chalkdust

Woke up at 2:30 Wednesday morning, slightly later than usual, but since I already knew what I was going to do after the laundry (zip home and get to bed!), I didn’t stress getting off to a bit of a later start.

There were some shady-looking people in the parking lot of the supermarket where I like to get my drinking water. Nobody messed with me, though. I must look badass in my mask or something.

Got a Big Mac combo from the McD’s drive-though and got to work at the laundry. I had an assignment due by six in the morning, so I worked on it while the clothes did their watery somersaults.

I think it came out pretty well. It was a thank-you letter to the donor we wrote our proposal for in the earlier assignment. Since my proposal was an actual work in progress, if we get what we’re going after, I already have a decent thank-you letter for our CEO to sign. Pretty nice. And if not, I have a decent letter to use for some other thing later.

I got home around 5:30 and was back in bed by 6:00. I had a 10:30 one-on-one with my supervisor at 10:30, and I had Jocelyn’s thing to format and edit, so I got up around 9:30 and got that stuff done. Then it was back to bed for a little while longer.

I had to prep a news release for the website. It was pretty low-maintenance, mostly because it went through a lot of hands for approval before it got to me, so even though I would love to have taken a little red pen to some of the sentences, I left it all alone and just focused on formatting.

I almost never get takeout for lunch on workdays lately, but despite a fridge full of groceries and leftovers, I went to the strip mall for Korean takeout. Barbecue chicken plate and a veggie plate. I like loading up on Korean veggies to last me the next several nights.

That was lunch and dinner, and I had a lot of leftovers.

The Skype was chatty but also very productive. I got 2030 words and signed off a little early. Tried to get to bed early-ish because of the 7:00 workshop session Thursday morning.

Suzanne texted to ask how I’m sleeping. I forgot to get back to her so I just did it now. Up late for NaNoWriMo, up early for the workshop. Not good. Crush Girl and I texted very little, but we did have some contact.

And that was Wednesday. I totally appreciate this writers conference my employer is paying to send me to, but I’m so glad it’s over Thursday morning.

If you need someone to connect with, I hope you’ll leave a comment. I’m bleary-eyed and fuzzy-brained, but I’ll try to be there for whatever’s on your mind.

Oops. I forgot to write about Monday before I wrote about Tuesday. It’s been this kind of two weeks.

It’s just as well, to be honest. Seriously, the days don’t differ much, one from the other, except for stuff I eat and people I interact with and media I consume. It’s the whole reason this lockdown journal exists, so the days don’t blur together into an objectless blurry photo. I write about the minutiae of daily work and living because the minutiae is all there is.

I stayed up far too late Sunday evening because that’s what I do Sundays when I don’t go to the beach Monday. I don’t even remember what I did, except not go to bed. I hate giving in without a fight to the weekend’s conclusion.

You’d think Monday was a holiday, based on the paltry few emails I got. Three emails from two coworkers. I sent a few more than that, replying to emails from late last week. I mostly spent the day staring at my Maui donor story without really making any progress. I also spent time flipping through my notes from the workshop last week.

I watched Pitch Perfect 3 for the fifth and sixth times in four days, opting to let it play while I worked on my NaNo project. The Skype was pretty subdued, but I kicked out 2322 words.

I think I may have had a slice of pumpkin-custard pie for breakfast. I tripped my way to the fridge for a Diet Pepsi, took the box out, cut out a small(ish) slice, and ate it right over the sink with my hands, the way one eats a slice of pizza. As dining experiences go, it lacked a certain grace. As early-morning sensory stimulation goes, it was just about perfect. I felt like the up-all-night cat devouring the early bird for a late night snack. I also ate some kulolo for a snack. That might have been lunch.

Dinner I remember very well. I boiled some angel hair pasta and tossed in some of that delicous bagna càuda, topping with some canned parmesan. Heavenly.

I texted my sister to give her a little update on my parents. Then Ryan to ask him if he was aware that there were imposter accounts on IG for him and his daughter on the same day. Sharon actually texted me first to tell me about the Ryan account. I saw the daughter account myself. Crush Girl texted me to talk about a new series she’s been watching on Netflix. I hadn’t heard of it but I was pleased to see one of the main characters is an Asian teen.

If was supposed to go to bed early but I’m a doofus and stuck around in the NaNo Skype longer than I meant to — by two hours. I was going to be dragging Tuesday for the workshop but this is the price of creating art. Even crappy art.

