Drunken Owls and Other Delights

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!

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.

Unlike last week, the only exciting thing we had on our list of things to do was head over to Costco to stock up. Various meats to put in the freezer in the garage, the cheap $4 rotisserie chicken, paper goods and whatnot...the usual stuff. We usually only stay there for less than an hour tops, considering we know what we're looking for, and it's the crowd chaos that keeps us from staying long. Most people are good about it, but I keep forgetting you need to have the mindset of "I need to go from Point A to Point B so Damn the Torpedoes and GTF Out of My Way". 

I've never gotten used to that. Living in Boston, I learned that everyone understood Other People Existed so you learned quickly how to do the Weave. Navigate the oncoming crowd by making it obvious what your path will be. I got pretty good at it and could slide down Newbury and Boylston Streets at a good clip with no problem. Here in California however, it's sort of an undisciplined meander dead center in the aisle with the expectation that other people will get out of your way or go around. They know you're there, but you're just background noise. Which, you know, fine, but when I'm trying to follow A to the next aisle, the last thing I need is for you to push your cart in my way, stop dead center and abandon it as you walk over to the bags of apples you set your eye on. I know it's a bit of a cultural thing, but it does test my patience now and again...

Anyway! In other news, I believe I have found a solution to a problem that's been bothering me for the last month or so regarding Theadia! In particular, I've been trying to write a few of the WRITE THIS LATER chapters but feeling as though they're not quite working. I knew exactly why: I just didn't have any resonance with the character. The more I tried to write them, the more it felt as though I was trying too hard. Thing is, the scene needs to be in there, so I knew that it wasn't the scene itself but the character. I'd written two chapters with them in it, and was dreading writing more.

The other day while I was at work, it occurred to me: I do happen to have another secondary character that had been seriously underutilized, someone I introduced as a possible connection to one of the leads, and somehow forgot to use them anywhere. So over the last few days, I've been going through those new chapters and changing names (and genders as it happens, so I'd better keep an eye on pronouns!), and that seems to be working well. Hopefully the further I go with this revised character, the better the chapters will be!


Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

Today was our shopping and errand day of course, so this time out we chose to head down to Daly City to the Total Wine to stock up on liquor, then head across the way to World Market...to officially start our Christmas shopping. This would of course include things for ourselves, such as a box of Quality Street chocolate, a box of mini mince pies, and new decorations, but we also found a few fun things for our friends as well. As probably mentioned last year, we've given up on having a tree considering we have two cats who are extremely interested in climbing them and/or knocking them over, so instead we go with various fun stand-up decorations like little wooden trees and knitted baubles. Easy to put up and take down, and easy to pack away when the season is over.

Speaking of which, I have not yet heard any holiday music at the day job. I'm sure I'll hear it soon enough, as they kind of sneak it in at some point in November, just a few Christmas tunes in amongst the regular playlist they haven't otherwise changed since I started there. Once Thanksgiving is over, then it'll be holiday music 24/7. Not that it's ever bothered me, to be honest, although I really do wish they'd switch it up now and again.

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!

See, now this was the week where I actually planned to take multiple days off so A and I could frolic and relax for a few days before Q4 nonsense kicks in. [Read: we weren't planning on going on any vacation trips this year, so instead we take various days off throughout the year like this. One, the current political nonsense going on, and two, cats.] We do have a few destinations in mind, including an olive farm up in Petaluma and some shopping down the peninsula. Other than that, I had very little on the docket other than sleeping in a bit later than usual and enjoying the company of Juli and Cali! :)

Speaking of days off, I'm still getting used to not having to worry about wondering if I'll be working on Sundays or not, and not knowing until the last minute. It's a weight off my mind, and there's a much better chance of us deciding to visit a neighborhood we haven't visited in ages, or heading up to A's parents' house, or just a fun day trip somewhere. I don't feel the least bit guilty about having won that particular battle at work, though it is wild that I'm having to adjust my head around it still.

Not much going on this weekend other than we did our occasional Costco run today to pick up household needs, and to head over to the garden to plant the several things we bought at Sloat Gardens the other day. I've been trying to keep up with my new habit of truly having a day off where I don't have to pile it up with several events, errands or whatever. Just do what needs doing and relax.

