#220 - Breakie and an Early Break-For-It

We were both up early to catch the train into the studio, although bright-eyed and bushy-tailed were not words you could use to describe us.

The train was an express train, and as we entered the station, it was just pulling in. I had already given up the idea of being able to write anything. And our chances of getting a seat, let alone one together, or one that would facilitate writing, were slim to none.

And yet we walked up to the first car, and got probably what I would consider the best seat for writing, and we were able to sit together. I may even have convinced Robyn to head to the diner for some morning eggs and bacon!

At the second stop it is already standing room only, and it feels a little bit like a cattle car. People so close as to be in your personal space.

I am interested in seeing how my co-workers react to last night’s news about the changes to certain people’s employment. It’s not the type of news that instills as sense of security in your workforce. And as I suspect, there is more sweeping changes that will come in our not-too-distant future. But this is what happens when companies are sold and the owners move on to other things. The workers are left to navigate a shifting landscape.

It’s one of the reasons I have been studying the craft of writing. I predicted I would need to make a living in some other way as I aged out of the industry, but I never imagined it was going to be anything like this. A total industry retraction and maybe even a complete collapse.

I take some comfort in the hard work and success my writing teachers and mentor are having as they navigate the ever-changing publishing world. They are older and yet still more adaptable than most other people I know. The one instructor is turning seventy-five and is on track to publish sebenty-five major novels, collections and novellas by the end of this year.

Even if he had all the writing done, this would be a massive amount of work. And yet he is doing and setting the example of what is possible.

I ordered a copy of one of his writing books called, “Writing into the Dark,” for one of the people who is being let go at work. They had expressed an interest in writing a novel and I knew how this concept had changed how I fundamentally wrote. That combined with their Depth workshop, was instrumental in a mind shift for me when it came to writing. As if the curtains had been pulled back from the secret world of OZ.

Uggg. Once again, my olfactory senses are being assaulted by an over abundant and over enthusiastic application of scented products. Smells like someone sat in cheap champagne and burned it. Sweet but cloying. Ah the recurring joys of public transit.

The suit bros are saying as many names as they can remember to each other. Name-dropping brought to a new low.

Thankfully, the train eventually arrived at the station, and we left the perfume purgatory and bros behind us.

We jumped on a bus to give us a few more minutes to get some breakfast, anticipating wait times if it was anything like the day before. There was a booth available and it was busy, but not as busy as yesterday’s mad rush.

The owner came by and confirmed my usual while Robyn ordered a cheese omelette and a diet coke. While there I overheard the owner say he had sold out of their ball caps. And this after I had just told Robyn I was going to get one today. I had originally planned to pick one up on Wednesday, but they were so busy that I took mercy upon them and just paid and left.

Nice guys always finish last. At least when buying an obscure diner cap.

At work many of the staff were commiserating about the latest announcements, and some of them were still unaware of the others that would be announced today and over the coming weeks. We got to our desks after some quick chats with our co-workers.

I had a painting to finish, and I was struggling with it. I needed to simplify the design a bit to make it easier to replicate when it went out to the painters. These kinds of paintings are sometimes really fun to work out, but this one was giving me a hard time.

Lunch couldn’t come around any faster and I sprang out of my seat right at noon. I wasn’t even hungry because of our stop at the diner. Robyn had some leftover Indian food, and I had a half a chicken wrap which was more than enough food for me.

We transitioned over to the couches for more comfort after eating, but before long Robyn wanted to go for a walk and get herself a tea at Tim Hortons. I begrudgingly went along and was glad afterwards that I got some steps in and some fresh air.

After lunch, I returned to the dreaded painting and soon had it under control. I sent a screen grab of it to my supervisor, and they liked the direction I was going in, which further boosted my confidence to continue working on it.

I put my earbuds in, played some tunes, and finally felt good about my work.

Just then Robyn messaged me and asked if we could leave early. Her insulin pump had run out of insulin, and she had no emergency supplies with her. So, we packed up quickly and headed for the door. A measured walk to the station was in order, as it would lower Robyn’s blood sugar, something her insulin was supposed to do, and would make it less dangerous to be trapped on a train with no supplies. Having high blood sugar is less dangerous in the short term compared to low blood sugar, but it’s still serious enough to be concerned about.

