I have an inkling that I should be more focused as I attempt to reclaim my writing streak. Have a more defined plan. Make a statement. Possibly. I don’t know. I’m fighting with the urge to be disheartened and frustrated at losing the number, but all this time I haven’t really done much of anything in regards to the number of consecutive days. 800 sounds really good to me, but it wasn’t defining anything about my blog posts. I just let milestones walk away as unremarkable as any other day. I guess, I’m just pissed off that I’m below even ten percent of where I was. All due to fixing a loading error on a post from two plus months ago. Idiot. Atleast on the bright side I can load posts with photos more easily now, as that problem posts is chewing up my queue. That’s a great thing. Just sad I had to give up more than 90% of my streak days to get that win.
Resolute! That was the word I was looking for, not focused. Though being focused is good too. Determined, even. I’m not going to pack this in just yet, even though I did have a good pout and mope about it after realizing what I had done to myself. No matter. Time marches on, and with each new day, I can add another notch to my belt regardless of what else is going on.
What a strange weekend it was. We both did a lot and nothing much at all. Drove about town for various things, but then had to sit and wait at each and everyone. I have paid work to accomplish today, so I’ll be getting to that at 9:00am. I started it over the weekend because I gave up a good chunk of Friday for the funeral events. That was a good four or more hours, plus driving time to & from. So I felt it reasonable to work later into the night on Friday, and to pick up again on Sunday for another few hours. Nothing too crazy.
Domestic Duties Monday calls. Best get the girls laundry in, and then start my work. I need to eat too, so I best be about my business. Ciao Bella!
With a valiant effort, and two tries at breaking the board my eldest managed a promotion to a full Green Belt in Taekwondo. We are all very proud of her for doing so. Three nights a week, and lots of sparring with other kids. We now have a few more weeks left until we hit the pause button on Taekwondo in favour of summer activities, so we’ll take care to learn what we can, and attempt to retain it for our return to the discipline in late August. Then she can aim towards a blue stripe/blue belt in the next set of sessions next fall. We’ve talked about it, and though she was initially eager to get to a black belt, her goal now is to stop somewhere in the blue belt, or red belt space. And you know what, I’m ok with either option. It’s not just me being cheap. If she knows how to throw a punch, and deliver a devastating kick to protect herself, and has undergone extensive sparring one on one with larger opponents, then we’ve done what we can to see that she is capable of protecting herself reasonably without heroics. Tick that box off the list. Call me satisfied.
This Sunday feels like an extra random day. Friday being so disjointed with the funeral, visitation, and social afterwards has left us feeling a little out of sync with the calendar. Yesterday was busy too, with the testing in the morning, and a four hour play date for the kids in the late afternoon and on into the evening. They were still up until 9:00pm, and were exhausted. They should have slept in until 8 or 9am today. But no. Still up before 7:00am like it won’t be a chore to get them out of bed at the same time for school tomorrow. They never sleep in when given the opportunity. I’ll remind them of that once they become drowsy, mopey teens/tweens.
It was randomly minus sixteen yesterday, but sunny and bright with blue skies. It was rather deceiving if you ask me. Felt very much like the February I remember. Seasonal is the word I’m looking for. But this week will see lows in the negative double digits, and highs in the pluses in double digits too. Very odd. That’s quite the range if you ask me.
I had high hopes of continuing on with the pine bed yesterday, but those cool temps put me off the idea of doing any gluing fixes, or staining. Just too damn cold. The glue wouldn’t take, and the idea of handling fluids in the cold makes me shiver just thinking about it. My space heater is only good to about 12 inches directly in front of it, and I don’t fancy putting any fine dust particles into it, or having it run with flammable fumes in the air. Not looking for a ball of flame to the face. I do not wish to test any close quarters DnD scenarios about a fireball in a small room. 10D6 damage taken. Yikes!
The first of two sparring matches. Was she ever tired afterwards. Dominated the second round like a champ!My timing with the camera wasn’t good this time around, and I failed to get any pictures with her foot at the Alex of any kicks. Had to ask for a still shot, and still missed it! D’oh!
That’s all for this cold Sunday morning. Take care out there. Ciao Bella.
That ruined my streak, because it bugged out when I initially uoaded it, and it was impeding any additional post with photos from uploading. So I tried to put in back as a draft then retry to upload it, which worked by the way, but all of my progress was severed from that point. No longer am I in the 800’s, but I’m back down to 72. Ugh! It’s a heart breaker. But atleast I know that I didn’t really break the streak. I am angry with myself, because I thought really hard about getting a screen shot of Day 800 notification, and thought I’d get it later. Made that mistake a few times. The most tragic was not taking any photos at a five year olds birthday party, expecting to get some at the next play date, only for the little girl to perish along with her mother (my friend) two weeks later. Gotta do that shit now. No guarantees for a later chance.
