My Dad had a ton of sayings like the title of this piece, you can't see for looking. He'd say "now you're cooking with gas" which meant that you were finally getting somewhere. He'd also let loose with a 40 second string of unrepeatable cuss words, alternating between English and Italian and I can remember the very day that I realized he said it the same way every time and how delighted I was that he had his own rage song, if you will. I've tried to develop the very same thing for myself; that's how impressed I was by it.
So back to Daddy's saying, "you can't see for looking."
Apparently, I actually can't.
How can a file, a regular sized manilla folder with tons of papers pronged down to the inside of each half, sit on my desk in plain sight and yet be invisible to me. An upcoming need becomes a present one, and before you know it you've got a hard target search on your hands. People are waiting for information, the origins of which are in that file, yet I can't find it.
It was just there. Right there. But it's not there now.
As my schedule unfolds, there are times when I have to set aside progress on pretty much everything in order to travel to teach or to host workshops in my Seattle studio. When that happens, I am usually able to sufficiently clear the decks prior to the event so that nothing major needs my attention while I'm in workshop. If I do a good job of that, I can go a week or two without having to handle any financial or any day-to-day operational matters.
Sometimes, right before going into an extended event when I won't be available to keep pulling the studio cart, I leave all manner of important tasks in various states of completion. Sometimes, and especially lately, I've been unable to find files - files I've looked for in a serious, methodical way - that I just had but now, can't find. And here's the thing.
Probably the past 3 workshops I've done, I've been looking for something, couldn't find it and had to leave the search effort to teach and immediately upon my return to my office post-workshop/trip, there it is. And I mean, there it is like right on top of my desk by the printer. Right there. How, HOW, could I have missed it?
Because I can't see for looking. That's how.
Here's another way I occasionally live in this particular "can't see for looking" hell.
I have flawlessly uploaded video from my fancy video camera on each and every one of my 5 computers before. All of them. Although I'm not sure which wire I've used, there are only 2 wires possible that perform the task and I have them both. Right here.
Can I do it now? No, I can't.
Why can't I? Because I can't see for looking.
I can't figure out which hole accepts which part of which cord.
I'm serious. I'm frustrated. And here's what I'm going to do about it.
I'm going to to the store to buy a case of Corona, then to the studio to watch Game 4 between the Blazers & the Rockets and if that doesn't do the trick, I'm not sure anything will.