The Writer's Pen

It has been a while since I've written anything. My writers' group, one stimulus for writing, has been on hold due to COVID-19 precautions and the busy holiday season. Fresh ideas for stories to tell seem to be on hold as well. I'm not sure why, but probably because of laziness. Staying home a lot used to stir the creative juices at least a little – out of boredom if nothing else. But my lifestyle has changed dramatically in the few years since I retired from the workforce. I find I just don't have time anymore to do the things I did while I was working. I really don't understand why.

While working 40 to 48 hours a week, I somehow still found the time to coach Little League Baseball, be a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader, write a weekly column, cover all sporting events for the area high school, bowl one night a week, fish, hunt, remodel two bathrooms and build a family room onto our house. After all that, I still had time to mow the lawn and scoop the snow depending upon the season. But now, somehow, all I can find time to do is mow the lawn and scoop the snow. I was lamenting about this to someone and they said it was because as we get older, we slow down and can't do things as quickly, so everything we do takes more time.

There might be something to this line of reasoning. I used to be able to shut the alarm clock off, use the bathroom and get dressed for work in about 15 or 20 minutes. Now it takes me that long to just roll over and set my feet on the floor. After arising at 5:30 a.m. for most of my working life, I don't even set an alarm clock any more. If I do, I can't fall asleep. I guess it's because of anticipation of it going off. I really like going to bed without setting the alarm clock. The only problem is, I find myself sleeping in to a much later time in the morning, and then it's half over before I roll out of bed.

Hmmm, maybe that is part of the problem.

Another cause of my inability to find time and get things done may be that I've started filling my days with mindless entertainment. I have so many new gadgets and streaming services to keep up with that they keep me plenty busy.

My cell phone is a big culprit. I have a Facebook account, but I only check into it a couple times a day. I do scroll through to read some of the news feeds and I am hooked on the Dry Bar stand-up comedians. However, I usually only watch them sitting in the car while the wife is in a store shopping. Of course, then there are the games you can play on your phone if you're not watching a sporting event. I occasionally play one called Word Scapes, where they give you letters and you have to fill in a crossword-like puzzle with words you make from the letters. It's kind of tough and makes you think, so I figure at least it's working my brain.

The only problem is that the site keeps asking you to "buy" hints and encourages you to compete in tournaments with other online players. Not my kind of thing. I read slowly and write slowly, so I've found myself hooked on a regular old game of solitaire. It does work your brain, but mostly it's how the cards fall. Without having to deal the cards, shuffle the deck or pick them up to play, the game goes incredibly fast.

I started out playing solitaire to pass the time while watching the biggest thief of my time: My smart TV. I have a satellite dish and two streaming services. There is always something on that I want to watch. Over the Christmas/New Year's week, there are always a bunch of good old movies that are aired. There is no way I could watch them all, so I recorded many of them. I like to do that so I can fast-forward through the commercials, but sometimes one comes on that has started before I knew it was on. In that case, you can push a button that will backtrack to the beginning. The only catch is that you have to watch it right then and you can't fast-forward, which means you get stuck watching all of the commercials.

The other day I tuned in to the movie Groundhog Day. It's a good movie and gave Bill Murray's career a boost by showing that he could do both comedy and serious acting in the same movie. In the theater, this movie took 101 minutes to show, or one hour and 41 minutes. When I watched the TV version with all of the commercials, it took three hours. I spent the commercial time playing solitaire, but by the time it was over, the rest of the day was shot.

And I wonder why I don't have time to get anything done – duh!

Roger Stoner and his wife published the Peterson Patriot newspaper for more than 15 years. Since selling the newspaper in 2004 three of his books have been published. They are available on Amazon and at libraries throughout the area.