Drunken Owls and Other Delights

Well, it's about time we got our winter rain! We'd normally be getting these downpours around this time of year, but it's been dry and cold the last several weeks instead. Per the forecast it's supposed to be like this for the next several days. [Which is good, because we've been bad and haven't visited the garden lately.] The downside being that all this humidity is probably going to give me a migraine. Bleh! This rain of course will also bring out all the terrible drivers, as I've already witnessed on my brief trip to the Ace to buy a few things this morning...

Meanwhile, the new direction I came up with for a secondary character in Theadia seems to have been a really good idea, as I'm having a much easier time writing the scenes now. I'm always fascinated when I manage to work out a troublesome issue with a story with a surprisingly easy answer! Just goes to show that I should continue to trust my writer instincts instead of trying to force something that may or may not work. I just need to keep working at it!

WHOOF. Five days in a row of 5.30am starts is exhausting, especially when it's also a week of random call-outs, holiday volume and corporate visits that may or may not happen. By yesterday I was running on fumes and kind of annoyed because we were also going to the opera to see The Monkey King. [For the record, I did soldier through and did enjoy it, but probably would have enjoyed it much more if I hadn't been so dang tired!] Thankfully I don't need to be in until Wednesday and can catch up on sleep!

It's also entering the cold season here in the Bay Area, which means that the days are a brisk upper 50s-low 60s but the evenings can get down to the 40s. We've turned on the heat in the house for the first time in ages, much to the dismay of the two cats who did not like the noise of the vent fan! We have central heating this time instead of older and crankier units or radiators, but it's a relatively new unit so it works a peach and very quickly at that! We are also very thankful that our windows are new as well, which means the heat doesn't leak terribly like it did at the old place.

As for writing...yeah, I've been pretty bad this week due to the Day Job stuff. I either haven't had time, or just enough time to move at a snail's pace. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up again this coming week, because the last thing I want to do is get even further behind. And I definitely do NOT want to succumb to the Don't Wannas when I really need to get this novel finished.


Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

The good news is that I've been doing a lot of opens lately at the day job, which means I get out around 2pm and have the rest of the day to do what needs doing. The bad news is that I had to work today (Sunday) and may end up working next Sunday as well as the head bookkeeper is taking that day off. Ah well, it is what it is.

The other good news is that I'm getting this Wednesday and Thursday off! One, I rarely get two days off in a row (I kind of like it, tbh, it breaks up the five-day work week) so I can catch up on rest. Two, apparently the weather here in SF will be warming up considerably on those days, so I'm looking forward to some nice outside time!

Today should have been a relatively normal shift...if it wasn't for the fact that a) my 7am coworker arrived at 9:30, b) the rain and the humidity is giving me a migraine, and c) someone was cleaning out the elevator shafts outside our store for an hour (which meant a loud-ass rattling diesel engine growling away at top volume every time the doors opened to let someone in). Suffice it to say I'm feeling a bit tired and cranky now that I'm home. 

The plus side is that I have three bookkeeper opens ahead of me, which means I have legit reasons NOT to be chained to the register or elsewhere unless I am desperately needed. [And I am dearly hoping I am not, because that's what's been happening for the last three months on the daily without fail.] Believe me, I don't hate this job. In fact it's one of the better ones I've held, I get along with almost everyone, and they treat me well. It's just that I feel like I've been thoroughly derailed and overworked since the start of the year and it's wearing me out.

And it's starting to show on my writing sessions, which bothers me. That's a hard line for me and I need to fix that.

Winter here in westside SF is always a crapshoot -- either it's unseasonably warm and sunny, extremely humid and rainy, or a mix of both with the weather border firmly holding at Presidio Avenue. It might be a thick fog in my neighborhood and sunny at the Embarcadero. Today? Overcast, misting but not raining, 99% humidity, and the chance of rain over the next several days.

Mind you, the weather does affect the customer volume I get at the store, depending on how extreme it is. When there was a torrential downpour a few weeks back, the store was dead quiet with only a few regulars and a stressed out last-minute shopper or two. On warm and sunny days we get hit with a LOT of volume (partly because we're surrounded by parks and people want to hang out and enjoy the day). It being the last week before Christmas, however, I'm thinking it might be a little busier than usual but not overly so. Our numbers might be down from last year, but that'll happen anywhere these days. We still have our regulars, several locals and the occasional visitor or tourist. 

Me, I've been doing a lot of dairy upstock days lately, which on the plus side keeps me from the stress of front end ringing but on the minus side keeps me forever interrupted by needing to unlock cabinets and guide people unsure where items are. It all balances out, though.

