TED Fellows Documentaries Stop Me In My Tracks
Ramblings of a TED Fellow with occasional bursts of profound insight
Day 5 since I registered to run the New York Marathon on November 1st. And so far my training runs have reached a staggering total of zero miles. A good start.
According to the marathon's official site http://www.nycmarathon.org/ right this moment as my fingers are jumping back and forth across the PowerBook keyboard, there are 180 days 12 hours 32 minutes and 5 seconds left to the big day. Wait, while I rearranged that last sentence to include the image of fingers doing the running - nice touch, you must agree - the TIMEX Countdown to Start now reads 180 days 12 hours 25 minutes 26 seconds. See? That's some 7 minutes of your life, my life and training time that we have lost and will never get back. Ever. Now you know how much time and perfectionist patience goes into this blog that you enjoy reading so much. Every word, comma and sentence is worked, reworked and agonised over. If I had a pencil I would have chewed it back to the poisonous lead by now.
There. I have introduced one of the recurring themes that we will revisit from time to time in this blog; the transience of life, time slipping through our fingers like sand.
You're reading the words of the world's leading procrastinator. Why do today what you can put off till tomorrow is the motto that's got me to where I am today. There's no limit to the creative energy spent in coming up with perfect excuses to put off stuff you are committed to doing, and replace them with stuff you think you must do before you can tackle the big job staring you in the face.
So what is it today? What's stopping me from putting on the running shoes and heading out to Queens Park on my first training run in 3 years? Well, it's not exactly sunny and warm. In fact if I look carefully out of the living room window in the garden I can even spot a wee bit of drizzle. It is after all a British May Bank Holiday Monday and cloud and rain on Bank Holidays are written into the Constitution of Great Britain. I remember The Queen herself at Balmoral Castle in Scotland http://www.balmoralcastle.com/ signing the Rain Bill while one of her servants held an umbrella over her royal head. In fact seeing that Americans call the bill, the check, I do believe that's where the phrase "rain check" originated from.
OK, rain stops play. But that's not enough. It's this pile of documentary proposals submitted by some of the TED Fellows sitting on my desk that's stopping me from going out for a run. Surely I got to read these first before I can do anything else. So, the sky is grey. The kettle is boiling for a big mug of Earl Grey tea. The couch cushions are plumped up and Bach is playing in the background.
You tell me. Who needs to be running around the park when there are more important things to be getting on with? I feel I will enjoy a run much more with a clear head that I have done my duty by my fellow Fellows who have put effort and time preparing and sending me their proposals. Thank you guys.
See? The genius of the procrastinator's mind has no boundaries. Tomorrow I will run, as soon as I have worked out my training schedule.
Taghi Amirani
TED Fellow 2009
@tagz23
