Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Follow-through

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 17:39:01 GMT

I'm slowly getting my act together. Following through with a lot of those "I should probably do (x)" thoughts and doing them instead of just pondering whether they're a neat idea or not. I mean, these are not mind-blowingly life-altering or anything, just stuff that comes to mind that I'm interested in doing. The non-writing creative stuff, the reading habits, and so on. There's still a long way to go, but this is the tough part: getting started in the first place and remembering that not everything needs to be dialed to eleven. I've become far too versed in the Making Huge Plans part of it but never quite following through for one reason or another or having them fizzle out on me.

I've also acknowledged that part of doing this is to combat the Ooh Shiny easiness of being perpetually glued to one's phone. Dopamine hit aside, when your work break is only ten minutes, it's easier to check your feeds than pull out a book that you'll need to put down after a few pages anyway. I probably could pull it off easier if I was still working from home, like I did in the past. That's obviously not doable now, so I have to be a bit more creative by reminding myself how I pulled it off with my other positions over the years. This is why I've been playing Squaredle instead of rechecking said feeds.

The funny thing is that I'm also allowing myself those moments of minor obsession. I could be reading my TBR pile at the end of the night but instead I've been reading comics. I'm allowing that because it occurs to me that I'm finding myself paying more attention to styles and forms of storytelling with that medium as of late instead of reading novels and music biographies. (Though I really should start balancing that out more.) I'm treating this as discovering new inspiration and influence in unexpected places instead of forcing it out of the same locations all the time.

Mind you, the new location for the current day job does allow more low-stakes brain power and a LOT less stress, and I'm in the process of dialing it back to everyone else's level of dedication. I'm still reminding myself that if I keep this Do All The Things mindset I'm only going to keep exhausting myself physically and mentally, and my new coworkers will end up leaving me with all the responsibility. There's a delicate balance between knowing how to do things others might not know about (or have access to) and doing everyone else's job, and I think that was an error I made at the other shop. My coworkers do their jobs and don't slack off, but nor are they rushing around trying to do it all at once, and I need to allow myself to do that as well.

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Spring lethargy

Sun, 19 Apr 2026 21:59:08 GMT

Alas, we have missed the cherry blossom festival at Japantown this year. Last week was a washout due to it raining all that weekend, and as for this weekend, I had to work on Saturday and today ended up being an 'I have just enough energy to do some much-needed gardening but that's it' day. Ah well...I would have enjoyed it, but I probably would have enjoyed it more had I not been feeling so lethargic this past week.

I'm certain it's mostly due to allergies. They've been hitting me pretty hard over the last couple of years, something that hasn't happend in ages. They used to hit me pretty hard back in my MA days due to all the pine pollen, but here it's very rarely immobilizing. I even ended up calling out one day as I'd woken up to the worst sinus migraine I'd had in quite some time. I guess that's what happens as you get older...?

I also think there's a little bit of that leftover sense of urgency from my former store that I need to purge once and for all. More and more I'm catching myself stressing out over the need to be on top of everything at every moment of my shift, when clearly I DO NOT NEED TO at this other store. One, we have other people that are able to answer the phone when it rings, or do general maintenance and cleaning, or do a special project. Two, and more importantly, not once have I been given the sense that I absolutely MUST be active at all times. I look around at my other coworkers and notice that yeah, there are busy moments, but when there aren't, they don't seem to be as wound up as I sometimes am. It's just expected that everyone pulls their weight to some degree, and that is clearly evident here, much more so than my old store.

So yeah, some of this exhaustion I think comes from finally allowing myself to dial it back, and my body is finally realizing just how overworked it's been over the last few years, and responding in kind. It's a work in progress, I suppose. I'll find that balance eventually.

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Midweek update

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 18:13:50 GMT

Bleh. I so rarely call out sick but had to call it this morning, and I probably should have done so yesterday as well. Seems that allergies get to me more often than they used to since we moved here? Anyway, yesterday I was stuffed up, migrainey and loopy all day at work, and today I woke up knowing that I'd pretty much be useless. I'm feeling a little bit better now, but I'd rather conserve my dwindling energy supply than drain it today. I have tomorrow off, so hopefully I'll feel better for my Friday and Saturday shifts. [I kinda have to be, considering I'm opening those two days.]

This also means that I haven't been writing the last few days, either, which is kind of annoying but I'll deal. Every now and again I have to remind myself that it's okay to go through a spell where I just let it all simmer for a bit, that way I can get back to it with a clearer head.

