Putting it off.

It occurred to me that I've undergone a major conceptual shift in the way I think about putting things off. Let me explain...

I live alone now, after 12 years. And, for example, if there's dishes that need to be done (which itself is a pretty rare thing, I'm such a bachelor) I look at them, lying accusingly on the bench (the dishes, not me. I've only ever lain on the bench once, under circumstances you don't need to know about), and I think "I could do them now, or I could do them later". The me of 12 years ago would have been happy to leave them, but I think that I've finally come to understand a fundamental fact about the universe and our place in it: doing something later isn't actually the same as not doing it all. It sounds obvious, but I didn't really get it before, I guess at some level I assumed that if I didn't do them now it was somehow equivalent to getting someone else to do them. But I remind myself sometimes if I can feel this slipping. Who exactly am I expecting to sneak into my apartment and do the things I've put off? Maria Callas? Zsa Zsa Gabor? The Bush twins? Actually, the last one is quite appealing. I had an acqaintance who was a professional dominatrix and would, in fact, have people come in and vacuum and tidy and whatnot, naked. But I can't see that happening.