Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Please... Make Me a Borg

Resistance is futile
...do I even need to explain the reference to the Borg? Or to the phrase, "Resistance is futile"? For those of you who were not lucid between the years of 1987-1994, or for those of you who are not pop culture nerds who research utterances that seem to refer to something generally understood, please Google "The Borg Star Trek." Also, if you don't know who the Borg are, you don't need to talk to me anymore ;-)

It's summertime, and the living is easy for She-Who-Eats-Yolks. Well, mostly easy. I have slept in until the record late hour of 9:00 a.m. I have stayed in bed until all hours of the night (i.e., 11:30 p.m.) reading Ann Patchett's new novel, State of Wonder, imagining my bed to be a boat cruising down the Amazon, my cats snakes and other such jungle marvels. I have yoga'd at other studios, gone to the movies, signed up for a meditation group, hiked, cooked. I even plan on baking. Yes, there will be baking.

There is, however, the tiny inconvenience of teaching one online class, which prevents me from oozing into a complete puddle of decadent, summery bliss. What amazes me is how this class, which generally demands no more than an average of two or three hours per day of work, absorbs much of my mental space. Through studying yoga and meditation (and also just observing what happens) I've learned that the resistance to those approximately two hours per day probably adds up to as much time as I spend actually working on the class. I wake up in the morning, and one of the first thoughts is, "I should really respond to those discussion boards first, so I can enjoy the day." During yoga: "I should've done those discussion boards earlier. Now I can't focus." After lunch: "Damn. I should really do those discussion boards." And on and on.

Once I actually sit down to respond to the discussion boards, however, it's so easy. It's relatively enjoyable! I like my job. Why so much resistance to actually doing it? Hey, Borg ship, you giant cube of lights, wires, and drone people. Come get me. I'm ready to stop resisting.

4 comments:

Dorothy said...

I'm going to start calling you Yolk of Borg. Or Yolk of 9?

I just got State of Wonder and I'm supposed to be saving it for when I go on vacation, but I'm having trouble leaving it alone. I love Ann Patchett. She's makes me feel like I'm reading underwater, if that makes sense. But not holding my breath or anything, just in a state of lolling weightlessness.

Elisa said...

Hahahah. Yolk of Borg is a dubious honor.

I don't think your description of Patchett could be more on-point. When I'm under water, I can only be in the moment, which is usually what happens when I'm reading her books.

La said...

hahahah so funny! ok, i'm one of those ppl who kinda have a blurry sense of this era of pop culture since uh, i was on an island in the Pacific. i think i should get a free pass, ya?

totally how i feel about my work right now. i even had a thought during balancing stick today. not cool, not cool.

sigh, i'm resisting entering 'borg' in the search bar....

Elisa said...

OK, OK FINE, we can stay friends :-)
But you gotta youtube a clip. Whether you like Star Trek or not, the Borg are kind of classic!