Today is Steve’s birthday, the celebrating of which we are deferring to the trip to Niagara/Binghamton. The trip is also my birthday celebration, and! last year’s anniversary-of-the-legal-marriage and this year’s anniversary-of-the-legal-marriage.
Today, there is vacuuming and vacation packing. This is a Trip in Three Parts, so packing is. . .interesting in its way. Usually, we throw the things we’ll need at the convention in suitcases, pack a train case, hand over the suitcases to the nice baggage experts at Amtrak and worry no more.
Since we’ll be driving to Pittsburgh and overnighting on the road, I have packed an overnight bag, and will today be packing the purple duffle with the items that will be required on the vacation and homecoming leg of the trip.
Tomorrow, I will pack con clothes, since they are more susceptible to wrinkles than cargo pants, polo and denim shirts.
And so it goes.
I need to check my tablet to make sure that I’ll have enough to read. Fifty books on the to-be-read shelf. Is that enough? Maybe I should take a couple paper books to be sure I don’t run out? No, wait! We’ll be at a convention. If I need books, I’ll be able to stock up there. Phew.
I’m really looking forward to this trip: the convention, of course, and then the meandering road home. I’m especially pleased to be approaching this whole segment in a state of not being depressed.
On that front, I have backed out of the last application of antidepressants, and am continuing with meditation, which has been helping decrease the noise in my head, even though I’m probably the world’s worst meditator. I’m using the guided meditation at Headspace, which I like very much, even though the occasional assertion that “thoughts are just thoughts” baffles me. I mean, yes, thoughts are just thoughts, but I’m in the business of turning thoughts into stories, so I’m accustomed to giving thought some weight, so to speak, in my life.
I’m continuing to cut down my exposure to toxic persons, which is, sadly, an on-going task. I’ve cut back my presence on Facebook and on Twitter, which also helps decrease the noise in my head. . .which is not nearly as frightening as I thought it would be, having lived my whole life with a noisy head. Maybe that’s what’s meant by “thoughts are just thoughts.”
So, that.
For those who missed the initial announcement — there is a new patron-only podcast up on the Lee-and-Miller Patreon page — here’s your link.
Also! Steve and I have unlocked three earlier podcasts so that they can now be enjoyed by everyone. Go to this link, and scroll down.
And that, I think, catches us all up. Time to get out the vacuum cleaner and wake up all the cats.
Three cheers for reducing toxicity and increasing fun!
Your comment about thoughts reminded me of something Jame Thurber used to say about insomnia. He would put his brain to work thinking up plots and his brain would basically respond, “You want me to WORK at this hour? Nope, shutting down now.” I have been trying this technique with menopause induced insomnia and it has failed to work for me. :/
Your trip sounds lovely, and I hope the weather and traffic make it as easy as easy can be. I finally got to read THE GATHERING EDGE for the third time (not trying to sneak bits while doing a rewrite of my own monster, not trying to rush through to find out who did what in the end, but leisurely, tasting every detail. Still love it. Have to admit Theo has not been my favorite character…for reasons that have nothing to do with the excellence of your characterization and more to do with my personal Issues that Theo has also had…but TGE has her firmly installed in my Lee & Miller category as an example of “This is why I like ’em so much.” So thank you for that.
If you are driving to Pittsburg and then training to Niagra…
…how is the car getting back to Maine?
Did I say that? How inept of me.
You’re welcome. Theo is not my favorite character, either, for what I’m guessing are reasons similar to yours. However, she is managing to grow up in a proper direction…
@Sharon and Elisabeth, how could you not like Theo? Maybe of her having to grow up with family secrets…there are a number of books on that subject. I must admit that I’m more of a Syl Vor or Jethri person. And empathize more with a younger Theo. I guess I have never quite “grown” up. *lol* But still waiting for her next adventure though.
It’s one of those funny things about life — not all of us like the same people, even though we are of course all uniformly delightful.
In writing/reading it’s a little more complicated. A well-drawn character who is true. . .doesn’t have to be likeable. Indeed, well-written and likeable are not the same thing, though many readers equate the two. Theo happens to rub me the wrong way, and I’m one of her fond writers. There’s nothing much I can do about it; at this point there’s no changing her or me, we just sort of need to work around our hot spots. But it is why Steve takes lead on the Theo books.
I think “a thought is just a thought” is shorthand for “be generously non-judgemental toward your thought”. I was taught we have a natural tendency to categorize thoughts as “idle” or “stupid” or “selfish” and want to censor them or be annoyed at them (or more rarely, as “beautiful” or “intriguing” and want to pursue and elaborate them). All those reactions are unhelpful during meditation. “A thought is just a thought” is a way of saying, regard passing thoughts with an attitude of fond tolerance, as if they were just wafting by like dandelion fluff on a pleasant breeze. Pffft! Just another thought, waft waft fade.