I am co-writing a book: “Spotlight on the Art of Generating Energy.” I am also editing said book which means I have to read all the contributions. One of the chapters is about the interplay of all the energies–intellectual, creative, and emotional. Fascinating theories! If any one aspect of energy takes control to the exclusion of all others, your brain may be overwhelmed, your body might be compromised, or you could spiral emotionally (either up or down by the way!)
Unfortunately, I have experienced what happens when two of the energy sources conspire against me. Yup… In addition to editing this book, I am running for a district office within an organization to which I belong. I am actively marketing my skills and my qualifications and vision for the organization so I am making use of both my intellectual and creative energy sources. You may or may not have read my stuff in either this blog or my other one. You know how creative and intellectual I can get. Let me put it in perspective.
I had coffee with dinner, a couple of cups, about 8:00 last night. Then I watched NCIS, 3 episodes in a row. I was nodding off during the last one. I thought, “I’ll just head upstairs and check the weather and go to bed.” 3 hours later…
Creative energy Creature: “Hey! That’s a great idea for promotion! Let’s go to all the contests and provide a one-sheet and meet the folks at the contest so they get to know you.”
Intellectual energy Imp: “Ya! Did you see your competition’s flyer? She listed her grandkids by name as part of her qualifications for the position!”
CC: “How does that help? She procreated kids that were also able to procreate and she remembers their names…so she doesn’t have memory problems?”
II: “Our stuff is better.”
CC: “We could add all the Girl Scout information…We could name all our students…we could perform the Bach Prelude that we learned at age 9 to prove our memory capacity!”
II: “We have plenty of good stuff in our flyer. We’re good.”
Me: “Ok, good. We have that settled, let’s go to sleep.”
II: “Did you hear about the guy that felt so bad about the Girl Scouts standing out in the cold selling cookies at their booth that he bought them all? $500 worth! Then he was arrested for drug trafficking!”
CC: “Hahaha! It makes perfect sense! You KNOW how addictive those cookies can be! He was shipping the cookies back to the Cartel!”
II: “You mean…trading one addiction for another! Oh wait! Maybe the cookies were how he was getting drugs into the country! He ships them down, they alter them and ship them back! Hey Kid! you want some peanut butter patties?”
CC: “Well that would explain why you can’t have just one box of Thin Mints!”
II: “I had two boxes of Thin Mints and I’m still 50 pounds overweight. Is that false advertising?”
Physical Energy Phiend (Fiend see?): “Shut UP! I’m tired! I want to sleep!”
Emotional Energy Elf: “I don’t know how I feel about that: forcibly shutting down two other energy sources to serve your needs.”
PP: “Well if you want to get UP in the morning, we have to turn them off!”
EE: “I’m still not convinced. Some of our best ideas happen when those two pull an all-nighter.”
PP: “Do we ever remember what they did overnight?”
II and CC: “Hey!”
EE: “Ok, I see your point. Could you two tone it down a bit?”
II: “I will if she will.”
CC: “I can be totally silent. How well do you sign?”
PP: “Her eyes are closed, idiot. II can’t see a thing if her eyes are closed.”
EE: “Please try to be civil.”
PP: “I’M TIRED! I’M TRYING TO SLEEP!”
II: whispers “Remember to get the flyers from the printer and stop by the college to get the Speaker’s and the Conference ads for tonight.”
CC: whispers “I really don’t think the Conference advert is very good–too busy and too much information.”
II: low voice “And the wrong information…it doesn’t have start times. We could redesign it…”
EE: low voice “But how would Colleen feel about our stepping in and fixing it?”
PP: low voice “So tomorrow, breakfast, Bible study, pick up flyers from college, go to printers and pick up personal flyers, deliver print instructions for conference flyers…100 enough?”
II: normal voice “to start with I think. It will cost more due to having to print both sides. And don’t forget we need to stop at Wally World to get frames.”
PP: “Yup. Then drive to contest…Says it’s a little over an hour’s drive, but with traffic, could be longer than that.”
II: “Take the Prairie View Road instead of the interstate, less traffic that way, and it’s prettier country.”
PP: “Contest starts at 5:30, and since it’s Area level, only 4-6 contestants in either contest. Figure we’ll be done by 8:30 by the time we get our glad-handing and clean-up done, then an hour home. Figure 314 Joules.”
II: “That would convert to 75 calories.”
PP: “So the minimum amount of sleep would be…”
II: “Figure about 6-7 hours.”
Me, still awake, and I check the clock. “Guys, it’s 1:30 AM. We get up in 5 hours.”
PP and II stare at each other. CC jumps in to the rescue.
CC: “We can take a nap after we get home!”
EE: “Um wha? Did somebody say something? Weren’t you complaining about all the noise, PP?”
PP blushes.
Momentary silence. I drift off to sleep…
II: “Did you see that snow forecast? It just went around our city!”
CC: “Gandalf was standing on the interstate saying, ‘You SHALL NOT PASS!'”
II: giggles “Maybe one of the wind turbines got turned on and blew it away!”
CC: “I wonder if they’re maneuverable remotely. Hey! It’s Hot over there! Aim them that way!”
II: “I heard that they tell the wind farm tourists in Texas precisely that! *with a Texas drawl* ‘Yep, gets up to 110 we turn them puppies on and they’ll pretty much cool Austin and Fort Worth. Dallas is a whole nuther story though.'”
PP: “HEY!!!”
EE: “What? What’s going on? Why is PP yelling?”
Me: It’s 3 AM! Go to sleep!
CC, II, PP, and EE, ashamed, do not answer.
II: whispers, “Did you know her husband snores?”
CC, PP, EE and I shout: SHUT UP!
Husband wakes and turns on the reading lamp just as the alarm goes off. It’s going to be a long day.
Measureable progress 