I learned something interesting last night from a show on PBS. Educational television, indeed. This was the last of the three part series titled "The Human Spark", hosted by Alan Alda. One of the experts used the term elsewhen, a play off of the word elsewhere.
Consider those so-called idle moments we experience when doing mundane things, like driving (not in heavy traffic, let's hope) or mowing the lawn (can't say for sure but it doesn't look like a mental strain). When you think your mind is a blank, that is when brain studies show it is in its most active state. We engage in time travel, placing ourselves in situations past or future or in some other reference than where we are at the moment. We are being active in our heads. We are elsewhen.
My conclusion to the prevailing question "What are you doing out there in Albuquerque, Sandie?" is that I have been very busy while misleadingly appearing idle.
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