And hopefully the weather and the pollen will behave soon enough and leave my poor head alone!

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Wet weekend

Sun, 12 Apr 2026 23:08:14 GMT

Springtime is certainly here in the Bay Area, what with the weird rain patterns we've experienced over the las couple of days. We'll have a torrential downpour that lasts about ten minutes, followed by sun, followed by another downpour, followed by sprinkles for a few hours, then cold wind, and so on. I wouldn't mind it so much if a) it didn't put the kibosh on our weekend plans to garden and also go to the cherry blossom festival in Japantown, and b) give me a daylong migraine. Bleh! Even more so that this was a rare week where I had both Saturday and Sunday off.

That said, we did get some shopping done yesterday (a Total Wine run and a stop at Home Depot for a few gardening and household things) and a walk down to Geary today for lunch today, and a TON of much needed laundry was done. I'm usually not that behind on that, but this last week's schedule was all 11.30-8 midshifts that didn't give me all that much time to work with. Not to mention how exhausted I was by the end of it! Thankfully I will be doing mostly all opens this coming week.

Alas, last week's schedule also didn't give me much writing time either so I didn't get too far. I'll try to rectify this coming week by doing a bit of plotting...I really need to lay down this last stretch of Theadia to get a better sense of where I am and how much further I need to go. I feel like I've really been dragging my feet on this project over the last few months and I really need to get it done and published! [Also, note to self: ask around for someone who might be interested in doing a book cover for it.]

Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

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Midweek updatery

Wed, 08 Apr 2026 16:47:38 GMT

I'm actually kinda happy that I have this Saturday off as I so rarely get a full weekend off! This week's day job schedule has been unconventional as I'm doing four midshifts (11.30 - 8). Not my favorite shift but when it's just busy enough it goes by rather quickly. Today and tomorrow I am playing the role of front end manager, which I haven't done in a while. I notice that each person at this shop plays it differently -- one of them just logs onto a register and checks all afternoon, while another one monitors the self-checkouts so they can also be available elsewhere if and when needed. Me? I'm more of a 'put me where you need me' but I also get to do a bit of mental chess playing by ensuring everyone gets their breaks on time. And I'm basically running that position because I'm the one available to do it on those days.

So what's going on creatively? Not much to report. Theadia is going in the right direction bit it's a bit of a slog and I'm definitely starting to feel the 'I want to do something else now' twinge that I tend to get toward the end of my projects. Not that I'm losing interest, just that my ADD brain is ready to latch onto the next big obsession. It's always been like that, I just have to deal with it and power through. I think what I need to do is what I did with The Balance of Light: make a rough outline of all the plot points I need to hit between now and the end, get it in a nice order that makes sense and flows well, and that should make things a little easier.

That said, just hoping that the next three days are uneventful and go by quickly, because I'm looking forward to a relaxing weekend!

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New phone who dis

Sun, 05 Apr 2026 23:45:22 GMT

Another quiet weekend in which we got to sleep in (that is, until the cats decided we'd been in bed long enough and started climbing over us and scratching at the box spring covering). We'd both had a Friday in which I was running around nonstop and A had some vaccines and shots that made her a little woozy, so our Sunday was pretty much a 'go out for a walk then call it done'. Other than that I'm just doing my usual weekend PC cleaning and doing the laundry.

We did, however, update to the Google Pixel 10a and spent a bit of time transferring all our stuff to our new devices. There's really not much of a difference between it and our old 8a's, other than it's larger by maybe a millimeter or so and allegedly the battery life is a distinct improvement. I'll need to fiddle around with it a bit more just to see what I can adjust (such as turning off the stupid AI module), and of course taking more pictures of the cats.

In day job news, I'm doing four midshifts this week, which is a mixed blessing. I don't mind doing them but they can be exhausting sometimes because that means I'm handling TWO busy times -- the 11-1 lunch crowd and the 4-7 after-work crowd -- but then again, I'm still thrilled that this is a shop that is well-run and well-staffed which means I don't have two be doing All The Things. I might be tired after them, but I'm not going to feel exhausted. I hope. This also means that I have a full weekend off next Saturday and Sunday, in which we plan to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japantown! Yay!

