Distracted usually means it's going to cost you.

Either money, time, or aggravation. Today, I had to dash down to the store to grab a couple of things for Chow. Unfortunately, my brain was wandering the whole time, and I wasn't "all there", so to speak. This meant a couple of things. I got everything into the trolley very quickly. I got into the queue extremely quickly. The queue moved quickly too. I sailed over to the chekout counter, and had the guy tally up everything.

"We can't deliver those soy ice creams, you know."

"Oh, it's fine. I'll fit it into my backpack."

I double checked the shopping list to be sure I got everything. Check.

I paid, and sailed out the door.

Got on the subway, got back to Chow, got to the office.

"Where's the rest of the stuff?"

"They're delivering it."

"..."

I asked them to deliver 2 bags.

At the cost of $5.

Ordinarily, I'd have stopped and thought for a second, and realised that there wasn't that much stuff at all. But for whatever reason, my brain was in the stars and not the task at hand, causing disastrous results for all concerned. Obviously, I take the subway everywhere I go. Short of a serious emergency, I don't bother with a taxi. The delivery person isn't going to be doing the same. They'll be driving a delivery truck, and burning petrol. When there's something to the tune of 7 or 8 bags, this can't be helped, because there's no way one person can carry that much stuff on his or her own, and it's impossible to take it on the subway. But three bags, anyone can manage.

It reminds me of every major mistake I've made in the kitchen. When I'm working in the kitchen, I tend to leave the TV and radio and all the rest turned off, because I don't want to be distracted. When I am distracted, I tend to make some pretty major screw-ups (today's being a prime example). Spices burn, ingredients get left out, water evaporates into nothingness and the whole pot of food (pot included) is ruined.

It's also the sort of thing that'll cause my knife to slip, and cut my finger instead of the food. It's when I'll drop ingredients (or the food) on the floor. It's those times when something seems like a really capital idea, but ends up being such a thunderous failure that I'll wonder (in the aftermath) what on earth I could have been thinking! It's like I said: wasted time, wasted money, masses of aggravation.

Even though going to the store to pick up a thing or two, or cooking is something I do frequently, there are pitfalls that happen out of nowhere. Here's to hoping that you don't have any yourself.