Thursday, October 14, 2010

A Little Malaise With That

I blinked, and then discovered a week had past. I've heard time passes faster the older we get, as if on some sort of a logarithmic curve. You know, one of those ghastly formulas that you've tried to forget about since school.

I've been searching for the proper word to describe the lethargy or apathy I'm feeling at the moment...decrepitude, angst, disquiet...none seem to fit and all are found in the online Thesaurus.com under a search of the word 'malaise'. For the moment I'll just refer to myself as a lazy sloth distracted.


ma·laise

–noun
1. a condition of general bodily weakness or discomfort, often marking the onset of a disease.
2. a vague or unfocused feeling of mental uneasiness, lethargy, or discomfort.



Number one has some merit as V has been run down with the cold for about 10 days. I don't have the runny nose or headache (yet) but I did cough once or twice this morning. Though a drink of water cleared that up, so perhaps it was just a spider or some such thing stuck in my throat. I was at the doctor's office on Tuesday for recent blood test results. He isn't pushing the the pills (yet) to help lower my cholesterol but the day is close at hand. Speaking of hand, I'm glad I wasn't threatened with the 'rubber glove' treatment either.


Number two also has merit. I'm feeling a bit of discomfort from basketball on Tuesday night with the geezers. The change of evening (Monday was Thanksgiving in Canada) threw us and only four people showed up. So it was 2 vs. 2 for an hour. That's a lot of running and falling down stopping and those 58-63 year old men put me to shame. Again. Perhaps that has played on my psyche.

I'm feeling somewhat unfocused in my writing. There's no hope of a #fridayflash happening again this week. And the well of ideas for blog posts has seemed to have dried up. I have a story half-complete that I would like to submit to this year's Arts & Letters Awards that is held each year by the government of Newfoundland and Labrador. This must be submitted by the end of November to be eligible. I'm pushing now to get this done by next week's writer's group meeting to get some feedback from the group. I can hear the whip cracking. For a long time I have had two different ideas for more 'long term' projects and I have set up files for these. As ideas pop into my head I jot them down on paper and toss them into the appropriate file. In the back of my mind I'm thinking that I may have to set aside short stories and perhaps even blogging for a while to devote some serious time to one of these projects. We'll see...in the meantime, I hope this malaise or melancholy or j'en sais pas will pass and things get 'back to normal'. I can picture everyone reading this saying to themselves, "Normal? What the hell is that?" During my search of the word 'malaise' I ran across a website (there are actually a lot of similar sites) that sells malaise traps and stuff to put in them (pictured). I'd give that a shot, but I don't want to spend 174 British Pounds for the trap and associated gear and the wind here would just blow it away. I'll just use my trusty fly swatter for now...

12 comments:

Laurita said...

Lookit you with the fancy words, and French too. Ooh la la.

Malaise is a great word. I know that feeling, and I'm glad you put a word to it. If it makes you feel any better, I haven't even started my A&L story yet.

You know, that malaise trap might not be a bad investment. It might keep out the black flies too.

Hope V is feeling better soon.

Cathy Olliffe-Webster said...

Cheer up sunshine, you're just in a bit of a rut right now (like the moose, only not as much fun). I'm sorry V isn't feeling so great - give her a hug and some Vick's.
Please don't stop blogging - we'd all miss you way too much!

Jhon Baker said...

used properly and with affection, malaise, as a word, can be very effective of relieving the uneasiness and return one to smoking superior.

Rebecca Nazar said...

First off, malaise is such a pretty-sounding word, don't you think? No? Well, I think, as far as words go, it doesn't match the emotional state it describes.

Anyhoo. Never mind my silliness. ABBA and margaritas, friend. Give it a try. If you're in Maine this weekend, we'll do it up right. I'm a tad blue too. : )

EC said...

There's no better post than honesty from the gut. It seems as if our entire country has malaise...I'd be curious to see if our general attitudes changed if our deficit dropped a few trillion.
Margaritas sounds like good advice, Rebecca, although I'm not sure about ABBA - be careful with that one.

K.C. Shaw said...

Ennui, maybe? I think of malaise as having the life-is-miserable blues and ennui as having the Sunday-afternoon-nothing-on-TV-have-to-work-tomorrow blues. I suspect I'm not helping.

I recommend NaNo. The attendant hysteria might make you feel better, even if you're only laughing at everyone else. I hope the cold departs your family soon, though. Happy late Thanksgiving!

David Barber said...

There's malaise over here too. Work doesn't help either. A week has passed before my eyes as well, Alan. And I'm only 41!! lol.

I'll be back when my head finally works its way out of my arse!

Laura Eno said...

We have malaise (although I prefer sloth). Feel better my friend.

Karen from Mentor said...

Well hell. And here I thought me in fishnet stockings would cheer you up a treat.

Now I'm worried.

*takes Alan's Temperature*

It's normal, so I prescribe a brisk walk and a funny movie. Maybe The Princess Bride. That's a stellar evening by anyone's yardstick.

Hope your muse returns asap my friend.

:0)

Unknown said...

"There's no hope of a #fridayflash happening again this week...."

Doesn't matter cuz you crafted a damn fine essay ;)

Alan W. Davidson said...

Laurita- V sneezes up green stuff now and then but is mostly on the mend. Agreed, the malaise trap might be good 'round the bay...and that's the only French I know, except for that disco song from years ago..."Voulez vous couchez.."

I think I need more soda bread and cheesecake.

Cathy- THanks for the kind words. I won't hug V at the moment however I will toss her a box of Vicks.

Jhon- Thanks, man. I'm hoping to find my way to smoking superior soon...

Becca- Sure it sounds nice, so does 'plague'. Nice suggestion, but I will substitute with 'Great Big Sea' and rum and cokes. Pity there's not a ferry down the coast to Maine or I'd take you up on that.

Erin- Wow, that's a lotta debt! I'd be bummed out a bit if I owed that much as well. Hopefully a national malaise can be cured with less military spending and more jobs. Oh, and a stronger dollar as well. Very true about the ABBA business (although, I was forced into watching Mama Mia recently...)

KC- Ennui...that's not one you hear in conversation daily. I had to look it up and you're right, it is a better desription. The NaNo hysteria would be beneficial, but I recall it keeps one locked in a secluded room for a month. Hmmm....I'll give it some thought...

David- Nice to hear that I've got a bit of company (imagine your malaise in a few years!) If it helps, I could post you a shoehorn to help with your 'head in arse' scenario.

Laura- Thanks. Sloth just isn't uttered enough.

Karen- Thanks for the sage advise, my friend. Though next time you take my temperature, please stick the thermometer in my mouth.

(Instead of my ear...get your minds out of the gutter, people!)

Ant- Thank you, sir. I appreciate that.

Jen said...

Eh... Maybe it's the weather. The sky turning dark so early. I think how this feels. I hope you find your spark again.