Leave a comment if you’re feeling disconnected. Here come the holidays. Like a cat pouncing on a bird, or a bird pouncing on a worm. Don’t get slurped by winter.

As I did last Tuesday, this Tuesday I got out of bed at about 4:30 so I could do a Starbucks and McD’s run before the 6:00 conference session. I got my fifth (or so) pumpkin spice latte of the season and another couple of breakfast sandwiches and settled in. It was going to be a long morning.

For the large group sessions, we’re watching streaming video of the presenters, but we’re not on video or audio ourselves. There’s a chat window instead, and an interactive poll widget. I chimed in once or twice but nothing especially insightful. At one point in a late-morning session on writing case statements, I did say, “This is all for real but nobody listens to the lowly staff writer,” to which another participant replied, “Very true.”

We had three presentations of varying lengths. They were all interesting, and the presenters were all great. But they are all seated in front of their computers, just speaking to us and leading us through slides. It’s good for what it is, but if I ever get asked to lead one of these things (and I’ve been asked, for a local group, but I never got the okay from my employer), I’m going to lock myself in one of the conference rooms at the office with a lapel mic and camera with a wide angle, and present on my feet as if I were conducting a class. I don’t really know how to teach sitting down.

That’s not entirely true. Good teaching is good teaching, but I would at least try to deliver while on my feet, if for no other reason than to break the monotony.

We broke into our smaller sessions and had a nice discussion about thank-you letters. Especially helpful was a list of phrases never to use. Ha. When I first started in this job, I didn’t realize how some of the language sounded. I adopted stuff I soaked in from reading existing content. I figured it out, though, and was pleased to see many of the things on the presenters’ list match my own list of taboo phrases.

I mostly worked on my assignment, due at six o’clock Wednesday morning, for the rest of my Tuesday, with breaks for the twice-weekly department Zoom meeting and a pretty decent nap. Hey, I started my work day at six; I was entitled to a good, long break.

Of course, focusing on my conference stuff means I’m behind on my real stuff, but I’ve tried to communicate to people waiting on work from me that this conference is important to me. I don’t want to blame my real work for my missing the deadline on my first assignment last week, but it played a part, and I never got critique on something I worked really hard on. Dang it.

Between the end of work and the beginning of NaNoing, I left the TV on after the evening news, and it was The Bachelorette. Which I have never watched. I’ll tell you what, though. The new Bachelorette, who stepped in after the season’s original Bachelorette left the program last week, is freaking gorgeous. I watched it just so I could keep looking at her.

I took a while to get warmed up in our NaNo Skype session, mostly because I really wanted to get all my laundry-night stuff done. I wrote somewhere around 1100 words, about two-thirds the daily minimum and half my daily goal, but they were a pretty good 1100 words, and by the time I got rolling, the energy in the Skype room was really good.

Finally got to sleep at midnight. Woke up at 2:30 to head for the laundry. Whee.

Breakfast was an Egg McMuffin, hash browns, and oh yeah, a local deluxe breakfast platter. That was way too much food. I skipped lunch.

For dinner I made stuffed peppers. First time. I was disappointed to learn you cook the filling first and then stuff it into the peppers, and then cook it some more. Cooking things twice is mostly something I avoid these days. Most recipes called for also par-cooking the peppers before stuffing them, but screw that. They also said you don’t have to if you like your peppers crisper. Fine with me.

There were a hundred recipes, each different from the others, but the basic idea was to make a tasty ground beef and rice mixture, then stuff the peppers, then cook in the oven. So I winged the filling. Ground beef, tomato sauce, garlic powder, leftover rice, red onion, and halved grape tomatoes. I had three peppers. Stuffed one with this filling. Added kim chi to the filling for a second pepper. Added doubanjiang to a third. Dinner was the first two. I’ll have the third sometime Wednesday.

I texted Sharon to tell her how freaking gorgeous the new Bachelorette is. I don’t know why but I thought she was into the show. She’s not, but it led to some good conversation about her, and we segued into some talk about work. I also texted Suzanne because she kind of loves trashy stuff, and she turned her TV on right away so we could text while we watched together. THAT is a friend.

I also got a late text from a coworker who needed help with some formatting on a document.

Crush Girl and I texted back and forth most of the day, talking about Thanksgiving dishes and some of the latest COVID-19 news.

Many things about this crappy pandemic suck hairy donkey balls, and one of them is the isolation and disconnectedness some of us feel. If that’s you and you need someone, leave a comment and I’ll send you some contact info.

