The Spirit is Willing, for a limited time only!

I just read another article about how willpower exists in finite quantities. So if you have have to expend a lot of willpower to complete a task, there is less willpower to resist the next temptation. People who have to watch a boring video and are then assigned a boring task are less likely to complete the task than others who did not have to watch a boring video. If you don't eat any of the cute pastries at the conference, it's harder to resist stopping at the donut shop on the way home.

I still owe a post on New Year's resolutions, but for the moment will just mention that I have some goals, and as today was the Monday after the holiday, it seemed time to implement. Thus I returned to the gym this morning. And since Paul is still sniffly, he stayed home, so I couldn't ride his wave, it was all my will, and will it was, because every cell in my body was resisting.

Afterwards, I hit the grocery store, bought carrots, kale, cabbage and beets. I came home, washed, chopped, juiced and drank them.

I emptied the stinky tofu and old coleslaw from the fridge, and tried to put them down the garbage disposal, which was ill-fated. Our garbage disposal does not like small grated items.

By the time I had disconnected the u-pipe under the sink and releases the vomitous tofu cabbage water into a bucket, it was over. My will to do un-fun things was entirely depleted.

Pity, since I needed to proof and mend my first draft to turn in today.

It just wasn't happening. I couldn't make myself do it.

(I should say that I also consider the deadline to be "soft." It's officially today, but only one of nine people expects it, and that person I know from Twitter is drained and exhausted from travel so unlikely to read until tomorrow anyway.)

So, I went and looked at Indian comic books at the museum, took a nap, watched some Iron Chef, and only then had my willpower retrenched. I began in earnest at 8pm what ideally would have been done by then. And needless to say, my launch of the new 11pm bedtime for the semester has not yet been entirely successful.

I'm halfway through, so tomorrow I'll start with the writing. When it's done, I'll see if there's anything left for the gym.