Tag: for your viewing pleasure

Boldness is all

Thursday. Dim, damp, and cool.

I am returned from mammogram and breakfast. Planning on making cinnamon bread later in the day, but first, I at least ought to go back to Steve’s office and see what’s going on with Jethri.

Many thanks to those who offered the information that their PCPs have told them that they won’t need mammograms after 75. As a breast cancer so-far survivor, I’m thinking mammograms are going to remain a part of my life, no matter the birthday.

I watched all 10 episodes of Murderbot Season One yesterday afternoon, so obviously I found them worth viewing. I think the books are funnier, and I can see how the — adapters? Is that what we call people who make books into shows? — the adapters felt like they needed to bludgeon viewers over the head with the secondary Trust Crisis, and twist tails with the Narrow Escape of the POV(tm), but those decisions didn’t work that well for me. Though it did give Gurathin room to grow into his next level (which he also does in the books, but it’s a more subtle process).

I did like the glimpses into Actual Episodes of “Sanctuary Moon,” and the decision to capitalize on the lessons Murderbot took from the show. I did, perhaps unworthily, think that the adapters ought to have put their entire attention on producing “Sanctuary Moon” — which I would totally watch — because they were clearly having way too much fun with it.

And now? Back to the office to see if I’m working today.

Who else is planning on baking today?

Eh, what is UP, Doc?

“Coyote vs Acme” was brilliant, up to and including the choice to use the Clash’s cover of “I fought the law.” If you can grab a couple hours to go see it, do that. I was particularly pleased to be reminded of the fact that Wile E. Coyote is not only obsessed, but that he is an inventor of no small scope.

I was one of ten people in the theater for the 4:30 showing. The crowd before me consisted of . . . one.

Honest to ghu, Warner Brothers, why did you select this one to be suppressed? Oh. Wait. “Subsidiary of Acme Corporation.”

Sadly, on the way from the arts center to my car, I (felt I) had to cut through Main Street Provisions in order to shake the gentleman following me. Once in my car, I was importuned by a person with a sad tale of homelessness and hunger, which, if true, was worthy of my donation to the common weal, and, if false, said donation was a reasonable reward for a part well-realized.

Which reminds me that, if I’m going to be downtown in the evenings as a regular thing, I really do need to buy some general-issue gift cards to pay my toll with.

It really is a brilliant movie, though. Trust me.

Just remember: There are a limited number of signs.

Just for fun:  The Clash, “I Fought the Law“

And if you lie, you will lose it

This morning’s cat census here

Tuesday. Sunny and already warm. Trash and recycling at the curb patiently awaiting the advent of the trash truck.

Back with Jethri today and writing the rest of a sticky scene. It still needs work, but, hey! First Draft, amirite? The WIP now stands at 51,490ish total words. Next scene, tomorrow, already sketched in on the pad, and ought to be more fun.  For writer values of “fun.”

I have, I think, figured out what to do with the character from Chicago, and her friends, too. Now, all I have to do is find time and energy to do it. I know — some of us wish we had such problems.

This morning, I purchased a ticket to view Coyote vs ACME on Thursday, September 3, which makes next week Media Rich, as I’m also seeing a play on Sunday.

Social butterfly, ayuh.

Crafts, this evening, and before that I have chores, correspondence, and lunch to cope with.

So! What’s on your schedule today?
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So. . .somebody just stole my recycling.

I mean, not the mixed recycling that is in the covered wheeled bin, but the broken down cardboard boxes that were in the open recycling box. I s’pose somebody needed cardboard?

I wouldn’t — well, I don’t — care, particularly, except that I’m in a very wobbly state where I’m kind of second- and third-guessing everything, and when I looked out the window, and saw the bin was empty, while the rest of the trash was still where I’d put it, and the wheeled bin was still upright and had its lid down — I thought that maybe I’d been inattentive enough to have put out an empty bin. Which is nonsense; getting that bin out is non-trivial, and I clearly remembered that there had been cardboard in the damned thing when I dragged it out to the curb earlier.