I got sort of a decent sleep Saturday night, possibly because Saturday was so mellow, or maybe because I didn’t watch the news. Or I guess because I was so sleep-deprived last week and my brain needed to catch up.

I still got up kind of early after not enough sleep, to hit the beach for the first time in two weeks. I got a good parking and jumped in while it was still pretty dark. I wanted to get out before there were too many others on the beach or in the water, and it mostly worked. There was an alarming number of people out there by the time I showered and drove away.

I picked up a few groceries at Foodland Farms, then hit the office. I didn’t have that much work, so I hoped to be out by 11:30. I got out just past noon and I guess that’s okay. Got home in time to watch some football and do a few chores. I think I even took a short nap.

Banged out 2322 words in the NaNo Skype. It was sparsely attended but three of us made good use of the time.

I picked up breakfast in the McD’s drive-through. I wasn’t planning to, but I’m driving with a very expired safety inspection sticker on the back of my car, and in order to avoid driving past a police car on my way to the beach, I pulled into the McD. Egg McMuffin combo, eaten at the beach before I jumped in the water.

For lunch, when I picked up groceries at Foodland Farms, I also picked up a roast beef sandwich. For a pre-made sandwich it was excellent. Ate it in the office while my software was updating.

For dinner I attempted bagna càuda, thanks to a recipe Jennifer sent me some time ago. Olive oil, anchovies, garlic, butter. I don’t think I got it quite right — the photos I’ve seen look pretty different from what I ended up with, but it was still delicious. I dipped a couple of bagels in it for my dinner, then put the rest in the fridge for Monday’s dinner.

I don’t think I texted with anyone Sunday. It’s always the slow day for texts, and it was fine. I had a good, relaxing day and there was good connection in the NaNo Skype.

You got that too if you need it. Just leave a comment.

I didn’t get much sleep Friday night, so when I got up super early to hit the beach, I immediately just turned around and went back to bed. As much as I needed the sun, sea, and salt air on my body, I needed sleep more.

It was a good decision. I slept well for the remainder of the morning. Got up in time to pick up a pumpkin-custard pie from Hawaiian Pie Co. and a combo plate from Young’s Fish Market. I’ve sorta been thinking about that Hawaiian food ever since the last time I had it a month or so ago and Saturday seemed like a good day for a return. Picked up some kulolo there too.

I took it pretty easy Saturday day. Napped a little. Did a lot of personal writing. Finally slid Pitch Perfect 3 into the Blu-Ray player. I hadn’t seen it since the first time in a theater, and forgot how truly bad a lot of it is. Still, it made me pretty happy. I also watched the second half of I Love Trouble (which I forgot to mention I started Friday night), and quickly scribbled my review (below this journal entry).

When I met with the Skype group, we were all pretty motivated, waging several word wars in a short time. When I thought I’d had enough, I saw I was a couple of hundred words away from 25K, so I wrote some more and hit 2558 words, my third-highest one-day total this month. And I went just past the midway mile marker. Yay.

I spent a little bit of time looking up places selling Thanksgiving family meals. I’m not getting together with my family, but I want to buy my parents a meal. Maybe a large meal so I can take half of it and give them the other half. I’m running out of options and need to do this soon — lots of places are sold out, including Zippy’s and Foodland.

Tried to go to bed a little early, in hopes (again) of hitting the beach Sunday morning.

So breakfast and lunch were the Hawaiian food. Dinner was a slice of pie and some kulolo. Not a great dinner, I have to say, but I was a bit too full of Hawaiian food for a real meal.

Penny’s laptop came in, so she texted me to ask a few questions. I helped her through them and haven’t heard back so I’m guessing she got it working okay. Ali texted to say she saw the new Borat movie and wanted to know what I thought. Crush Girl texted to ask if I’ve seen a certain Netflix series a lot of people are talking about lately. Some friends have said they think I specifically would find it very interesting. I mentioned this stuff to Crush Girl and she said she hasn’t seen it yet but has been seeing the ads.

Vaccine news is encouraging, but it’s going to be several months before regular shmoes like you and me get a chance at them. This means we have to remain vigilant and safe. I admit I’m getting a little antsy. I’d like to eat out, or write my stupid novel in a cafe, or zip down to the Cannery to catch a very late movie. It’s not happening anytime soon. I’m psychically prepared for it; are you? If not, leave a comment and I’ll send you contact info. We can help each other through this mess.

I wrote about Thursday this morning, so if you’re a completist keep reading after this entry, or skip to that one before this. I know how particular you can be.

