Drunken Owls and Other Delights

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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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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Weekend updatery and picking up where I left off

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 00:17:19 GMT

I took the first week and a half of the year off from regular blogging, as I've been doing over the last couple of years. There's no real reason behind it other than a nice mental break and not rushing into a new year surrounded by deadlines. Gives me a chance to rethink my priorities and get things in order. I did get some formerly "I'll deal with it later" stuff done, like going through very old paperwork I can shred and things like that. I'm actually kind of missing the deadlines, considering I spent all of December rebuilding and sticking to them, just so I'd have a fresh start come the new year. That's a good sign, I think.

Writingwise, I've been doing pretty good with the Theadia work lately. Writing those 'INSERT NEW STUFF HERE' scenes have been a bit of a chore but I'm reminding myself that these are rough drafts that can be revised later once I do yet another reread. I'm also glad to say that I think I've finally come up with an ending that I'm happy with! This puts me roughly back on schedule, which I was starting to worry about.

But now that this short hiatus is over and done with, it's back to the mines! Even though we're both taking the week of my birthday off (next week!), I do plan on maintaining my creative schedule. Especially now that I have more creative toys I can play with!

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Changes and Adjustments

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 23:01:34 GMT

Changing things up just a bit here. My new external came in so I'm spending the afternoon moving stuff off the older ones and storing those away as they empty out. They still work so I can use them in a pinch for whatever, but it'll be good to clear up some of this spaghetti on the right side of my desk! Pretty sure it's going to take HOURS for everything to be moved over, but I've got the time.

In the meantime, I'm taking steps to change some things up with the Day Job. Let's just say that I'm backing away from things I have to do so I can focus on things I need to do in order to put things in motion. Tomorrow I'm going on a little trip to another store in my chain to see how things run there (and hopefully run into management I can speak with), and get the ball rolling. I don't hate the job, I'm just frustrated by the inability of others to do it and dropping it all on me.

Other than that, the weather has finally cleared up for a while, which means that we can finally go outside again! Even if it's just around the block or over to the garden (which we've been sadly ignoring over the last several days due to said inclement weather) (hey, at least it's been getting watered, just not by us!), it'll be nice to pop out for a stroll. I'm hoping that once the rainy season is done we can do this a bit more. I'm starting to feel a bit of cabin fever!

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Up and coming

Mon, 05 Jan 2026 00:37:15 GMT

Did I just order another external hard drive? Yes! This one is a 20TB that was on sale for $229 (not bad, considering it was $50 off), and it would replace not one but THREE of my older externals that are currently and quite precariously perched on top of my PC. [This is the main reason I let the cats on the desk but nowhere near the hardware. They've knocked them over before.] I figure it's worth the price and I'd feel safer having all this stuff on newer drives, as these are at least five or six years old last I checked, and they've gotten a lot of use. I figure this will be my birthday present to myself, heh.

The downside is that this will make three somewhat chunkier drives taking up space, so I might want to look into some minor desk rearrangement. It'll definitely mean less wires though, and that's a good thing. Maybe another riser for the main monitor, which would give me a bit of space underneath for things like my journal and art stuff. Something to think about, anyway.

Meanwhile, the new year is going as expected. Which is to say, a few bumps in the road but otherwise bearable. New Year's Eve was a LOT busier at the day job than predicted, and we were sadly understaffed due to multiple call-outs (legit or otherwise), so I was exhausted by the end of it and slept through into the new year, only woken up once by local neighborhood fireworks. The following day I did have another minor dust-up with a coworker which eventually involved management that led, much to my lack of surprise, to nothing. At this point, though, I've decided that was the last time that would happen. And the next time it did, I would escalate up the chain of command. [And possibly involve the union rep -- who does not get along with main boss at all.] I've decided that 2026 is The Year of No More Personal Bullshit.

Point being -- I'm in charge of my life here, and it's about time I followed through with it.

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Outages!

