Walks and Easy-Offs

I had high hopes of waking up at seven AM this morning to start work early and get ahead. But you know I failed to do that because I am a night owl forced to make his way, strangled by the merciless boundaries of the nine -to-fivers.

One day the night owls will rise up and overthrow these unreasonably early morning-wakers.

That said, I was up by eight thirty and at my desk bleary-eyed by nine. We started the day with a team meeting and broke down how things were going, where we thought they would be by week’s end and what things we could tackle in the meantime.

I finished the painting I have been working on fo the past few days and sent it in for approval. Then on a call with my supervisor to talk about adjustments and notes from the art director that affected this particular painting.

Robyn and I managed to take a short afternoon walk, shortened because all of a sudden I had a one o’clock meeting on the books. The weather was nicer today, still cold, but not bitter like it was yesterday. The walk was noisy because our short route goes along the main street that is used by transport trucks. It felt good to get out and stretch my legs. The fresh air helped, too.

Back in my studio chair for another meeting, this one about a particular area of the show that we have not seen before. Lots of cats to herd with this location, and after a plan to conquer it was devised, we all left to get down to work.

I finished the day working on the revisions to the painting, but wasn’t able to get it all done.

Robyn left to pick up the stepson from college, and he talked her into bringing home Chinese food. We had just talked about the fact that I didn’t really care fr Chinese food when we visited our friends on Sunday. And here it was. I can’t really complain; I do like the Gerneral Tao chicken and the pork fried rice.

After dinner I was feeling tired and gross, mostly from the Chinese food and some from working and writing fatigue. Robyn suggested we go for a walk, and I grumpily agreed to go. I really just wanted to go lie down for a while. But about halfway through, I started feeling more like myself. We stopped in at the grocery store and bought some Easy-Off oven spray, and then I decided I needed another Burt’s Bees chapstick because the one I had jumped out of the tube and landed on the ground. I found a two-pack that had a vanilla bean to replace my suicidal one and it came with a wild cherry.

Now, I am a big cherry fan. So I was excited to see they had a cherry version and decided to open that one first. Didn’t like it. Gross. The vanilla bean is far superior. I should have bought the double pack of vanilla. Oh, well. The cherry will do the job in a pinch.

I like to have more than one ChapStick on the go. Leave one in my winter coat and another beside the bed. Otherwise, I end up with 50,000 ChapSticks all over the place because it’s never where I need it and I keep buying more.

By the time we made it home, I was ready for a bit of rest, and I just doom scrolled on my phone until about eight thirty PM. I drew a hot bath and used the spa bubble machine to turn it into a quasi-hot-tub experience. My back had been stiff before and after the walk. The hot water and massaging bubbles did the trick and loosened me right back up.

And then I mustered myself to get some writing done. I gathered my laptop, lap desk, mouse, and a cup of steaming Earl Grey tea. I also pulled my sheet of hal titles from the cave to see if I could get inspired to write a story by slamming two half titles together. This is a technique that my instructor uses for most of his books and stories.

In the news, I see that the airstrikes against Iran are on their fourth day. America is claiming that Iran’s air defenses have all been destroyed or disabled. I have a theory that Trump is attacking Iran while he strangles Cuba into submission. He seems to be in a regime change safari state of mind lately, starting with Venezuela, now Iran and Cuba to follow would be my guess.

One can argue that removing certain groups and leaders could lead to more freedom for the people of those countries if they are able to establish a democratic government afterwards. That can be easier said that done, as history shows us, even recently in Afghanistan. One thing is clear; the world is more uneasy about the US than it ever has been. And many alliances are now on shaky ground as a result of these actions. How much more the world can endure is unknown.

I’ve found a little time to read more of ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’ and I am still enjoying the story, even though I have already watched it on TV. I love how the dialogue in the book is translates so well to the screen. I think there is even a graphic novel of these stories as well.

I realised that I have five unused credits sitting in my Audible account. I can’t seem to pick something to listen to. I have read the first novel in the “Dungeon Crawler Carl’ series and thought it was a lot of fun. I’ll probably get the next one eventually. There are the novels by Scott Sigler, The Sun Symbol Series. I have listened to two of them and liked them.