Friday I had a super light schedule. I actually had nothing on the calendar, and nothing needing my immediate attention, so I worked on a couple of stories. A donor story about a chocolate farm and a donor story about Hawaiian archaeology.

After work I watched the news and just chilled. It was a long, busy week, and I had time to breathe for the first time. I didn’t have any work due early next week, so I could probably take the entire weekend just to relax. I spun the new AC/DC album about six times — it was quite good, probably the best album they’ve recorded since the 80s.

I was ready to crank when we had our NaNo Skype session. The energy wasn’t very high; I think people were really tired. But I banged away on the keys while they chatted, and got 2130 words, putting me back on pace.

Of course most of what I’m writing is garbage, but underneath and amid the garbage are some good story ideas. I think with a lot of work, I can turn this into quite the readable cozy mystery. This month, I’m just going where it takes me and see what else I come up with.

Here’s a little excerpt of Friday night’s writing. You’ll see it has a little bit of rhythm and flow but lacks narrative and could really be trimmed to about half this length.

---

“Stacie, I feel stupid bringing this up, but you do know about the bookmaking, right?”

“What do you mean?  In the art classes?”

“No that’s bookbinding.  I’m talking about Martin.  He was kind of a wannabe bookie for a little while.”

“He took bets?”

“Yeah.  Nothing big time, just friendly wagers.  But a lot of friendly wagers among the faculty.”

“Did you make bets?”

“Yes, I placed bets almost every week during football season.  Little ones, like twenty five bucks here and there.  Never more than a hundred bucks a week.”

This was definitely it.  It had to be.  People were always getting murdered over gambling wages.  It’s why Hawaii is one of only two states in the nation with no form of legalized gambling at all, a fact many residents were frustrated wtih.  People like to gamble, and as long as they’re playing with their own money, why should anyone care?  I admitted I mostly agreed.

That government which governs best governs least, and all that.

“Graham, don’t you think this has to be it?  Martin was killed because he was a bookkeeper?”

“Bookmaker.  And no.  He quit doing it years ago.”

“Why?”

“He was doing it to make a few extra bucks, and because he loved gambling on sports.  I think he was using his winnings from taking our bets, and making his own.  But he said he gave it up becaue it was taking the enjoyment out of sports for him.”

“GRAHAM!!  This has to be it!  He was taking bets on campus.  He was making bets with someone else.  Somehow things got messy, Martin backed off, and someone killed him.”

“Years later?”

“Maybe someone had a grudge!”

“I guess.”

---

Breakfast. I drove down to Pancakes and Waffles for a Denver omelette and a mochi waffle, late in the morning. Breakfast and lunch, I should say. For dinner I used up the remainder of the elbow macaroni I bought for the Portuguese bean soup and threw some canned sauce on it, with dried garlic flakes, vodka, brown sugar, and red pepper flakes. It simple but yummy.

Crush Girl and I traded texts through most of the day about swimming, takeout, movies, and our Thanksgiving plans. Vicky texted me a happy Friday message. Reid texted me some info I requested about the pool hours at the park he directs.

That was it. An uncomplicated, mellow Friday. I need more days like this.

If you need someone to connect with, these pandemic days are likely to get crazier. So don’t go through it alone. Leave a comment and I’ll send you some contact info.

I was exhausted Thursday morning after working pretty hard Wednesday. My conference session began at 7 and went to 8:30. It was really interesting and kind of fun. We applied the famous Pixar pitch to projects we’re working on, shared them in small breakout groups, and then had a large group discussion.

Around 10:00 I knew I needed a break, so I took a couple of hours before getting back to work. I’m working on a couple of stories and made decent progress on one.

One of my coworkers is leaving the foundation after 22 years. She’s one of the defining personalities of the company, so losing her is major. We had a Thursday sendoff via Zoom, and it was lovely and several people cried. I was sad, but what really made me want to cry was that twenty people were in the office, most of them attending via Zoom from their desks, but I shuddered to think of all those people in that space. Come on, people. We shouldn’t be less cautious than we were in March; we should be at least as cautious. The numbers aren’t going down and people keep dying.

I met with the NaNo Skype group and banged out 2021 words, pleased about getting myself back on track and pleased with a few places my story took me. I’m writing a cozy mystery set in a Honolulu public high school. The main character is a forty-something woman math teacher, and it’s been fun writing about teacher stuff within the framework of this mystery. I realized Thursday evening that I hadn’t done much to develop the supporting characters, and any lover of cozies knows the supporting characters are the reasons to come back for a second book. You absolutely need likeable supporting characters. Even some hard-boiled mystery series, like Sue Grafton’s, rely on supporting characters for series continuity and reader loyalty.