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 21:15:59 GMT

As it happened, my store lost power about a half hour before I was about to log out and head home, and the last time that happened it was hyperlocalized to maybe a few grids in the neighborhood, but on the way home I noticed it seemed a little more...widespread than usual. A few major intersections had no lights, and several workers were standing outside their shops, waiting for the power to come back on. Thankfully, our house hadn't been affected at all (I'm convinced it's because the school across the street is on a different grid than most of the rest of our block, and we're lucky enough to be on it).

That is, until about 3pm when it went out.

And stayed out until 9pm last night. It's usually never off for THAT long, and that's not a good sign. And some sections of our part of town are still out, apparently.

Long story short, it looks like there was a fire at a substation over in the Mission District -- clear across town, mind you -- that caused a cascading fault and power outage of epic proportions. And not only that, the phone service didn't seem to be working either, other than the occasional PG&E notifications. It's still only at 2 bars right now, when normally we get 4-5. So whatever happened, it must have been pretty bad.

And of course, the PG&E outage site is still showing possible outages around us. Fingers crossed that it doesn't crap out again!!

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What day is it...?

Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:08:25 GMT

I had Sunday and Monday off, so in my brain, today is my Tuesday. If that makes sense, heh. Which means that I spent the first couple hours of my shift completely forgetting that I had to do a specific bookkeeping process at the Day Job today. Oops! It's not entirely something that MUST be done that day, so I figure I'll do it when I go in tomorrow instead. And speaking of which, apparently we've got a few company bigwigs coming in as well which means that several people are all freaked out whilst I am my usual calm self. Sure, I take those visits seriously and do what needs doing to show that we're Doing It Right, but after all those years at the bank I've just grown accustomed to this sort of thing. Freaking out might be a normal response because you fear that you'll fail the inspection, but when you're already confident in what you do it just seems kind of silly to do that simply because they're upper management. My immediate reporting bosses often get a bit nervous when I do that, and I get that, because they think I'm not taking it seriously. I am, I'm just choosing not to fall prey to the anxiety it causes.

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Weekendery (relaxing version)

Sun, 02 Nov 2025 23:51:22 GMT

Day job drama notwithstanding, this was a surprisingly unstressful weekend for me. I can never tell with my Friday-Saturday schedule, because it can either be slow and uneventful, or it can be ridiculously busy and chaotic, and rarely in between. In this case, both days were the 'in between' which is sometimes just how I like it. It keeps me busy but not exhausted, and the eight hours go by quickly. And of course Sundays are my 'do all the errands' day so after our trip to the farmer's market I've started the laundry, emptied the trash and will most likely do the PC cleaning a little bit later. Oh, and I really should dust this desk, as I keep forgetting to do so!

I've got a thin work schedule this coming week as well, so that gives me a bit of time to continue catching up with the writing, which is a good thing. I am now at the point in Theadia where I need to write the 'WRITE THIS LATER' scenes, and I'm thinking that instead of doing yet another reread and picking up each one as I go, I'll just jump in and write a rough draft for each scene and/or chapter. I can get away with doing this mainly because when I made each 'write this later' note, I added a vaguely detailed paragraph or two of what story beats need to be hit there. I've done that plenty of times in the past and it's worked well, so I'm not too worried. [The step after that of course will be finishing the novel itself, which is going to need some planning and outlining.]

On the personal end of things, I'm glad to say that my limb aches and pains haven't resurfaced as of late, which is always a good thing. For a while I had this weird thing where I'd constantly twist my leg slightly which would pinch some nerves in the process, but that seems to have gone away for the moment -- it's happened maybe once in the last several weeks. I'm thinking starting tomorrow I should restart a stretching regimen, though. It's been a while and I really should get back into the habit. Yay for getting old and frail! Thankfully, though, I'm still quite agile and my occasional walks around the neighborhood to the corner store or wherever keep me moving.

Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

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Weekend update

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 23:47:39 GMT

Oh hi there! It's Sunday afternoon, which means it's time for my usual weekend errands of laundry and gardening (today was a community garden clean-up day, in which A and I spent some time picking up trash and also cleaning and reorganizing the sheds so they're less of a hot mess). We got home just in time for us to get our awaited IKEA delivery (a drying rack for A's knitting and a storage caddy for the laundry room).