Speaking of the day job, I had an interesting realization the other day after I stopped at the old store on Friday for a brief visit. Strangely, it feels like I'd graduated high school and headed to college. After four years of being at the same place and feeling a growing need (for multiple reasons) to move on, I've now relocated myself to a new destination where I'm meeting new people, forcing myself to rethink how to deal with it all, and yet feeling excited about it. Visiting the old store felt a little like doing a weekend return home before returning back the next day, heh! Point being, I'm seeing this realization as a plus. Especially now that I'm older and wiser and no longer prone to adjusting to everyone else's whims before my own.

Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

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ouch

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:32:41 GMT

( CW - Dentistry if you're squicky about that )

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Weekendery

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 22:48:22 GMT

We keep on planning to take a walk down at Crissy Field on the weekend, but lately whenever the day rolls around, we end up changing our plans! This time I'd just been doing All The Walking all week long so the last thing I wanted to do was More Walking. So instead we did a Trader Joe's run (I was woefully out of the hummus-and-cracker snacks I love so much) and then walked the few blocks down to Geary to pick up sushi for lunch.

As it stands, I ended up doing a bunch of errands today anyway! They were much needed, including vacuuming and mopping the floors and starting the laundry. May as well get them done, yeah? That way I can slack off a bit tomorrow. The only thing I have planned then is to weed the front sidewalk gardens we have. Those are little Urban Garden squares where they plant small trees for beautification. We've chosen to own those little plots to grow things like lavender and whatnot. One of those trees is super dead and we eventually plan to pull it out and replace it with the Ginormous Marigold Bush that's taking over a corner of our community garden plot up the street, but that's another project for the near future.

Meanwhile, Theadia continues apace. I've pretty much streamlined a few things that were bothering me, eliminating a character that didn't work out and having an existing character (one I like better) take over their scenes instead. I'll still need to finish off the damn novel once and for all, but the closer I get to it this time, the easier I think it'll be for me to do it. What will I do after that? Who knows? But I'm not going to dwell or worry about it.

Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

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A little wonky

Wed, 25 Mar 2026 16:46:39 GMT

My blogging schedule has been a little out of whack lately, partly due to my day job schedule but mostly due to just not being in the mood lately. I'm not giving it up, I think I just needed a bit of a break so I could get used to all the day job stuff (new store, added hours, learning new processes, waking up early, etc.). Things are slowly going back to normal however, so I'm sure I'll get back to it all eventually.

Meanwhile, I'm finally getting things back in order. Our taxes have finally been done (I usually never start this late!), I've made some serious headway in the Theadia revision, and I'm actually getting some well-earned sleep lately. Can't complain.

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Getting used to it

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 22:45:27 GMT

It's been two weeks at the new shop, and so far I'm doing pretty well other than the waking up stupid early. There's definitely a different vibe there, one that I think is a bit more aligned with my own way of working: do what you're assigned to do, but keep flexible enough to adjust if and when necessary. The most important difference so far, at least to me, is that I am very rarely feeling overwhelmed with too many responsibilities that all need focus at the same time. If anything, I'm doing maybe one or two things at a time but decidedly NOT out of necessity, which was happening with alarming frequency at the other shop. Someone else can do it if I can't get to it right away.

Speaking of waking up stupid early, I was talking with New (formerly Former) Head Boss the other day and he was wondering if it was actually necessary for me to come into the store that early on my bookkeeping days. Head Bookkeeper comes in for 4am because she's taken on a bunch of other responsibilities outside of her main job. So I think that once I get used to the new (to me) processes and find a flow that works for me, then I can probably come in for 5am instead, which works a bit better and is closer to my old Friday-Saturday schedule. It still gets me out just past noon, so that's fine by me!

That said, it also looks like I'll be sliding back into my old schedule: the Friday-Saturday bookkeeper opens with the two or three other days during the week. They're aware that I prefer opens or at least earlier mid-shifts where I'm not staying too late and screwing up my sleep schedule. As long as it stays that way and doesn't become unpredictable like the last several months!

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Weekend Relaxation

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 23:27:17 GMT

It's not often I get both Saturday and Sunday off, so to me it's felt like a nice extended weekend on my end, which is good considering how busy I was the last five days. The schedule at the new store should be a bit more normal from here on in (hopefully), though I was informed that there might still be a bit of wonkiness until everything is straightened out.

