Back in Bucureşti again, this time for physiotherapy to treat the rapidly progressing case of plantar fasciitis in my left foot. I wasn't wildly enthusiastic about coming back down here again; the long train ride is never welcome, and the added misery of full-blown summer makes it even worse. It's been bringing back wholly unpleasant memories of training in Ploieşti last year, and I find that dwelling on that experience is never a good idea.
Owing to the need to stay off my foot during therapy, as well as a renewed sense of frugality (and aversion to temperatures in the 30's), I've been spending less time running about town chasing culinary indulgences, and more time in my room in the air conditioning, trying to get some work done. Despite having some expenses to take care of once getting back to site, I felt that by using my per diem frugally I could allow myself a small splurge--a scarf I'd seen in a shop not far from a café I tend to frequent when here. I'd spotted it shortly after I arrived in town, but the combination of waffling about the expense and bad timing meant that I put off actual purchase for a couple of days, at which point it, along with all of its compatriots in neckwear, had been sold.

Now, on the one hand, yeah, this is just a scarf. Clearly not a question of life and death. But it is a handy example with which to demonstrate an overarching tendency I have, which is to put things off until the VERY. LAST. MINUTE. Nearly everything, even things I want to do, I find myself debating, delaying, putting off, and in some way or another not doing in anything that resembles a timely manner. If I were a superhero, I'd be The Procrastinator.
When I went to Budapest, I didn't want to deal with figuring out/deciding on accommodations, so I put it off and put it off until I was scrambling to get everything arranged in time. I'd not paid sufficient attention to the fact that I couldn't pay with a credit card, so I was frantically calling and emailing banks, having money transferred to a debit account so it could be withdrawn and taken with me (mere hours before the debit card expired, no less). While I was there I found a few things I wanted to purchase and bring back with me, but I waited to do my shopping until the end of my stay ... at which point it was May Day and nothing was open. Before I left to come down here for this most recent trip I waited until the morning of my departure to do things like pay my internet bill and copy my key ... and, lo and behold, those shops aren't open on Saturdays. Every single piece of Peace Corps paperwork I sent in during my application process was filled out practically on the way to the post office, late in the afternoon on the "Must be postmarked by ..." date.

Logically, I know better than to be doing things like this; I've gotten myself into trouble so many times this way that one would think I would have learnt to be a bit more prompt and proactive. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today, and all that rot. But I always seem to think that I'll manage it this time, that now it'll be okay, that just because it didn't work the last 999 times, doesn't mean it won't work THIS time. Unless I'm mistaken, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is one of the definitions of insanity. If that is correct, put me down for one huge, flaming case of it.