#213 - Bowel Enhancing Qualities

I made the call to work from home again today.

No one seemed to care or notice, and I needed the extra two hours of sleep. I got to bed around three thirty in the morning. Seven AM comes quick when you go to bed that late. But sleeping until 9 takes some of the edge off.

And yet I still struggled to get out of the bed, choosing instead to read and reply to the litany of Teams messages that started rolling in like they do everyday at this hour. In this way I was available to me team members and getting an extra half an hour of rest.

When the automated window blinds opened at the preprogramed time of nine thirty, I knew the gig was up and I rolled out of bed, groaning with effort and displeasure. I sought out chemicals to enhance my consciousness, once again opting for the soothing warmth of the Earl Grey. Coffee seemed like something I should keep in reserve, a bolster to my afternoon deflations. And coffee can irritate my stomach, more so when I haven’t eaten anything first. Imagine pouring cola over a tub of Minto’s. That’s my relationship to the mighty roasted bean. And yet sometimes I crave it.

I wanted to do another coffee vacuum experiment, this time with a full-sized hazelnut flavoured Nespresso. That will have to wait for Saturday or Sunday. There isn’t time for such folly under my current self-imposed workload.

I made some buttered toast to eat and grabbed a few prunes. I don’t eat them for their bowel enhancing qualities, it just turned out that I light them. Prunes are like better raisins. I like their texture and their bite sized form.

I used Wonder bread for the toast, ruefully glancing at the partial sourdough loaf setting on the cutting board. After last night’s writing fest my will power was still too underwhelming to pick up the bread knife and lop myself off a slice.

Happily, I did find the strength of character to offer to make Robyn a cup of tea, because there is nothing more unforgivable than to make just yourself a cup of tea. At least in our house it’s a shot across the bow. A clear sign that you have entered hostile territory. An invitation to the doghouse. But I didn’t do it for those reasons alone.

Tea is our love language.

Well, all food is our love language.

After presenting Robyn her gift, I trudged back upstairs to my studio desk, a plate of substandard toast and smart mug filled with tea in hand. I powered up my resentful HP mini and jumped through the hoops of the security checks, my beleaguered brain struggling to recall the passwords. My phone trying to authenticate my face wearing its mask of fatigue.

After what seemed like a colossal effort, I was judged to be worthy and granted the privileged of toiling in the digital mines of the Background and Paint department.

There was a pdf to review sitting in my inbox, wagging its expectant tail at me, tongue lolling like an affection starved dog. It was penned by one the higher ups. A guide on how to use the library of trees and bushes. It contained information, that on any other day I would have let slide off my thickened and scarred skin. It was information that would be essential to anyone who had not done the job before. A nervous junior would have found it enlightening.

To anyone who had worked as many years as even the least experienced member of our team, it was mildly condescending and as useful as instructions on a shampoo bottle. Who are those for anyways?

This morning’s mood required me to close the document with the zeal of throwing it into the trash can. The authors intentions were pure. There was no malintent in its creation. It’s sole purpose to be an aid.

The second email I opened was about how to enter the building without letting in strangers. Hmm, I thought, there seems to be a theme developing today. I wonder what other mind-blowing information might be gifted to me this day. Perhaps it was Christmas and I hadn’t even noticed the day.

I quickly composed a few instructional aids of my own to gift, in the spirit of reciprocation. Something in the vein of a How to go…

But alas I had other things to get done. If only I could remember what they were. Late nights and early morning don’t make for sharp minds.

I rummaged around my desk and located a scrap of paper with writing on it. Past me seems to have anticipated my current needs. Upon this missive was the template of what my workday would entail.

I opened a photoshop file and began to revise a painting with the goal of making it conform to the new look that had recently been locked in and approved by our client/partners.

It was a tedious task of extensions, removal and improvement. These types of paintings are sometimes harder than if we had just done it from scratch. It takes a keen eye and a deft hand to get them looking like their finished state was the original intention.

I worked on this until it was time for a lunch break. It had been raining earlier, but it was clear enough that we risked getting soaked. The temperature was cooler than the previous days which is great for walking. I stopped to check on my tulips progress like a doting grandfather.

