#374 - Typing with Fingers!

Slept in again until nine Am and that felt wonderful.

I really enjoyed listening to the Dune audiobook before going to bed. It was very relaxing, and I am enjoying the story even though I already know most of what is to come.

Logging into my computer first thing was necessary because we had an all supervisors and directors meeting at ten thirty and I needed to get some numbers together. The whole point of these meetings is to see where every department is at and to voice any challenges or hold ups.

After the meeting we had a quick call within our own department with all our leadership to go over some revisions and set the plan for the day. I spent a little time thinking about the best way to convey the light direction for all the painters and may have come up with a usable design. The idea was shot down almost immediately by my supervisor, so I tabled it for another time. I still think it has plenty of merit after I explain how to use the diagram.

But you have to pick your battles.

I went downstairs and made a cup of tea and some buttered toast before heading back to my desk.

I had plenty of other things to keep me busy with all the revisions and approvals that needed doing. I decided to hand some of them back to the artists so that we could get the work done faster as it was getting to the point of being overdue.

At noon, Robyn and I headed to the park to take a walk under the tree canopies. The day was much warmer than it had been yesterday, and we sweated all the more for it. The car external thermometer said it had hit 23 degrees Celsius. Still, I found it to be a lovely temperature for being outside and in the shade.

Some good Samaritans had been through the trails the other day and sawn through all the logs that had fallen across the trail. That made the walking all the more enjoyable.

There was some leftover spaghetti and meatballs in the fridge, so I made myself a bowl and reheated it in the new microwave. I chose the butter garlic and lemon pepper version and threw a few meatballs in for good measure.

I once again questioned my desire to continue working in the animation industry and vowed to make 2027 the year I wrote novels. I have a bunch that could be started from some of the short stories I wrote for my mentor.

Learning some new skills is going to be necessary as well, like running a Kickstarter campaign and doing some free marketing. There will probably be many other things that will force me out of my comfort zone as well. I may pick up a Mac to use for putting books together. I like the things I am hearing about a program called Vellum. It is apparently much easier to use than many of the old standbys like InDesign. And if it makes getting books out easier it should be worth the expense of a new computer and software.

It will be good to have dedicated machines for production and writing separated as well.

In the afternoon, one of my artists handed back in his revisions and I was able to approve them and render all the necessary PNGs for our art director to review. The sooner she can approve things the sooner we can ship things off to the next department. I worked a bit later to make sure I got those all done and so I would have less to do tomorrow when I am at the studio.

By six forty-five I was driving Robyn to her second job. I headed to Fortino’s to buy some breakfast items for the upcoming cottage stay as we are making brunch for everyone for the two mornings we are up there. I spent about ninety dollars on everything, which isn’t terrible to feed six adults and two kids for two meals each.

I still want to buy some fresh fruit and bread for toast as well, but they have a Walmart that is only five minutes away from the cottage.

In the parking lot of Fortino’s I could see an amazing cloud formation that was dark against the setting sun. It was if the clouds formed a giant triangle with the point disappearing into the horizon. It got darker the closer it got to the earth. It looked so unusual at to be fake. At first, I thought it might be a tornado forming because of the shape of it, but the air wasn’t moving in a circling pattern.

I headed out and picked-up kiddo #2 from his work and then went home. As we left the rain started sprinkling.

There was a new episode of Slow Horses on Apple TV, and I thought I’d watch it until Robyn came home. There was a chance she might walk home from her job, but as I was watching the show, with the window wide open, I heard the loud rumbling of thunder and the dark sky lit up with chain lightening.

With that kind of weather, I assumed my blushing bride would prefer to get picked up by her knight in shining armor. I left the house and made sure I was there before eight PM to pick her up. Naturally, she was happy that I showed up as plasma arcs lit up the night sky like a fireworks show. The rain started coming down and Robyn made it across the street to my car just in time.

Robyn had an online test to write for school, so I was able to finish the Slow Horses episode while she did that. Then we watched The Daily Show and then Seth Myers afterwards. We didn’t make to the end of Seth because when I looked over, Robyn was fast asleep. I shut everything down and went to the living room to get some writing done.

The writing was done manually today, no dictation. Sometimes it just feels good to type. I love the feel of my laptop’s keyboard. It feels good to use for long periods of time. I’m about two days behind at the moment on my quota, but I hoping to get some big numbers this week when I tackle my next mentor assignment. I hope to get to the 9000 word mark if all goes well.

I will definitely be bringing my dictation setup with me as well to test it in different environments. I have been warned that we will be expected to help out winterizing the cottage when we are there as well. I suspect it will be stowing the Muskoka chairs and putting up the wooden panels that protect the building that only have screened in windows and no glass.

But having said that, I will need to be able to spend a certain time working on my writing. Robyn was kind enough to warn the family that I had a deadline and that I might need to work on things during my stay.

I’m up early tomorrow to catch a train into the city for work. I’ll end this here and give myself a half an hour to listen to some Dune before calling it a night.

Until tomorrow.