#262 - Boiled Eggs and Workflows

I was able to sleep in this morning thanks to the FIFA World Cup Games happening in Toronto today.

Our studio gave us exemptions from the working studio rule when there is a game on in the city. The commute would be unbearable, and most of us would likely be late. I woke up at seven and was more than happy to get another two hours of rest.

The day started with a flurry of questions from the painters about the new episode. This meant I had to get up to speed on it quickly. The majority of my day was spent doing approvals for the current episode as we are trying to get it all approved by Friday. I expect we will do a big push on the approvals tomorrow to put us in a good place for then.

I had a boiled egg and some malt bread for breakfast with a cup of earl grey around ten thirty. That was the first time I could take a break and get away from the computer. It sure is handy to have those premade eggs sitting in the fridge. They make for a quick breakfast or a good midday snack.

The swelling around my eyes has gone down significantly over the last two days and I think taking a lunchtime walk to get the sweat flowing, as well as making sure I was hydrated and eating less salt helped reduce the puffiness.

And so, by noon I was adamant that I get my walk in and it didn’t take Robyn much to be convinced to join me.

The weather has been a lot cooler this week and perfect for hikes under the shade of the tree canopy. There were plenty of dogs and their walkers in the woods today. I only encountered one cyclist, and I count that as a good day.

Returning home, we stopped at the neighbour’s porch to greet their dog who we are trying to teach that we are his friends, and he doesn’t need to bark at us. I’m not convinced that it’s working, but he’s a cute dog and we like to give him scratches as he tries to lick our hands. And then as soon as we leave, he barks at us again. Strange little creature.

I worked with concentrated intensity on approvals for the rest of the day, handing back revisions to the artists as they came up.

I took a brief break at three to make up a marinade for the chicken Ruby recipe and to apply it to some chicken thighs. Some time ago, I purchased a Ninja food processor, and only today did I think to use it for the marinade. Instead of grating ginger and squeezing garlic through a hand press it dropped it all into the machine and added all the other ingredients, and blitzed it up.

It easily saved my fifteen minutes of preparation time, which was what allowed me to squeeze it into a break session.

With the chicken marinating I head back up to get more work done, listening to a YouTube channel where the host interviews famous authors about their writing and habits. I’ve always been fascinated by other people’s workflows, so this channel is full of gold. The only problem is that the interviews are one to two hours long and need some commitment to get through them. They are perfect for listening to while I am working, however.

By five thirty I was done for the day and could have easily gone straight to bed. Instead, I headed to the kitchen, turned the oven on to 450F and baked the chicken for about twenty-five minutes. While that was cooking, I prepared the rice, the naan bread and warmed up the makhani sauce. And of course, I made sure I didn’t forget the pomegranate seeds this time.

Half an hour later we had ourselves a delicious Chicken Ruby meal for dinner. It’s a meal that never gets old. We both commented that we were happy that we’d have some left over for lunch at work the next day.

Robyn reminded me that kiddo #1 was on her way back from Parry Sound and if we didn’t get our lunches together now, she would likely come home and eat all our leftovers. The kid likes her food. We strategically portioned out what was left into three containers in an effort to save our lunches.

Robyn headed out to pick up kiddo #2 from work and to pick up some groceries. I did some maintenance on our little iRobot Roomba we call Huey. His rollers were all beat up and sliced to pieces. He was having trouble navigating the other day and I wondered if the old, sliced rollers were throwing it of course. One side would spin but the other side, where it was sliced, didn’t turn.

I replaced the two main roller brushes, a side sweeper and the hepa filter. After that Huey ran just fine and did a circuit of the kitchen, front door and the hallway with no issues.

Kiddo #1 walked through the door not long after and immediately asked if there was any dinner available. In her defense, the house did smell amazing, scented by the Chicken Ruby.

I offered her up grilled veg, some leftover meatballs and then the Chichen Ruby. She opted for the latter, which was no surprise.

I watched some YouTube videos and a partial episode of ‘For All Mankind,’ before Robyn returned with the kid in tow. We sat outside on the back deck enjoying some outdoor time even though there was a light sprinkling of rain, the canopy kept us dry.

It was hard to believe that it was already past eight o’clock. We headed upstairs to watch the Daily Show followed by an episode of ‘From.’

And then it was time for me to do some writing, to be honest I was ready to go to bed and call it a night. But the 2026 words a day challenge is a beast that needs constant feeding and I have been getting behind this last week. I need to up my numbers over the next two weeks so I’m not doing a mad dash to the end like the last two months. It’s been busy couple of weeks and my energy levels, although initially high, have dropped. The first week of using the sleep aids felt like a game changer.

I am getting tired earlier in the evening lately. I’m not sure if this is a symptom of aging or if it is diet and exercise related. And of course, it could just be stress from work. And yes, our weekend was basically not restful at all with all the physical labour we did.

This weekend will have its own challenges for me. It’s Father’s Day and I have an assignment story due as well.

There is no rest for the wicked.

My reading streak has been obliterated by all of this busyness. I’ve managed to keep up the blogging streak, the writing streak and the chess streak.

Three out of four isn’t too bad.

When I did manage to get some reading done, it was Mick Herron’s book of short stories that I was reading from. With the way things are going lately, a short story is the perfect thing for me to read as I can usually get through it in one sitting.

Usually.

I’ve been using my Zento Signature pen now for a few weeks and I have to say I am enjoying it. It writes great and feels good in the hand. Capping and uncapping the pen is always a tactile joy. It replaced my disposal Uniball Vision Elite disposable pens for the most part. I still have a dozen of them around. They do come in handy now and then. Sometimes you want to throw a pen in your bag so if it gets lost you won’t go home crying about it.

Trump announced another deal with Iran this week. The stock market seems to think this time it’s for real. My stocks have increased significantly since Monday, and I am in serious selling territory. Do I lock in the profits now and wait for a fall or is there more upside.

I think I will continue to hold my assets for the time being and wait and see what develops. I have some room to maneuver still with my entry price being much lower than the current ask.

I ran out of kiwis yesterday and forgot to ask Robyn to pick me some up when she went out earlier. I have only the cherry juice and the magnesium glycinate for this evening and the sleep mask as well of course. The mask certainly plays a role as well. I think I am very light sensitive and even the smallest light can wake me up.

I feel like the sleep-aids have turned me from a light sleeper to a normal sleeper.

And although I have been feeling tired lately, my body feels lighter and less prone to aches and pains. I attribute this to getting the kind of sleep that allows me to heal during the night. Years of not sleeping well can have toll on your health.

I feel better knowing I am getting better sleep each night and giving my immune system the best chance to do its thing while I sleep.

And speaking of sleep…. It’s that time for me.

Goodnight, and until tomorrow.