#235 - Finale and a Zento

I rode to the city solo this morning as Robyn had a dentist's appointment booked in the afternoon. Considering I only had six hours of sleep at the most, I felt really good. This probably had more to do with the Neo Citron nighttime than anything else.

A train pulled in just as I was walking up to the station, and I didn’t have the get up and go to, well, get up and go. The digital sign board said there was another train in a few minutes anyway, so I just sauntered up to the tracks and the door of the train closed just as I mounted the walkway.

And then the announcement came that the next train was going to be delayed.

Some days you win and some you lose.

I only had to wait eleven minutes before the next train arrived. Not something even I could complain about. And the upside to those announcements of train delays meant everyone had crammed into the first train, leaving my train relatively empty by comparison.

I found a seat no problem, but that great feeling I’d woken with had completely disappeared and I resorted to closing my eyes and resting as much as I could, stopping only to make an order for tonight’s Survivor, Pizza, Hot Tub from Blondies Pizza.

Departing the train and then the station, I headed straight to the Pain Au Dore Café to get a veggie breakfast sandwich. My mouth was watering at the very thought of it.

And they didn’t have any.

A theme was developing for the day. You won’t get what you wanted, but what you get won’t be any worse and it will probably be better. So, I rolled with the punches and ordered a Croque Monsieur, which is still a great breakfast sandwich.

Life is good.

I pre-ordered a Chai Latte from Starbucks while I was in line at the café and was able to just walk in and grab it on the way to the studio. Technology is awesome.

Ordering on the app and walking into a prepared drink is the ultimate in modern living luxury.

I arrived at the studio in a good mood only to discover the internet wasn’t working through out the studio and people were milling around and talking as they couldn’t access their programs or work files.

My computer seemed unaffected, and the outage did not hinder at all me. Our fabulous IT team quickly resolved it.

I was able to offload some of my work files to a painter, since I won’t have time to finish them. I have too much on my plate to get to them. This is not unusual for me and the other lead to do this. We paint as much as we can to help the team out, but often we have to move on to other things that are on fire.

This took some pressure off me and allowed me to focus on the priority items my supervisor and the other teams needed.

Still feeling a little under the weather, I donned a mask and then made myself a DayQuil. I hate wearing masks, but I can’t afford to get my team members sick, nor do I want them to feel like I currently do.

One of my colleagues mentioned a plane headed to the US might have had a passenger with Ebola, and the plane was diverted to Montreal. My colleague seemed upset that we took the plane. This is something I am hearing more and more from my fellow Canadians, and it is worrisome. I hope we don’t lose one of our strengths as a country, compassion mixed with good sense.

It is interesting to hear about all the old diseases resurfacing again. Currently we are hearing about Ebola, Hantavirus, and a resurgence of Polio and Measles to name a few. I’m sure there will be another round of Covid making the rounds soon too.

I took my lunch around twelve thirty and sat in the couch area again, focusing on getting some writing done. I skipped eating anything since I’d bought the Croque Monsieur for breakfast and wasn’t feeling hungry. And with the massive amounts of pizza and snacks available to me this evening, skipping a meal was just a good idea.

I managed to get a good number of paintings done today. Some were revisions, others work, and some were revisions called out by the art director. One was sent all the way back to our layout department to have parts redrawn. And they were amazing because they had the fixes for me in less than two hours time which gave me ample time to do the fixes and send the painting back in for review.

My Production Manager told me she had no idea where to source some of the ingredients to make the Chicken Ruby, so I offered to bring her in some of the spices and Indian specialty items in premeasured amounts. Sometimes you need to make things easy for people to take a chance on something. And sometimes they just need a little help to get them started.

I made a cortado for myself around three-thirty as I was starting to feel the lack of sleep kicking in. And I need to have the energy to watch the season finale of Survivor this evening as well. There is an energy requirement to ensure I reach the 3100-word quota for this evening as well. Time to dig in a pull out all the stops.

Things at work are getting a little less crazy. Things we put into motion have started to pay off, but we still have a way to go. One example of this is getting enough key paintings from our Design team to make sure all our painters stay on style and aren’t trying to figure out what a location in the show looks like. With a one week turn around, there isn’t much time for us to pick up the slack of the other departments. That means we have had to be clear about what we need and when we need it. It’s a back and forth that can become heated if it’s not approached with care. Everyone is constantly under the gun on a show like this and stretched to their limits.

And sometimes it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the grease!

And we be squeaky!                                                                          

At the end of the day, my supervisor and I got to chat for a bit and take stock of what things we needed to work on. When we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off it, we need to remember to keep communicating. So, these small moments can look like a waste of time, but they are essential to keeping the team together.

