Love/Hate Wednesday

Welcome to Love/Hate Wednesday! These two items will probably not be in any way connected to each other because my brain is kind of random. Oh wait, you knew that. Okay then.

Love:

Getting letters and notes in the mail.

I used to be a prolific letter writer. Now I'm a so-so letter writer, with a few notable exceptions. But OH, there is something about opening your mailbox and seeing your name handwritten on an envelope, isn't there? It's GLORIOUS.

There's also something about buying cards and stationary that makes me happy -- oooooh, or MAKING my own cards and stationary. That's awesome too, though occasionally overly ambitious. (But SO fabulous. I exchange correspondence now and again with a gentleman and I nearly always make the cards and stationary. Because ... well, because.)

I know what you're thinking: why go to the time and expense? Email is SO much faster. And cheaper -- do you know how much a stamp costs these days? You have a point, I suppose -- if economy and efficiency are the guiding forces in your life. However, I don't think anyone ever sighed over a keepsake box full of printed out EMAILS, or got a little sentimental over an internet chat that she once had with her mum, or had the ritual burning of text messages after a relationship went bad.

GEEK ALERT: one of the first forms of popular novels was the epistolary novel, which was written as a collection of letters by or between fictional characters. SWOOOOOOONNNNN.

Do yourself a favour -- get some paper. Get a pen. Write someone you think is fabulous a message. Slip it in the mail -- even if it's someone you LIVE with. It will be awesome.

Hate:

Eating meals at my desk.

For the somethingth day in a row, I have eaten breakfast and dinner at my desk. I have been taking NAPS during lunch, because a) I work at home and I can and b) I'm tired from working so many hours that I find it absolutely possible to eat breakfast and dinner at my desk.

Here's why I hate this -- it's SO MESSY. Crumby potentially sticky messiness. And since, as I mentioned, I work from home, there's no office cleaning crew. (However, this does possibly also mean that I have the cleanest office kitchen, fridge, and microwave EVER.*) There's just me, an Electolux, and a cat who thinks said Electrolux is the DEVIL.

Good times.

Seriously, though, I've been trying to eat mindfully, and eating mindfully and working at the same time is -- well, I'm not going to use the word "impossible" here because I don't suppose it IS impossible, but it is very very challenging, and not the fun kind of challenge, but the "how-much-have-I-eaten-I-didn't-notice-because-that-spreadsheet-sidetracked-me-oh-crap-I-am-SO-FULL-DARNITTHISISWHATI'MSUPPOSEDTOBEFOCUSINGONWHENIEAT!"** kind.

I hate eating at my desk. I like eating at a proper table. With candles. And wine. And hopefully without having to shoo the cat away from my plate or the candles (or, hell, the wine).

To wrap it up:

I love getting mail/ I hate eating at my desk.

Next Week: The Piano Guys/Scraping Noises

*Bonus thing I love: the Oxford Comma. Boooyah.

**Translation: Darn it, this is what I'm supposed to be focusing on when I eat!