Glancing up at the roof, I searched for evidence of squirrels and raccoons and was pissed to see some fat raccoon had broken through the deterrent we installed last year. By the looks of it the animal sat on it from the inside and the barrier collapsed. I had constructed it to stop them from pushing up on it not dumping their chubby butts down on it.

I was impossible not to feel a little defeated in that moment. We had invested a great deal of effort into that first anti-raccoon barrier. It does give me a better idea of how to make the rest of them. Now that I can see what they are doing. Still a huge pain in the butt and just another thing to add to the growing list of house repairs.

The little buggers were up there last night making lots of noises. They seem to show up when there is rain in the forecast. I don’t think they like being wet.

The walk was enjoyable and sorely needed. It’s one of the things I look forward to in my workday. Getting outside and doing something else. But seriously, when you sit all day for your job, getting out and about changes how you feel. If we skip it too, many times in a row I start to feel the effects. One walk, usually about halfway through, I begin to feel like myself again.

I hate to think what my health would be like if I broke my leg and couldn’t move about for awhile.

The walk was otherwise unremarkable. Robyn and I chatted as usual and then we settled into her listening to her music, and I let my mind run free.

I received an order of Astaxanthin and some Moroccan hair oil. The hair oil is part of a gift for Robyn’s Mother’s Day. Don’t worry she doesn’t read the blog or any of my stories for that matter.

The astaxanthin is a supplement that I use for sun protection and as an Omega fatty acid. I talked about it here before in more depth, but it essential helps me not get sunburned as quickly and helps my get some color. It’s been a real game changer for me and my pale ass skin.

I start taking it in April most years, unless I know I am going on vacation to sunny spot. It takes about two weeks to take effect. Its also good at reducing irritation as well and seems to help me with muscle recovery.

Back up to my studio desk to continue with my revisions until I noticed some of the painters had handed in some work for me to check. I decided to jump on that, so the next department on the conveyor belt might get more work from us faster.

Some of what I was seeing didn’t make sense to me and I jumped on a chat with my supervisor to get some clarity. In the end we decided to talk about it when we were both in the studio. There have been so many changes over the last couple of weeks that things can easily get confusing. But we’ll put our heads together tomorrow and get it solved.

 I received a text from a friend and colleague as it is her last day on Friday. Since we’ll all be in the studio tomorrow, it seemed like a good time to go and grab some food together at lunch.

We have worked on many shows together and we even attended their wedding. They will be missed, but I am confident that we will work together again sometime in the future.

Getting back to work, I finished the day doing the approvals I was confident about and then made some notes for the next day. And we already know how useful those notes can be.

With Thursday being an in-studio day, it means up at seven AM again to catch the train. It also means that it is Survivor, Pizza, Hot Tub night. And to make it even more convoluted, it is the last day of April and that means my word count is due for the month.

As I write this, I am a little over ten thousand words shy of hitting the mark. If I hit my goal of six thousand words tonight, that number will drop to just over six thousand. Tomorrow is going to be hard day. I can only hope to get some writing done on the train. Lunch is booked with a departing colleague as mentioned above. And then I will need to write while everyone watches TV.

If I can do that before we head home for the night, usually that is around nine-thirty, then I may have just enough time to write the estimated four thousand remaining words. Either way, its going to be a very long day.

After work I went outside to cut the lawn. I have a Ryobi 40 V battery operated lawnmower. The battery is over three years old and last season it was no longer charging to one hundred percent.

Today I managed to cut half of our front lawn before it gave up the ghost. I placed it back on the charger hoping I might get the same juice out of it again, but a few hours later and it was still show it had no charge.

I ordered a knock-off version from Amazon that had good reviews and a higher listed Amp hour. The original Ryobi batteries are over one hundred and fifty dollars at Home Depot here in Canada. I could buy two of the knockoffs at that price.

I ordered just the one to see how it performed before buying a second one. Now my lawn looks a little funny with its half-finished hair cut. At first, I was miffed about the battery not working and then I thought about all the gas I would have gone through if it was a traditional mower. When you look at it that way, it’s still a good deal to replace your batteries every three to five years.

With lawning mowing interrupted I went back inside to see what Robyn wanted to do about supper. I wasn’t interested in cooking tonight, and when I found her, Robyn was all cozied up and reading in bed. I offered to buy us some “In-a-bowl” from Uber Eats. They are a Japanese restaurant that makes great bowls with fresh ingredients. I opted to get chicken-katsu instead and was very happy with my choice. Japanese salad dressing is the best.

