Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Okay, so bringing the satchel to work is a plus, partly because it makes carrying things to work (like lunch, my coffee thermos and any shopping I do after shift) much easier. And it's easy for me to grab something during break (I found a perfect spot for it above the small cabinets over the sink). But I've also realized that I really don't need the couple of notebooks I initially put in there, as it's pretty obvious that I don't really have the time or the space to do anything with them. So basically I have an empty spiral notebook that I will eventually use when I'm ready to do a bit of longhand, a small but thick notebook that used to be in my jacket pocket that's been my Notebook of Infinite Random Writings for most of the year, and one of my word search magazines that's been gathering dust for a few years on my desk.

Am I still futzing around on my phone at this point? Well, okay, fine, yes I am, but it's been more about checking in with A and recent news. I know I can do better, but at least it's a start!

My hours are a bit wonky this week, but not necessarily in a bad way. The main bookkeeper is on vacation, which means I'll be covering his 5:30a - 2p shift aside from today. I'll be a bit tired and cranky from waking up so dang early, but as always, getting out at 2 is a neat thing indeed.

I didn't exactly do any writing-related work during our vacation, and I'm fine with that these days. It's good to just chill out and do not much other than reading and listening to tunes in a small water tower base that's been converted into a cabin in a very small coastal town that's known for having been where they shot many exterior shots for Cabot Cove on the show Murder She Wrote.  [The exteriors of fishing piers and docks were shot a bit up the road in Fort Bragg.] 

What I did do however was something I'd done a few years previous, actually in the same cabin: open up document copies of some of my older 750Words entries. Why did I do so, you ask? Well, partly because it's fun to see what I was writing then, and to see what's changed, but also to see how my post-trilogy standalone novels evolved! Meet the Lidwells, In My Blue World and Diwa & Kaffi were all written as daily entries on that site, as were several MU-related outtakes. There are also other ideas in there that I think are worth investigating further, including several short stories within the D&K universe. [One thing I realized was that I'd misremembered D&K's origins; that novel was written in tandem with those short stories rather than growing out of them.]

Still -- the vacations are over, I don't have any other major events coming up any time soon, so I'm ready to get back to the grind and get this writing thing back up to speed again. That means daily work on Theadia and prep work on possible projects to be started. I may even go against my better judgement and try Inktober again this year, now that I have the time and the brainspace! Heh.

Anyway, going to go and enjoy the rest of the day! Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

I've been looking forward to this break for a month or so now. For the last couple of years with the two weeks I get for vacation, I've been using one full week for an actual vacation and the second split up into various days off as needed. (And aside from the couple of days off I took in January, I haven't touched the other week yet, so I'll need to find time for those days before the holiday season kicks in!)

Anyhoo, This morning I did the one thing I'd planned on doing today: sleeping in. I haven't done that in a while (I get up at 6am on days I'm working but not opening so I can still use the morning hours for writing and whatnot), so it felt so good to allow myself to be that lazy and get up at 8:45!! The cats usually get annoyed and prod us awake and demand breakfast at 7 but they'll grudgingly wait if we're sleeping in.

So are we doing anything? Yes! We're going to spend a few days up in Mendocino again, not doing much other than enjoying the sights, catching up on reading and taking pictures. I won't be writing but I'll most likely be taking my tablet to do a bit of 'reading so far' of Theadia or catching up on other writing projects. 

And speaking of which, I am still planning on 'getting back on the horse' with my daily whiteboard schedule as I often do at the start of every month, though this will obviously be a week late in starting, but I'm fine with that. I don't think I've been lazy about my writing as of late per se... more like I just haven't been taking it all that seriously. I'm coming to the conclusion that I probably do need to do that every now and again just to avoid burnout...but I don't need to do it this much. I can still balance the seriousness with the occasional days off, I just need to be more thoughtful and organized about it.

But yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to this week of relaxation and recharge. Stars knows I'll be super busy again in just a few months!

