I am one of those creatures that experienced workaholics look down on: I am a late sleeper. In Biblical times,
The slothful man saith,
There is a lion without,
I shall be slain in the streets.
Proverbs 22:13
I do have an excuse, inadequate though it is. I spoke to my doctor yesterday, and though I take pills I still suffer from a “minor depressive disorder.” The symptoms include getting tired or sad easily. It is not as extreme as my symptoms become when I do not take my pills–which is why at this point in my life I have no trouble taking them. Anyway, yesterday I went out to eat and then we went to the doctor’s office… before and after traveling to the doctor I read 90 pages of An Anthology of Russian Folktales, finishing the book. However, I made a mistake afterwards: I read 12 pages of another book.
I started developing a kind of nervous agitation. I listened to some music… talked to a few friends… but realized I wasn’t feeling any better and went to bed. It was earlier than usual I think… but probably I ought to go to bed earlier than I usually do.
My carpool buddy called this morning while I was in the shower to tell me that she wasn’t going to shul today… So I didn’t go either, and slept in. Mom and I ate out… I suppose I could have gone to shul, or recognized Shabbat by not eating out, but oh well. I read the first 48 pages of Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folklore. I have already read quite a few of them. And I read pages 12-42 of my other book.
I fixed supper, a Tomato and Basil Tarte.
Tomorrow I shall rewrite “Ondrei the Shooter” as “The Magic of Elena the Beautiful” for Fraud on the Fairies. “Ondrei the Shooter” is a story from An Anthology of Russian Fairy Tales. It is told from (naturally) Ondrei’s point of view, but my story will be from his wife’s (Elena’s) perspective. I may think about looking at those stories I have read for Fraud on the Fairies and see if I have ones for “Ivan Tsarevich and the Wolf and the Firebird” and “Vasilisa the Beautiful.” If not I may try to write some soon… though I am not sure how because I need to plow through my reading for Tales of the Land of the Firebird.
Yet I will do no more “work” today: I do not want to overexert myself. Despite the fact that COVID-19 is still real—Mom thinks we should get another booster shot—things are much better than they were two years ago. Eventually we shall all look back on being terrorized indoors and say, “Thank Goodness, it’s over.”