#290 - Farewell Sweet Charlie

The alarm going off startled me out of a peaceful sleep.

I sat in bed for ten minutes before I could muster the fortitude to start my day, which was made less enticing by the fact that I needed to be in studio today.

After completing my morning routine, I walked out into a smoky atmosphere, but with less heat than the day before. I drove to the train without incident and found a decent parking spot not too far from the track entrance.

A train was pulling up and my thought was to wait for the next one, after all I was in no rush to get to work. Running was out of the question with the heat and the smoke. My lungs would not appreciate that one bit.

As a precaution, I had packed some face masks, but they were buried in my bag.

I fast-walked and managed to make the train thanks to the number of riders trying to board the train. The car I vaulted into was full to the brim, so I walked back a car or two and found plenty of spots. I was still too tired to want to do any writing, so I just sat with my eyes closed and rested as best as I could.

As the train pulled into Union Station, it was clear that the amount of wildfire smoke had increased. I dug out my mask and prepared for a smoky walk to work. The temptation to stop and get my favourtie breakfast sandwich was too strong to deny, so I made my way into Au Pain Dore to get a grilled vegetable croissant.

A decision that I don’t regret.

The studio was full with the 3D staff, whose mandatory day into work is Wednesday and probably due to the fact that there was free pizza at lunch today.

There was plenty of work to be done today, so I git stuck into it after having a short social chat with one of the painters who had also come into the studio.

As usual, there were plenty of messages to answer and I had a few of my own questions to ask. After that, things quietd down and I was able to get things done.

The pizza arrived by eleven thirty, which I knew because the 3D artists above us stampeded down the stairs. Always a sure sign that there is free something available in the kitchen. I kept working so I could finish what I’d started. The Global townhall wouldn’t start until noon anyways.

Normally, on an occasion such as this, the studio orders far too much food, but today I paid the price of merely being on time.

There was less than ten pieces left and only of one kind. No one should be surprised to hear that it was the vegetable pizza that was leftover.

I helped myself to my allotted three-square slices and found an empty table just as the townhall was starting. The company that owns us broadcast the townhall to us and we watched on a large screen TV that permanently lives in the kitchen.

The word Ebitda was no uttered once for a change and we were all thankful for it. It was an odd meeting filled with things I wasn’t really interested in. The one topic that concerns us all is the use of AI, but that is not a subject they were willing to discuss at this point.

I get the sense from the owner that he is pro AI for a lot of things. How far he is willing to go is the question.

After sitting through the entirety of the meeting, that for me at least was useless, I returned to my desk and continued working.

We all remarked on the colour of the sky and how dark it was getting. The smoke from the wildfires made everything look like we were seeing it through yellow tinted glasses. The dun was completely blotted out and the world looked unusually eerie.

I’ve had a tickle in my throat and a bit of a headache since this morning., most of which I blame on the smoke. Quite frankly, I was surprised that our studio didn’t tell everyone to work from home today. Maybe they couldn’t get their money back on all those pizzas.

I left the strange skies and went back to work. I was happy to see how much we had accomplished this week. A week in which my supervisor and another painter is away. Even still, we managed to keep the machine running.

By days end, we had three paintings left to complete and a large portion of the show was sent to the next department. On top of that we had created some libraries to speed us up in the future and started parts of the next show. Anything to keep things on the rails and moving towards the end goal.

I am lucky to be part of a great team who make the work so much easier to complete.

As I left the studio for the day, I masked up, seeing that the smoke concentration had increased. I walked a little slower in an attempt to keep my breathing steady. So many of the people around me were also masked up as well.

The city looked like the set of a science fiction show as I walked it’s streets. It was all a bit surreal, but I made it to the station and checked the board. An all-stops train was leaving in a few minutes and as I ran up the stairs, I noticed an express train sitting across from it.

I jumped on the faster train thinking the smoke would be reduced closer to home as we moved south. The slower train left the station before us and we just sat on the platform.

I guess I chose wrong. And when we finally left, we seemed to be travelling at a reduced speed. Sometimes you just have to submit to what’s happening. I chose to enjoy the extra time by writing and enjoying the fact that I might get to do a little more than I thought.

