Category: Blog

Long day

What went before:

Saturday. Sunny and warm. Snow is melting apace.

Breakfast was, as planned, the leftovers from yesterday’s chef salad scrambled with two eggs, which made for a pretty big meal. Not sure what lunch is. Cheese and crackers? Could be cheese and crackers.

Got to work early despite having to stop and fix the toilet in Steve’s bathroom. I should say, mostly fix. It’s stopped the constant running, but the float seems to have sprung a leak, so there’s still a little water running out of it. I’ve been resisting calling a plumber, becau$e, but that may be a false economy.

Wrote about 700 words, and taking a break because that last scene reduced me to, um, tears.

It occurred to me that there ought to be heated mats to go under desks, and there are, byerlady! So — retail therapy FTW — a mat for Steve’s office, a mat for the studio — a mat for my office? Oh, why not?

After shopping, I’ll go back to write some more until lunch time, after which it’s track changes, which, with the application of a bit of elbow grease, I may finish today, and wouldn’t that be nice?

Also? Despite having been doing nothing for days, the desk in my office is once again overflowing with stuff. I hope the goblins haven’t found another way in.

I bought a very nice “beginner” demonstrator pen from JetPens — it arrived yesterday. My only beef is that it’s a cartridge pen, but there’s getting to be some days when I oughtn’t be left alone with a bottle of ink, so there is that.

I can’t really tell you much about this pen, since the packaging is completely in Japanese. I can say it’s a Pilot pen, and it’s name appears to be kaküno. Writes nice and smooth; very light in the hand. I haven’t dropped it yet, so can’t report on its durability. Cheap, too. Under $15US. I got the medium nib, because that’s the way I roll. If you’ve been thinking about trying a fountain pen, this might be worth your time to explore.

Thanks to everyone who suggested anime worthy of watching. I remember I was looking for Spy Family the day Steve died… This is not to lay blame or to invoke the Sad, but to say that I had apparently thought we’d enjoy it, and while I have Crunchyroll, I might as well have a look-in.

And, yes, I am talking about trivialities while the world is on fire. The only thing I can do at this point, is what I always do, and be a witness for civilized behavior.

deep breath

How’s everybody doing today?
#
So, yeah — cheese and crackers and an orange. That’s lunch, innit? Am drinking “figgy pudding” tea from my Christmas teas. I had not been sanguine, going in, but it’s quite tasty and delivers the warmth that the rest of the meal lacked.

On the writing front, that’s +/- 1,340 new words. WIP stands at +/-124,785.

As soon as I’ve finished my tea, I will do my duty the cats, then clear a space on my desk so I can track me some changes.

The cats think I ought to take a nap, and they’re probably not wrong…
#
Toe bean break:


#
Yeah, I should’ve taken a nap. OTOH, the track changes are done and returned, and! I managed to turn off the water running into the toilet, go me.

I had made a comment the other day in my rant about the cost of Sssses and the prevailing wisdom of adding a “third” S to perfectly good words. Sometimes, in fact, the prevailing wisdom only adds one extra S.

Example: Chaos’s

That? Is an ugly something or other.

In my day, believe it or don’t, when you had a situation where you needed to show that Chaos was being possessive, you indicated that by this: Chaos’

Which looks much better to me than all these random Sssses wriggling all over the page.

All that said? I’m tired, and Rookie is insisting that it’s Happy Hour, so it must be time for me to wash the pots ‘n pans.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe.

I’ll check in tomorrow.

The Friday Report

So, I woke up at 5:45, and my neck was swollen and sore again and I addressed the universe in a disrespectful manner. Then I took the Command Decision to FTS, got up, got dressed, made a cup and a thermos of tea, took that and a KIND breakfast bar back to Steve’s office, woke up his computer and got to work.

I broke for lunch around noon, having written about 800 words — lunch being a chef’s salad from the deli. I ate a little more than half with a serving of soup I’d had in the freezer. Tomorrow, I’ll put what’s left — some meat, cheese, tomato and onions — into scrambled eggs for breakfast, so that’s ONE meal figured out for tomorrow.

Returned to Steve’s office after lunch and wrote some more. Got tired eventually and quit for the day. Did my duty to the cats. Waiting for the mail to arrive so I can bring in the package that’s supposed to be included before the ink freezes, then take a shower and probably collapse.

