Two, two, two tasks in one

It is now almost physically impossible for me to do one thing at a time. Since I'm feeling badly this evening, I'm resting. My resting includes watching television while simultaneously reading email and blogs. If the remote had not mysteriously disappeared, my third task would be switching channels during the boring parts of the SexOlympics.

I have a theory of why this multi-tasking mindset exists, and I call it Computer Time. I work on the computer a lot, churning big files and laying out pages. My current set-up renders art fairly quickly, but anytime there's a hang, when the file doesn't render instantaneously, I turn to another task while the computer finishes. I've had to do that a lot lately, while using my old G4 450 that still has OS9. I think "Oh, Photoshop's gonna take a while. I'll just check my email on my laptop while it catches up."

What does this mean? I can no longer sit and wait. I have to do something while I wait. Standing in line at the check-out register, I have to be reading a magazine. Sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office, I'm checking off to-do's on my Palm. I can never, ever let the microwave countdown to the final time. I'm always in there a good 20 seconds before, checking to see if the food is done even though it is I that put the time down in the first place.

Tonight, though, I wish I did have the remote. I'm stuck in commercial hell. In closing, I just have one thing to say: McDonald's, nobody, and I mean nobody, is going after your chicken.