Lockdown: Taking steps is easy; standing still is hard

Forget 48 hours. My body violently rejected Sunday’s dinner early Monday evening. Lesson learned. I suppose.

Work was mostly me putting my stories together and not doing a great job of it. I think I’m a little rusty, which of course is no excuse. Especially since I jump writing tracks with some alacrity most of the time. I just couldn’t find my groove, and everything felt forced, which my stories seldom are.

I’m disappointed in myself though certainly not surprised. It happens sometimes and I try not to let it bug me. Since I’m on a bit of a deadline now I’ll feel lousy about it Tuesday if I don’t have two complete drafts. If they’re not complete, I’ll submit them anyway as almost-drafts and get feedback. That sometimes helps.

Breakfast was a couple of pizza dogs again. I keep forgetting to make overnight oats and it’s beginning to bug me. Maybe I should set an alarm. I kind of skipped lunch, then made a pot of kimchi angel hair for dinner. My instinct last time was right: I used a lot more kimchi this time, and it was not an improvement. Distracting. I still think the dish could use another dimension, maybe something fatty, like sausage? What would be a good Korean fatty thing to put in there? Or maybe I should go with something like Portuguese sausage, since kimchi goes so well with it.

I didn’t go for a walk. The knee isn’t killing me but I don’t want to push it. Maybe I’ll try every other night for a while, unless it’s a laundry night.

AJ in SD and I traded a bunch of texts about kitchen implements. It was a nice conversation. I asked her what her favorite kitchen unitasker is, and she said probably her scale. She does a lot of baking. I nominated my ceramic ginger-grater, which is really only good for ginger or garlic, and I have mixed feelings about grating garlic. For dishes needing ginger, though, it’s an amazing thing.

Ali texted me a cartoon that had me laughing aloud. I sent her one back and she had already seen it, a couple of years ago. Seems a lot more appropriate this year, she said. I said darn because I didn’t know I was passing along something so old.

Crush Girl and I talked a little about our weekends. I mentioned Casual, and that got me off on Jason Reitman. I went on a bit of a fanboy rave.

I think I’m permanently going to move laundry to another early morning. Tuesdays were great, but the usual Monday pressures were making it too stressful. I feel a lot better making my big housecleaning evening Sunday night and saving laundry for another very early morning later in the week. I can also enjoy the beach more on those days.

My heart wasn’t in it, so it took a bit longer than last week, but I did attack the Monster in what has become my usual, unpleasant, satisfying chunk of accomplishment. It was unpleasant and miserable. I think I might be nearing halfway through, though, so maybe it’ll start feeling better once it’s all downhill and the end approacheth. Here’s hoping.

I watched another episode of Orange is the New Black. A mixed bag for sure. Piper Chapman, the central character, is super, super, super unlikeable right now. Most of the regulars are pretty unlikeable, actually. I guess it’s inevitable — we are talking about federal prison inmates.

I think about a show like M*A*S*H which I often compare this to, since it has a lot of characters trapped in a small space, but where the the characters in M*A*S*H can be unambiguously noble (they’re physicians, nurses, and a chaplain) against the antagonist of war, the characters in Orange is the New Black are ambiguously flawed: gracious and judgmental, good and bad, fighting their own imperfections as much as a terrible justice system.

I’m not planning to jump ship yet, since I have the Blu-Rays for seasons four and five. However, if I were watching this the normal way, I’d totally get why people might jump off right around now.

Gotta get ready for my day of paid writing (I’m writing this sorta early Tuesday). Which is a good time to remind anyone reading this that if they’re having difficulty connecting in these COVID-19 days, they should feel free to reach out. I’m here for it if you’re down to text, IM, or DM.

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