The absolute bottom of my to-do list.

That's where "learn to carve woodblock art by hand" should go.

But I just bought a book online about carving woodblock and I'll tell you why. Because I saw some woodblock art on a surf website and I really liked it. And I want to try to make some art.

And because one year I didn't read any books.

Seriously, not a single one for about a whole year somewhere in 08 to 09. And it happened that way because I had a HUGE, backed up "to-read" list full of books I'd been meaning to get to for forever. Big important, award-winning books.

Guns, Germs, and Steel. Infinite Jest. The Armchair Economist.

Every time I saw a new book that looked interesting, I'd force myself not to buy or borrow it, thinking, "Nope. Stay disciplined. You can read that new book after you cross some of these important books off the list first."

The end result was that I didn't read anything.

And then one summer day in a moment of weakness I said screw it and I started reading the first Harry Potter book. Then I read a funny little book called Ignore Everybody. And magically, almost as soon as I blew off the sacred "to-read" list, I finally started reading and crossing books off of that same list because I was reading lots of stuff - some random, some serious, some poetry. Lots.

So there. There are dozens of things I should do before carving woodblock.

But I want to carve woodblock. And I suspect that if I don't start scratching a disfigured whale relief into a block of wood, I might stop doing everything that I consider more important anyway.