#316 - The Need To Read

First day back at work and I was immediately put in charge of supervising an episode.

Not exactly what I was expecting or hoping for, but then again not so surprised. I set about the task of remembering everything a paint supervisor does and adding in the things my current supervisor has added for this show to make things work as best as possible.

It takes a bit of research and gathering to get all the pieces on the board and then organized to see what is still needed or missing. And then you need to look at all the pieces and see if they are working well together or if they can be used as is. Most often, some sort of modification is needed to get the job done.

On top of that I had a week’s worth of emails to go through and three meetings to attend. Thid first meeting was to catch up with my supervisor and the other lead to see where the team was at. I was able to present some of the things my analysis discovered, and we came up with a plan of attack.

I drank an energy drink by Alani to give me a bit of a boost. It was the cherry flavored version, and it tasted pretty good. I didn’t feel a caffeine spike like I might with coffee, but the labeling indicates it has 140 mg of caffeine per can. More than 48 mg in a cup of coffee.

And it didn’t upset my stomach in any way. I am not someone who generally drinks energy drinks as a habit. One every once in a while, is fine, but I don’t want to form a habit around energy drinks. I’ll stick to the original energy drinks like coffee and tea or Dr. Pepper.

I didn’t notice any caffeine crashing later in the afternoon either which was nice.

After caffeinating, it was time for the team meeting, which was even quieter than usual. I think the team is getting tired and burnt out. Not everyone has had a summer break or vacation so far. I know I sure needed the short one I took.

By noon we were out the door into the humidity to take a short walk as Robyn had a meeting at one o’clock. Have I mentioned how much I hate one o’clock meetings? I think they are just rude.

It was the first real walk we had taken in a while and we were feeling it. But as always, it felt good to get the body moving and work up a little sweat. I wish we could have stayed out longer, but as it was, we were home in time for Robyn’s meeting with enough time to cool down and get a drink.

I went back to doing my analysis and assigning work for this episode until about three when we ha another meeting with a bunch of departments to discuss anything that needed attention. Overall, it was a good meeting and was shorter than I thought it would be. I did more work until five pm when I was ready to quit for the day. While I was working, I listened to an interview with Mark Forsythe who wrote a book I really liked about sound eloquent when writing. It basically discusses the elements and principles of rhetoric that the Greeks categorized and defined.

I spent a summer reading it and making my own notes in a journal about it. I think if I ever had to have a character give a speech I would go back to that book for inspiration. There were plenty of examples in the book to learn from and then explained as to which mode was being used. I made a list of which ones to use to create a certain effect somewhere in case I needed it one day.

I played a game of chess to keep up my streak and lost horribly in a game I probably should have won. All it takes is one careless mistake and the game is over.

I found Robyn watering the plants in the backyard and holding a big bowl of tomatoes she had harvested from our three plants. There were blueberry sized ones, cherry tomato sized and regular. Not a bad haul. There were a bunch we gave to our friends who came over to water the plants while we were away as well. Not a bad harvest this year and there is still more to come.

Robyn had to work at seven for an hour, so we went upstairs and watched John Oliver. There was just enough time to watch the episode before she had to leave, so it worked great.

I watched an episode of Peaky Blinders while she was gone and just rested. I should have been writing during that free time, but I just couldn’t muster the energy. I like a bit of a rest directly after work. I also should have gone for another walk but instead grabbed a slice of some leftover pizza and a Dr. Pepper Zero.

Robyn returned and we put on House of Dragons and watched a very intense episode full of battles, dragons and betrayals. The episode was only seven minutes longer than a regular episode but for some reason it felt much longer. I could have sworn it was two hours long they managed to pack so much into it.

Robyn left to walk off some of her blood sugars and I took a much-needed soak using the bubble spa device. My skin was getting a bit itchy as it always does after a week at the cottage. I borrowed a little of the wife’s skin cream and rubbed some of that in as well. I think the lake water and the sun dried my skin out too much while I was there.

I haven’t found the time to read my book since I returned from vacation either. I needed to set a time everyday to at least read a chapter.

Before I start writing my next mentor assignment, which is to be a contemporary fantasy, I think I will review one of their POP-UP classes on the subject. It can’t hurt to get a few reminders about the genre. And it’s been some time since I watched any of the tutorials on writing craft.

Our friend’s son is getting married in two weeks and we were invited to the event. I’ll have to check and see what nice clothes I have to wear to the ceremony and dinner. I haven’t tried on any of my suits in years. I may have to buy a blazer or something. No chance I’ll be able to suck my gut in for that long or lose enough weight in time.

Also, I hate wearing suits. And ties.

Once day I’ll get around to getting my own formal kilt made so that I’ll always have something to wear. I used to borrow my Uncle John’s blue kilt when I had one of these events to attend to. He was glad to lend it. I think it gave him some pride to see it worn.

When he passed some years ago, they buried him in it, which was fitting. I’d hoped one day to inherit it and pass it along myself, but I think it was better that they laid him to rest in it.

Another occasion I might want to have my own, my own funeral. But only if I wear it to make lots of good memories first.

I am thinking about the fact that I am not reading as much lately. I think I will try to set aside at least half an hour every day from eleven thirty to twelve as my reading time. I might not make it every night due to social occasions or falling asleep before midnight, but it should increase my reading average significantly.

And that also means that I will have to get my writing done earlier in the day, as I tend to leave it to the end of the day to start it.

A bad habit of mine.

It’s now eleven thirty, so I am going to shut this down to read for half an hour like I mentioned.

Until tomorrow.