Drunken Owls and Other Delights

So this week I got a 'workiversary' cake at the shop, celebrating one year since my hire date. It's a simple petite white cake with white frosting and very tasty. Our bakery makes some really good cakes, y'know. So much so that I'm amazed I'm not putting on weight from the occasional slice-buying for lunch. Still...has it been a year already?? I started mid-March of 2022, but apparently my hire date was late February -- I do remember my boss saying he'd been backlogged with eight bazillion different things going on, and I've since learned that he does appreciate the occasional reminder when needed. Anyway, we are having cake for our dessert these last few days and I am happy for it.

In other news, we went to Japantown today and finally stopped at the bullet-train sushi bar across the street from the Japantown Mall, and we were not let down! We both realized that this was definitely a place to bring visiting friends and family that enjoy sushi! We did of course stop at Kinokuniya so I could pick up my manga stash, which I shall start reading soon enough.

Oh -- did I mention we got new pillows? We finally came to the conclusion that our cheap and deflated BedBath&Beyond-bought pillows have just about had it and it was time to admit that maybe we should spend a bit of money to get something that's comfortable and supportive. I seem to have slept very soundly last night, so that's definitely a good sign.

Writingwise I'm a few days behind on MU4 and 750Words due to work and other IRL things, but I'm not going to let that bother me. In fact the days off have given me time to think about a few important character-related things that I shall implement very soon. Looking forward to working on them!


Hope everyone has a good (and much warmer) week!

At the moment the Day Job has settled into a schedule that allows me Saturday afternoons off as well as the entirety of Sunday, so we've made our weekend plans accordingly. And given that we've been lucky with the weather for the most part, we've been out and about! Yesterday we made our way over to the Botanical Garden as the magnolias are just about to bloom (it's still a bit early so not all of them were out yet) then stopped at the Richmond Republic (one of our favorite local alehouses) for dinner. And today we visited the Haight for the first time in ages, checking out some of the nicer houses off the main drag and visiting some of our favorite stores as well.

It's still a bit cold and it rained late in the afternoon today, but it does feel really good to get out again!

...but otherwise still writing! I've made it official that the Mendaihu Universe book 4 was started on Wednesday the 11th and I've been spending the last couple of days focusing solely on that, skipping a few blog entries and 750 Words exercises while I solidify a writing habit here. It's a small price to pay, yeah?

I don't expect everything in my life to suddenly switch to something new on Day One, because that isn't how it works. I have to work at it, remind myself on the daily that I have certain goals, and just thinking about them and making plans for them isn't enough. I'll have an off day now and again, whether it's an extremely exhausting shift at the Day Job or alternate plans or whatever, I'm allowed to fall down now and again.

Same with Life. I have to work at these goals to make them happen.

 Looking at my writing whiteboard right now and it doesn't look any different from the last few months:

--SUN: PC clean session, post at Dreamwidth
--MON: 750 Words, post at Welcome to Bridgetown
--TUE: 750 Words, post at Walk in Silence
--WED: 750 Words, post at Dreamwidth
--THU: 750 Words, post at Walk in Silence
--FRI: 750 Words, post at Welcome to Bridgetown
--SAT: music practice

The only differences here is that I didn't put 'poetry' anywhere, as I think I've gotten myself back into the groove on that where I don't really need to schedule it anymore. I've added 'music practice' because I really need to do so again...it's been far too long. I actually write the blog posts the day before and schedule them for a 6am PT drop (I just finished writing tomorrow's WiS entry), and these Dreamwidth entries are usually quick and off the cuff.

It's the 750 Words that I'm actively trying to get back into my daily regimen. I've only scheduled them for weekdays (weekends I'm keeping it optional), but my aim here is to try to make it a daily thing again. It's part of exercising the creative brain, just like with the music practice: I'm not going to get better if I just do the minimal work. And I really do need to do better work!

Anyway...it's Day Four and I've done pretty good with the schedule so far. I've hit every beat I've wanted to hit so far!

This year kind of felt like coming out of a haze for me...not so much about being in a haze for so long, but finally finding a bit of clarity in my life that I've been needing for ages. I know...I've said that a lot over the years, but this time feels a bit different. It's not so much wishful thinking this time as it's just a simple reality. 

I think part of it is that I finally rejoined the rest of the outside world with a new job in retail, well away from the banking universe. I can accept that I felt like I was constantly swimming upstream at the Former Day Job, even when I was well-versed in what I was doing at the time. Some might see working at a supermarket as a step downwards (or a step closer to senior age with less-strenuous work), but let's be brutally honest here: I'd much rather be here at the shop with coworkers I truly get along with and know on a deeper level, with customers who aren't Freaking The Fuck Out over the most minute things, where the highest stress is ensuring we have things in stock and that shoplifting is at a minimum. 

Sure, I'll totally admit I was constantly in over my head at the bank. I stayed there primarily for the job security and secondarily out of laziness. Coming out of the back end of the pandemic made me realize that Life Could Be So Much Better for me, and I followed through. I've been at the shop for about nine months now and my mind and soul are much more stable than they ever were at the bank, not to mention that they really like my work there. I feel like part of a team instead of just another interchangeable warm body.

So what does this have to do with my life outside the Day Job? Well, it was a needed step, really. I had to accept that I needed a Day Job, but also that I actually didn't want to be a freelance writer, nor do I want to spend a good portion of my creative time trying to promote myself. I just want to write novels, that's all. It's what I do best, and it's what I love best. It also gave me the emotional freedom to say I'm not held back by the small-c conservative mindset of banking, and gave me the freedom and ability to better express myself again.