It was also high time for the PC cleaning. I've been forgetting to run the cleaner software as of late, so said PC was quite happy that I gave it a very thorough once-over this time. It definitely needed it, especially since I've been doing a lot of file reorganization, Plex server updatery, and writing work! I also never turn it off (mainly because of the Plex so others can access my entertainment collection), but it's something that should be done now and again. What I'm delaying, however, is the latest Windows 11 update, because a) I really don't need it, and b) if I did update it, I'd then need to dig in and turn off the stupid AI crap that I definitely do not need nor want. It's not a critical update, so I'm going to avoid it for a long as I can. Or at least until I have the spoons to do the settings adjustments.

In reading news, I have been obsessed with the manga and anime The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity lately. It's firmly placed in Everything Is So Dramatic levels of teenage drama, but I appreciate that because the story precisely about dealing with that kind of stuff as a teen. It's very well written and each character has their own fleshed-out backstory and conflict to deal with. And it's also a really sweet love story as well. I highly recommend it.

In health news, I think I've FINALLY shaken this stupid cold/allergy, though I'm still getting stuffed up every now and again, including today. I'm just not continuously clogged as I was last week, however. Meanwhile, I have been feeling rather tired a lot lately, and whether that's due to Day Job Stress/Overwork or said congestion keeping me up at night, I'm not sure. Maybe both. I don't feel it's a major worry, but at the same time I am keeping an eye on it just in case it becomes one. Besides, I ain't as young and agile as I used to be!

In writing news...I'm just a few chapters shy of being caught up once more with the latest revision of Theadia. Which means I have two things to do staring soon: one, I need to go back and start writing the 'WRITE THIS LATER' gaps, and two, I need to actually, y'know, finish the dang novel itself! I've been working on this one for quite some time now, but I'm really excited about it as well, and that's always a good sign. I'm still roughly on schedule for "sometime next year" as its drop date. I might even look into commissioning a cover for this one! Heh.

And finally in Day Job news...well, let's just say there's still a lot of Hurry Up and Wait in regards to wanting a transfer. Right now there's a lot of Managerial Drama and Metrics Obsession going on which is taking precedence, as well as Holiday Season starting up. I'm a bit annoyed that I've been put on the backburner because of it all, but there's not too much else I can do except occasionally poke at the main players and remind them I'm still there and waiting. I'm also still a little annoyed about the lower hours, but I'll set that particular commentary aside for now.

In the meantime, Sunday also means Sunday dinner, and A is currently making beef stew which has the entire house smelling amazing right now.

Hope everyone has a good week!

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Midweek stuff

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 17:49:36 GMT

It's Wednesday already? The weird diminished hours I've been getting at work lately have definitely screwed with my sense of what day it is, especially since I've been spending the last couple of them trying to get over what is either allergies or a cold! And now it's flipped a bit more because today I'm doing what is not quite a midshift but isn't quite closing either (12:30 - 9pm) (yeah, I'm not thrilled about it, but I'm hoping that I'll be sent to the floor to do upstock rather than get chained to the register). Then I have one more day off...then my two Friday-Saturday shifts.

Not too much else to report other than I'm doing my best to get my writing in despite the allergies and the day job schedule weirdness!

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Meanwhile...

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 01:57:54 GMT

On the non-Day-Job front, we spent most of today up in Petaluma, visiting the in-laws. A and I were getting rid of a smallish freezer (about the size of one of those dorm fridges you're not supposed to have in a dorm) that we figured they'd like to have so we made a day of it by visiting to drop it off and then go out to brunch. Said brunch was QUITE tasty at a family restaurant that looked to be quite the destination for the post-church crowd on Sundays. I ended up getting the chorizo hash which was extremely filling and very generous.

But that's not all! I had another reason to be up there, and that was to sell off three of the acoustic guitars I've had for the last several years that have been gathering more dust than play. [These are the guitars that were in front of the window at our old place, and when the cats saw birds out said window they would get all excited and their tails would hit the guitar necks, letting out an amusing twang.] I got about what I'd expected from the exchange, and this is a REALLY good guitar store that would fix them up and sell them off relatively quick.

