Some days, nothing works. Anything we attempt only gets us bogged down.
What we do then, however, depends on us. I usually keep hammering away, getting more and more frazzled in the process. By the time I’ve got past the obstacles — and, being a determined soul, I usually do — I’m too frazzled to care about whatever I was trying to do in the first place.
Interestingly a nice experience towards the end can change the whole mood. I’ve just had this happen, and I mention it because it’s perhaps something that we need to look for.
Today my plan was to do some work on the Origen book. In preparation for this, yesterday I printed off all the Greek fragments of Origen on Ezekiel, plus the translation. I don’t want to spend my holiday doing this, but I have to, if the book is to move forward. OK, I’ll grin and bear it. The print is about an inch of paper. I then received an updated version of these files, which is good but means I have to print them again.
After lunch today, I went up to print out the new versions. I got 10 pages and then my laser printer informed me that it wanted a new toner cartridge. Bother! I don’t need to be distracted bby this, but I’ve no choice. Hastily I look online for the Brother HL-2030, and find that the cartridge is a TN2000. I gasp at the vast sum demanded. But I don’t want to delay. I need to do this now. I’ll have to accept the rip-off. So off I go to PC World. They have one, and I buy it. For some reason the sales assistant decides to play me up, but I get past that, although not without my stress level getting increased.
Back I come, open it, try to fit it, and … it doesn’t fit. It nearly does — it’s exactly the same shape and size — but some plastic lug prevents it quite seating. I look at the old cartridge and it says “TN-2005”! I look at the printer, and it’s actually an HL-2035. One character difference; and I’m 62 GBP out of pocket. My haste has lost me time and money. I recheck, more carefully. Off I go, back to PC World. And … they don’t have a TN2005. Down to Staples instead, and they do, and I go to the ’till.
But then a miracle happens. The card payment is slow, and so I joke with the assistant about this. She — a sad-looking girl who plainly wishes she was elsewhere — comments how supermarket card readers are much faster, and, a joke or two later, both of us are smiling. And I come out of there feeling happy again.
I’m printing off the stuff as I speak. And, funnily enough, I’m back in the mood to work on it.
I need to compile a table of all the Greek fragments, I think. Then I can see what we have and where these are.