The storm, by the way, is that school is starting back up this coming week. As I've said before, our local high school is just a few short blocks away from my store, and over the last several years, five days a week and often twice a day, we'll get hit with thirty to forty noisy teenagers coming in to buy chicken tenders and sour gummies. It only lasts for about twenty minutes, but it's the most stressful part of the day, especially when we happen to be short-staffed. Each year I keep hoping that the next class will be a bit less obnoxious (and stop stealing) (and stop standing in the middle of the aisles in complete obliviousness), but we shall see. For a very brief time the school's principal kept them from coming over by citing the rule that they're not supposed to cross the major boulevard to get here. [They can always walk a few blocks in a different direction to a different shopping area to buy food.]

Alas, I'm not looking forward to it, but I'm going to try to keep an even calm about it.

Even though my weekends are pretty much only a day and a half of free time (I open Saturday mornings and get out at 2pm), I'm happy with the fact that I still manage to get a lot done in that time! And I even got to sleep in this morning!

Yesterday we headed over to the Petco to buy a new cat tree as the old one is getting quite worn out and flimsy (verdict: Jules is quite happy with it, but Cali is yet to give it much attention). This one has a slightly different footprint so we were able to slide it up against the window, giving me a lot more room behind my desk chair and the ability to access my filing cabinet. And as for today, we did a very-much-needed trip to the grocery store (not mine, but an affiliate) to restock. The great thing is that we're both under the same corporate umbrella so my hard-earned rewards points and associate discounts work there as well, and we ended up saving a ridiculous amount of money. Sweet!

And now it's time for me to get cracking on the writing session. I'm about twenty pages from finishing off this cycle of 'remaster' revisioning of A Division of Souls, so I'm well ahead of schedule for getting this one ready for release. Go me!

The rest of my week isn't so bad...there's only one midshift this week and the rest are opens, and I have Thursday off in which to relax a bit before A and I go on a little midmorning roadtrip down the peninsula to a lovely garden park!

Ouch! I was a dumbass earlier today at our community garden while trying to back up with a wheelbarrow full of pulled greenery and completely forgot there was a wooden stump seat right behind me. Yep, I went ass over teakettle and landed on my back, but not before hooking my foot around the wheelbarrow's handle and rolling it. I don't think anything's broken as I can walk on it and put a bit of weight on it, it just feels very sore right now and I'm trying to stay off it as much as I can. I though I'd heard a snap when it happened, but I'm thinking (and hoping) that was just me falling onto the wood chips and not any actual bones fracturing! Yeesh! Well, we'll see in a day or so...

Other than that, we spent a good couple of hours pulling out the old fava bean stalks after a final and very fruitful yield, cut back a few things and pulled whatever else had gone to seed. We'd stopped at the garden center at the southwestern end of town to try out our latest summer crop of things -- lettuces, beans, squash, tomatoes and flowers -- and we're hoping that we won't get hit with another wave of feasting gophers this time...! We'd originally planned on redoing the wiring underneath the plot, but due to other Real Life Things going on, we figure we'll try to do that at a later time when we have more money and patience!

In other news, I've been doing yet another reread of Theadia and I am not the least bit surprised that this story is a bit close to home right now in the current climate. Mind you, it was supposed to do that (I'd started writing it during the Fuckwit's last administration), so I'd like to think that's a good sign then. I'm hoping to get back to it very soon after I finally finish off the remastering of A Division of Souls, which I'm hoping will be within a few months or so!

A couple of weeks ago I'd decided I needed a three-day weekend as desperately needed the break. As mentioned before, I'd been feeling overworked but was also fighting back a cold and/or a sore throat, not to mention said cold constantly waking me up in the middle of the night. I put in the request and the weekend is FINALLY here!

This is something else I really appreciate about my current employer, by the way. At the bank I would have had to call in sick/play hooky, or if I put in the request I'd have had to jump through a few hoops with management. Sure, I have a few coworkers who gleefully exploit this so they can slack off, but for the most part the teams make do and power through the best they can. And besides, they're trying to make budget right now and I basically told them that they can give my hours to anyone who wants them instead of paying me for that extra day off. [And that's also a plus for me in that I end up not using my floaters, paid vacation or other days so I can use them later on!]

So what do we have planned? Well, not much at all, really. A few local errands, that's about it. The weather's supposed to be crappy the next few days anyway so holing up to watch movies, listen to podcasts and work on writing is just fine by me.