My chicken had a crunchy exterior and tender meat. They supplied me with a dipping sauce of some kind, dark and thick, that went great with the chicken, and I even poured some over my sticky rice.

We watched “The Daily Show” and an episode of “The Boys,” while we ate. By the time the shows were over it was time for me to get to writing and Robyn to head out with the kiddo for a walk.

We received a text message that tomorrow’s pizza had been pre-ordered by our friends. A few weeks ago, we decided to take turns buying the food to save a bit of money. Every Thursday there was too much food left over. With all our friends’ kids now moved out of the house, there were less takers for the leftovers, and it just didn’t make sense to waste the money.

I will be buying a boatload of Indian food this weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day a week early. My plan to make multiple dishes for the day now seems laughable under my current workload. I may try to make a Chicken Ruby and double the recipe. More for me than anyone else.

The truth is, it will probably cost the same or be cheaper to order in the food from the restaurant. And I’ll be able to relax and spend quality time with my family. No need to be stressed out trying to cook food after having burned the candle at both ends for so long.

I’ve got this jazz playing on YouTube right now and I want a bourbon in my hand right now. I am enjoying more than I thought I would. It’s heavy on the piano, upright bass and sax.

 You can listen to it yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxBH1PYaqQk

Feeling a little bit James Bond-ish with it playing.

Looking more like Jabba-the-Hut and feeling more like death warmed over. But that’s another story.

I am feeling completely unprepared to travel to work tomorrow. I have a habit of laying out my clothes, wallet, door fob and packing my bag before I go to bed. Makes the morning more bearable for a night owl. You only have to forget your earbuds once to truly start hating your job. I keep a pair of over the ear headphones at the studio, bit I use them almost exclusively for video calls with the team.

Even my phone hasn’t been charged since yesterday. I’ll have to make the time when I take a break from this to arrange some it. I’m in kiddo #1’s room again sitting on the recliner and I think Robyn has gone to bed already, making organizing my things more difficult. It’s a pain to do in the darkness of the night. I tend to drop things and wake her from a peaceful slumber

If I get lucky, I’ll hear her get up to take a pee and I can swoop into the bedroom and shine a light.

Its’s hard to believe that the US has spent over twenty-five billion dollars on the Iran invasion so far. That’s a lot of resources that could have been used for health care and infrastructure projects.

David Ellison of Paramount stated he wants to release thirty films per year if he gets Warner Bros. A feat that has not been achieved by any modern studio. The closest anyone has come so far was twenty-five in one year.

Back in the day studios might release a film a week, but the filming costs and resources needed were a lot less. Sets were reused and costumes exchanged. And the films tended to be a bit shorter. Probably because of limitations of reel sizes. It will be interesting to see if they can pump out that many films per year. It could hasten a return to the golden age of movies, or it could hasten the publics distaste.

They are going to need some good projects to get people into the theatres. A spectacle of explosions in no longer enough to keep the masses entertained. And people are being more specific about where they spend their limited resources.

Still, for someone who works in TV entertainment it sounds like encouraging news and perhaps signals a confidence in a return of the industry to previous standards.

And it helps boister my belief that there will be enough good movies released this year to bring the viewing public out to the theatres again.

I watched a bit more of King Charles’ speeches. He did a great job of being playful while still delivering clear messages to Trump. T one point he reminded Trump that the King of England was Canada’s head of state. Being able to take a jab at someone while making a point about the need for more co-operation between countries looks like magic after the tactlessness of the current US president’s political skills.

It was nice to see a veteran statesman doing his thing with the ease of a beloved lounge singer.

I get the impression that many Americans are feeling embarrassed that the King of England made a trip on their two hundred and fiftieth anniversary to remind them of what they fought for all those years ago and against Charles’ own ancestor!

It’s just coming up on midnight, and I am about on pace. I’ve written about three thousand words in three hours. At this rate I will finish up today’s quota around three AM again. With the seven AM wake-up that is going to be rough. I’d love to pack it in around two AM.

But, I’ll take a five-minute break, grab a drink and then get back to it. No time to dawdle tonight!

A slice of buttered sourdough and a decaf earl grey later and I am back.

