All About Ben
By Ben Robinson
For the Courier

The old song by the Carpenters said “rainy days and Mondays always get me down.”

Unfortunately, eventually we understood that for Karen Carpenter it was “rainy days and an eating disorder” that got her down. She died much too young from anorexia, which I cannot understand.

Not wanting to eat seems akin to not wanting to breathe, and I believe in breathing a lot. One look at me and even the least experienced doctor can eliminate anorexia as one of my problems.

Still, I thought of that song Monday up on Robinson’s Mountain, as I found myself “hanging around, nothing to do but frown.” I had written my Easley football story already, and found myself with no Monday night assignments. I had a few stories to work on, but they were not due immediately, which meant I could wait until next week, as I had several times previously, to write them.

Rainy days like today do seem to get me down. I don’t feel like going anywhere, yet I’m very bored sitting at home. That’s a very tough feeling to deal with — bored, but not interested in doing anything.
“What I’ve got they used to call the blues” the old song goes. The truth with me is that what I’ve got they used to call laziness. At one pont in my life I would get out of bed early, start working as soon as possible, then keep going until long after midnight.

Now I try to avoid any positive action whatsoever on these rainy days. I just lie back and think about what could have been. Not true really. I actually start thinking about total nonsense — try to name the Walton kids from oldest to youngest, remember my favorite episodes of Gilligan’s Island, name the teams of the NFL in alphabetical order, and nonsense such as that.

Anything to keep my mind off the things I should be doing. I had things I needed to do. Stories I needed to write. Jobs I need to apply for. Special projects I need to begin. But I did none of that, unless “sleeping until 10 a.m.” counts as one of those special projects. I know that this too will pass.

Soon I hope, I will have a new job, still write for the Courier, and be too busy to notice rainy days or Mondays. Too busy for anything to “get me down.”