This week, all week, and today in particular, there have been many important deadline-critical tasks and reports and such to do. The work has been demanding and intense.

And this week, all week, and today in particular, I have been a people magnet. Everyone wants to stop by my desk and talk, and talk at length. Chat, share their lives, pursue their various topics of interest and generally while away the time.

I'm naturally a very task-oriented person and if there's work to be done, I want to settle in, block out all distractions and get it done. Mostly because I'd like to go back to being my indolent self who likes to read and play on the computer. And also because I have a soupçon of the workaholic in my psychological makeup. (Some would say more than a little bit).

However. I know how important it is to people to chat with someone they like, who's a good listener and someone who can contribute sympathy and intelligent response. Unfortunately, I seem to have been nominated, seconded, and voted in as that person. So I have put the work to one side and made myself as receptive a listener and as good a conversationalist as possible. (As a teenager I always wanted to be popular; as an adult, I'm beginning to think popularity is over-rated.)

My gregarious self is worn out. I'm so tired, all I can do is write this up, read a chapter or two (a sop to the side of me that would like to be a kept woman, tending my garden and reading my books), and head off to bed. All of those heavy duty reports and data entry tasks and double-checking things will have to wait for my attention until the morning.

Good night, y'all.