This morning is Green Belt Testing Day for my eldest at Taekwondo. I’m excited. She’s taken to it like a duck to water. I look forward to seeing how far she can progress. The next belt will take four months to achieve, and they get longer and more difficult the further you move along. We will have to hit pause come the end of April, but we shall resume in late August. I’m happy she knows how to throw a decent kick, and can punch with effectiveness.
Yesterday’s funeral was a nice affair. A bit churchy for my tastes, but I’m alive to see it so I don’t care. Great turn out. Very busy. Funny & charming stories were shared during the speeches. My urn looked solid up on the pedestal. See you around Uncle Frederick George Pike.
Moving an old post that was holding up the queue has killed my streak! It doesn’t read 801, it now reads 71. Fucking hell. God damn. Son of a motherless goat. Cheese and rice. Well this sucks. I’m gonna have to sit with this for a while. I knew I should have screen shotted the Day 800 notification. Fuck!
Today is THE day. It’s here. We made it. Hurray! And it looks as though I am going to be busier than originally planned. So I will do a select few notes on the books I read, and enjoyed more than most.
Books on the tall left pile I read cover to cover, and those on the right were only partial reads as of this time.
***I’m still reading both System Collapse, and Lords of Uncreation at this time, I just haven’t finished yet due to travel, and a busier than expected work schedule.
I started the year off with Tom Segura’s book, and enjoyed the hell out of it. Short & sweet, I think I fi wished that in a day and a half. Not very thick, and reads like a funny conversation. The Fart Quest D&D books are always a pleasure to read. Childish and silly with lovely illustrations on many pages. A fun treat for me. Don Winslow’s books are cracker jack popped full of organized crime, murder, gangsters and Danny Ryan. Fast paced, exciting and I can’t wait to read the third and final installment. The Steel Remains was entertaining. I did at one point look into buying more of the series as I like Richard Morgan‘s work. I read two of his books this year, along with Mo Hayder, and Adrian Tchaikovsky too. I read an entire trilogy of a new to me author very early on this year, and it was decent. Had a lot of SA, and physical abuse of kids in it which I didn’t care for, but the writing was good. Those were written by N.K. Jemison.
All told I read 15 books cover to cover, and another 4 books were partial reads of 1/4 to 1/3 of the book in question. So I hit my 12 books in 12 months reading goal. I slowed right down as of September as I got busier with work, as I knew I would. I front end loaded the year pretty heavily to make up for my waning attention, and increased work schedule.
Also for this year in review I didn’t do anywhere near as much sculpting, wood working, or model building. I did one or two items in each category, but I don’t think I finished much. Perhaps next year. I did use my airbrush a fair bit this year to paint old sculpts, and board game pieces. That was a lot of repetition, but also fun to do.
No short stories were written that I can think of this year either. At least nothing comes to mind. I should check the website closer to New Year’s Eve for the official word count for the year. I do not believe that it will even come close to 100,000 words for the year. I just didn’t have that much jam this year. Also I don’t think I made any real progress on my illustrated children’s book either. Was just too busy during what is typically an 11 week long slow period. It was all go-go-go!
We had Covid in march of 2023 and that caused a 90 day reprieve on my exercise regimen to try and avoid long Covid symptoms. Also meant that my weight has remained in the 205-209lbs range for the majority of this year. I swam a lot, but did not ride my bike much, nor run, nor skateboard like I had hoped. I do need to sort something out on that front as I am unhappy with my current pear shape. I could do with being about 175lbs and reduce the belly by a wide margin. Eating and exercise. Simple solution, but oh so hard to implement. Ha. Habits to be build and enforced, just like the writing.
Big question looms. Do we go for a year three of the writing streak, or go until we forget or have more pressing matters to concern ourselves with? If I have another obsessive compulsive year of writing this blog then so be it. I’d blow a kazoo to celebrate if I could. Pfft! W00t-w00t!
Other things to reflect upon? Hmm. Great family vacation to Florida this year. Hadn’t gone anywhere since 2018 so we packed up and flew to Tampa, and then spent a week in Orlando/Kissimmee area. Did three theme parks for 11 of our 14 day trip. One beach day in Clearwater, and one visit to Disney Springs outdoor shopping centre. It was sweltering in Tampa, and rainy and 73°F in Orlando. Not too shabby. Warm enough to swim in the rain, or sit in the hot tub unbothered by it all. We essentially gave the month of November a miss by going away mid month. Strange, but very effective.
