parked cars

after getting up this morning, i gathered a sizable amount of recyclables and walked them over to the lucky people of cornelia street. then i picked up the paper, made some tea, got breakfast, and settled into the overstuffed chair to read the news on laptop. looking out the window, i noticed how all the street parking visible from my window (about 30 cars worth) was available.
what in the world?
ooooooooh, those people must be at WORK.
hmm...

this realization immediately rendered me ineffective the rest of the day. well, not really. but imaging all those cars now parked downtown in garages, or at metra stops, or out in some suburb while their owners busied their days away with real world work made me feel pretty worthless.

my day continued as i made lunch, finished laundry, applied for a job, returned and wrote multiple emails, talked to both parents, met a friend, exchanged a shirt, planned for a wedding, searched for more jobs at the coffee shop, made dinner, did the crossword, reviewed the periodic table, practiced the guitar... not a total waste. in fact, i did a lot of things. since i enjoyed them, however, it didn't feel much like work; thus it didn't feel too productive.

in french the verb to work is travailler. i believe the word originated from latin and was something like triaplis or maybe tripalium? regardless, in that form the verb meant to torture. it then evolved from torture to toil and then into the present form of to work. so is there some innate sense that in order to feel productive or that work is being accomplished that, by definition, it must be painful?
maybe only if you're latin.

anyway, while i have all this free time on my hands i'm going to do what i damn well please and feel good about the fact i'm accomplishing all those things i'd do "if only i had more time..." that, and i'm going to watch all those suckers try and find parking spaces when 6:00pm rolls around.

oh, and if you are also in need of a refresher on the periodic table, check it.