I should report that I feel somewhat better than I did when I woke up. I did take the combined Motrin, and if the kind of pain I woke up with this morning is what it’s keeping at bay — all honor to it. Also used hot compresses on my neck.

The cats have been hanging in all day, which was! Cloudy and warm. Snow is melting, or at least compacting. I’m really glad I asked the Magnificent Plowguy to sand the driveway. HUGE improvement.

Finished watching The Apothecary Diaries last night. My *goodness*, that was some tight storytelling! Well done, writers.

I can now cancel Crunchyroll. I do, yes, realize, that there’s a ton of anime offered there, but the chances of my stumbling upon anything actually worth watching are, um, low. If anybody had a rec that’s worth keeping Crunchyroll around for — by all means speak. My taste, apparently, runs to stuff like AD. Back in the day I liked Fruit Baskets and … the one with the duck — ah. Princess Tutu. Writing Anime. If that’s not a subgenre, it ought to be.

And the mail’s in! And Rook is chasing Tali around my office because it’s all her fault. I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know what “it” is.

Writing stats: New words written (I think not all of these today, but honestly, what do I know?): +/-2,190. Total words in WIP: +/-124,117.

And that’s the beans.

How’s everybody holding up?

Earlier today.  Firefly had ennui.

Out Sick Part II

Tuesday. Sunny, though we’re supposed to be looking for a winter storm or maybe that’s blowing out to sea, what do I know?

Still sick. Still resentful. Not really interested in eating but I have to so I can take the magic drugs. Been reading a Gentleman in Possession of Secrets.

Tali helped me sit in the sun earlier. Now I’m on the couch and Firefly is sitting on the back, flirting and purring. Last seen, Rookie was asleep in the bed.

And that’s what I’ve got. Hope everybody’s having a good day.

This dictated to my phone.

Some are born to greatness

The Long Back Yard:

Saturday. Late getting up. Sunny and cold.

Firefly joined me on the couch last night and went to sleep really hard so I stayed with her and finished my book. Then I got up and wandered out to my office which was so bright that I thought I must have left the light on.

But no, it was the Moon. What a beautiful, beautiful moon, and the world turned black and white.

Shadows black and magical across the snow filled yard.

I sat on the cats observation table for a while and communed with the moon, which meant I didn’t get to bed until after midnight.

And here we are.

This was dictated via my phone
#
So, today I’m taking down the decorations; have a couple of errands in the afternoon. Any writing will likely be of the Sitting with the Manuscript variety. Also need to swap out the cat fountains, in anticipation of which the dishwasher is doing its thing.

How’s everybody doing this morning?
#
Decorations down — I nearly forgot the window star, but remembered it when there was a box with nothing in it.

Errands run. I have a grinder on loan, thanks to the generosity of Carmela Patriotti. Ordered in dunch while I was putting the taken-down decorations away. Dishwasher emptied and now it’s time to swap out the cat fountains, after which I do believe I may collapse on the couch and avoid the news.

All that said, I’ll just say my goodnights now.

Everybody stay safe, be careful, hug the people you love.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

Today’s blog post title brought to you from the man who wrote Shakespeare’s plays, from Twelfth Night:  “Some are born to greatness, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.”

Firefly helped me take the tree down:

It’s plain to see we’re over

Wrote about 1,000 words so far. Taking a break to do PT homework, and to open the door so the FedEx guy could put the cat litter in the vestibule for me, and to come to terms with a couple of hard truths.

Hard truth number 1 — I’m not going to be able to give stained glass the attention it deserves. I want to do it, but — writing first, and cats, and PT, and having to sleep — and I don’t have time to embrace another art as it deserves. I hate this, but here we are. I still intend to finish my second piece, but I think I won’t be going forward.

Damn.

Second hard truth — I’m really glad I had two other people read the results of my MRIs and talk to me about what they mean, because I just got a note from my doctor saying that the results are “unremarkable.” Now, the results are not epically bad, and if I keep at the PT, I can probably get to a place where my back will be stronger and less likely to kick out (though it occurred to me last night that I still need some kind of drug intervention on hand for if/when it does), but the tone of this thing is “It’s all in your head,” which, when I was a kid and having a hard time figuring out what was this “real” people kept talking about, was devastating. I’d gotten it wrong again, and mixed up Story Stuff and Real Life Stuff.