..though this time out I'm not exhausting myself by doing eighty things at once at work!  As said previously, I'm working the liquor manager's hours (someone has to be assigned that position, even if we don't necessarily need to fulfill it that day). So instead of remaining up front at the registers, I'm doing what I call the dogsbody position -- basically shifting from one thing to another as needed. A bit of day stock, doing the online shopping orders (which are actually kind of fun), being holder of the key for the locked-up aisles, stuff like that. Today I essentially just moseyed around the store helping wherever needed. And I'll be doing that tomorrow and Friday as well!

Thankfully I'm getting back to normal on the writing work with Theadia...although there are a few new bits that I'll need to work on at a later time! I just inserted a 'write this chapter later' entry the other day and it looks like I'm finally allowing that to become a part of my writing process. Not that I'm complaining!

This hasn't been a stressful week at work, so why am I feeling so tired?? It could be that I've been doing a LOT of lifting work lately (yesterday was my turn to work on day stock for the entire shift, and some of those boxes are darn heavy!). Or it could be that the weather's been overcast and extremely humid, which added to the occasional allergies floating about, it's all draining me far too quickly. Thankfully I have tomorrow off and I have nothing big planned other than bringing the car in for an oil change and its yearly servicing.

I've been kind of lazy these last couple of weeks as well, to be honest, and that also might have something to do with it. Not lazy *because* I'm tired, but tired because I haven't really been moving around all that much other than at work. And I can tell that might be a valid point...I really need to return to doing stretches again, before or after work (I do some during slow points *at* work out of habit). I have to remember that's the way to get me through these gloomy overcast days.

I'm really hoping that today's front-end-managing shift isn't nearly as hellish as last week's was. I'm hoping last week was just a fluke, because it rarely gets THAT busy. Especially since I'll be doing an 8:30 to 5 tomorrow and will be doing daystock all day.

See, there are usually three types of Busy Days here.

The most common is the one where it's only busy during certain times: the 11:30 to 1 lunch rush and the 4-7 after-work rush. Those I can handle because every other part of that day is much slower and less stressful. This one also matches the wave of kids from the high school up the way when school is in session (which, as I've been told, starts up again in a few weeks...bleh). We're usually well-covered up front for this.

Then there's the slow-but-constant busy. This one can be exhausting but it definitely makes the day go by quick. The line never seems to dwindle, with maybe two or three people coming up with a basketful of items and maybe the occasional Instacart shopper with a full cart. You finish ringing up one person, someone else gets in line. The only problem I have with this one is being short-staffed.

Then there's the 'where the f*** did everyone come from???' busy, which I dread. Those are usually Sundays and Mondays, our busiest days, when it's Weekly Grocery Shopping Time for most people...but occasionally this happens on other days of the week, like Wednesdays. There always seems to be at least eight people in line and two people ringing (including me), additional help called for but taking their time arriving, one ringer walking away for a break without telling anyone, the phone always ringing and no one else answering, someone needing the liquor cabinets unlocked, and the self-checkout crashing because people Do Not Follow Simple Directions. Those are the highly stressful days that leave me drained at the end. And that was my shift last Wednesday.

ANYWAY. I'm glad I only have this assignment once a week, and I'd requested for that because I just do not have the stamina.

*

Meanwhile, they've posted for a PIC (Person In Charge) position to fill for the one guy who left last week. This one's basically a third-level manager position, and I've been told by one or two people that I could definitely do this job, but I've begged off. It might pay a bit more, but it includes occasionally working even wonkier hours and ensuring even more moving parts are moving around correctly. I mean, sure, I *could* do the job...I just don't want to. As I'd said to someone who told me about it, I could do it, but I definitely wouldn't be happy. It's a level of responsibility that would frustrate me, because I'm definitely an "I may as well do it myself if I want it done RIGHT" sort or worker and I'd end up burning myself out super quick. I'd be of better use supporting the PIC rather than *being* one. And I'm fine staying with the occasional FE Mgr spot and my two-day bookkeeping run.

