Not really sure how Friday went, but I feel good, so maybe there’s that?
I dropped off to sleep sometime around five. Woke up at 9:00 to deal with emails on the proposals I’m working on. High-stakes stuff that I don’t want to mess up. Also, one of the proposals had a timeline of “ASAP,” a designation I hate because I think people seldom mean this literally, and I don’t know how to interpret it figuratively.
As I noted last fall, everything is urgent; there are just levels of urgency.
I said yesterday that I would write a little about the short-notice Zoom meeting my department had, because I do have things to say about it, but the situation changed today in such a way that I can’t talk about it at all for a couple of weeks (at the most). But I will.
So work was a little stressful this morning, despite my positive energy. How did I deal with the stress? I ate, of course. I’d skipped breakfast, not on purpose but just because I was focused on work.
There’s this new spot in my hood called Guieb Cafe, in the space Kiawe Grill was, many years ago. I was a regular at Kiawe, so I’m annoyed that my friends Melissa and Nadine knew about it before I did. The photos they posted were great, so that was my choice.
I ordered the prime rib loco moco (it’s a Hawaii thing) and Fruity Pebbles French toast. It was a lot of food, so it was my lunch and my dinner.
The rest of my workday was mostly staring at a lot of words and trying to figure out what to keep and what to flow into a proposal template. I didn’t get far enough on it so I’ll be working most of my Saturday, I think. Because urgency.
I snacked on tortilla chips and fresh salsa. Costco was out of the tortilla chips I like, so I got the huge bag of the chips I thought were my favorite before. But now I only sorta like them. I’ve been spoiled.
I again did not go for a walk but the knee’s not bugging me so much anymore. A good sign, maybe. I still feel it, especially after sitting still for a while.
Two gross developments. My recurring rat problem is almost surely back. I heard some scurrying in my laundry room this evening. I keep the live traps out all the time now, but lately I’ve had them in the closed position. I cleaned them out a little and opened them back up and baited them.
And ugh. Maggots. In my sourdough starter. I Googled it, and apparently it’s a thing. I tossed the whole thing and was going to ask Sylvia for another cup from her starter, but then I read that you can get your starter back if you have a slice of bread from a loaf made with your starter. I have the heel of my loaf from last weekend, so I’m totally going to try this. And I’ve learned my lesson: I’m going to dry out a small amount of my starter, if I bring it back to life, and keep it in the freezer in case this happens again.
This kind of thing only happens to a neglected starter, so I confess. Yeast is such a cool thing. If it’s healthy and happy, your starter can’t grow mold or invite gross larvae. I’m going to do my research Saturday and see if I can’t resuscitate my girl.
It’s new music Friday, but I didn’t listen to as much music as I have been lately. Mostly just podcasts, although I did spin this very Pink Floyd-ish new album by a band called Long Distance Calling. Trippy and cool. Now I’ve continued my Ozzy Osbourne retrospective. I’m on his The Ultimate Sin (1986). This has been a fun rewind — I’ve played each of his albums multiple times before moving to the next. This is the second (and final) album with Jake E. Lee on guitar and the guitar playing is great, but the songwriting is a little weak. I really like the bass playing. It’s a guy named Phil Soussan on this album, who’s played with a lot of other musicians I like but whose work I’ve never heard except on the few songs from this album I was already familiar with.
I traded early texts with Sharon and Sylvia, continuing our work-related conversations from Thursday. Sent JB a text update of something we talked about Thursday night. AJ in Boston sent me some more Kindle talk. That was fun.
Writing partner sent me a photo of someone on the beach, taking a space near the only shade but not actually using the shade. Writing partner was displeased.
Jennifer sent me a photo of a pizza she made. It looks great. Made me want pizza again except I was still full from Fruity Pebble French toast.
It’s 3:41 and I’m trying to get to bed by 4:30, so I’m keeping this short. Gotta focus on proposals tomorrow and do some housecleaning.
Typos in last night’s entry were very entertaining. Koran veggies. Ozzy Osbourne’s album Bart at the Moon. Funny! I don’t even have spellcheck on this web-based interface so I can’t blame autocorrect.
I’m tired but not super tired. Hoping this bodes well for 45 minutes from now.
Tomorrow’s going to be a good day. I’d like to share it with you (I’m quoting an old preschool song from the 80s, when my mom was a preschool assistant teacher). Reach out if you’re in need of connection. This virus thing isn’t going anywhere any time soon, and I expect I’ll be working from home until the end of summer. Yikes.