A
phrase uttered by Edd in the
cartoon Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy. A
mock city the Ed's had built out of
cardboard boxes in the
Cul-de-sac had just collapsed, Ed's money got
stolen, and the trio is now back in
suburbia as opposed to the "
big city".
I liked this
saying but was a afraid a
nodeworthy definition was lacking (and it probably still is, but..). And I didn't know if a
lifestyle could be
condemned merely by a one-liner from a cartoon character. However on a recent visit with my
urban parents I do believe I felt the futility and dissapointment that Edd described.
The trip was
endless mess of
family relations and
computer diagnostics. I did everything between help set up a
graduation party clear up to
designing an
aircraft parts
database. Running over here to
buy that,
dropping this off,
transfer that
data, taking care of
guests, that thing broke again, watching
tv, fixing a
starter motor, drinking
beer,
going out to dinner, messing something up,
keeping up appearences,
shaking hands,
troubleshoot that
network, pick this up, clean that out, sort these things, do that stuff.
Ceaseless Toil, lots of it.
At one
time I was at
wit's end, and even used Edd's line since it was the only real thing I could
think to say that would
convey the
meaning of the moment.
And by the end of the trip, I felt right back where I started. I had begun doing a lot of stuff I wanted to do, but in the midst of
havoc I never really got any of it done. Nothing had really gotten done, just a bunch of
insignifficant stuff. Not that I'd longingly
dreamt of any of the things I'd wanted to do, but it still fits the saying.