Complex Numbers

Not So Prompt

Oh, yeah! Hung-over prompts time!

PROMPT September 27th

We are nearing the end of the month, and as always, I need your help to fill the Challenge War Chest with new prompts! In your entry today, write three of your own blogging prompts and then use one of them to complete your entry.

So, let's see. Blog prompts. Many of this month's prompts have been quite thought-provoking, and I'm not sure I can top them in my current condition. Fortunately, I don't have to top them, just come up with different ones.

In that spirit...

1) What are your favorite procrastination techniques?

2) Tell us about your favorite food. Include all the sensory description you can: smell, sight, etc. Why do you eat it even though you know it's bad for you?

3) Talk about a time someone gave you a compliment, but you felt you didn't deserve it.

Yeah, I know, they're kinda salty. If you had my hangover right now you'd be pickled too.

Because this entry is later than my usual entries, I figure it's appropriate to tackle #1.

What are your favorite procrastination techniques?

Oh, there are so many. So, so many.

I guess the most important procrastination technique is "forgetfulness." When I know I have something important to do by a deadline, I distract myself by doing something else until I forget what it is or when it's due. Then I wake up in the middle of the night screaming because I suddenly remember what it was, how essential it was for my well-being, and that it was due last week.

Another good one is cleaning. Now, I hate cleaning with an all-consuming passion, but occasionally I get saddled with something I want to do even less. This is a good way to actually get me to straighten some things up, because I tell myself cleaning doesn't require a lot of brain power and I can use the time to think about the thing whose deadline is rapidly approaching. Usually this means I half-ass the cleaning and half-ass the... whatever the other project is.

Then there are the times I convince myself that in order to do project A, first I need to tackle project B. But project B requires the results of project C, which in turn requires me to complete project D. The biggest problem here is that project D is heavily dependent on project A being complete. I call this Recursion to Infinity Procrastination, or RIP, which will be etched on the tombstones of my unfinished projects.

Occasionally, procrastination isn't all bad, and I manage to get other things done, like when I'm stuck on a story so I decide to do some reviewing instead. At least then I get reviews done. Most of the time, though, I just waste time until the adrenaline kicks in so I can't wait any longer.

If you're expecting me to be all sunshine and light here and give tips for not procrastinating, remember 1) who you're reading here and 2) the hangover bit from above.

Hopefully, though, this has been at least a teensy bit amusing for you readers, because I'm suffering for my art here, and my art is supposed to be comedy.