#246 - A Fresh Start and a Bad Bagel

Well, I made it through another month of the year-long 2026-Words-a-Day Challenge. I came in at 88 words over the minimum and an average of 2029 words per day for the month.This gives me a yearly word count of just over 306,000.

Wow!

I am going to take a small victory lap because that is not a number I ever imagined I could reach within a year let alone the first five months. More proof if you needed it of the power of a streak and a challenge.

I sacrificed a lot of time hanging out with my wife, sleep and doing just about anything else to make sure I got my words in by the end. And today being June 1^st, I am starting off on a great footing. The last few months required a few days of recovery after rushing at the end of the month to make up my quota. And there was a little of that last night, but nothing compared to what nonsense I got myself into on April.

And I feel like I have built up some writing muscles from doing this. And as much as I hated the feeling of dread at the end of April, writing over 6500 words every night broke something in me that was keeping me back. Writing three thousand words seems like child’s play now compared to 6500. And tonight, writing 2026 should be an easy task.

I remember when it used to seem impossible to write that many words in a day, unless it was a weekend and I was on a story deadline. But doing it every day is different. It’s a marathon compared to a weekend sprint.

It’s important to take a moment and appreciate the small accomplishments along the way. Even if I am the only one cheering me on.

We started our day slow. We both slept in until almost half-past nine .

There were some internet issues at work, so I knew no one was going to be trying to get a hold of me early, so I took my time getting to my computer. After logging in to make sure my computer wasn’t affected, I made myself an AG1 and a sourdough bagel. The bagel sounded better than it was. I prefer a Montreal-style bagel any day of the year. This one was doughy and even after toasting it, it stuck to the roof of my mouth.

It was better than not having a bagel.

Robyn got a call from kiddo #2 who went all the way to his job as a server without his white dress shirt. He was in a bit of a panic, so Robyn volunteered to drive over and bring it to him as I had a meeting coming up.

I did some approvals and read all the Monday emails before an eleven o’clock meeting with my supervisor and my counterpart lead. We had a good chat and laid out the agenda for the week and reviewed where we were at as a team. Overall, there has been an improvement in our collective stress levels. Pressure isn’t off us yet, but the intensity is back to a little above regular level. The client and the Art Director like what we are producing, and we are getting less revision notes and the notes are not very time-consuming to implement.

All in all, things are looking up.

I did a few more approvals and then ran into an issue that required a new set of drawings from our Layout Department. After a quick consultation with them, they agreed with my assessment, and I left it with them to address.

And then it was 12:20 PM. Time for a lunch walk. I had a 1 PM meeting scheduled as well, so that meant we had to take a short walk around the block. It was another beautiful day outside and we were so happy that we took the time, short as it may have been, to get some fresh air. We both came back feeling better and rejuvenated.

Robyn bolted out the door unexpectantly when she realized he had a doctor’s appointment at one o’clock and raced off to keep it.

I started my appointment and ate a tray of six pieces of California roll sushi while I waited for others to join the call. It was a pretty standard meeting to get everyone on the same page and only lasted half an hour.

Robyn came home and told me the doctor hadn’t made an appointment for her so she got the injection she needed from the pharmacy and took it home. Forty-five minutes later they called to ask her where she had gone. Sounded like an unorganized clinic.

We both got back to work and did our thing until about five thirty. Robyn had me drive her to walk-in clinic where we had a doctor do the injection. And although he was confused why her own doctor hadn’t done, he seemed mortified when she said if wouldn’t do it she’d just do it herself.

All this to get a shot for her support worker job for one hour a day four days a week.

While she waited to get pricked, I drove over the local Dollar Tree. About seven years ago, the layout and paint team got together and bought a Nespresso machine with the milk frother as an add on. We all bought our own sleeves of coffee and had a grand time drink a decent brew and sharing capsules.

We also bought some matching espresso cups from the Dollar Store around the corner from the studio and put transparent stickers with the studio name on them. Everyone thought we had got the mugs made special.

We all took our things back home when Co-vid hit and that included my espresso mug.

Today I found it had cracked. Completely unusable. It only cost a dollar, but it did have some sentimental value to me. It represented a time when I worked with an amazing team on some great shows. We bonded as a crew, and then like our coffee station, we were broken up and sent off to different places.