Robyn texted, asking if we’d like to go see The Odessey this Sunday. Her brother and our niece are coming from Michigan for a visit and we’ll all go together. I’m not sure how I feel about this movie as I’ve heard it can be a bit boring, but as in all things, it’s best to make your own decisions about these things. There is too much of an economy based on disliking things that are perfectly fine.

And I do enjoy a good historical drama.

I arrived home to the tantalizing smell of tandoori chicken and roasted vegetables. Robyn had cooked us up a fine dinner. I haven’t been able to find that frozen tandoori chicken for a while now and I was very happy to be eating it for dinner. And to not have to cook a meal was the cherry on top.

I ate my meal with abandon and to make things even better, Robyn offered to bake us some chocolate chip cookies. I could already see myself sitting in bed, watching a show and sipping some tea in-between bites of cookie.

We sat around the kitchen table and chatted while the cookies baked and made up some lunches from the leftover dinner. I’ll be travelling back into the studio tomorrow, so a lunch that I don’t have to buy will be exactly what I need.

There were a couple episodes of From queued up on the Apple TV, so we found ourselves watching those until we had caught up with all the releases. In truth, I think we are starting to tire of the show. It started off well, but like other mystery-box shows, it doesn’t seem to know where it’s going. I found I tired of Lost for that same reason.

I guess I’ll give it the rest of the season and see if it still interests us if there is another one. It does seem like they should be wrapping it up soon from a story perspective.

My writing teachers are offering a new class that is all about how to make $40,000 a year with your writing. They are going to go through all the various ways to do this with exception to TV and movie licensing.

And as much as I’d like to take the class, I don’t have an extra $400 US lying around for this one. I think I’ll just continue to work on the craft side of things until I have a body of work that is worth doing something with.

I stepped outside to move my car into the driveway and nearly choked on the air. The smoke is still really bad outside. And it’s showing no signs of leaving for the next few days. We are supposed to get some rain later in the week that will hopefully put out some of those wild fires and wash some of that particulate out of the air.

I’ll be wearing a mask to work tomorrow again just to minimize the impact on my lungs and throat.

The weekend is shaping up to be another busy one with Robyn’s brother and niece come to visit. We are also expecting Robyn’s dad and stepmother along with her sister and her family. It’s going to be a full house on Saturday. Later in the evening, they have plans to go roller skating, which I will not be going to. I have an assignment to write and that time will be the perfect time for me to get things done. I am more of an evening writer these days anyway.

The next day we go see a movie with them and I imagine they will want to go to Swiss Chalet, because they don’t have them in Michigan. Not sure why my wife’s side of the family loves the worst chicken place in the world, but people are going to like what they like.

After watching From, we put on an episode of The Daily Show. I used to really love this show, mostly when it was hosted by Jon Stewart and even most of the Trevor Noah seasons. Lately, it’s hit or miss for me. Something about it has changed and I prefer Bill Maher or John Oliver for my comedy news entertainment. I think I like John Oliver the most, because his whole show is like one big monologue. And he sometimes does really crazy shit that most other shows wouldn’t bother to make the effort to pull off.

Last week my friend John, sent me a song he wrote called The Lich. It’s a heavy metal ripper that I think a lot of my metal head friends would really enjoy. And even though it’s not my kind of music, I could really appreciate the change in tempos, key and the guitar solos. Every song he writes just gets better and better. The two of us have had many conversations about the creative process and it’s so cool to see him putting out song after song.

On a sadder note, yesterday my mother called to let me know my Uncle Charlie had passed away after a fall at his care home. I will always remember him sing and playing his guitar while making merry with all who would join him. He will be missed and the world is a little darker without him.

I’ve been thinking a lot about my writing development over the last year.  I may have mentioned this before, but it keeps coming up in my mind. Every time I take the train and do a writing session, the night session is easier. My word count ends up being higher for the day and the effort seems less like a workout and more like a nice walk in the park.

Some of this is due to the workload having been spread out throughout the day. And maybe this makes the evening session seem like less of a chore, because its half done already. All the evidence is pointing to multiple writing sessions throughout the day as being the most productive method for me to do over the long run. This might mean I need to become a morning person. Someone who gets up at seven no matter what and gets his words in early.

It’s food for thought.

I aim to get a good night’s rest again, since I am up at seven once more.

I’ll head downstairs and have my natural sleep aids and then call it a night.

Until tomorrow.