Meanwhile, given that the weather has been quite nice lately here in SF, we've tried to make it a point to head outside for a walk and maybe get some lunch on the way. Today's travels included heading to Blue Heron Lake -- for those wondering, this is the new name for Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park due to its original name being connected with a past politician with some, er, less than savory racial opinions -- where many pictures were taken of the wildlife, and then over to the Music Concourse to get some tasty eats from a Mexican food truck there. All in all, an enjoyable three mile walk, and now we don't feel guilty about lazing around for the rest of the day!

In writing news, I've been squeaking through work on Theadia, though it feels like I'm getting nowhere. Interestingly, several sections where I'd inserted an 'INSERT NEW SCENE HERE' are being deleted when I get to them and instead the ideas I'd had for them are being slotted in and around the surrounding chapters I'd already written instead. Why is this? Well, I think it's because this book is long enough and it began to feel as though these extended scenes were making it feel a bit bloated. And I'm fine with that, really...this helps the story keep its focus on the main characters with minimal distraction.

Other than that, everything is going just fine for the moment. Hope everyone has a good week!

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Surviving Week One

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 22:29:45 GMT

Some thoughts about my first full week at the new shop:

Pros:
--A well-staffed store, which means exactly what I hoped would happen with this transfer: I wouldn't have to worry about doing twenty-five other equally important things at the same time, and I could entrust the morning shift to cover the front with minimal issue.
--I'm still getting to know everyone, but so far everyone's nice there.
--I am not 'the only adult in the room'. I'm not always the main go-to when something is wrong, breaks, or is confusing. I can help and assist when needed, but I'm not performing The Paper Towel Commercial (person with issue staring dumbfoundedly at it while I clean up the mess with a cheery look of 'oh you...').
--The managers in charge are...well, in charge and not delegating their work onto everyone else, or pulling needed front end staff to do such things. Even better, they're perfectly willing to do stocking the displays and shelves themselves if and when necessary.
--To quote one of the managers: "The good thing is that when you're bookkeeping, you're bookkeeping. That's all you do until you're done. You don't have to do the home shopping orders or the front end managing or monitoring the self-checkouts. You might need to loan out more cash if need be and switch the tills, but that's part of that job. You get to focus on what you need to focus on." Which came in handy on Friday when I had to focus on not one but TWO self-checkout machines hardware-crashing on me. I was able to focus on getting IT in to fix them without having to worry about five other responsibilities. [Our Head BK has a handful of other responsibilities on any given day, but these are ones she's taken on herself outside of being a BK, like obtaining compliance signatures or upstocking front-end displays, and so on. I don't need to take those on if I don't want to.]
--I get to slow the f*ck down. And by this, I mean that when I'm doing something like monitoring the SCOs, I can just...stand there. Greet the customers, give them a hand if need be, grab their baskets when they're done, that sort of thing, and not worry about a manager coming by to say "hey, what are you doing just standing there, you could be doing A, B, C, D, and E as well." This is my assignment for the moment, and I get to focus only on that. This has made me significantly less exhausted at the end of the day.
--OMG I HAVE FORTY HOURS A WEEK AGAIN. It's been at least six months since my hours started getting cut!

Cons:
--Waking up at 3:15am to get there for 4am. I had to do this mainly so I could get bookkeeping training in with the main Bookkeeper who comes in at that time. I did it, and I can still do it when necessary when it's my turn to do such duties, but WHOOF I was out of gas by mid-afternoon. Thankfully from here on out, I'll only be doing that maybe two or three times a week, depending on the head BK's schedule.
--The front end can be a bit noisy sometimes, as there's the beeping of the SCOs, the phone ringing, and the hand dryers outside the restrooms going off, which can be a problem with my APD sometimes, but it's a very small price to pay.

So yeah, I'd say this transfer was a very good decision.

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Midweek Sleepiness

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 22:26:54 GMT

Mind you, it is NOT exhaustion. There's no stress or drained energy from overwork. This is all from having to wake up at 3:15am to get to work for 4am.

Sure, I certainly have a lot to do at this new shop. Like at the old one, I'm a back-up bookkeeper for the head bookkeeper's days off, and when I'm not doing that I'm at the register or monitoring the self-checkouts or doing the Drive Up 'n Go orders. What I'm not doing, thankfully, is stressing out from being the only other person working the front AND answering phones AND holding the keys to the locked-up stuff AND monitoring the self-checkouts AND doing the DUG orders AND doing the courtesy clerk work of cleaning and cart wrangling AND anything else that didn't get done the night before.

