It seems as if the more you work at something, the more problems you run into. It's the same with everything you do. Put some effort into it and watch it get more complicated. In the case of some sparetime studies, that's quite rewarding, but everywhere else it is, or can be, at times, a bit tedious. Maybe even a kind of living death. The other day at work I was thinking, This is probably the part of being a zombie that zombies really hate. Staggering around and going Urgghh is probably the good part. Then I started to wonder, What colour is a manila folder? Is it manila? The ones cluttering my desk range from beige to a sort of stained walnut, although you now see them in modern, unbusinesslike colours. Fuchsia, puce, key lime, crapaud enchanté. Then I thought: since the introduction of sticky notes, office life has lost the numinous. Guys in green eyeshades are no more. People talk about their personal life, and put pictures of their dog everywhere.