Breakfast was a couple of hot dogs with sauerkraut, ketchup, and mustard. This time on Chicago-style hot dog buns, coated with poppy seeds. Yeah, Safeway’s hot dog bun game is pretty strong. For a late lunch, I cooked a ribeye a few days past its sell-by date.

Thursday was Suzanne’s birthday, and I always associate her day with tacos. When we worked together, she brought in a bunch of Taco Bell tacos for the office on her birthday. So I wished her a happy day and told her I was having tacos to honor her. Hit the drive-through before my NaNo session. I didn’t really enjoy that meal either. I usually love Taco Bell but once in a while I get a little disgusted with myself midway through.

I pressed on, though. For Suzanne.

Ali and I traded a few texts about our coworker leaving. I sent her a few photos I took of the Zoom party. Crush Girl and I talked about what we did during the holiday. That was about it.

Hit me up in comments if you want someone to connect with. Pandemic’s not nearly done and nobody should go through this alone. Dang it.

I’m writing about Wednesday at 5:30 in the evening on Saturday. Woo. NaNoWriMo and work are making it very difficult not to fall behind.

Wednesday was Veterans Day, a holiday from work. But the major proposal I’m working on with the CEO needed work and he wanted to see it soon. I also had an assignment for the conference, and it took me a while to get it right.

I seriously thought about either skipping laundry Wednesday morning or pushing it off to Thursday, but ugh. These days I hate the thought of strecthing early-week stuff into the rest of the week. So after two hours of sleep I got up and just did it.

Turns out early on a holiday morning is a good time for laundry. I was alone nearly the whole time. I thought I might hit the beach but considering what I had to do Wednesday, I knew my best option was to get home as soon as possible and get as much sleep as I could.

I kind of worked on the assignment most of the morning and submitted it around noon.

I needed a break. I was completely drained. I don’t know if it was sleep deprivation, stress from work and the conference, or the flu shot, but I had no energy, so I went to bed for a few hours.

I got up and worked most of the evening on the proposal. This one fell outside the usual process, but when the CEO wants you to work a different way, what are you going to do? So I drank a rare evening Diet Pepsi and got to it.

I don’t remember when I got it submitted, but I thought I did okay for a second draft. I popped in on the NaNo group Skype and banged out something like 350 words. I just didn’t have it in me, and I had a 7:00 conference session, so I begged out early and went to bed.

Breakfast was a Big Mac combo from McD’s, consumed with little moans of pleasure at the laundry, although I think I got the fries right before they threw that batch out, because they were cold and stale. For lunch I fried up a ribeye a day or two past its sell-by date.

When I was at Safeway early Sunday morning, I picked up a tin of anchovies for this thing I want to prepare, inspired by a link Jennifer sent me. While I browsed the options, I grabbed a tin of mackerel too. I’m familiar with the brand — I’ve had the boneless, skinless sardines and they are great. A coworker got me hooked on them, and when they’re on sale at Costco every few months, they’re like a buck-thirty a tin. A regular part of my intake in normal times. I think I’ve only had them once since lockdown began, though.

That was dinner. I made a fresh pot of brown rice, then just popped open the tin and poured the mackerel and olive oil over it and went to town. The mackerel look a lot like the sardines but they’re larger. I took a bite and oh my gosh. Sublime is the word I immediately thought. They also tasted a lot like the sardines, but they were a lot mellower. There was something almost creamy about the texture and taste.

I looked around for my Safeway receipt (I keep all my receipts for at least a couple of weeks) but couldn’t find the stupid thing. I couldn’t remember what I paid for those stupid little oily fish but I’m hooked so it might not matter. Next time I hit the supermarket I’m grabbing a bunch. Although I’m a little worried they’ve spoiled me. Maybe I should finish my enormous stores of sardines first.

My friend-coworker is a fellow sardine fanatic so of course I texted her a photo of my new discovery. She said she’d seen them on the shelf but never tried them. Also, most of those texts I said I got Tuesday? They were Wednesday. Because of course I messed that up.

I’m going to see if I can write about Thursday sometime before bed.

Blah blah blah connections. Blah blah blah pandemic. Blah blah blach leave a comment. I’m blah blah blahing this but I’m sincere. You need connection you got it.