So yeah...like I said, it feels like clarity, and it feels great. And I'm planning to run with it in 2023.

 Tomorrow will be seven days in a row that I'm opening the shop at 6am, six of which I had to actually be there at 5:30, and oh yeah also there's a heating unit problem there so the store has been a brisk 45 degrees the entire time, so yeah I am a bit loopy and overtired right now, why do you ask? 

Anyhoo -- things are going as normal for the last couple weeks of the year. I'm taking it easy and not pushing myself with the writing other than with the blogs. I am, of course, thinking about how I'm going to approach the new year with the various projects I have in mind. If you've been reading my latest entries at Welcome to Bridgetown, then you'll have heard that my main project for 2023 will be the fourth Mendaihu Universe book, along with doing some 'remastering' of the original trilogy (more on that at a later time). I'm really looking forward to returning to this particular world again!

Other than that...not much to report other than that I REALLY need sleep right now...

 I've got a two-day weekend here (off today and tomorrow) so I get to a) sleep in despite being woken up by cats, and b) catch up on things without much interruption or lack of time. A's parents will be coming in early this afternoon for lunch which means that I spent most of this morning post-coffee with vacuuming and tidying up (see: cats again).

In the meantime, I'm sneaking this entry in while A finishes cooking before I finish cleaning/bringing down the trash/etc and doing my weekly PC cleaning.

I'll be honest, I've been feeling kind of guilty for not being all that productive with the writing, but I've told myself not to be swayed by that. I'm allowed a few off days, especially at the end of the year! Besides, I'll most likely be catching up on the blogging later tonight after A's parents head out. I just have to remember, it's not about feeling guilty for not writing...it's about preparing myself for the next writing project phase!

I do love that for the most part I have Sundays off, because I can sleep in (as much as our cats will let us), and it's a day when I can just chill, catch up with mundane errands and go out to brunch. Which is exactly what I did! A bit of vacuuming, a run to Target to stock up on a few household things, and otherwise not being stressed out over anything at all.

The last couple of days at the Day Job have been a bit busy but not nearly as chaotic as T-Day and the day before it. From what I've been told, it should be rather unexciting for a few more weeks until people start shopping for Christmas feasts. There hasn't been any holiday music playing in the store as of yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it starts soon.

I did not get around to making any new mixtapes these last couple of days, but perhaps I might remedy that in the next few days when I fill out the last couple of half-made playlists and perhaps make a couple of new ones. I'm kind of embarrassed that I've been so lazy about them this year!

Other than that, not much else to report...hope everyone has a good week ahead!

Yup. That time of year again where it's time for me to start thinking about what I'll be doing in the next one.

A lot of changes this past year. Finally re-employed, this time back in the retail field for the first time in over two decades. Two novel projects that kept me busy during the pandemic put on hiatus and a new project on the horizon. Catching up on my reading. Feeling and looking healthier. Not bad, considering.

I'm thinking I'm going to take it easy in December and just think about what I'm going to do in 2023 instead of trying to do everything I'd put off until the last minute. I'll do the usual, making future plans and thinking about how I can make them happen. What plans do I have, you ask? Well, you'll know soon enough when I've given them much more thinking and working out. I know I want to get at least one novel out in the next year, for starters. There are still a lot of personal changes I want to make as well. A change of thought process, I suppose. Interesting things to come.

In a way 2022 has been kind of a year of making peace with a lot of things. Closing some connections and creating new ones, allowing myself to follow through with plans and desires. That sort of thing. I think part of it is being back in the retail world, which has effectively forced me to reconnect with the outside world again. I hadn't realized how insulated I'd become during the Former Day Job. I truly do enjoy those connections I'm making again. But more to the point, I think I'm realizing why I enjoy them...I used to (somewhat self-deprecatingly) say that I just liked making other people happy, but that was never the real truth, only an excuse for putting others before my own self. It's that I like that connection, being a part of a community. I also think that disconnecting from nearly everything toxic or worn out or no longer needed over those two years helped as well. I know who I am and who I need to be, and I certainly don't need to be that for anyone else's benefit.

Anyway...I'm glad of where I am now, and I'm really looking forward to the journey ahead.

Having two young cats in the apartment has been a bit of a learning curve for both kitties and owners, but we're all doing okay. Jules and Cali have come to a tentative sisterly agreement that they'll keep each other company, share the food dish, and take turns being the Occasional Annoying Sibling. Nothing is broken, scratched, fallen over or destroyed (yet) so that's a good sign. The fosters did a great job teaching them!

It's also Q4 time again, so the Day Job has seen an uptick of customer flow. From what I hear from the managers, we're doing amazingly well for a small store (we're half the size of most others) and our neighborhood loves us. Sure, we get the occasional Grumpy Gus that finds fault in the smallest things but they're very much in the minority. And our shoplifting issue has lessened considerably since we started hiring security! And as I mentioned at the writing blog, our bosses frown on forced overtime thanks to our union, so it's not as if I'm getting my ass handed to me on a ten-hour shift like I used to at Yankee. Props to the head manager as well for doing a great job with the scheduling as well! We'll still have the occasional short-staffed day, but those are increasingly few and far between as we hire more workers.

I'm trying to get caught up with my writing duties today and doing a pretty good job of it, so I can't complain!