I didn’t get through my to-do list yesterday, I didn’t get to the gym, I didn’t go to the first meeting of the Master Chorale.

Basically, the to-do list was too long. No, scratch that. Because things can always be moved on to the next day, can’t they? I think it was stress. When I get stressed out, I get inflexible about the to-do list. Like, if I get all those sections cleaned up and sent off to the testers, and all the issues about product adjustments and questions settled, and all the phone calls made, and finally figure out the analytics, all will be well.

But the stress is not actually about the to-do list.

It is more about the exhausted phone call from #1 daughter, who is feeling overwhelmed by being on her own for the first time, and the miserable IMs from #2 daughter, who is trapped in a work setting very like “The Office,” and #1 son’s decision not to go to school this term, and #2 son’s Governor’s School application and #1 son’s job applications and my husband’s toothache and possibly also #1 daughter’s dog who spent the entire day bringing me her ball and barking at me to play fetch.

So, while it probably would have been calming for me to go to the gym and to rehearsal, I did not do those things, but rather stayed glued to the computer all day long, while other people’s (and dogs’) needs ebbed and flowed around me.

#2 son got the job at the ice cream parlor, and is very excited about it.

#1 son, having decided on his way out the door to the college not to go after all, got applications from outdoor gear stores. One of them was five pages of philosophical questions.

Really. “Albert Schwietzer said…. Do you agree or disagree, and why or why not? Use examples from your life.” “To change the world, you must live the change you want to see. How does this apply to work in a retail environment?”

I definitely think he should work there.

And I discussed all these questions with him while cleaning up the format of the comprehension questions for the reading passages of the subunits, and stuff like that.

And the scheme for doing the sleeves, which I detailed mercilessly yesterday, isn’t actually working. More frogging in my future.

However, today I will be at the store, and then I will be missing class in order to attend a meeting. If I get home in time to get some frogging done, I will probably be just in the mood.