Great grandma is alive and kicking, heading towards her 96th birthday in January. Uncle Fred is still in the hospital trying to recoup enough to do another week of 3 Chemo treatments in a row. Otherwise we had the kids pick up a missed immunization that the Ministry notified us of, though they were way off with our youngest. Bit of a mix up there. I picked up a Tetanus shot as I have zero recollection of the last one I ever had. Was probably in high school, if not grade school before that. Good to have as I work with reclaimed wood and pull rusted nails every so often. Better safe than sorry.
I was busier with more work from fewer clients this year. The two micro breweries I usually get work from were very quiet this year. Perhaps in 2024? Maybe. My three biggest clients all did more work this year than usual. Well, two of three did lots more. Not going to complain about that! I lost one client to an acquisition to a large conglomerate that had it’s own in-house design team. No harm no foul there. Win some, lose some. Hard to complain when other clients pick up the slack and then some.
I’m sure more happened that I will remember in a couple of hours time. But that’s the gist of my year. Kids got bigger. Moved up in grades. Homework and extracurriculars abound. Taekwondo, dance, gymnastics, girl guides, and soon Ringette too. We’ve been busy if not over scheduled for children’s programming. Can’t say they didn’t get the chance to try lots of things.
New water softner, fixed water heater valve, and a fridge freezer we no longer use in order to keep the fridge running smoothly. Some how the AC unit has kept chugging along. We will see if that luck continues into 2024. I do see a new fridge in our futures if im being honest.
The story up till now goes as follows; My youngest was in a crib at the cottage for a long time. Then I transformed said crib into a day bed, which she used until she was too long for it and spent all night kicking the end and side panels waking everyone up. I took the crib down and we pulled a single mattress into the room and set her up on the floor. With the intention of putting up a bed shortly there after. Things happened over the summer and the bed was forgotten about. Travel, funerals, anguish, and work took a front seat. Come to September and I milled down a few pine boards, cut them to size, made lots of tight fitting joinery, and then let it sit because I had other things to do and it wasn’t a priority. Fast forward from September to February and a warm spell and I finally had the time to sand it all down, and then I went ahead and began assembly and fitting it all together. Wood movement is a thing, and I continuously don’t pay enough attention to that fact and leave projects for months on end. Good news is, we are assembled. I need to do a few gap fill touch ups, and then a final sand in a few spots, and then stain it all. Let is stand & off gas for a few days then schlep it to the cottage in the back of a truck. It’s pine so it’s pretty light. Easy to move around, and lift up several sets of stairs.
Unsanded pieces.Freshly sanded pieces.Assembled while upside down. Waiting for box joint fixes, sanding and wipe on, wipe off stain.
It’s not the prettiest thing, certainly not heirloom quality, but one inch thick pine should hold up for a few years at least. Slatted to hold a box spring, or go straight over with a firm mattress. Would I have preferred to build it with Walnut or a hardwood, certainly I would, but it would be 10X the weight, and who knows how much extra in cost.
I put in an order for 20BF of Walnut last night from a company that delivers. Rough cut, one inch thick. Should come some time next week. I can then plan some narrow book shelves for my kids, and a new Urn. I’m going to try hand cut dove tails this time. I want to book match the outside so I’ll also need to cut some boards down the middle too. That will take some time. Sounds like fun!
I just can’t seem to find the time to get over to the mill to view lumber, so getting some delivered is really helpful. If the wood quality is a bust then I will have to do so myself, shop in person that is. I didn’t spend crazy money on it, so I’m not expecting glowingly perfect boards. A touch rustic perhaps, definitely straight with no cupping, or twist would suit me just fine.
I recently had the chance to use my wood moisture meter. Works great. Reminds me I need to charge and format my endoscope for the car. Has lights on it too! He-he.
We have the funeral today, so I need to fetch the kids from school, change, and head over to the visitation, and then the service proper, and then hang around after to take all of the decorations, flowers, and photos down. Hug your loved ones. Ciao Bella.
If you took both of the novellas I’ve written and smushed them together you might almost get a full sized novel? The first book is on Kindle Unlimited, but I never released the second. Didn’t feel the need to. I figured if anybody cared for the first, it was because they had read bits and pieces of it here first, and I’ve made it well known that if you want Part Two for free all you had to do was comment to ask for it. And I’d ask for an e-mail address, burner or otherwise, and I’d send you the PDF free of charge, just because I’d be tickled pink that somebody might actually read it, other than myself, and various family members around the world. Now all I write are blog posts, and not very good ones at that. No sex, no drugs, and very little rock n’ roll to speak of. If you want depravity in your Science fiction then go read my books, or track down all fifty to sixty individual story posts in the archives.