No, this store is clearly better staffed. Even from doors-open at 6am, there are others here to share the weight of it all.

It's a different kind of busy here, but it's a LOT more well-managed. It's not nearly as chaotic. We do have waves of customers, but we have the staff to handle it.

I still have a lot to learn at the new store, especially considering I have a completely different processing platform to learn (which happens to run counter to the platforms I've known for the last couple of years), but I'm not feeling nearly as overwhelmed.

But yeah, I'll be happy when my schedule normalizes a little more, because this 3am wakeup means I'm dead sleepy by 9pm!

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Endings/Beginnings

Sun, 08 Mar 2026 23:55:34 GMT

Saturday was my last day at the Day Job at the shop I joined back in March of 2022. Monday I start at the same chain -- different shop -- going forward. I had a relatively good four years there for the most part, with the occasional ups and downs. I might have had bad days and really bad days, but I never outright hated it, and I got along with almost everyone there. Despite all of that, it's probably good for me to move on and try something slightly new. I'm glad I was able to do this without having to start completely fresh, as I'm far too old to start at the low end of the totem pole again.

If I've learned anything, it's that showing a bit of self-confidence and an unprompted ability to problem-solve certainly helps one ascend the ladder a few rungs without necessarily needing to resort to Managing Other People. These are things I learned both there and at the Former Day Job at the bank. Like I've said to many people: I'd probably be good at being a manager...but I wouldn't enjoy it. I would find it too frustrating. Keep me where I am, working the unseen but extremely important roles, that's where I work best and where I feel most qualified and satisfied.

I'm going in with minimal expectations, really. Schedule-wise, all I ask is at least one weekend day off for personal reasons, and that I prefer mornings/days to evenings/closes. And besides, that's where you'll get the best out of me. I'll be awake, coherent, and productive. As for the atmosphere, I've been told by people that it's a bigger and much busier store, and again: 'busy' I can handle. In fact I weirdly enjoy the fast pace of fourth quarter! This is the other ask: that I'm not the only person shouldering all of that busy-ness. And from what I've been told, there's less of a chance of that happening.

I'm sure I'll be exhausted by the end of this first week, but I'm hoping that the stress side of things will remain thankfully low.

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Midweek waiting

Thu, 05 Mar 2026 00:38:55 GMT

Now that it's official that I'll be working at the other store on the other side of the park, things are finally falling into place. I have two more shifts to go at the old store (reminder to self: leave bookkeeper booth key and guest services cards after Saturday's shift, I certainly won't need them!) so hopefully they won't be all that chaotic. I did notice I had a decent opener or two on those days so as long as they don't call out I should be just fine.

The downside to next week's schedule is that I'll need to be there at 4am. YIKES! Yeah, I haven't woken up that early for a shift since those Q4 days at Yankee Candle, but thankfully it's only for that one week to get trained for the new bookkeeping hardware and then go solo on Friday. And the plus side means that I'll be punching out at 12:30pm with the rest of the day for my own stuff! I figure I'll shower and prep my coffee the night before, have a quick snack, then have breakfast for my lunch break.

There's still a bit of ironing out of my schedule going forward, but that should be easy enough to fix. As long as a) I get my one weekend day off, b) I'm not doing all mid or closing shifts, and c) I get closer to 32-38 hours rather than this paltry 24 I've been getting over the last few months. I am truly hoping that I don't have to make a fight out of it to get a doable schedule, as I am too damn old to have to be given the leavings and 'work my way up in seniority', but I don't think it'll be all that hard this time out.

Long story short, I am so thrilled that this is over and that this new chapter can finally start!

In the meantime, I've got a few days off here so I've been doing the usual erranding and catching up on my writing projects, and spending a lot of time with the cats, so I can't complain.

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Getting better all the time

Mon, 02 Mar 2026 01:29:40 GMT

(Why yes, I am listening to Sgt Pepper while I write this, why do you ask?)

It seems to be official that I will be transferring to the new store on the other side of the park, a request I'd wanted for a good couple of months now. I'll be starting there on the 8th, but I'm thinking that I'll stop by during one of my days off this week just to make sure everything's smooth as possible, and that any scheduling conflicts are few and easily adjusted. Patience and stubborn will has paid off! Yay me!

