Focus
On occasion it starts with a notification. Maybe it's a text or an email that my Mac has kindly let me know about, floating a little banner at the top of my screen. Maybe it's my dog, who is lifting my arm with his nose to let me know it is time for a pee. Maybe it is my cat meowing out his hunger, or my Guinea pig whooping at me for attention. Maybe it is my daughter looking for her other shoe. Maybe it is the temperature in the room, or my tendency to be itchy. Maybe it is just intrusive thoughts: How weird is it that I (do, or don't do) some such thing? Certainly I have earned a second cup of coffee or a snack by now. It's a funny sort of word, snack. I sometimes watch reruns of VEEP , and I am always amazed when the main character, conniving Selena Myers, demands a snack from Gary, her bagman. "Snack!" she'll yell, and I always think, What an odd, vulnerable, childlike word for her to use. Snack Wait, did I just lose focus over the wo...