All in all it was a very nice and warm day, and the traffic was surprisingly not at all stressful. I was worried I'd be a bit exhausted but so far I'm not doing too bad. [That's another story entirely...I've been feeling exhausted for the last few weeks, most likely due to Work Stuff, to the point where maybe I should see a doctor. It's probably nothing, but it wouldn't hurt considering I'm getting old and not running on all cylinders like I used to.]

Anyhoo...I have a few days off this week, so I'm going to spend those days enjoying myself and getting things done.

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Soldiering on

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:14:14 GMT

It may have been a very weird and stressful couple of weeks at the Day Job for me, and there may have been a few very low points of self-doubt where I felt like I was digging myself deeper, but thankfully those have been balanced out by much higher points of creativity and calm. I will soldier on one way or another, and I still have my writing to keep me centered. I've learned from past experience when I feel like I'm about to spiral into constant frustration and/or anxiety and know well enough to retreat to safer mental ground.

So where do I stand right now, creativewise? I'm doing pretty good with Theadia, though I do seem to be piling up the multiple 'WRITE THIS LATER' chapters and scenes that I'll need to work on. I don't do that very often, but then again this book isn't quite like the others I've written, and like Diwa & Kaffi, I'd like to get it right the first time. I'm also tentatively restarting the 750 Words sessions, though I've already missed a few this month due to prior plans and/or personal stuff going on. I'm not too worried about that, however, as I figure this will be a trial restart this month, just to get back into the habit and to get it up and running again.

Other than that, I've just been very tired from the Day Job nonsense and and ongoing strain in my left elbow for some reason (though I'm sure that's just from overuse and bad posture). I'm going to take the few days I have of this week and relax physically and mentally because I think I need it right now.

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Midweek stuff

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:22:27 GMT

It seems calling out on Monday was a good idea, because I was extremely burned out. I stayed at home and didn't do much of anything other than a bit of writing and reading, and by the afternoon I felt a lot better. I also had a good rethink about why I was feeling so exhausted, and I'm pretty sure it was day job related. There's been a few things happening that I was letting get to me in a rather unhealthy way and it just kind of all came to a head over the weekend. Long story short, I've decided I'm going to just stop getting angry about the consistent lack of assistance and the frequent assumption of managerial status from a certain coworker. I'm still annoyed that they've fucked with my pay and I'm hoping it will be rectified very soon, but I'm not going to ragequit or let it eat at me as much.

More to the point, I've decided that I need to reapproach the day job the same way I did during my years at Yankee Candle. The day job is the day job and I should only put in what I feel I want to put into it. My main focus should always be with the writing -- the day job is the day job, the writing is the career, after all. It's time to dial it back a little and rebalance my priorities here.

In other news, I've resurrected the longhand journal and the 750 Words sessions again, and the poetry/song writing might make a reappearance in the near future as well. Why? Well, because I want to, which is a fine enough reason. I'm sort of giving myself a trial run during these last few days of the month with the aim to be more consistent about them in October. We'll see how that pans out...

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Weekend update is tired

Sun, 21 Sep 2025 23:15:51 GMT

Not worked-too-hard exhausted, just...tired. Low on gas. Going at a slow speed and deciding not to accelerate any faster for a while. Perhaps it's that I've been waking up a lot during the night, perhaps it's the RL political fuckery, or maybe it's closer to home with the day job drama. [Definitely not because of the day job getting busier for Q4, though...that won't happen for another month or so.] Or a little of everything finally piling up. I just don't have it in me to give any more fucks right now. Maybe a few spoons left that I'm keeping as backup, just in case.

Which is frustrating, because this is happening just as I want to start giving myself more ability to focus on my creative endeavors. But I'm not going to let it get to me all that much, because sometimes it's just not worth the added stress and anxiety. Figure out a workaround instead. Figure out what really matters and put most of my energy into that instead of trying to keep a sinking boat afloat.

Mind you, I'm still happy that I'm not nearly as full of stress and anxiety as I was with the bank job, that's for sure. I'm just more aware of it when it does arise, and I just need to do my best to divert it when and where I can.

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