My wonderful wife MJ, who is often very busy herself, calls me "Busy Bee Bobby" whenever I get so busy that I'm ignoring her. Busy as a bee, of course, is a very common English expression for being really busy, evoking the image of a worker bee flying from one flower to another or doing some other task without stopping, at a breakneck pace. In Korean, the most common equivalent is "so busy that one does not have time to open my eyes and nose. I'm not sure why that person is not opening their eyes to see, but I do understand not being able to close's eyes as the eyes are usually a required part of doing any work, especially white collar work like reading off a computer screen or smartphone. Recently I've been so busy during work hours that my eyes get a little sore, as unconsciously I keep my eyes open more and blink less, thus causing them to dry up quickly. Having them locked onto a screen almost 24/7 probably does not help. That's actually one of the major concerns associated with young people constantly looking at their screens nowadays, not only is it addicting and reduces social interaction among other negative consequences, it also causes people's eyes to age faster, where in the past kids would use their eyes for reading books, playing outside, taking to friends, etc., now their eyes are just locked onto screens.
The Japanese phrase for busy is "so busy I'd even borrow a cat's paw," kind of weird but understandable, it's like you don't have enough hands for your task. It does occur to me that if I had more than 2 hands I could type more messages and bang out emails faster and click the mouse more often, but I don't know if my mind would keep up. I was able to hold hands with MJ at the botanical garden on a Saturday, which was splendid. I'm often reminded how refreshing it is to watch weddings; everyone's dressed up and looking their best and in an idyllic location, usually on a weekend so everyone's relaxed and not stressed yet about the weekend. And I'm not jaded yet about relationships and marriage to be sick of weddings; I still think they are excellent opportunities to connect with friends and family, as long as the cost is under control and it doesn't make one too busy (MJ still complains that she was so busy that she couldn't open her eyes and ears during the wedding planning process).
Chinese people use the imagery of being "unable to break free," or "can't detach my body" from the work or the thing that is causing one to be busy. In some circumstances, that's true: at my work, I often find myself wanting to go home, but I have to be "on standby" in case something happens with the case I am working on that requires me to do work or for my boss to assign me more work. What's stressful for a lot of people is the fact that they can't break free from their work, that there's always something left to do, they always have to think about it even if they are not physically at the office or currently working on it. That's the dilemma for a busy person, it's not necessarily always being pressed at a deadline and having to finish something, but just the feeling of something needing to be done, that you can't break free from it.
Fantasize on,
Robert Yan
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