#221 - Farewells and Blondies

Going to bed early doesn’t guarantee a good night’s sleep.

And such was the case for me and Robyn last night. I think our room was initially too warm from the lovely day we had. I still got up at seven AM, but I left my sleeping bride to get some more rest. She deserves it.

I got out of the house in record time, even taking a moment to pack a lunch. And I arrived at the station in time to take the seven thirty-nine express, but I hung back and waited for the train after it. It’s an all stops and therefore less busy and more seating.

I think this is the first day I didn’t need to wear a coat. The weather is balmy sixteen degrees Celsius with a mild threat of rain, nothing my trusty umbrella can’t handle.

Looking at my little brown notebook, the number count for doing the 2026-word challenge looks incorrect to me. Not the number of words written but the tally of days completed seems too high. It should just be the number of days since January first, and that is currently below 200, and yet my count is over two hundred. I must have made an error somewhere along the line. It might be fun to go back and see where I made the gross misrepresentation, even if it was just to myself.

Ach! Someone on the train is wearing so much perfume that I can taste it on the tip of my tongue. Why can’t they douse themselves in that crap after the train gets them to their destination? And to put the icing on the cake some talky-talkertons just boarded the train. Activate grumpy old man powers. “Get of my lawn, you mangy rascals!”

The joys of public transportation never cease to abuse you.

Time to deploy the noise cancelling earbuds. Bye-bye noisy buggers.

In all fairness they weren’t being to loud, but one the speakers just has one of those voices that distracts the mind and makes thinking all but impossible. I am sitting in the second car from the front, and the front cars attract a certain type of personality. I’m going to call it the Bay Street type. The person who works in the financial district of Toronto.

Is it fair to stereotype all these workers? No. But I do it anyways because it entertains me. And my writing instructor tells us we should just sit in places and observe people’s mannerisms, dress and posture. You can tell a lot about a person that way, and in a story these little shortcuts can be a good way to get the character across, particularly if they don’t get much time on the page.

And before you judge, I am surrounded by dudes with the same blue suit and brown shoes. Or the lower ranks wearing a company vest over a dress shirt.

Mostly I am just jealous because I would still look dumpy in the same outfit.

So, the big dilemma for me today is do I get some breakfast or wait until tomorrow?

Since I already brought a lunch, and I am not feeling particularly famished, I might head straight to work, maybe stopping to get myself a Starbucks Chai Latte as a treat.

Robyn just woke up and was alarmed to see the time. She must have really needed the extra sleep. No point in going into the studio for her really. More of a social thing at this point.

But the train in now packed to gills, standing room only, making writing less enjoyable.

As I walked towards work, I googled the closing date for the diner and realised that this Saturday was the final day it would be open. I made my way there and was surprised to see the place was packed to the gills with patrons. Barely a seat was free. As I was by myself, I was able to grab a bar stool at the counter.

For the fist time I could remember there were waitresses helping. The owner Terry looked like he would have preferred the half the clientele. It might have been a while since they were this busy on a Tuesday morning.

I got my usual order and people watched while I ate my food. The staff were more amusing than the customers. Seeing the old place buzzing with people gave me a sense of what the place had been like back in it’s hey day.

The food was great as usual and the coffee is still the best in town as far as I am concerned.

I have two more days where I’ll be able to eat there and I plan to go both days if I can, because after Thursday it won’t exist for me anymore.

Arriving at the studio, I was one of three people from my show that were here today. Many people came in yesterday because the client was in for a visit. It’s strange to have a mandatory in house policy dictated by the client, but still not see anyone when you make all the effort to get here. I lost two hours of sleep, three hours of my free time and it cost me a little over twenty dollars for the privilege. Not to mention taking public transit in Canada feels makes you feel like you are cattle being driven to the slaughterhouse.

But at least it is nice and quiet at the studio today. That’s something at least. And I got my breakfast. Can’t forget that for sure!

I made a turkey sandwich for lunch even though we still have plenty of Indian leftovers from Sunday. Needed to change this up a bit and it’s been a while since I had a simple sandwich for lunch.

Once again, it was great to spend lunch writing while sitting in the couch area of the staff lunchroom. I could easily close my eyes and take a nap.

Might take a fifteen-minute eye break around three instead.