At the station, a train just pulled in and started boarding. We were in luck. Not only that we were able to get seats together and I was able to do some writing. And since I didn’t do any writing over my lunch hour, it made train writing all the more important.

One of the albums I was listening to today was the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album that has some of the work-in-progress sessions of the songs from that album. You can here the band rehearsing and trying out different versions of chords and alternate lyrics, even singing gibberish when no words existed. I find that type of creative iteration interesting. Hearing what started as something small and then growing it into a song that would become a classic.

And other times you can hear that they have something already, it just needs that final polish to get it across the finish line.

Fascinating stuff.

The train home ended up being packed with standing room only again. I was glad to have snagged a seat early. When I can’t get writing done it feels like a waste of my time and I get a little aggravated knowing I’ll have to make up the time later using my own time.

Thankfully, I was able to get a little over twelve hundred words written during my train sessions. Not a terrible start, but not exactly what I was hoping to achieve by the time I got home from the studio.

I also was reminded that we have plans this weekend to attend the birthday celebrations of Robyn’s oldest friend on Saturday. I also have a mentor writing assignment due then as well and that means I have to work a bit harder this week than I was hoping to.

I know tomorrow we are doing a lunch for some of the people who are leaving the company, and that means no lunch time writing session for me again. And we’ll have some Mother’s Day celebrating to do for Robyn as well.

And here I was thinking we had a light weekend coming up. Never turns out that way.

Friday evening, I am going to have to get most of my assignment started and use Saturday morning to finish it and polish it up.

No rest for the wicked.

As I might be writing some spy thrillers in the next few weeks for my mentor, I will maybe set a spy thriller in my hometown in the time when I was in high school. Kill two birds with one stone.

When I get home, I plan to spend a few minutes checking in on my plants and the grass seeds I spread on the weekend. Looking in at my little garden makes me feel better and relaxes me. I still have an hours work to do on that painting when I get home as well, to make up the time we skipped by leaving early.

Back at home, I checked in on my plants and was pleased to see a little more progress with their growth. The rain from yesterday tamped down the soil I had placed there and made it settle amongst the grass. And the seeds got watered again, which will help ensure they start to sprout in the next few weeks.

When I came back into the house, Robyn was chopping vegetables to roast, so I sauteed two tuna steaks to go with them. I always enjoy a tuna steak. It’s as satisfying as a steak, tasty as a pork chop and healthy like a chicken. It’s usually the price that stops me from buying them, but I got these on sale and at a great price.

Our local Sobey’s has their fish at the back corner of the store, and I think many people just miss it. But that means every so often they have some good deals on fish and seafood. Unfortunately, their beef prices are almost always too expensive, even before the price of things sky rocketed.

We spent the rest of the night watching a couple of shows, starting with “The Boys,” on Prime. It was filled with its usual quota of dicks, balls and assholes. It’s often childish, but it makes me laugh and the other half of the show feels like a good reflection of our world today, but without any superheroes, and plenty of dicks and assholes.

After that we watched an episode of “Testaments,” and although it can be a bit depressing, because it also hits close to home, I think they are doing a great job on the production and acting side of things and they were able to continue the continuity of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” over to this new production, even though it is being made by a different studio.

I heard a new term today, ‘Blue Dot Fever,’ and it is purportedly named for all the concert cancellations that are happening with big named artists. The blue dot referring to Ticket Masters site where a blue dot represents an empty seat. The decline in ticket purchases has been blamed on inflation, higher food and gas cost as well as toxic fans trying to give these big artists their comeuppance.

But who are kidding here?

People aren’t buying tickets to go see their favourite musicians because they could buy a new car or take a month off in an all-inclusive resort. I wonder if some of the industry pundits who were being quoted in these articles have any idea how much tickets cost these days. You would really have to have had your head in the sand for the last decade to even consider any other possibilities.

Concerts are ridiculously overpriced for what you get in return.

In other words. *Insert Band Name* you are not worth it.

Well, it’s another early day tomorrow and we will have fair well lunches to attend and then Survivor, Pizza, Hot tub in the evening with our friends.

I still plan to get my breakfast at the diner tomorrow, and since we are doing pizza for dinner, I will have a very light lunch if we head out somewhere.

So that’s all the happened today that was interesting and not so interesting.

Until tomorrow.