Drunken Owls and Other Delights

So of course I can't let a day off go by without Doing Stuff That Needs Doing. Because I don't know how to slack off without feeling guilty about it, heh.

More pictures have been hung on the wall, and several have been put aside for storage as we're thinking of updating our art prints. We of course buy most of them from our local museums or ones we've visited in the last couple of years, and the old ones have started suffering from sun fade. A is currently looking at multiple museums' online shops, and we're also awaiting the re-opening of Ukiyo-e Heroes' website -- they do a lot of giclee prints of anime and sf/f characters in a feudal Japan style, and we already own a handful of them already. We'll be putting more pictures up tomorrow!

Also done today: two of three things I've been meaning to get rid of have now been gotten rid of! Thanks to FB Marketplace our moving boxes have been picked up by a few local Millennials that will be moving soon, and our old Dyson stick vacuum (which is around seventeen years old at this point, and it was a refurb when we got it) was also taken. Someone is picking up our old floor lamp tomorrow. This means we once again have more room in the garage, and the pile of Things to Donate is once again shrinking. I'll need to find the time to drop the four or five boxes going to Goodwill. I'd do it tomorrow but there's no rush.

Tomorrow is my second day off in a row (yay!) and A is doing a half-day, so after she signs off we'll be doing some grocery shopping, but that's about it!

Well, at least I did get to be lazy and lie in bed until 7am!

I am extremely happy that I have today and tomorrow off, as Christmas week was VERY busy for me with the day job. Yes, even post-holiday it was a bit crazy as one of our bookkeeping systems was absolutely convinced that we were open on the 25th and would not let me close the day otherwise...and that took me two days to resolve. Sheesh!

Anyway, I'm pretty much at the wind-down part of this last week of the year. Today the in-laws will be stopping by for lunch and whatnot (in which A and I did a marathon cleaning of the house, including terrorizing the cats with the vacuum cleaner), but tomorrow I have very few plans other than dropping a very heavy return off at the local UPS store, doing laundry, and finalizing my end-of-year blog posts and best-of music lists. It felt SO GOOD to sleep in until 8am this morning, as I'm usually up around five-ish due to my early work hours. I desperately needed the rest.

On a more personal note...yeah, there was Drama and a Life Event that went on earlier this year, but I think I'm doing pretty well regarding, as I actively made it a point not to spiral into moodiness and reactive emotions. I think that was probably one of the last life-cleaning things I really needed to do at this age, and it felt really good to move on from that part of my life. I'm able to move on and reach that clarity I've been needing. And yeah, I'm still not thrilled about what the next four years might entail, but I'm learning to face it directly and with a healthy dose of "oh FUCK no, not on my watch" instead of shrinking and hiding away. I've always hated that part of me and I don't want to do that anymore. I'm tired of avoiding conflict, especially when it is desperately needed.


That said...signing off for the year. Hope everyone has a great 2025!

Before my PC went all funky last month, I had a really good habit of running various cleaning apps on Sunday afternoons just to keep it in tip-top shape. (And considering I did that with my old PC and it still runs fine after four years, that's saying something.) Unfortunately I've been distracted by other things on the weekends so I've been missing it for weeks at a time.

Which is not as bad as something else I'd do on Sundays, which is water the plants in Spare Oom. I was reminded by A some weeks ago that I really needed to do that as some of them were looking extremely wilty. I am now back in the habit of watering the plants, running the PC cleaners, and doing any other around-the-house stuff that needs doing. I'd have done laundry today as well, but a) I'd forgotten to ask A to pick up quarters (which I can get at work tomorrow) and b) we spent most of today in the East Bay shopping at Ikea and elsewhere in Emeryville. 

In the meantime, I've also done some much-needed dusting and putting away of things, so all I need to do now is prep a few blog entries for the week and maybe get a bit of revision work done as well.

Looking forward to our little vacation coming up, but I really should get around to cleaning up the house a bit as well. I'm hoping to do that within the next couple of days, considering I'll have more time then. Mainly the usual stuff like laundry and vacuuming, but I really need to give the bathroom a good scrubbing as well.

I'm basically just running out the clock at work this week, taking each shift as it comes. A midshift yesterday and today, plus two opens Thursday and Friday, then I'll be off for a week. I've taken a few days off here and there throughout the year, but I think this is the first full week (with vacation pay) I've taken this year, which is saying something. Which reminds me, I need to look up the rest of my vacation balance and plan accordingly before it's too late! I still say that even though this Day Job is more physically taxing, it's a hell of a lot less stress than the Former Day Job, and I would not want to return to it at all. I'll take physical labor over Consistently Vague Responsibilities any day.

That said...I'm thinking that I'll finally get started on my next novel WIP once we're back from our vacation. It's high time!

