If Pies Were Jobs, I'd Be Saving The World Economy

Behold, the fruits of my unemployment! (Get it? Fruits? There's fruit in there. Strawberries, anyway, I'm not sure if rhubarb qualifies as fruit).

Funding for awesome Slavic-related summer activities did not come through for me this year, so I'm trying, with very little success so far, to find a job. As I'm sure many of you know, it is very easy to become a useless layabout when unemployed. After two days of sleeping until 1 in the afternoon, I decided this must not be. So I figured the least I could do is get up while it's still am. I've been setting my alarm for 8am, with the goal of being out of bed by 9am. I've been doing quite well, though it's really, really hard when there's nothing in particular that you're getting out of bed for. Today I've decided that I need to revise my personal edict to include being dressed before 10am. For some arbitrary reason.

It's not that I don't have things to do. I have knitting projects to finish and submit/put up for sale. I have swords and a big, flat backyard. I have a guitar I keep saying I'm going to learn how to play. I have rhubarb in the fridge that needs to become pie (check). I have dead and/or made-up languages that need learning! I have - gasp - pleasure reading I could do! Oh, and let's not forget, I have jobs that need applying for. Also blogging. You'd think I'd be updating my blog more frequently now that finals are over. Evidently, you'd be wrong.

The problem with all of this is that it's all stuff I can do on my own time. I can very easily do all of this at 3 in the morning. I can even do some of it in bed! But I'm less productive when I work like that, and even when I do get things done, I feel like I've wasted the day. I try to spend time in parks, I try to get errands done without using my car. But it's sooooooooo easy to spend 2 hours checking your email in your PJs.

This is why I must never be a housewife or stay-at-home-anything of any sort. Even the super-industrious home-business variety. I need a reason to leave the house every day and to interact with people. I need a reason to be out of bed by a certain time. I need structure, damnit. I can make the lack of structure work, I can be all self-starting and rah, but God, it's like pulling teeth!