TIL: My day job assignment yesterday was to be out on the floor restocking dairy and frozen, which can be enjoyable if a bit finger-numbing when you're handling refrigerated things all day long. And apparently the cooler was being temporarily used yesterday afternoon as a place to store the Flipping Ginormous Recall of Boars Head meats until it was sorted and tossed (the tl;dr is that the company found traces of listeria in one of their liverwurst samples and they chose to do the right thing and recall EVERYTHING between certain dates). Side note: the pulled stuff was all tightly wrapped and unopened so there was no crosss-contamination. So yeah, that was fun to work around!

In other less exciting news, today's my one Front End Manager shift this week and considering it's Wednesday, I'm hoping it'll be uneventful. And I get to do more restock work tomorrow, then my Friday-Saturday bookkeeping assignment, so yay for avoiding the registers for the most part this week! Heh.

Other than that, I seem to be avoiding writing work again, so that needs to be adjusted once more...

Let's just say that I'm REALLY fucking tired of putting the regular parts of my life on hold because some rightwing bullshit put me there. It happened back when The Fuckwit entered the White House, and I'd rather not have to live through that again.

I'm also REALLY fucking tired of those same people making other people's lives miserable Because Stupid-Ass Bigoted Reasons.

And these are but two reasons why I vote Democrat and why I consider myself liberal.

I do not have the damn spoons to have to go through that again, so I'm hoping to hell that Kamala not only wins the nomination but wins the presidency by a goddamned landslide.

I do kind of wish I had another day off, but alas the Day Job awaits tomorrow morning. I've been doing a LOT of opens this month, and while I'm fine with that -- I still prefer them, to tell the truth -- I need to adjust my sleep schedule or else I'm just going to be exhausted more often than not. 

I'm not sure, but I think the reason I've been doing so many is that they're letting one of my younger coworkers try out the Front End Manager shift (11.30 - 8) when our main FEM has her days off. He's been wanting more responsibility for ages and this is a great opportunity for him! And to be honest, that lightens up my load so I don't need to worry about doing those. I mean, I'll do 'em if I'm assigned, but they're very exhausting and sometimes there's a lot of babysitting involved. I'll do them if I have to, but I'm definitely not a fan of them at this point. 

Anyhoo, I'm still a very big fan of the opening shift despite the occasional sleepiness, just like I was during my Yankee Candle years. Getting off of work at 2.30pm and having the rest of the day to do personal stuff is still the best thing ever!

 As always, the start of a new month is always the start-over of the usual daily whiteboard schedule. I no longer see being unable to follow it to the letter as failure, of course...I accept there were reasons for not getting any writing work done, or whatever it was that didn't get completed. Life gets in the way now and again. The whiteboard isn't a strict errand board but a useful way of keeping my brain in working order.

I have to say I'm quite impressed that I somehow managed (sort of) to get 391 writing days in a row on 750Words, but the other day I just said nah, enough is enough and I don't need to do that anymore. To be honest I'd started running out of new things to write there early on, and instead writing a sort of Walk in Silence (the book) overview of the music I enjoyed over the years. It was fun while it lasted but by the time I reached 385 days it had become a time-consuming chore. I'll use the site again, of course. It's extremely useful for writing very rough drafts of novels! But yeah, I'm taking a hiatus on that for a bit now.

Speaking of hiatuses, the one I'd started for my blogs is now over. I want to return back to Welcome to Bridgetown and Walk in Silence (the blog) again, because it's always been fun. Do I have stuff to blather about? Who knows? I can usually come up with something, so no worries there. I'm going to try twice a week for both once again, but I'll still allow a day off if I'm just too busy or distracted.

And speaking of distracted, I think I'm up there with @anagramofbrat in that I'm feeling VERY distracted by social media again. Not so much doomscrolling as just getting that dopamine fix, mainly on Threads. I'd like to be more connected on them and not reactive, though. The difference of course being that I miss having that fun connection with other people because I've been too willingly drawn in by someone's drama thread. [And I'm ACTIVELY avoiding political posts these days, so no worries there.] How to handle that, change that? Well, I'm not sure, but I'll figure it out.

New month, new schedule, new days. We'll see where this leads.