Research, Tinkering, and Too Many Irons in the Fire (again)

        If you’re anything like me, you’ll find yourself with too many irons in the fire. And at the same time, you’ll waste too much time tinkering or researching. My current pursuits include (but are not limited to): prayer (which should be first, but truthfully I don’t spend near enough time doing); spending time with my wife and baby daughter (This week I did mostly that!); revising my first feature length screenplay (it desperately needs it); processing more photos that I’ve already taken (including the few hundred I recently took in Tokyo); shooting more photos; working on my novel (a loooong term project); studying Japanese (I only have a little more than 3 months left here!); shipping things back to the US; reading (I’ve actually read quite a bit lately); and oh, my full time English teaching job (If you call 35 hours a week full time, that is. The French do.). Shall I go on?
        What happens too often is that I research what I need to do or what I’m working on. Research is important. However, research can quickly turn into “important” procrastination. It would be much more beneficial to just do it, as Nike would say. Another time waster for me is tinkering. I tinker on my website or on the layout of the blog. Again, it is important, but only to a point. What I need to do is get it laid out right, and step away.
        With my return to the US drawing nigh, I’m slowing down with the photography. I’ll continue to work on it, but at a much slower pace. Most pressing now is the return to America. Visa stuff, shipping stuff, wrapping things up here in Japan, etc. I also want to take advantage of the rest of my time here in Japan. I also need to revise that screenplay. It’s been sitting too long. It’s time to get it ready so that I can shoot it in the not too distant future. And, I’m going to spend more quality time in prayer, and with my family. Oh yeah, I should rest, too. I don’t do that too much.
        So, if you don’t hear from me for a while, you’ll know why. But what’s funny is that these times are usually when I tend to blog the most. Another form of procrastination? Perhaps, but it’s better than aimless research, isn’t it?