well, if I must...

I've been reading a lot of books on idling or works by great idlers lately, trying to get material to write a speech for my little sister (it's a long story).  It's sort of wonderful, actually.  I have to read books like How to be Idle and Keats' "Ode to Indolence".  I feel a bit sneaky.  It's like having a job as a food sampler or being paid to watch movies.

Every time I read a quote by some great writer or artist who firmly advocates idling, I do a fist pump and shout, "Amen, baby!"   I'm collecting ammo.  When people try to shame me and my late-rising tendencies by telling my how early they get up ("Five o'clock at the latest.  How can you feel right sleeping in till eleven?"), I'm going to pull out my little notebook (where I am collecting said ammo) and say, "Oh, really?  Ever heard of G.K. Chesterton?  Because he wrote an essay called 'On Lying in Bed' where he says, 'The tone now commonly taken towards the practice of lying in bed is hypocritical and unhealthy. Instead of being regarded, as it ought to be, as a matter of convenience and adjustment, it has come to be regarded by many as if it were a part of essential morals to get up early in the morning.' So ha ha on you, meanie head!"