 Before I begin, can I just say that I find the validation process for this site is hilarious? I mean, it's a normal "click on all the picture of hockey players to prove you're not a bot" thing, but it occurs to me that the pictures used are AI-generated. This means that said hockey players might have three arms or be playing with five sticks and bending themselves in directions that human spines aren't meant to go in. Heh!

Anyway! Happened to have today off so A and I went for one of our favorite walks around the neighborhood, heading up to a great coffee shop near Golden Gate Park then walking back through the park itself. A good couple of miles there and back with sights to see and pictures to take! I have to say that the Day Job has definitely helped me get back in shape, what with all the walking and standing I do six to eight hours a day.

Did a lot of house cleaning upon our return home, doing some intensive vacuuming (including those hard to reach bits where the carpet meets the walls) (and several days' worth of shedded cat hair, of course). I'd have done laundry as well, but I've been told by our landlord that a major fix is being done on the machine downstairs and will be out of commission until next week. Which means I'll most likely need to slip out to the local laundromat and do it tomorrow morning before my afternoon work shift. Which really isn't a problem, considering I usually spend the time doing some reading and enjoying some coffee from next door.

And the writing? Well, it's getting there. In small spurts lately, but it's getting there.

It's been a strange couple of weeks here in the Bay Area, what with the ongoing weather and constant chill. We've definitely needed the rain, but MAN is it cold! It's still hovering in the mid-40s to low 50s with a constant wind or breeze, so everything just feels damp and chilly. Not to mention that we'll get downpours in the middle of the night that'll be hard but only last about ten minutes, waking us both up. I read that it might actually warm up and the sun might come out midweek, but given our local weather, we'll only know for sure when it comes.

It's also been a couple of weeks of cleaning in Spare Oom as well. I'd gotten rid of a bunch of boxes we didn't need (or ones that were in poor shape) and I also got rid of a bunch of smaller ones today. That in itself was amusing because a few times I opened up these small boxes to find smaller boxes within that I also had to break down! A and I also did a book purge earlier this afternoon, finally getting rid of some titles that we've had kicking around on the shelf for ages that we weren't going to read (or reread). I'll be dropping those off at the library donation spot in a few weeks. And once we hit January, I'll put away the tree and all the Christmas decorations. And maybe I'll finally have some more room on the floor again!

Normally I'd do some kind of personal Year End Review type of entry here, but a) I'm kind of already doing it at my Welcome to Bridgetown blog and b) 2021 has kind of been a transitional year for me. It wasn't so much a year of finishing projects or reaching goals as it was a year of continuing them. A lot of closet cleaning, cobweb clearing, bad habit dropping, finding clarity, and that sort of thing. Just a lot of things I needed to do or get over with so I could move on. That said, I do have good plans for 2022 that I hope I can work to completion!


Here's to hoping everyone has a great new year!

 Pretty sure the lingering back pain I have is due to my continuing bad habits of terrible posture. Finding myself leaning up against my right elbow in this chair and hitching up my shoulder for extended periods of time. Looking at the monitor at a slight angle to the right, slightly pinching the neck muscle. And of course using the mouse by extending exact same arm straight across the desk. All things I can easily fix by a) ensuring that I sit up and don't slouch, b) turn my desk chair to face the monitor directly, and c) stop screwing around with things where I need to constantly click the mouse (or c vers2, wherein I move the mouse and mousepad to a different position where I'm not overextending). Just a matter of remembering.

Speaking of desk things, the downside to having one with a dark surface is that I notice that it attracts dust like no tomorrow. I should probably get out the Swiffer and clean it (and other things in this apartment while I'm at it). As is my usual choice, I try to keep my desk surface as clear as possible because otherwise there would be tons of completely forgotten things hiding under the detritus. (Not food, mind you...a few past college roommates with no sense of order ensured I never got that bad, since they'd do it for me on a consistent schedule.) 

And speaking of Spare Oom, we've had the windows closed the last few days due to Far Northern California Being On Fire (nothing in the immediate area, thankfully) and the smoke has been drifting our way as of late. The air purifier we bought last year is working just fine and kept us in breathable air, which of course is a good thing. And today has been quite clear, so I've popped open the windows a crack just to get some outside air in.

Other than that, not much to report...still writing, still exercising and stretching, still keeping busy!

These first couple of days of the year always feel like a prologue when they start on a weekend like this. We had New Year's Eve and Day off in addition to the weekend so it's an extended vacation in a way. I used to love it when school semesters started like this. It gave me that extra day or so to work on anything I left to the last minute (which, being me, was almost sure to happen). We did quite a bit of walking over those few days, usually to work off all the holiday feasts we'd had! Heh. And today we headed down the other end of the neighborhood for a bit of shopping. I bought a new wireless keyboard because the one that came with my PC is seriously starting to stick, even though I've cleaned it numerous times. Now I just need to make sure I don't get any crumbs in it!

