Whoa!

Had to take a couple of days off to have some surgery for a hernia repair. (TMI?) So now it's the third day, and I'm still not supposed to lift anything or do too much, but I'm ready to get busy again. Well, that is, except for when the pain medication kicks in. Then I just sit. Without the meds I wouldn't make a good Gumbie Cat.

Thank goodness for the computer. Already this morning I've organized and backed up my digital pictures since the Scotland trip, and I cleaned up a lot of my word files. And since my sleeping pattern is off, it was fun watching another #2 college football team (Oregon) get beat as the clock ground past midnight.

Reflective thoughts slip in, "Is my self identity so tied up in doing things that I can't sit still?" Could be. But I think I just see things I want to do, and then in faithful ADD fashion, I see something else I want to do, and then, well, you get the picture, or rather, blur, don't you? Right now, though, I get tired quickly, so it really doesn't matter what I start.

Just like this blog post. I'm ready to chill, and this time I'll say Whoa myself.

Paper Piles

OK, I'm ready for some brain to come up with a filing system designed for people with attention deficit disorder. Those of us with ADD usually have good intentions. We mean to file it where we can find it. So we put it in a place where we can do that, and then the next thing comes along and it is promptly forgotten.

Someone suggested the Paper Tiger system. I looked it up on the web. You number each paper and then enter it in your computer, also listing key words so it will show up in something like a "google" search. Sure, I'm going to be focused enough to do all that?

Guess I'll stay with the paper pile method. It takes longer to find things, but while you're looking you come across other interesting things. Like last night while I was looking in my office for a sheet with charge conference figures, I came across an article with some notes I'd made on it for a great sermon illustration. That's a great "find" that just wouldn't have happened if the article was stuck in some neat hanging file, with it's proper number!

Calming the savage beast

Re-read my headboard and it says this site is also about music. What a laugh! If you want real music, check my brother Tom's site. I love and enjoy all types of music, but don't have the attention span to become proficient at playing instruments, or even to learn artist's names, or lyrics.

Actually, I have a habit of making up my own lyrics as I sing. A friend a few years ago sang beside me as she helped lead worship. Afterwards Leah told my wife I have lyracosis, a progressive disease indicated by the inability to sing the actual lyrics of a song. Maybe this should be added to the list of symptoms for attention deficit disorder.

It's really simple. I get distracted as the song goes on, and since I've always loved to rhyme things, I just chose something that will rhyme to finish out the phrase and usually it makes sense with the rest of the words. (However, at the church I'm serving now we're on the radio and I've noticed the sound guys turn off my mike during the songs! - and this is not the time or place to talk about how the Praise Band hid the tamborine from me!)

Still I love to have music playing, and love to sing. One of the things I enjoyed with my stay at Iona was the worship music there. The song by John Bell, Take, O Take Me as I Am, has become a favorite. I've taught it everywhere this summer, Salkehatchie, Course of Study, and to my congregation. It's just a good little "centering" song.

Music calms the savage beast. Well, it sure helps me. Just yesterday, as the temps here rose above 100 degrees for the 4th day, the religious radio station I was listening to started playing Christmas music. It was great. I wasn't ready to put on a sweater, but I think I did feel cooler, and actually stayed focused a little longer.