, towering and ominous, but I am ready. I have the will and the strength. There is nothing in my future that I can not overcome, even if it has started to snow.
It doesn’t really matter that I’ve lost my telephone charger, and my car doesn’t start when it freezes. I don’t have a belt sander, and I haven’t purchased stain, yet. My wrenches are all metric. My fingers are swollen from the last time I pinched them between the fridge and the cabinet. I’m pretty sure that won’t be too much of an obstacle.
Yes, I am quite confident that nothing can prevent me from writing that half-researched column, even with that all-day marathon of M*A*S*H on television. I’ll just watch one episode.
It sure looks cold outside, right now.
The cold aggravates my joints, but I’m sure I can brave it outside and the bus and make it to my dentist appointment. I hope I have enough bus tickets.
Indeed, today is going to be a day of catching up. I will finish off those things I have been putting off for so long. Once I am caught up, I will feel an overwhelming sense of accomplishment. It will have all been worth it. I can just imagine the looks of awe in the faces of my friends when they see the how good my apartment looks. They will stand in awe at my spry, youthful movements. I can proceed with my life in health and contentment. Once all is finished, I can look back at the day with pride and a glass of wine, and say “I have done it. I have done it all!”
Yes, I am going to do that. I am going to do all of this. I am going to do more than this!
Ah… but first I am going to have to get up.