I decided to replace that cup today. I found something similar, bought three of them and brought it home to make myself an espresso, raising a toast to my old colleagues who were a joy to work with.

Robyn had a short window of time before she had to get ready for her support work, so I fired up the oven and rummaged around for something to cook. I found some frozen tilapia, but I needed it to be defrosted. There were some lovely Italian sausages that seemed to do the trick.

We had a bag of roasted vegetable leftovers, and I didn’t fancy just reheating them. I got out the bullet blender and added them in with some chicken stock and gave it a whiz.

I added some garlic powder, old bay, cummin and garam masala, then added it to a small pot to heat through. As it cooked, I felt like it needed more, so I added a dash of Dijon mustard, a splash of Worcestershire sauce and two strips of bacon. Still, it wasn’t there yet, so halved a baked potato, cubed it and threw that into the pot.

Along with the sausages, I had placed a ramakin with mushrooms covered with chicken stock. When they came out of the oven, I added that extra liquid to the pot.

Waste not, want not.

And still it needed something else. I added a little salt and pepper and a splash of white wine vinegar. That seemed to do the trick. At least I had something healthy and relatively tasty to add to the sausages and mushrooms.

After that was done, Roby had yet to return, so I did a little gardening, making sure t get things into the compost bags, as they were picking up the garden refuse tomorrow bright and early.

I try to put a shovelful of dirt in each bag every time I use one. There is a lot of clay in our yard, and I am constantly trying to get rid of it so I can plant things in nicer soil.

All the plants seem to be doing well and are looking healthy. Lots of them are starting to plump up and expand. Another few weeks and things will be looking great. Gardening is like gambling. And it is designed to test your patience.

I puttered around the garden, did some writing and flitted back and forth from my laptop to the oven. I’m being an efficiency machine this evening. Cooking and writing at the same time.

How daring!

Robyn returned from her work, and we sat down at the kitchen table to eat together. The sausages were delicious and the mushrooms turned out to be amazing. I dredged them in the sausage oils left on the pan and they soaked up all the delicious fond. The soup turned out alright. It tasted homemade and was packed with vegetables. It was a good use of some leftovers and things we already had in the fridge and pantry. The star was the baked potato with butter and sour cream. You can’t beat a good baked potato.

We decided that another walk was in order since the afternoon stroll was a short one. We also had to drop Robyn’s car off at the tire shop to get her winter tires off. It seemed like a waste to not walk while the sun was still up, so we opted for fresh air and exercise.

It took us about an hour to get the walk in and to be honest I was too full to really want to walk and a little tired to boot. I had to force myself out the door. But as usual, about halfway through I started to feel better and was glad we went out. This happens every time I haven’t had enough exercise in a week. I feel better about halfway through the walk.

I have no meeting scheduled for tomorrow, so I am hoping to get a longer lunch time walk in the provincial park.

We came home and watched an episode of John Oliver. It wasn’t long before he had us forgetting the trials of the day, making us laugh while simultaneously educated our asses. I like that show.

From there we watched an episode of From, which is starting to lose its way in my opinion. I get the feeling the creator or writers never had an ending in mind, turning it into one of those puzzle-box shows like Lost.

After the show ended, I grabbed my little logbook to check off the items I accomplished today and there at the bottom was a task labeled: Take car to tire shop.

Robyn was getting ready to roll over and go to bed when I dropped the bad news. Now, I’d rather drop the car off this evening than get up early to do it. You all know I am not a morning person, but more than that it would mean dealing with the morning rush hour traffic and I would rather avoid that as much as possible.

We got ourselves out of bed and headed out to the tire shop. It was quiet on the roads making feel like we had made the right choice. Robyn dropped her keys into the lock box and we headed home.

She went straight to bed, but I had a little bit of writing to complete before I could drift off into a slumber. I’d taken the sleep aids before I knew we had to drop off the car. I’m starting to feel the tug of sleep, but it’s not hitting me in the same way it did before.

Still, I had all three sleep aids, the tart cherry, the kiwi and the magnesium glycinate tonight. The bedroom in nice and cool and I have become used to wearing the sleeping mask over my eyes. I barely notice it anymore.

Well it’s been another successful day and I am feeling positive about the month of June.

Until tomorrow.