Sigh.

Speaking of which, I just read some advice in an advice book on how to remember if you’ve done one of those things that you’ve been doing daily for decades, today, and the advice was to PAY ATTENTION.  Which, while reasonable, isn’t, oh, I dunno, helpful.

Anyhow — off to do my chores.

Today’s blog post title courtesy of Eric Clapton, “It’s in the Way That You Use It”

 

Prince Siegfried and the Black Swan

Friday.

Watched the 2010 Swan Lake last night (aka “the Swan Lake for our times”), after I decided that the production I was offered–The Velveteen Rabbit– was taking too much of my limited store of patience. My state of mind might have come over to Swan Lake, which was … not riveting, but certainly watchable, and I did watch it. I did not at all like the man who danced Prince Siegfried, and found the Black Swan much more compelling than the milquetoast–ahem–White Swan. Still, it took my mind off my problems for a while, so that was a thing.

Had a bad night, despite the best effort of cats, and only this morning realized that I have an answer to the problem of wanting to put heat on my back during the night. I have two heated throws, one of which now joins the bed furnishings.

Got grumpy on an email list, did PT homework, ate breakfast.

Wrote +/-660 new words, bringing the WIP entire to 30,145ish words. I’m still subscribing to the Write What You Know then fill in the scenes that are left mode of writing, and this morning I did leave a space for a chapter that has to be there, but the guys in the cellar haven’t gotten me the deets yet, and went on to write a scene I didn’t know I needed, until I looked at what my fingers were typing.

The cats were Very Pleased that I decided to join them at work, and they are still in Steve’s office, taking in the air from the sliders. I’m increasingly glad that I had the French windows replaced with the Andersen sliders. Yes, they were heart-stoppingly expensive, but the entire household is made glad by their presence.

I need to do my duty to the cats, then find something to eat. After, I intend to find someplace comfortable to sit-or-lie-down and try to work out some of the WIP’s future bits. I’m really enjoying the daily writing momentum. I’d like to preserve it, if I can, and give the whole Descent into the Slough of Despond a miss this time.

It’s a good plan.

How’s your Friday shaping up?

Mid-week ketchup

What went before — Tuesday: Saw Disclosure Day.

I have … mixed feelings.

On the one hand — looks pretty, gets on its bike and rides, and — granting that I have no idea what it means — the actors did a good job. And a plea for empathy is always in order, especially now, when empathy — Well. Paraphrasing Gabriel in Good Omens 2: If we have empathy, how will we know who won?

There are two Steven Spielberg movies that have been benchmarks of their kind for me, since forever: one was ET, the other was Close Encounters.

I really liked ET even knowing at the time that the storyteller entertained a vastly more positive view of humanity than I did.

Close Encounters? Made me nuts on so many levels.

Disclosure Day sits in the middle — ET‘s earnest belief that innocence and goodwill shall triump; and Close Encounters’ Imma scrape every nerve you have and leave you shaking with rage.

There was some good storytelling, and some o-so-stupid storytelling born of sheer wishful thinking on the part of the storyteller.

On the plus side, a bit of the movie was set in Sykesville Maryland, which happens to be in my old neighborhood. “Silver Spring 20 miles.”

Gotta go get something to eat.
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Man, the car’s GPS hates Bath. I dunno, maybe it gets its brains scrambled by all the noise and metal and whatnot at the Iron Works.

I’m somewhat chagrined to find that, after a lifetime of people asking me if my blood pressure was always this low? It’s now high enough to require drugs — lisinopril, which Steve took, though a lesser dose, because it was treating a different condition.

I did have a very pleasant drive coming and going, down Rte 197 and thoseways along rivers and past lakes, through a pretty day with a blue sky. I did stop at the Maine Maritime Museum and took a stroll around the grounds to both soothe my temper (ref uneasy relationship between GPS and Bath), and enjoy the day before driving home.

Chores have been done, and I’m getting ready to knock off for the day.

And tomorrow — I write.

How’s everybody doing?