I'm really looking forward to the change of scenery, actually. I've been at this company for exactly four years (I was hired late February 2022, even though I didn't actually start until mid-March) so it's probably good that I change it up a little. I'm familiar with my next store as we'd shopped there plenty of times before my current one even opened up, and I do know a handful of people who are already over there. It's also a much bigger store so chances are I'll feel a little less hemmed in as well.

In creative news, I'm still feeling a bit agitated by a few passages in Theadia that might sound a bit clunky, but I'll fix that on the next go-round. This is taking a bit longer than I'd expected, but I've decided not to worry about deadlines at this point. It'll get done when it gets done! And now that it's a new month and I've realigned a few of my creative and personal plans, I fully plan to kickstart the music and art I've been wanting to focus on!

So all in all, things are doing pretty well, can't complain!

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Enjoying the day

Mon, 23 Feb 2026 00:54:17 GMT

While the east coast is getting ready for the snowstorm of the century, it was a surprisingly warm and lovely day here in SF, so A and I took a walk all the way down Cabrillo almost to the ocean. We stopped short by a single block as we were going to catch the bus part of the way back, but we could definitely see that the waves were VERY choppy at Ocean Beach. We stopped for lunch in Balboa Village (a little strip of in the upper Avenues of the Richmond District that includes a theater and many local eateries and shops), though due to an order mix-up and zero seats available we switched to take-out and walked over to GGP to eat.

And that's pretty much it for Sunday! We've been chilling for the most part, doing a tiny bit of cleaning and giving the cats attention. No complaints here, because this is exactly the kind of weekend I love having! Even the windows are open for a bit of fresh air, which also keeps said cats happy when interesting scents flow into the rooms.

Meanwhile, I'm still thinking of my past post about focusing on alternate creative outlets. I still need to finish off Theadia of course, but I think making this decision has also helped alleviate the stress of deadlines as well. I think once it's done and out in the wild I'll take a bit of time off to decide what my next moves are.

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Other creative outlets...?

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 22:45:54 GMT

I've been doing a lot of thinking about changing things up creatively. I mentioned this on my Welcome to Bridgetown blog the other day, but I'll explain it a bit more here: I've been focusing on my writing as an almost-daily thing for what, about thirty years now? At least since early 1996 when I bought my first PC and figured that if I was going to make this a successful thing, I was all in, working on something almost every single day. [Not counting the occasional points in time where Real Life Stuff took precedence, of course.]

Thing is, writing wasn't the only creative outlet I've always been interested in. I of course have a clinical obsession with music, so it only makes sense that I've always felt a bit of an urge to explore making it to some degree. I've started a few garage bands and recorded dozens of incomplete demo ideas over the years, but I've never gone any further than that. I've also had a love for visual arts which unfortunately has not been given much attention at all.

So I was thinking...I'm at a good point in my writing career. It's no money-maker, but I'm proud of the seven books I've self-published (and the eighth one I'm on the verge of finishing). I've learned a hell of a lot in that thirty year stretch. I'm not burnt out, and the spark to do more is still there. But over the last several years, I've had this feeling...as much as I enjoyed dedicating so much time with my writing, I always felt like my other two creative loves fell by the wayside. It frustrated me, because I'd want to write songs or draw something or focus on photography (a newer and unexpected interest) and yet the outcome always fell far below my expectations. I knew it was because I wasn't allowing them enough time and focus, and at first I tried juggling them with my already full writing schedule AND the Day Job, but I've finally admitted that wasn't enough.

SO.

What I was thinking was that, perhaps once I finish Theadia and prep it for self-publishing, I was going to take a bit of a creative breather and instead shift focus to one of those other outlets. Like I said: music and visual arts. I know enough at this point in my life that I can get away with not having to relearn too many of the basics -- and besides, I'm more of a learn-as-I-go person than a take-classes one anyway. And as always, I love doing things DIY.

Does this mean I won't be writing? Well, no...just that I won't be writing every single day. If an idea hits me that's worth trying out, I'll give it a go. And I'll most likely be following up on the Trilogy Remaster soon enough as well.

I just want to see how far I can take my other creative endeavors for a while.

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Blurg

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 22:17:02 GMT

As it happens, many things in the neighborhood and nearby park must be blooming this week, as my allergies have kicked in and laid me out the last few days. They don't hit me all that often, at least not to this degree...sometimes I'll just get a migraine, but sometimes I'll just be one big head full of snot and chapped lips for a few days. I rarely call out from work, so when I do it's for valid reasons, and there was no way I'd be able to do an eight hour retail shift without needing to dose up on Airborne and Alavert. [It seems there were three other employees that also called out today, so perhaps I dodged a bullet because otherwise I'd most likely have had to do triple the work to fill their gaps.] Hopefully I will be up and running, or at least not as laid out, come Friday and Saturday when I have my weekend bookkeeping shifts.

