The sound of rain

I woke up today determined to be at my most productive: I would finish the article I'm working on, and then maybe get to work on some of the other projects I've been putting off recently. I got up, got ready, grabbed my stuff, and headed to the local Starbucks. Then I sat down, opened my computer, and realized something--it just wasn't there.

For the next few hours, I forced myself to write SOMEthing, anyway, and I did get quite a volume of somethings into a Word document. The thing is, those somethings were essentially crap, and painful crap at that. (Sorry for the comparison.) The thing about writing is it has to focus, and today my focusing abilities were nonexistent, not just in my writing but in my entire outlook on the day.

Gabrielle, a fellow Fulbrighter up in Yilan, said it well: "There's something in the air in Taiwan today."

And, really, if it's in the air, who can fight it? So I came home, where I divided my time on a minute-by-minute basis between TV shows, several books, and several websites  (whenever the shows were loading: MAN I hate buffering on a slowish connection...). Essentially, I couldn't even focus while slacking off. And you KNOW that's bad.


As I type this, my window is open, and I can look down to see my courtyard filling with water as the rain falls steadily down. I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE the sound of rain. Today, though, my theory is that it's the rain that's making me ADD: millions of drops falling all over the city, soothing me into thinking I'm back in the PNW, and that maybe, just maybe, that means it's cool outside and I should go inside and get work done. Then I remember all that's a lie, and it ALL becomes a lie, including the part about focus. Oh well--at least I get to listen to the rain.


Anyway, in my Internet wanderings, I discovered some cool things, including how best to outfit your pets for war and the fact that I am 65% addicted to Facebook, though today's level of checking may imply that that's false. In any case, that's what I did today. Here's hoping tomorrow is more productive--but without losing the lovely sound of rain.