A demon can get into real trouble, doing the right thing

Thursday. Cloudy, cool, and damp. Weatherbeans are calling for the damp to start falling out of the sky in a few hours. And the sun has come out during the hour I’ve been away to tend other matters.

So, I watched Good Omens 3 last night. I’m sorry the story had to be punished for Neil’s alleged bad behavior. The lack of his vision and what he imagined for Sir Terry’s vision was obvious in its absence, and what was offered was a flimsy sort of closure with a “feel good” denouement.

I thought, but have since better informed myself, that the last season had been cut from 6 episodes down to 90 minutes, which I was willing to admire the editor’s skill, while mourning the lack of depth.  In fact, I learn that neither Neil nor his production company was involved in Season 3. It was created by a Whole ‘Nother Group, which … kinda shows.

I actually wanted more of Jesus; he was shaping up really well, and I adored the practicality of — whatever it takes to bring people to you so you can teach — stories? pizza? Three-card monte? It’s all good.

This morning, I have been doing bookkeeping and poking at financial matters, which isn’t upsetting in the least. I will shortly get with sorting through closet and dresser drawers, moving winter out and into the spaces where spring and summer now reside.

For those following along at home, the preorder numbers thus far reported for the ebook edition of The Fey Duology are! Amazon 149; Apple 25; BN 7; Kobo 16.

The proof of the paper edition should be with me tomorrow.

Amazon wants me to go to “groundwood paper” for my paper editions, but doesn’t seem to be offering a sample, so — no, Amazon. Thanks for thinking of me.

And that’s the news.

How’s your day starting out?

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Sweet baby kitties. Who could guess that they were trying to murder each other five minutes ago?

Sunday evening 5 pm

All righty, then! Sunday. Cold and grey with snow showers.

Breakfast was — all together now! — hummus, naan, and grapes. Lunch will be a box of something, on account I’m lazy, and also because I’ve got a buncha RL stuff to cope with on my desk.

I also feel kinda pillow fort-ish. No particular reason, except that Steve has now been dead longer than he’s ever been dead before and I am Not Preferring this narrative.

Writing is over for the day — 1,377 new words, bringing the entire WIP to something around 104,110. Caught myself being unkind to same, which is too easy to do when it’s Just You. It is of course, not just me, and I would like to recognize Tali’s support — she came over and cleaned my eyebrows for me, which was … strange, but well-intentioned, and I did feel better for it.

Tried to watch Miss Scarlet last night, and didn’t quite make it through the first episode. Maybe I’ll try Bridgerton.

What else? Oh, the plaque sellers are out in force. Honestly, I’ve never understood why I need a plaque to commemorate the publication of a book when, yanno, I have the book?

There are an Incredible Number of People who are counting themselves IN on the Liaden Readalong. We probably need a theme song. I’ll try to draft some Rules of the Read today, or tomorrow, so people can take a look and offer fine-tuning, if any.

And that’s all I’ve got at — well, lunchtime.

Speaking of which — oughta go do that.

How’s your Sunday going?
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OK, so that’s it for the day. I didn’t get everything done, but really, when does that happen?

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Soup for breakfast

Monday. Sunny, windy — let’s just agree to call it cold.

Breakfast was leftover tom-yum soup from lunch the other day. I think I have the name right. Lately, I’ve been trying to order one thing I’ve never had before, so instead of egg drop or wonton, I got this other soup. It’s sweet and sour, with chicken and veggies, garnished with peanuts. Makes a good breakfast on a cold morning.

Lunch was the last of the (unfrozen) Thanksgiving chicken with gravy and dressing. There’s a little bit of dressing left. It’s in no danger of getting wasted.

Trash and recycling is in the garage, meditating on its journey to the curb. Which may be delayed until next week, depending on when the storm starts tomorrow, and if the weatherbeans remain adamant in their 6-9-inch predictions. I don’t have to be anyplace until Wednesday morning, and I have plenty of milk for hot chocolate, not to say stuff to keep me occupied, so, yanno, I’ll be fine.