While rooting around the kitchen for a snack, I realized that I should bake some of my healthy muffins again. They provide me with a pastry like snack while packing my colon with tons of fibre. A friend of ours calls them “Depth Charge Muffins.”

And yes, they keep you regular as well.

I like them for the taste and their ability to kill my bread, and cake urges while also helping me to lose weight. Have good snacks around is one of the key ways that I lose weight. Robyn enjoyed eating them as well. The recipe book I got them from also had a good banana bread option as well and I just happen to have a few bananas in the freezer.

We need to renew our mortgage this summer, and I am hoping like everyone else that the interest rates will drop again. They are already better than they were a year ago and it will likely mean we will have a bit more cash flow come July.

The last few years, our mortgage has increased our financial strain. It sure would be good to get some relief. We never seem to qualify for all the other tax breaks the government offers. I guess on paper we make too much money to be considered.

A decrease in the rate could help people to afford more, we just have to be careful that it doesn’t rebound back to us as inflation. There has been way too much of that lately.

Just switched my playlist to a dark blues channel. There are vocals in the first song, and I although the song is cool, it’s too hard to write when someone else is telling a story to music.

Oh, I just found symphonic versions of U2 songs. That will do for tonight.

It’s interesting that I like some of U2’s newer songs better when Bono isn’t singing on the track.

https://youtu.be/fJ6_hGByBy0?si=jM7rf2BxvM2Aovs-

I used to listen to the Joshua Tree album every night before I went to sleep. It was my soundtrack to my thoughts and dreams as a teenager and well into my twenties. I still put it on while I am working. At one point, it wasn’t unusual for me to take late night runs, and I had this playing in my Sony Walkman Sport. One of those bright yellow cassette players.

That was a good piece of technology back in those days. They even had those cool headphones that were smaller than all the others. And when your tape was slowed down by weak batteries you could just switch to the FM/AM radio and have music for hours more.

Funny to think how every phone has massive music libraries on board.

I miss when me and some friends would get together to write our own songs. Most of them were awful, but there were a few that had some promise. I played guitar, Paul played drums, some keyboards and sang. At least he could do it better than the rest of us. Rob also played guitar. Yes, we had two guitarists who couldn’t play their instruments very well.

We had some fun nights trying to work it all out.

 

I did some reading today as a little break from working. That gets me eleven days in a row where I have managed to read some fiction. My mentor puts up a free story on her blog every Monday for a week. And since she writes in so many genres there is always something interesting to read.

I hope to be able to do that one day on my site. It’s a good promotion technique and it shows off her various skills in all the genres. You need to have plenty of stories written before you can pull something like this off as she never repeats the same story offerings.

Her husband, my other teacher gathers his stories into his own magazine called Smith;s Monthly. It’s important to eventually find a place for all these stories to live, otherwise you might start to feel like what is the point of writing all of these.

Putting them into a collection gives them another purpose other than the joy of creation.

And once they have the stories listed for sale as individuals it makes it easier for them to use them on their Kickstarter campaign as stretch goals.

I’ve put about six of my stories up on Amazon and my own site as well as a collection. It took a bit of work to get them up there, learning the new software packages and learning how to do covers and sales copy as well.

The time will come soon enough when I’ll have a full novel up for offer as well, and I’ll have all the skills learned by then to get it up with more ease.

The orchestra is playing their version of U2’s ‘One’ right now in my ears and it’s a pretty jammin’ version. With or Without You is good as well.

I wonder if this was made with real musicians or if it was AI generated.

Back in college I heard Yanni: Live at the Acropolis for the first time. My roommate Mike introduced me to him. I’m a sucker for a good instrumental, more so if it has a big orchestra. It’s been so long since I listened to that album. I’ll have to search it out again and see if it still stands up. Some of what I am hearing right now reminds me of Yanni’s scores.

A quick search on YouTube and yes, his music is all there. The man, the moustache, the music. Not to be missed.

And come on, the Acropolis is one cool place to perform at, and he uses a massive orchestra. It must have cost a fortune to do one of his shows. Its good music to paint to, lively and uplifting at the same time.

I think he even gives a few, short and hopeful speeches at one point if I remember correctly.

The song playing right now has a very distinctive Asian flare to it and then he bounces back into a Greek flare. Almost inspired by Greek stringed guitar like instruments to my ear.

