As it happens, I am quite skilled at procrastinating. In fact, I'm so good that by the time I get around to doing whatever it is, something beyond my control will happen that delays me still further.
Which is exactly what happened on Monday, when I sternly told myself that I was going to sit down and write an article for Nucleotides that actually involved science, as opposed to these things I've been doing lately, which might charitably be described as "human interest." Not immediately, though. No, I was going to goof off first (it wasn't late enough at night to take over the phone and connect to the 'net).
While I was goofing off, a thunderstorm started to roll in. So I unplugged the phone line running to my computer(s)-- and good thing I did, as a few minutes later, there was a lightning strike that was a bit close for comfort. It destroyed our telephone, the telephone jack, and even the telephone box on the outside of the house (blew the cover right off of it). And even though I have my computers on a powerful surge suppressor, it smells like the power supply in my prized machine Cerberus has converted its last coulomb. D'oh.
One of the human interest stories that I hadn't gotten around to doing yet was going to be about the three cute kittens at my house. There would be a genetics lesson included, though, so it wasn't to be total fluff (though two of the three kittens are very fluffy). In all fairness to me, it seemed silly to write about the coat patterns of cute kittens without pictures of same, and I don't have a digital camera of my own... Anyway, to give you some idea of my ability to procrastinate, the female in the bunch had kittens of her own Monday night or Tuesday morning.
It's not that I'm exactly lazy-- if the lawn needs mowing, I get it done (and we have a decent-sized lawn). Once I'm out there, never a thought of undue hurrying or sloppy inattention to detail crosses my mind. Physical effort comes naturally to me, being raised a farmer. And I use my brain all of the time, too (if not always wisely). I think... well, all the time. I have a lot of ideas stored up.
It's just that it's so much easier to read a nice David Weber novel (which also engages one's brain) than to sit down and force myself to formally write all of those things I think. sigh.
What? You want to hear more about David Weber? Ha ha! Good idea. But that, my friends, is a story for another time...
That's right, I became less young (at least as far as this integer-obsessed society is concerned) today. Sometime after 11 AM, I believe.
I am now 27, which is amusing to me. Why? Because, according to 'Weird Al' Yankovic, 27 is a pretty funny number.