Bit of a slough of despond. I have set the tasks, though. It's a simple matter of keeping myself at the desk and doing them.
Pausing the morning runs, at least through the week -- several reasons.
Noticed that the city's national theatre (which might be the national theatre, though that's usually not the case in the Balkans) was doing a play that I remember reading as an undergrad, and the sequel to which I actually saw on Broadway when I was doing summer stock in Massachusetts. But then it become cultural phenomenon, the HBO version, etc. Decided that as an American, I didn't want to investigate that American incursion into the neighborhood. Sort of like the fellow you knew in college whom you grew to dislike, and then you see them from a distance when travelling. No need to force the acquaintance. Looking forward to catching one or two of their other pieces while I'm here.
Felling a bit like the mad scientist orbiting the planet from a distance, plotting his grand strategy, yet somehow always the same distance from the planet. Must be sure to give the areas of the orbit their due, though. These are stange and interesting lands, although I don't want to dissipate the energies by turning away from the central work and just calling the whole exercise an extended gap year. There is work to be done, and I have it in hand.
Heu, quam vicina est ultima terra mihi. (Ovid, also in the Balkans)