Busy

I imagine that if aliens came to earth and landed in America, they would probably come away believing that in our country the way that we say hello is “How’s it going?” and the polite and appropriate response to that is for the second person to say “Busy!”

There may be a more overused word in our language, but I’m not sure what it would be.

The thing is, “busy” is just so darn useful. It is the single most effective way to get out of any commitment, it’s a way of making oneself sound important, and it’s an excuse we can use that is essentially unchallengeable. Because really, you can be busy with anything.

Thus: “I’m just so busy!” is the reason why I don’t really write on this blog much anymore.

But it’s not really true. I just have chosen in this time of my life to focus on other ways to spend my waking hours.

For example, instead of writing here on my blog, I work on projects that remain mostly on my desk (or at least in the circuitry of the computer on my desk) because I apparently cannot be satisfied with the first thirty or so drafts. I love writing. If I wasn’t doing other projects I’d be writing here, I’m guessing.

Instead of writing this blog, I sometimes post on Facebook. I like Facebook. I know it gets a bad rap sometimes and people say that only old people use it but I guess that’s me – I’m old. I’ll be 40 by the end of the year. My old bones really like Facebook. I like to talk to people and put up pictures of my kids and look at pictures of other people’s kids and see who might be riding a camel this week or waiting on line for a Cronut.

Instead of writing, I’m spending time with my kids. Finn is five, which means he gets to chew one piece of gum on the weekend, and Lucy just turned three, which means she’s only two years away from being able to chew a piece of gum on the weekend. I spend time with Liz, whom I love more than anything in the wide wide world. I go to church and see my friends on occasion and sometimes I have to go to CVS.

Instead of writing, I’ve started a job full time – and as clichéd as this may sound it’s about as close to my dream job as I could have ever hoped to find: Dean of Students at NYU Stern School of Business. That’s my alma mater, where I got my MBA back in 2010.

I can’t even tell you how much I love this job.

I’m not exaggerating when I say that the student body is the most brilliant collection of minds in one building. Maybe ever. Every day in my new job I get to sit back and listen to brilliant people talk about brilliant things, and I get to say “That’s a great idea!” or “Huh! I never thought of that!” I haven’t used the word “terrific” yet, but it’s only a matter of time. (I’m kind of saving that one in my hip pocket for when something’s really terrific.)

Because NYU Stern is downtown in New York City and I live in New Canaan, Connecticut, it also means that I’m on the early train. I have a lot of train time these days. But people are nice and nobody talks loudly on their phones or plays music or anything. I like it.

All those things put together means that my days are quite full with the things I’ve chosen to fill them with. And my work days are very full with activities that I think make me a more effective Dean of Students.

I really like my life these days. I miss writing here sometimes, most of all when I’m actually writing here (like this VERY SECOND), but I like knowing that it’s here, and that there may come a point in my life when I brush the cobwebs off this thing and get back to writing a blog in earnest. Maybe about my kids growing up or my work or my new flying robot car that mines our post-apocalyptic world for base metals.

Until then, I’d better get back to it. Pretty busy over here.