I made a few mistakes on my entry for Tuesday, so I went back and made some edits. Also added a photo. Info for the obsessed completionist reader.
So breakfast was a Big Mac combo at the laundry. Tried to do a McRib but the all-night McD’s doesn’t have the full menu at four in the morning.
At the laundry, I wrote a few Christmas cards and did a little bit of planning for the coming week and a half. Still have a few Christmas things to take care of.
On my way home, I stopped at the post office, one with a self-service kiosk, and dropped a few gifts in the mail. You used to be able to mail small packages at a first-class rate, but nowadays everything over some trifling weight (13 ounces, I think) seems automatically to be Priority Mail in the flat-rate packaging, which for my stuff is more than seven bucks. It’s pricey, and for a while I thought of other options, but you know, my reluctance to come face-to-face with people combined with my severe introversion kind of makes seven bucks a bargain. Just seven bucks to spread a little Christmas joy and let some friends know I’m thinking of them? That’s a steal.
Got home, unwound, and went back to bed.
I tried to play a little catch-up on organizational stuff, then I had my weekly one-on-one with my boss. It was pretty routine, but I did tell her how positive are my feelings about the strategic planning, and that I was on board for anything they needed from me.
Worked a little on staff newsletter stuff. I wasn’t especially productive, but I worked. I mean, I sat here and did work things.
I watched the news even though I would rather have lounged in bed. I did some crosswords. Turned the TV off before The Bachelorette came on. Stared at my phone for far too long.
The NaNo Skype energy was a bit down. I think several of us are feeling the stress of the holidays. We all shared a little and chatted most of the evening, without actually writing. I wrote some, listened to music some, and wrote some more. It wasn’t fun. One of the other participants painted. The others never planned to write to begin with, but I’m glad they joined in. Wednesday is sort of our designated night to check in and say hi.
I’m having second thoughts about writing album reviews, and I’ve felt this way before. After a while, they all start to look the same, which is useless to me as a writer. As a reader, I don’t mind so much because I read the stuff I’m interested in, never reading every review a website offers. When I’m the creator of all the reviews, I think I get bored. And boring, which is worse.
It’s weird I don’t feel this way about book reviews. I’m wondering if it’s because I have more to say about any book I’ve completed. It’s my area of study, after all, and I’m pretty much a know-nothing about music. I mean, my book reviews can really go on. My music reviews draw from a much smaller toolbox, so I run out of stuff to say. Is this an argument to keep writing them or to give it up? If I keep practicing, will I add more colors to my crayon collection or will I just keep coloring the sky blue and the grass green?
I hate myself.
After I post this, I’m going to force myself to write a music review in a very different way, speed-writing again just to get it out and see what it looks like.
Somebody give me some new crayons.
One of my coworkers emailed me to say she and her husband were on the last episode of Ted Lasso and thanked me for the recommendation. I was pleased. They both loved it, and she was happy when I shared with her that the show’s been renewed already for two more seasons.
I sent an FB message to one of my former coworkers in Manila. She’s taken my position’s equivalent at another international engineering firm, and she posted a screenshot of a company-wide congratulations, shouting her out for landing the company some good work in Ohio. This is a big deal. I’m super excited for her.
JB texted me to answer a question I had about his family. Ali texted me to respond to one of my texts from teh day before. That was it for texts! I may be crawling into my cave. I can feel myself wanting to even though it would be bad for me. May have to make a little extra effort to reach out to people Thursday. Although I have one phone meeting and one Zoom meeting and they may suck it all out of me.
I made an online appointment to take the car in Friday morning for a few things. If I can get that stuff taken care of and repair anything that needs repairing before next week, I may go for a long drive over the weekend. I think it would have been good for me these past nine months, but I’ve had this sense of impending doom with the wheels. Getting caught up on maintenance will help a great deal.
Lunch and dinner were the same thing: leftover curry with leftover hapa rice. I added a few shakes of cinnamon on the lunch meal and it was amazing. Not cinammony at all, but something completely different. Good discovery, and exciting enough that I ate it again for dinner. Trying to use up leftoves, so tomorrow’s going to be a lot of kale, I think, if the kale in my fridge is still good.
Daily invitation to leave a comment if you need someone to connect with. I’m a little unstable these days, but I can definitely help you steady yourself if you need it.