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I have not lived up to my moniker the past few days. I have vegged out. Sofa surfed. Allowed my brain to go to mush. The most challenging reading I’ve been able to face is the August issue of Cooking Light. A good magazine, yes, but hardly an intellectual stretch. I haven’t picked up a drawing pencil or even worked on my web freelance work. I could chalk it up to a long week at work, stress from my little ones, or what everyone else here in Kentucky blames basically everything on–allergies; however, I think I’ve just hit a wall. Similar to creative block (a condition with which I am all too familiar) or writer’s block, only more vague and, for some reason, less troubling.

On the upside, I spent a good part of the weekend in this laziness with my kids. The heat and humidity were too unbearable to do anything but head for the pool. I didn’t broaden my horizons this weekend, but (wow, this is sounding unbelievably corny) I added quite a few great snapshots to my memory. Xander discovering how to control the water fountains with his feet, Audrey figuring out how sliding down the water slide on her back made her go faster, both jumping off the side of the pool trying to make the bigger splash.

Okay, so there is something to be said for occasionally thinking less and living more. 

Listening today to Adrian Legg, Guitars and Other Cathedrals. Isn’t that an amazing title?

I’m reading blink by Malcolm Gladwell, which is a hell of a book (if you have not had the opportunity, I highly recommend you pick it up and don’t leave it to gather dust on your nightstand). The gist of blink is that our minds are far more intuitive and able to ‘jump’ to the correct conclusions much more often than they are given credit.  

This begs the question, what about those endless proverbs in direct opposition to this theory? Look before you leap; don’t jump to conclusions; don’t put that in your mouth, you don’t know where it’s been. Okay, maybe not that last one. Still, we are raised to ignore our initial impressions (although, strangely, encouraged to make a good first impression…hmm) in favor of research and fact checking.

According to the book, we can even train ourselves to better recognize these initial impressions and focus in on them, ignoring any extenuating circumstances or random thoughts buzzing about.

As for the “thin slices,” it seems that we need very little time to absorb, interpret, and make decisions about the information that is thrust upon us on a daily basis. Students who are asked to evaluate an instructor on a silent 2-minute videotape will rate that instructor almost identically to students who study with him or her for an entire semester.

So, I’ve been looking through my own experiences for opportunities to check out these ideas. I have always thought of myself as a remarkably bad judge of character, so I must not be paying attention to those initial impressions closely enough.

Today has sucked in general. Not even Norah Jones’s Not To Late has made it bearable.

Tomorrow will be better.