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Midweek Updatery

Thu, 05 Feb 2026 03:33:33 GMT

My current shortened work schedule is not the best, but I'm making do by taking care of the various errands that need doing and trying to get most of my writing done on my days off. I've been good this week so far by preparing some blog posts ahead of time so I'm not rushing through them the night before they go live. I used to do that during my last few months at the Former Day Job, actually, so I should probably pick that habit up again.

Recently I'd seen something someone posted on Threads that intrigued me. I don't remember the exact wording, but it had something to do with questioning why you might be utterly exhausted at work even despite getting a good night's sleep and not physically overexerting yourself. The problem, it said, might have to do with what I believe they called "open threads" that are left open that drag you down. I immediately understood what they meant by that and why I'd been exhausted myself: having a positive but busy day at work might leave me tired, but never completely drained. On the other hand, if I go into work with that feeling of dread that I have to pick up those 'threads' in order to keep them from hopelessly unraveling, then that would be why I feel so mentally exhausted, and in turn feeling like I'm dead on my feet. There have been days where I have to constantly plan at least two or three steps ahead in order to get multiple things done on time -- which I'm good at when it's needed, mind you -- but the exhaustion comes from that multitasking constantly being interrupted. And I think that's one of the issues I've been having these last couple of months. It's not that I can't do the job, it's that I can and have been doing it, only to be waylaid by outside forces and people should know better than to derail me like that. And that is why I've been feeling tired.

Anyway, I have Thursday off so I'm going to get more work done on Theadia and have some Zen time with my cats to recharge. :)

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Clean start...again

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 01:16:47 GMT

The last couple of days at the Day Job were rather hectic and frustrating, given that it felt like I was doing at least four peoples' jobs on top of mine, so today we ended up sleeping in a lot later than expected. That kind of put the kibosh on our initial plans of taking the bus down to the Mission to do some yarn shopping, so instead we did a run to Safeway, a walk down to Geary for lunch, then some house errands.

One such errand has been cleaning up those small garden plots in front of our house. Both of them have had small trees planted there (though one is pretty much dead and needs to go) but were overgrown with weeds and trash, so we cleaned them up and planted a few small plants, and today we laid down some small pebbles make it look nicer and keep it all from washing away. It's kind of inspired by the same plots that were in front of our old place. We're thinking eventually we'll pull that one dead tree and put some kind of bushy plant there in its place. It looks nice so far!

Also done today: terrifying the cats by doing some desperately needed vacuuming. Sorry kitties!

Meanwhile, it's the start of a new month which means yet another fresh start! I've actually been doing pretty good regarding the writing lately (with room for improvement, of course) but due to Day Job stuff and vacation laziness, I've fallen behind on a few other things. I've also been bad and having "cheat days" on the 750Words site (long story short, I post a blog entry from some years ago and add some current comment to it) instead of actually doing NEW words, so that needs to change. I also haven't been giving myself enough time for the art and music either, so I need to fix that.

So yeah, all told 2026 is doing just fine but I can be better than this. Heh.

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Weekend / End of Vacation (sort of)

Sun, 25 Jan 2026 23:13:32 GMT

I'll be honest, I hadn't expected to be so LAZY during this weeklong vacation of ours! That is, it was nice to be able to sleep in for a bit every single day, getting woken up around 7am by the cats and not the alarms. We kept ourselves busy with local shopping and a lot of gardening. We didn't have much planned anyway, so I'm fine by that. I definitely need to get myself up and moving more, though, because I've gotten a bit lazy because of it all.

Our mattress shopping the other day worked out well and we should be getting our new one delivered on Monday. Which is good, because our old one is fourteen years old, sinking in places, and we're starting to slide off the now-squishy edges. We'll just have to herd the cats into the next room so they don't get underfoot of the delivery guys or sneak their way outside.

And speaking of outside, we're both rather proud of ourselves now, having done some heavy weeding yesterday around the tree plots in front of our house and replaced them with a few small borders and a few plants. There's still work to be done like getting a few more borders and perhaps some small gravel to ensure the dirt doesn't wash away, but it does look significantly better!