Currently, I am on book one of James Islington’s ‘The Will of the Many,’ which is also a good read. I’ve listened to a couple of books by Yahtzee Croshaw who writes fun adventure sci-fi.

Part of me says to buy audiobooks for the books I won’t likely have time to read but are on my To Be Read (TBR) list. Some of these books I own as physical books, but they have been waiting on the shelf for me to get to them. I can listen to audio while working, and that allows me to enjoy more novels.

I have Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow on that TBR list.

Or maybe I should purchase some non-fiction. I have a workmate who sits beside me at the studio named Chen-yui whom I have interesting conversations about philosophy and other worldly matters. He is well read in these subjects and even hosts a discussion group. Because his reading is so different from mine, I find his thoughts on things interesting, and we usually have something to chat about to keep us going through the day. We spent a fair bit of time talking about pens, fountain pens, and all writing paraphernalia. We both have an affinity for teas; he even belongs to a tea group and practices a tea ceremony often. I look forward to being back in the studio with him.

We all have to go into the studio on Thursday this week. It will be a chance to reunite and go over things in person. And I’m sure we will all have a good lunch together in the studio kitchen like we used to.

My list of half-titles is sitting here beside me, but I haven’t touched them again. I think I need to start writing earlier in the evening because I am running out of steam by eleven PM these days. I was hoping to have started a story this evening, but that just didn’t happen. Tomorrow I will get something started earlier. The first five hundred words are always the hardest part of a short story for me, but once I get going and into a flow state things just roll along. It is getting past that first part that’s the difficulty.

While at our friends' on the weekend, we were lamenting about not being able to see any of the newer Saturday Night Live shows since we canceled our Bell satellite TV subscription. Not that there isn’t enough entertainment to be found elsewhere, but we always enjoyed the cold opener and the new segment.

The skits can be hit or miss, but I was enjoying the newest cast. I thought they had some talented up and comers and a solid regular cast. They seem to have found their rhythm in the last year or so. And I always loved the musical video spots they do. Some of them are just iconic. Did you say, “Dick in a box?”

We have a gas stove in our kitchen that was here when we bought place fourteen years ago. It’s been years since we cleaned the glass on the oven door. It’s just not something we notice that much, probably because we are used to it. But we whipped out the Easy-Off scent-free and have the glass a spray. I was amazed to see how blackened it had become. In all fairness, we have been using the oven a lot more in recent years. From pan sheet dinners to my bread-making and the kids having a midnight snack of frozen pizza, it has seen some mileage. 

Most of the black crust came of from the spray and I used a box cutter blade to scrape the more stubborn crusts. But the can we already had wasn’t full to begin with and decided that this level of neglect deserved a second spraying. So, we grabbed another can while we were out for a walk, and I gave it another liberal coating. The directions said to leave it for an hour and a half or overnight. I chose the overnight option because more is always better, right?

I have a feeling I will be taking the door apart this weekend to get at the inside parts of the glass. We won’t be satisfied with the look of it when the outer sides are clean and the inner sides still have drips running down them. I’ll YouTubing how to remove the oven door glass for sure. Thank the universe for YouTube!

Speaking of YouTube, I have some friends who run a channel that is all about tasting and trying beer. They have a couple of years worth of videos and have called themselves the Alconauts.  Recently, they have started podcasting as well as releasing videos. I haven’t had a listen to the podcast yet, but those two can ham  it up. They are like a comedy team of a straight man and the funny guy. And sometimes they take turns being one or the other.

My claim to fame was sending them some beers to review, a sour beer, and it made one of the hosts throw up. Off camera of course, don’t be crude. I also bought them those dorito hot nacho chip challenge. They refuse to show the footage. I guess it was really spicy and did not go well. 😊

Personally, I think it would have made compelling content.

Once again, bed is calling me with her siren song and I, being a mere mortal, cannot resist the dream of a goodnight’s sleep.

Nite all.