Finished watching Maigret last night (I had been going to finish the night before, but it was (sadly) clear to me how this was going to have to go down and I wasn’t up for Maigret finding out exactly what his roll of the dice had bought him.) Still, all’s well that ended well, though I fear for Louise and Jules as a couple.

As a writer, I do need to have a Word with Maigret’s writers. Guys? You don’t give a character a Defining Quirk, like, for instance HE DOESN’T DRIVE, and then, when that Quirk becomes inconvenient, suddenly! he DOES drive. Points off, writers. Do better going forward.

My to-do list says I have some phone calls and banking stuff to deal with, but what does it know? I’m gonna go play with glass for an hour, because I am reputedly An Adult. Also, having sat with the manuscript for four hours this morning, I need to think. Actually, I need to talk to Steve, but since that’s a non-starter, thinking it is, and so the glass.

How’s everybody this afternoon? Weather good? Whatcha watchin?

The Long Back Yard at 6:30 this morning:

End run

6:30 am: The workday begins

Later that same day: Taking a break to make myself a pot of lentil soup for today and For! The! Future!

The cats are still all back in Steve’s office, having, as the barbarians they are, not the least little bit of interest in lentil soup. Barbarism aside, I have done my duty to themselves, taken a short walk, and also accomplished a few diddly little things while I’m in this side of the house.

USPS allows me to know that I can expect delivery of my tea order today, so that’ll be interesting, going forward.

Last night’s movie was “Vengeance Most Fowl” which is as far as I know the “new” Wallace and Gromit. Those who had been wanting to know about this new??? Wallace and Gromit will do well to remember that I don’t get out much, and in acknowledgement of that I did quotate “new”.

Tonight, I may (re)watch “Enola Holmes,” which I enjoyed the first time I saw it, and which will be pleasant to see again over a glass of wine.

Tomorrow — is Veteran’s Day. There is therefore, no trash pickup, no needlework (the library being closed), and, I think?, no mail. There is, however, a dental appointment. In case anyone was looking for evidence of Life Not Being Fair.

And! My lunch appears to be done. I’ve just added some red wine, and will let that perk a bit while I cut bread and pour ice tea and such like.

How’s Monday treating y’all?
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The end of the six-day run, and what a run it was.

The manuscript has shrunk, but that was expected, and some of the shrinkage was only due to a particular exchange being in the wrong place, so those words aren’t gone, they’re only on-hold for awhile.

I still have about 200 pages of corrections to input, which will now have to take a back seat to Real Life, but! it’s much easier to sit down for a half-hour between Stuff and input a couple pages of corrections than it is to try to work out a whole scene in spits and spots.

On the topic of Adjusting Mine Environment — I was being sufficiently oppressed by the darkness — especially in Steve’s Wing — that I thought to add to tomorrow’s errands a trip to Home Despot or wherever to buy some twinkle lights to install in the laundry room.

Then, as I was wandering the house earlier, I snapped on one of the many “neon” tube lights we have around here, leaning in corners for quick-lights, and I said to myself, I said, “Self? We don’ need no farkin’ twinkle lights.”

I installed a blue tube and a … pink, I guess it is. And boy! don’t they light up the space! I did hang them up with the brackets that came with; fingers crossed they’ll stay where I put them.

Harney’s came through with the tea, and I have 50 sachets each of Scottish Morn and Hiberian Irish to test drive, starting — tomorrow morning, because now?

It’s wine o’clock.

Everybody have a good evening. Stay safe. I’ll check in tomorrow.

The work in hand

Friday. Dim and chilly. Slept late, for recent values of late.

Today is an Official sweatpants-sweatshirt-snuggy-sox-Read!-The!-Manuscript!-Day.

. . . just as soon as I get breakfast, which will be! Oatmeal with apple jam. First cup of tea is brewing.

Kpop Demon Hunters was amusing, and I’m not sorry I had to wrassle Netflix best two out of three to get to watch it.

Y’all have a good Friday.