But yeah... I think I've pretty much accepted that I'm in a good Zen space in my head now, and that's been a long time in coming. Being in charge of my emotions instead of letting them get the best of me. Having the ability to plan out ahead of time and adjust on the fly. I thought of that the other day when I saw someone posting the meme of 'post a gif of where your mind's at'. I saw a lot of fiery 'this is fine' level gifs, Homer screams, cartoon explosions and other chaotic nonsense, but it dawned on me that for the first time in ages, that's not where my head's at. Sure, I still hate conservatives with a burning passion and get upset over stupid (and non-stupid) things, but they no longer completely ruin my day. They only fuel it to make it right, or better. 

Not bad, considering how my year started, come to think of it.

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

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

 As they often say, weather in San Francisco really depends on which neighborhood you happen to be in. Out here in the Richmond it tends to be a bit cooler than downtown, though downtown can be a bit windy from the crosswinds coming off the Bay. The fog bank always seems to stop somewhere around Presidio Avenue near the JCC before it eventually retreats or burns off by midafternoon. Today my neighborhood had a nice thick fog layer going, but now it's only lingering over the mouth of the Bay, right at the GG Bridge, and the rest of the sky is clear. And it's warmer than yesterday! Not bad for a day off if I say so myself...

Which reminds me: I've been told by our landlady that we'll be getting new rear windows sometime in the next couple of weeks! Which is great because they're both a bit worn out and possibly touched with a bit of water damage on the sills. We of course plan on getting screens for these new windows so we can enjoy the cool air during warm days while the kitties can still perch up there and watch the birds. Looking forward to better working windows!

 It's wintertime here in the Bay Area, which means overcast and overly humid days and temps that don't quite break the mid 50s. It's not the bitterly cold and snowy New England winter of my youth, sure, but it's got its own miserableness. The humidity (along with whatever happens to be blooming this time of year) starts kicking off my allergies giving me a migraine, and every room in the house is chilly. And given where I work, I have my coat on all the time as it's always a chilly mid-50s inside as well.

Our two cats seem not to mind, though. They're silly as always, washing-up sessions devolving into playfighting and chasing each other through the apartment. Cali's a terror and has already damaged one of the cat tree posts and at least two of their toys -- she'd make a great mouser. Jules is more laid back and chill and takes her own time to sort things out, which makes her slow to play with but super smart and wily in other areas. She'll bat Cali with a few hilarious cheap-shots just when you think they're done wrestling. At the end of the night however, once they finally chill down, they'll join us on the bed (or go under it) for a nap.

At least I don't have to shovel any snow or drive in it! :)

It is VERY RAINY here in San Francisco, which means that the SFFD is having a field day on their Twitter feed, reminding people to a) not touch downed wires, b) don't drive on flooded roads, and c) keep an eye out for that overgrown tree in the front of your yard that just may fall onto your roof later today. We'd originally planned to go see something at the De Young Museum this morning but all this rain changed our minds (and the tickets were free so no worries), and lo, a tree on Stow Lake (not all that far from said museum) decided to give up the ghost. 

So yeah, we're inside, where we're about to watch the latest version of Dune, I'm doing the laundry, and A is prepping food for tonight and later in the week. Thankfully our roof is not leaky, though we have seen a few windborne bits dropping through our bathroom skylights! We're a little nervous about that giant tree across the street -- you know, the one that's causing some of the overhead wires to shake and has been in desperate need of pruning for a good couple of years now -- and just waiting for it to topple over into the street and crush the car that someone so foolishly parked there.

My only real worry post-storm is how the weather will be at the end of next week, which happens to be Outside Lands. It looks as though things will be fine, but here's to hoping it doesn't end up being a Glastonbury washout instead, yeah?

Other than that, not much new to report...I'm currently doing a Read-What-I-Have-So-Far of Novel Projects A and B and it looks like they're in good condition as far as rough first drafts go. Last night I'd found a single sentence in Chapter 2 of Project B that, if I changed just four words, would tie in PERFECTLY with a few Very Important Plot Points later on, and so literally jumped out of bed to do so before I forgot. I don't do that too often! 

Okay, off to watch a VERY long but amazing-looking film! :)

Yeah, don't know what possessed me to actually do ALL THE CLEANING today, on what's probably the warmest day of the year here in SF. (The weather app on my PC says 68F, but it feels more like 78F to me. We took a walk at Crissy Field this morning and topped it off with a bit of shopping and burgers for lunch at Bill's. And then I had the brilliant idea of vacuuming, which meant doing some shredding first so I can pick up any stray shred bits, which meant cleaning up a bit of the back room, which meant tidying up the back closet so I could put a few things away. And do laundry on the interim. Oh, and have I written my blogs for Monday and Tuesday yet? No! Sigh.

ANYWAY. It's 4pm now, the house is clean and the laundry should be about done in a few minutes. Then I can kick back and relax just a little bit before we start doing a bit of cooking for dinner. Whew! *passes out*