I also spent a minute telling one of the painters how good their work was. It’s something we forget to do sometimes in a supervisory position because we are looking for problems to fix at all times. It’s nice to be able to just tell someone how well they have done for a change.

The day ended, and it was time to get going. I stayed longer at the studio than I’d intended and opted to take my chances on a streetcar. Luckily, one was rumbling down the street towards me. I jumped on, thankful to be making good time. My only regret was that I was missing the beautiful walk in the sunshine, and I needed the exercise.

But one must sacrifice for the greater good and for the pizza.

I made it to the station without too many issues. People who try to walk and look at their phones the whole time frustrate me to no end. Why can’t anyone just do the thing they are doing? Why the constant need to multi-task? And when you glance at what has fascinated them so, it’s a bunch of garbage on the screen. Am I a bad person for willing people to walk into telephone poles?

Probably. But it would give me a laugh at least.

I noted that a train heading my way was nearly ready to depart, so I vaulted up the stairs two at a time and made it on board. I still had minutes to spare, but I treat every train ride like the next one is going to break down.

I procured a seat easily and brought out the laptop immediately. This is to ensure I won’t convince myself I could really use a nap. There isn’t enough time left to be daydreaming. Train time is writing time as much as possible. And I had already napped on the trip in this morning when I lost the argument with myself.

Sometimes you have to play these little tricks on yourself to get things done.

The train wasn’t too crowded for a change, and some of the people on the top floor chatted, something they aren’t supposed to do, but I was so focused on getting my words done that I ignored their voice. It was all just white noise. A backing track to the clicking of my keyboard as my fingers tickled the keys.

I got an alert from eBay that my Zento Signature pen had arrived all the way from Japan today. I’ll have to bring it with me to watch Survivor. The magnetic cap makes for a great fidget device.

My stocks all went up today. And without checking the news, I have to imagine it has something to do with the Strait of Hormuz and Iran. When it spikes like this, I have to evaluate whether I should sell it or hold on. One way I look at it is this: The current profit is equal or greater than one year of dividends. Selling it would lock in that year money. But you need to think if the stock is likely to climb any higher. And how steady and reliable the dividend will be.

For now, I am content to hold the stock and continue to collect the dividends to help pay the monthly bills. But on days like today I have to at least think about it.

My basic assumption about the stock market is that is has less to do with profit and spreadsheets and more to do with psychology. I mean anything to do with humans revolves around it. Poker for examples.

I exited the train at my stop and drove home as fast as I legally could. I needed enough time to freshen up and grab some drinks and my swimsuit.

My Zento arrived and I had a moment to unpack it and check it out. It was a smaller pen then I was expecting, and it was slightly heavier than it looks. The materials feel both premium and light. It has magnetic caps and end caps which makes it suitable as a fidget spinner. It was strangely fascinating to play with. It gives the pen a premium feel. The machining on the pen is very precise and with the coating on the outside it adds to the impression og quality. The pen walls are very thin which surprises you. It looks and feels like it is made from thicker materials.

With the styling of the shape, colour, the interesting clip and cap, it is no wonder that it sold out on its introduction.

But there wasn’t too much time to admire it, we had to get to our friend’s house for the Survivor finale. Turns out it was a three-hour finale.

I ordered two pizzas from Blondies, and they arrived a few minutes after we arrived. The pepperoni, jalapeno with honey and a new one with sausage, full mushrooms and pepperoni. You all know I love the honey pizza, but this new one with sausages and mushrooms took first place.

The episode was a great finale for the show. I think we all enjoyed it. During the live performance Jeff Probst and his team made an error and forgot to show a taped sequence from the island and announced the results of a fire challenge before anyone had seen it. Ah, the foibles of live tv.

After about an hour, we paused and the girls went for their walk, and the boys took a hot tub. The weather was a bit cooler than the past few days and it was still light enough to see clearly. In fact, it was the perfect evening for a hot tub.

We had our usual chat and before long the ladies returned and we got back to the show. It did a good job of keeping things interesting and unexpected right up until the end when the winner was revealed.

It was after ten PM by the time it all ended. Later than we wanted it to be, mainly because our friend had to get up for a 5AM shift. So, we left as quickly as we could so he could get to bed.

I did stop to split up the leftover pizza into halves so we could both enjoy a delicious lunch the next day.

Once we arrived home, we both declared we were exhausted and ready for bed. Thursdays are always a long day for me, so I didn’t protest too much. I opted not to take any medicine for my nasal congestion as I was feeling a little better.

Tomorrow, I get to work from home, and I can’t wait to sleep in a bit longer.

That’s all that’s fit to print.

Until tomorrow.