Meanwhile, I put the Christmas tree away yesterday, but with it being a new and much taller fake tree, I had to figure out where to put it as it would definitely not fit under the bed. This meant emptying out Spare Oom closet and reorganizing a good portion of it. It took a lot of sweat and a few hours of creative Jenga, but it's a lot more accessible now. I moved all of A's stuff (yarn stash and canning items) to the side where she can get at it much easier, and I took out the three big boxes that contain the remains of my CD and cassette collection.

This ties in with my next non-writing project:

--Go through the items that were in the two wooden storage boxes (mostly personal crap). Throw away/recycle stuff I don't want/need and keep the remainder in small storage boxes (the fewer the better)
--Go through the cds and cassettes that I no longer want and set them aside for bringing to Amoeba for store credit or Goodwill donation. Put them in some semblance of order while I'm at it. [Side note: I know I have a few cds that have dvds attached, so I may rip those as well.)
--Put the remaining cds in the wooden storage boxes, with the remaining cassettes (mostly all personal mixtapes, natch) on top.
--Donate any leftover clothes/books/etc to Goodwill

...and of course, keep that corner of the room clean, because that area frequently builds up with "to be mailed/donated/traded in" items. I need to keep on top of that more often. But yeah, that was a major step I wanted to hit. The issue was that I had so many other steps to take beforehand (mailing out Christmas packages, book/clothing/etc donations, throwing away extraneous crap).

SO! As for the writing...

I'll be continuing the blogging, journaling and daily words as normal, and get myself immersed in the new fiction projects I want to tackle. I can't really say I have a block, because I know how to work past the issues I've had the last few weeks on them, but...it's the actual work that I need to get stuck in. And as always, "just STFU and DO it" tends to work well for me.


Hope everyone has a wonderful 2021!

We started off today with a two-plus mile walk around the neighborhood...since we're so used to walking the same streets lately, we've been trying to shake it up a bit by trying a few side avenues that we haven't walked down before. It's a good way to remind myself that the Richmond District is south of Geary Boulevard as well! 

I have, however, come to the conclusion that I cannot wear masks with the elastics that go around the ears, as they will just make my ears bend and the mask will fall off. This means I've been wearing what I call the 'apron string' masks instead, which are much more comfortable. Though both kinds are a bit hard to breathe in for extended periods, especially when walking for exercise. (If I'm wearing them in the store while shopping, that's not an issue.)

Just now I did a major cleaning of the underside of my desk, which had become full of dust bunnies and nests of wires and plugs. I've been thinking about moving my desktop to the top of the desk (hey what a concept) for a while now, so I just unplugged it all, did a deep dusting and vacuuming, and rewired it all again. This will give me easier access to the disk drives (the tower one and the BluRay external when I plug it in) so I won't have to contort myself anymore. I'm also hoping this will cut down on a lot of the dust that might get into the PC as I admit I didn't always get around to cleaning down there.

As for space, I'm down about a square foot and a half on the desk now, but it's off to the side, where my work laptop used to sit. I tend to keep my desk relatively clear anyway. I can't stand having a cluttered desk...not because I'd never find anything, but because I have a bad habit of "out of sight, out of mind" and important things would be missed or forgotten.

Come to think of it, I still have more desk space than I used to in the Belfry or even at Arkham West. 

Anyhoo...going to keep this setup for a bit and see how it works. Maybe I can use some of the underside of the desk (which is now completely empty) to temporarily stash a few of the things I'd meant to drop off at Goodwill before this whole pandemic screwed everything up!  We shall see...

There's a fun meme going around in which people create poetry out of book title spines, and the above was my first attempt at it. You can definitely tell which books are mine and which are A's, that's for sure!

Meanwhile, I fear it's gotten to the point where I think I need to KonMari my book collection again. The only thing that's really been holding me back is that I haven't had the opportunity to drop any books off at Fort Mason or Goodwill because, y'know, COVID-19 and all...but I really think it's that time again. I've been making a significant dent in my music bio shelf lately, which is good, but it still needs thinning. My manga collection is also getting a bit ridiculous so I think I need to recombine my mass market paperbacks with A's (I've already thinned that pile out considerably but could do more). I also need to make room for newer books and titles I'll be keeping (including a set of Deverry books -- thanks Kit!)

The downside is that the pile of books will clutter up this back room even more, but it's a necessary evil, I guess. My collection of paper bags has grown exponentially the last few weeks so at least they'll be properly stashed instead of lying around everywhere.

And speaking of Goodwill, I think I'll also be getting rid of a few 'toys' I have lying around as well. I bought a cheap drum machine thingie from Amazon a few years back (not my Monotribe synth thingie, but a big bulky plastic drum pad thing that's more like a Casio-level instrument than something semipro) and have used it exactly once, and I still have the box in the other room, so I really should donate it to someone more interested in it. I also have a box of kitchenware and clothes that need to go as well. Hopefully things will clear up soon and I can get these out of Spare Oom!

And of course I have an order open at the Green Apple Books site. Because books and shopping locally and all that!