As for writing...I admit I've been a bit lazy there as well, but I allowed it due to the fact that I needed to debate whether or not the newly inserted scenes in Theadia should be in there after all. They were good, just that something didn't quite feel right, no matter how I tried to get them to fit. Yesterday I finally called it and edited the most recent one out, and might do the same for a few others as well.

Workwise, I see that I'm back to a shorter workweek again (sigh) but this also means that I don't need to go in until Wednesday, so I'll be here for the mattress delivery and can get other errands done that I hadn't gotten to this past week.

Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

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How is it Wednesday already?

Thu, 22 Jan 2026 01:17:27 GMT

Our vacation is officially halfway over and now I'm feeling that usual 'where did it all go', even though we've done not much other than sleeping in, shopping, and doing a bit of day tripping. That was pretty much on purpose, really...a nice break with little planned after the chaos of Q4. Even today, our exciting trip was taking the bus up Geary to look at new bed mattresses. Whee! The only other things we have planned for this week is for my birthday tomorrow, in which we'll be stopping somewhere for tea and lunch, then picking up a tasty cake afterwards. Not much else planned! [And, as it happens, my schedule next week doesn't start until Wednesday, so that means I have a few additional days off in which to ~~be extremely lazy~~ get more writing done!] Alas, while the weather hasn't been bad, it hasn't been entirely warm or sunny here either. Mind you, it's a LOT warmer compared to the rest of the country right now, but I do wish that it was a bit sunnier and warmer!

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The Vacation Begins

Mon, 19 Jan 2026 03:36:09 GMT

And as I hoped, it started with us sleeping in until the cats woke us up at 7am demanding to be fed. That's the one thing I actually wanted to do this week: sleep in take my time deciding what I wanted to do that day (if we didn't already have plans). So far so good!

Today was a somewhat late run to Costco, but we are now well stocked in needed things and we managed to survive the chaos that is the parking lot. The one we go to in Colma is right next door to a Trader Joe's so while A started the shopping, I popped in to TJ's for a few other needed things. The traffic today was weirdly busy so it took us a lot longer to get home, so lunch was late and dinner ended up being crackers and cheese.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the last three episodes of The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, an anime on Netflix and a manga I am extremely obsessed with at the moment. On the surface the story does give the sense of "why do these teens have ALL THE FEELS" but let's be honest, we were all like that when we were 15-16. The manga is up to about 170-plus chapters right now, and the new anime series only covered maybe the first forty in this particular 13 episode season. I'm definitely hoping it gets renewed, because it's extremely well done and very faithful to the source material.

And speaking of anime obsession, I hear that Your Name will be playing in Japantown in February and I am extremely tempted to go see it. Another personal favorite that I highly recommend.

SO! Any other plans this week? Aside from more sleeping in, we'll be visiting the in-laws for lunch and maybe heading elsewhere in the North Bay afterwards, going to the Haight tomorrow, and going for lunch and high tea on Thursday (which also happens to be my birthday). Not too much planned, just a vague idea of going outside and enjoying the day. And that's just fine with me.

Hope everyone has a good week!

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Midweek Stuff

Wed, 14 Jan 2026 16:27:06 GMT

During the month of December I tried something out: I wanted to get back into the habit of daily writing at 750Words, but instead of focusing on trying to be constantly creative or working on another project, I focused only on just getting words out. Any words, whether it was a personal ramble or working out a stubborn plot issue. Didn't matter what I wrote, as long as I wrote it. That was the whole point: the focus was on just doing it, no matter what 'it' was. And at by the end of the month, I was back in the habit. I still have Don't Wanna days, but it's a lot easier to get through them now. I just power through and get it done.

Basically saying this now, because this is something I realize I need to do with my other creative outlets as well. I've gotten a little better these last couple of days, getting back to journaling and artwork, though I still need to carve out some time for my guitars! Again, I'm not necessarily focusing on creating something big or important, I just want to focus on doing it, making it a normal everyday habit again.

Meanwhile, I just need to get through the next four work days at the Day Job, then I have a full week off! A vacation already, you ask? Well, this is what happens when my birthday is in January and I finally have a day job where I don't have to fight to take a few days off. We're not planning to go anywhere far, just a few day trips here and there and enjoying the time off. I will of course try to continue my daily creative work when and where I can, but I'm definitely looking forward to this little break!

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