Ode to dilly-dallying

I rather like it. 

Procrastinating gets such a bad rap. But you can get a lot accomplished when you’re avoiding more pressing tasks. Here are some things I did this week when I theoretically could have been writing. (Note for my editors: I still met all my deadlines!)

1. Learned how to fold a wonton, and invented a crab-mango-ginger filling to stuff inside.
2. Reread this really good academic paper by Bob Nicholson about how newspapers helped spread jokes in the Victorian age.
3. Painted a dodo bird, acrylic on canvas.
4. Read the IMDB trivia for Interview with a Vampire.
5. Took several walks, admired autumn, greeted strange dogs.
6. Googled baby elephants.
7. Researched the etymology of “phony.”
8. Pitched four new story ideas.(Getting excited about new ideas is a good way to finish dealing with the old ones.)
9. Started three journalism-themed Pinterest boards. (Here is one of them.)
10. Updated my to-do list, document saved as “TO DO FOR REAL.”
11. Looked up who invented sunglasses. (It remains unclear.)
12. Rode the subway to a stop I’ve never visited.
13. Interviewed a bunch of people for stories that aren’t due until next month. (Does this count as procrastinating?)
14. Checked out vintage postcards of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.
15. Plotted a way to re-organize my favorite books based on writers’ preferred alcoholic beverages.
16. Learned about the Mathematician’s Credo.
17. Read a guide to Greenwich Village published the year I was born. (A lot has changed.)
18. Researched clock-ticking as a literary/cinematic device.
19. Spent one hour trying to learn how to moonwalk. (Mostly unsuccessful but not entirely.)
20. Made ice cubes out of coffee, then put them in iced coffee. (Highly recommend.)
21. Perused Wikipedia’s list of sundial mottos and the history of sundials.
22. Time traveled to the 19th-century by way of the Harper’s Magazine archive.
23. Designed three silly walks.
24. Wrote and sent four postcards.
25. Watched footage of Mike Wallace interviewing Rod Serling in 1959.
26. Filed two really good FOIA requests.
27. Created this list.