My skill level on that front is much better 60-odd years down the road, and now? I’m mad. No, it is not in my head. Yes, it is remarkable because if I don’t do something now, it will get worse. Jeebus, do I gotta explain this stuff to a doctor?

Also, there’s a bill from the practice, which, yeah, I really feel like paying.

What else? Oh. I brought my boom box up from the studio and rigged it up with an extra set of Steve’s high-end Bose speakers, and now I can listen to CDs from our own collection in the living room in the evening when the cats and I retire to read, and I’m not dependent on Sirius or Maine Public playing exactly what I want to hear.

Speaking of which — this morning I heard something interesting on Sirius XM (thank you, Tommy London). Once Upon a Time, there was a band called Damn Yankees, which was a pretty good band — Ted Nugent, Tommy Shaw, Jack Blades, and Michael Cartellone — that put out two pretty good albums. And, as they were on their way, literally, to the studio to get album number three in the can, they were contacted by their agent. Their label was offering them a million bucks not to make the album.

They took the money, and the band . . . disbanded.

Now, I have no idea what discussions ensued before they made their decision, but, my ghod, what a decision to have to make. And I can see that one consideration would be that, if the label wanted to get rid of them to the tune of a cool mil, if they didn‘t take the money, it was likely the third album would never be promoted and the band would still have to disband — and be broke, too.

Well.

Time for PT homework. I may send out for Chinese for lunch. Or not. I have leftover curry. Speaking of decisions…
#
I’m always pleased when Steve joins me for my walk. Today I was offered the insight that the thing which has blocked my finishing of my second piece of stained glass isn’t a lack of time — when I was cutting pieces out, I’d go to the studio for an hour in between writing this or that and cut glass — but lack of a tool, which also comes down to a lack of time. I don’t have a grinder, and I therefore need to rent a studio and drive out for what amounts to a day to grind my pieces.

If I had a grinder in-house, I could just keep on with my hour of Art While I Think.

So, now what I need to ask is: Am I committed enough to this new art to purchase a grinder?

Whole different question.

And? Collaboration in action.
#
So that’s a total of 1,841 words on the day, bringing the WIP to 121,060ish. The scene I wrote today may be too long, but I liked the character. And of course the minute I got up, I thought of two other things that need to happen in that scene, so! I printed it out to read tomorrow morning while I’m in the comfy chair with the sunlamp.

I’m thinking this weekend is divesting myself of Christmas. The wreath is kinda bleeding needles, and the cats are not fans.

I had leftover curry for lunch, and by virtue of adding leftover peas and rice, and throwing in some onions and some green pepper, there’s still curry left over, though I’ll probably give it a break tomorrow.

And that? Is all I’ve got.

Everybody stay safe and have a good evening.

I’ll look in tomorrow.

Today’s blog post title brought to you by Deep Blue Something, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”

Oh, no, wait! That’s not all I’ve got. Here, have a picture of Rookie.

Thursday. . .

The Long Back Yard

So. Thursday. Grey and on-and-off snow showers. Yes, that means I now have a icy driveway with a coating of snow.

I went to bed more or less at my regular time, and got up more or less at my regular time. Tali came to keep me company while I sat with the Happy Lite, and after breakfast, all three of the cats hustled me back to Steve’s office, with three very high tails: Oh, Good! Mom’s gonna work!

Breakfast was — all together now! — oatmeal with peanut butter and chocolate chips (Note to self: get more peanut/almond butter). Lunch was chicken in butter masala over rice with grapes on the side (Note to self: get more chicken breasts). Before anybody gets too excited the sauce came out of a jar, but I quick defrosted the chicken and browned it, so, yay! Cooking.

I had to name a ship and a Scout Archivist team, so I only wrote about 700 new words, though part of that was:

“Is that humor?”

Jen Sin thought for a moment. “Do you know? I’m not certain.”

Next up is putting away dishes, washing pots ‘n pans and writing some notes for the next section of Agent of Change. I’ll post a link when it’s up.

How’s everybody doing today?