Okay, once more into the breach…

The rest of the day was relatively normal. I did work and listened to some music. Around three o’clock I was feeling like I could use a quick break and a coffee. My intension was to sip a coffee and close my eyes. When I got to the lunchroom our company president was making herself some lunch and we got to chatting. Previously she had mentioned that she really wanted to write a book, and I thought that was great. I had kept meaning to mention the workshops and course that have helped and continue to help me. I talked about my teacher and my mentor.

Then she dropped the bomb that she would be leaving the company soon as they are getting rid of redundant positions now that we and another studio have been acquired. She seemed positive about moving on and said she might get that chance to write now.

We lost the three founders of the studio last year and now another pivotal person is laaving. Someone who was well liked. And then another person, someone who had been the president’s assistant among many other responsibilities was also being let go.

And email went out at the end of the day, but the studio was mostly empty by that point in the day. We gathered, those of us who were there to do so, and drank studio gin, Limoncello and vodka mixed with whatever we could find in the studio fridges. It wasn’t pretty but it did the job.

We joked and told stories. Trying to keep things lighthearted and joyful. Acknowledging that things had changed, and that more changes were likely to come our way.

And then another bomb.

A long-time head of a department was also being let go for the same reasons. Some one who had been with eh company since the beginning. A new father of two children.

For me it confirmed that this was just the opening salvo. I expect more upsets to come our way and this following two or three years of destabilization.

Usually when five PM comes around, I am more than ready to get out of town and head back home as soon as possible. But tonight felt like I should stay and be with these people. Show my support and let them know they will be missed and matter.

Truth is, no one is likely to do it for me, and I think it helps them deal with the suddenness of it all. Instant change always comes as a shock.

I stayed for an hour and a half and then things broke up. People had places to be and emails to answer that the announcement likely had triggered. Walking to the station felt like the right thing to do as well. That gin was hitting my hard.

I had a good walk and felt refreshed by the cool air by the time I got to the station. A train was thirty minutes out so I sat and waited in spot with a good view of the departure board.

By twenty after seven I was zooming along on the train with no one siting beside directly across from me. The perfect conditions for getting some writing done.

I was able to get a little of sixteen hundred words written thanks to the train rides and the lunch writing session. Writing at the diner was out of the question, as was overstaying my welcome. They were too busy today to lollygag.

After a day that ended in such bad news it’s nice to know I have a family, work for at least until the new year and homemade cherry lime donuts to come home to. Some people don’t have any of those three, so I count myself a lucky guy.

I am also keenly aware that my time is coming too. No one in this industry is going to come out of it unscathed. But you can keep your head above water for as long as it takes.

Last night’s sleep wasn’t the best I’ve ever had, so I am somewhat relieved that I have written enough today that I won’t have to any writing this evening or at least not very much. An easy night is certainly called for and can only help with another early morning tomorrow.

I’ll take another stab at getting to the diner for a second last meal before heading back into work. Two more chances left and I aim to take a shot at both of them.

Sounds like Paramount Plus has decided to cancel all Star Trek productions and put the IP on hiatus. Which is probably a good idea for the brand. And it might be a blessing in disguise for the fans as well. Fondness makes the heart grow fonder as they say. And may be missing the show will give it back it’s respect inside the Paramount apparatus. Something cherished instead of something just to be shit out and fucked with.

I been saying for years that there are plenty of other sci-fi books that could be made into shows or movies. Something fresh and new might not be so bad. If you are trying to snag a younger fan base, then give them their movie that is loved by a generation.

We had Star Wars.

Give them them their own thing to love and obsess over., stop trying to shoehorn a generation into their grandfather’s favourite movie series. Better to spend all those resources developing the next best thing. No worries about what was done in the past.

It’s freedom. It’s a blank check.

But the studios will probably give us a new Back to the Future, another spiderman and another batman.

I was excited to hear the Denis Villeneuve is supposed to be directing the screenplay of the famous novel Rendezvous with Raman by Authur C. Clarke penned in the early nineteen seventies. I think the earliest we could expect that movie to hit theatres is 2027.

Here’s hoping for some more good news like Rama in the not too distant future.

Well unless something interesting happens between now and bedtime, I think I’ll call it a blog post right here and now.

Until tomorrow.