not hard

Things that are not hard, but you'd never know it from reality:

1. Mailing stuff. The world has post offices and grocery stores in abundance. And by the world I mean Los Angeles. Mailing an antique bookcase to India is tough. Sending a piece of paper to someone who lives across town is not tough. Even if you can't make it to the post office during normal business hours, every grocery store sells envelopes and stamps, and mail boxes are ubiquitous.

2. Vacuuming. I have a vacuum. It's in the living room. And yet my bedroom remains unvacuumed. Why have I not vacuumed yet?

3. Taxes. Taxes aren't that hard if you're smart and you only have to fill in your W-2, the $200 IRA deduction, the $18 in interest on your savings account, and the $1775 spent on student loans. I keep trying to itemize other stuff despite knowing that my standard deduction is higher. I filled out a federal tax form about four different times this year before filing this morning.

4. Finishing a book. I used to finish books all the time. I am currently in the middle of six books.

5. Getting dressed. It's four minute before noon and I am still in my pj's.

6. Making decent pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I went wrong somewhere, and I don't know where, but it makes me sad.

7. Eating healthy. Considering how crappy the cookies I just made are and how much produce is literally falling from the branches in my neighborhood, you would think eating healthier would be something that I could do without too much effort. You would be wrong.

8. Exercise. All you have to do is move.

9. Making more money. I went to one of the finest universities in the country. I am smarter, if we're talking basic IQ, than lots of people I know who make waaaaay more than me. I think IQ tests should include how much a person makes and how much power they have exercised in the world. Dubya and the Saudi kings and Gates and your average Chinese person would all have approximately equal IQs, and I would have the same IQ as someone living in the Falklands. No offense to people living in the Falklands. They at least are breathing much cleaner air.