I’ve noticed my laptop battery isn’t charging past ninety-five percent anymore. I wonder if the battery is starting to lose some of its charging capacity. It’s a two thousand and eighteen model so it wouldn’t surprise me if it had lost a bit of its youthfulness.

I finally received notice from Wacom that the new pen is getting delivered tomorrow. Unfortunately, we won’t be here when it does arrive and of course it needs a signature. I am hoping the kiddo is home tomorrow otherwise I might not have a digital stylus to use on Monday. I may need to take my studio pen home and bring it back when I come in to work.

For lunch, I had some Pogos heated up in the microwave. I think they call them corn dogs in the US. Now, a microwaved Pogo is probably the worst way you can cook one. Deep-fried or baked in an oven gives you a nice crispy batter.

Regardless of how you made it, mine came out a bit soggy, the mere fact that you are having it as your lunch really does cause you to question some of your life choices. But I ate them with the last fart of ketchup from the bottle. Because even soggy, they need the liquid assistance that the ketchup provides. And the with the first few bites you think to yourself, hey, this isn’t that bad, but as you keep eating and the flavour from the wooden stick seeps into the hotdog nestled within you quickly change your mind.

And then you wonder if they purposely choose the worst tasting pieces of wood, they could find to give you that unpleasant gastronomic surprise right around the middle of the meal. Serves me right for eating them in the first place, but I was too lazy to make anything else we had in the cupboards or in the freezer.

And yet there was perfectly fine spaghetti and meatball leftovers, but we were saving those for our Thursday lunch, which we don’t need now because we agreed to go out for lunch with our friend and colleague. Such is the life of a Brian.

And it sounds like I won’t get a chance to eat at the diner tomorrow either. I can’t do a big breakfast, a lunch and the do pizza in the evening. Too much food for this guy. Once it I would have gone for seconds at each meal. Now I should only eat half of any of my meals if I want to remain comfortable and not feel like that guy in the restaurant skit by Monty Python.

“But its only wafer thin!”

You aren’t fooling me, John Cleese.

Speaking of Cleese, I watched a clip of him talking about his show Fawlty Towers and that his character, Basil Fawlty, was based on a real hotelier, at a hotel frequented by the members of Python. At one point Eric Idle left his briefcase by the door and when he came back looking for it the man said he had thrown it over the wall.

And when questioned as to why he had done that he simply stated that there might have been a bomb in there.

The stories of Paul McCartney and John Lennon getting lyrics from people they met are legendary as well. I love to hear the stories behind some the iconic works we have come to enjoy. Fawlty Towers was a great show and still hilarious all these years later.

Makes me want to meet some real characters out there in the real world, just so I’ll have the inspiration to create some interesting characters inspired by real people.

There is a retirement building going up across the street from our house. Overnight the landscapers have planted some of the trees and bushes. It really makes a difference to the look of the building. It’s breaking up the greyness of the hard concrete and adding a bit of life into the area. They planted some cedars along the outside wall, and I can see a few deciduous trees as well. Although they are so small it will be decades before anyone benefits from their shade.

The owners have also put in a nice sized gazebo for the residents to use. And it makes for a much nicer looking front area as well. The only downside is the amount of transport trucks that use the main road. The road noise can be a little much during the day.

It’s about quarter after two in the morning and I have hit four thousand and eight hndred words. Twelve hundred words away from my quota. I have to wake up in less than five hours. And I haven’t even fallen asleep yet.

I will have more time tomorrow to make that up than I have today, because I can sleep in a bit longer on Friday morning since I will be working from home. If I can get up to five thousand words tonight, then I will call it quits and make up the remaining thousand tomorrow.

That means I’ll have a seven-thousand-word quota tomorrow on the final day of the challenge. Why oh why do I do this to myself?

Because I procrastinate is the obvious answer.

And if this was easy everyone would be doing it.

I had “Mr. Inbetween,” playing on my ipad as I worked today. The show got a bit more violent in the last few episodes. Ray, the main character, is one of those people who makes you forget that he is a criminal that kills people for money. Anthony Soprano comes to mind as well. Another bad person who makes you forget how bad they are and what they are capable of.

Those kinds of characters are fascinating to watch.

Okay, I need to get some shut eye.

Tomorrow may break me, but I‘m not broken yet.

Peace out.