#172 - Wings, but not the ones we wanted

I made it out of bed without too much protest.

Traffic was low on the way to the station, and I boarded the train at the front today because it was a different train than I usually take and it wasn’t very busy on the platform. The front of the train is the best spot for me when I am travelling into work as it gets me to the correct set of stairs.

This is a prized spot for the regular commuters, and not one I generally want to compete for. But there I was, front car of the train, and it made disembarking easier.

Since my stomach was feeling a bit upset last night, I opted to forgo my Patrician Diner eggs and bacon and instead stopped at the Pain au D’ore to get my other favourite, the vegetarian breakfast sandwich. A round croissant filled with grilled yellow bell peppers, zucchini chunks, and goat’s cheese. Absolutely delicious!

And since I was going to also avoid any coffee today, I preordered a Starbucks Chai Latte from the app, walked straight into the store and my order had just been put out. Isn’t technology wonderful sometimes?

Work went well today. I started by handing out some revisions to my co-workers and then I was tasked to changing some window colour treatments to an approved colour. After that, I was back to painting my own work, broken up by some more approvals of the work I had just requested revisions on.

I was able to approve all the revised work and went back to painting for the rest of the day while I listened to an audiobook. There weren’t many interruptions today, and I was just able to get some work done. Can’t complain about that.

I was even able to listen to two weeks' worth of the Character Development course while I happily painted away.

Lunch was kept short; I had brought a grilled chicken salad and some mandarin oranges, which made for a tasty lunch. I washed it down with a Pepsi Cream Soda, which tastes suspiciously like an Irn Bru soft drink from Scotland that I enjoy when I am there.

It’s Thursday, so we are off to our friend’s house tonight for Suvrivor Pizza Hot Tub. We are bringing some chicken wings this time around, as we are a little pizza’d out.

Never thought I’d say that in my life.

I managed to get a seat that is great for writing on the train on the way home. It’s an all-stops train, which is probably why it isn’t as busy. But I’ll take the extra seating over an express right now if it means I can type with ease.

 

I am hoping to get some reading done this evening after we depart our friend’s place. I haven’t had much of a chance lately, and it really helps to relax me at the end of the day.

With tomorrow being a work from home day, I am hoping i’ll be able to get plenty of sleep. That being said, the oven arrives tomorrow, and there is still some prep to do before they arrive. And with my luck, they will show up at eight AM.

Right now, I am just grateful that the trains are running with no incidents, and I’ll be home in a few minutes to sort myself out before it’s time to head out to our friends for the nightly entertainment.

Another friend from Niagara owns a media company called Ownera and is currently running a contest for authors. It’s taking advantage of their marketing and production expertise and is worth up to $5000. A nice prize for a writer to win.

Many people who write books have little to no knowledge of what they should do with them afterwards. Being a digital artist, making covers and designing interiors isn’t too difficult for me. I had to learn how to use InDesign, but it wasn’t too difficult. I hear there is book software called Vellum that is very easy to use, but you have to own a Mac to run it.

I may buy a cheap Mac just for that end of book production if it makes things that much easier.

The place I was going to order my wings from isn’t accepting online orders currently, and there is no explanation if they will today or not. Pretty annoying customer experience. I wonder how many orders they lose in a week because of the lack of information.

I ended up ordering from a different restaurant, and it all worked out for the better.

In fact, the meal came with potato wedges and onion rings. Our friends ordered two pizzas from Pizza Hut. There was enough food to feed an army. We overdid it as usual.

We paused the show for a hot tub, and the ladies went for stroll around the neighbourhood. The water was sitting at one hundred and four degrees, and it felt amazing. The kind of heat that soaks straight into your muscles and bones. John adds a scented additive just before we enter which adds a spa-like calmness to the whole experience. Twenty minutes later, we exited the tub feeling like melted marshmallows.

The ladies returned just as we exited.

I was able to talk to my friend John about the novella I had just sent him. He was able to clarify some of the things he mentioned, and it all makes sense now. Apparently, in this very rough copy, I still had story notes I wanted to add, as well as my main character switching names at least three times. He said he still found himself wanting to turn the pages, and that was the thing I was most worried about.

Sometimes when I am writing, I wonder if this part I am putting down on paper is interesting enough, or is it a tangent I am wandering down.

I got a bit of Wizard the Cat time after the hot tub, fulfilling my cat requirements for the week. Robyn keeps saying I need another cat of my own, but we all know she is really talking about herself.

A feline friend for herself.

After the show ended, we headed back home. I was eager to read my book, and I managed to nearly finish “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”

But the specter of sleep had been whispering in my ear since dawn and I and succumbed to the need for slumber.

Until tomorrow