The Company – A series of interconnected space short stories: Varied works of short fictionhttps://a.co/d/3uYvqJ2
Today is Day 800! Wow, great to be here, thank you. No applause needed. Wild ride. We have weathered travel, several deaths, a Jericho wind storm that knocked out power for 26 long hours, illnesses such as Covid, the flu, stomach bugs, and other such fun items. Not to mention a very busy work schedule, and most of my wife’s year off. And a whole lot of chatter about the weather. So much weather talk. Like being stuck in a line at the bank. How about this warm spell? So grey out. Can you believe the wind? My goodness. I do go on.
So what’s instore for my luxury conscious fan base, those accustomed to the finer points I love to elucidate for them. Well, not much. These big milestone dates seem to pile up, come & go without much fanfare. The daily habit became more important to me than hitting any one of these numbers. I do however, occasionally get suckered into watching the view count for dopamine hits, but I try to limit that. I don’t do this for any kind of notoriety. I do it to get stuff out and on record for myself, more so than for any body else. Maybe my kids might read some of this, but even that isn’t why I keep all of these thoughts written down. A legacy of thousands of words to litter the internet with. I’m doing my part. AI can suck it!
Day 800of the write every day challenge, has a good ring to it, but other than that, isn’t of much use to me. I can’t use it on my resume, I’m not seeking work for copy writing, plus my style is loose, bordering on unpolished turd territory. A fair few of my characters all sound just like me, regardless of gender or orientation. Young, old, all me. Mean spirited, snarky, and a little too earnest. Say what you mean, mean what you say! I’m not good at writing mysterious people, or heists. So I don’t. I write about being lonely, or sick, feeling isolated, and worrying about things bigger than myself. I try to steer away from technical jargon, as I’m not that guy. I do a fair bit of finger waving at physics and science in general. Plus I was writing very short stories, so being concise yet evocative was my jam, man.
Except in the case of the children’s illustrated book I’m making. I mean, it’s short too, but more silly and fun than my typical short fiction. Which reminds me I really do need to get those last eight pages drawn, and then post it here for posterity.
The steps themselves are more important than where I finally land. That is, unless somebody wants to option it for a series or a short film and I’ll change my tune for dollar, dollar bills y’all. I think I’d wind up winning the lottery before that ever happened, so there’s that. All I’m saying is, love the steps you are taking on the projects you do, and not the end result. Laurels aren’t for resting on. And other empty hokey sayings. Ciao Bella.
Various radiator parts and labour totally approximately $600.00. Not great, but not as awful as it could have been. Got to head to the bank to grab funds and go pay the mechanic and retrieve the van. I was out and about grocery shopping this morning, and then came home to write a revised estimate for a job whose scope has broadened up a bit to include additional deliverables. But! Comes with a whole extra month to produce concepts so not bad at all.
Then I spent some time creating a small half page hand out for my wife’s uncle’s funeral this Friday. I think it looks nicer than what I usually see from funeral homes.
While I was out I bought the kids some new plastic child sized rosd hockey sticks so that we can play in the driveway again. I know the larger sticks I had bought a while ago were too large and unwieldy in their hands. Hopefully these make it more fun for them to play ball with me.
I wouldn’t mind grabbing a basketball net for the end of the driveway but those run over $650.00 for the moveable units you fill with water or sand, and that’s a lot of cheddar for me to lay out on the hopes that one or both kids will use it more than once a season. Expensive item to buy and have sit out in the open unused. The closest nets to us are down at the school, and you aren’t guaranteed that they’ll even be available or have a net attached. If there weren’t a gas line, and fiber optic cables running down my front lawn by the curb I’d dig out and put in a permanent post of my own with a hoop, but I don’t need to cut cables or blow myself up for the sake of doing something “fun” for the family.
Plus I don’t really like basketball, but my kids seem to enjoy it. I’d prefer soccer, rugby, wrestling, biking, or skate boarding. Things to do with stuff we already own! I did toy with the idea of buying a kick boxing dummy for Taekwondo sparring practice. Basement isn’t really big enough to house one though. Not with all the stuff we have down there, and I’ve cleaned & thinned things out down there, a few times this winter!
Busy week with the funeral stuff looming. Atleast it is Wednesday already.
Not having a good one today. I feel exhausted. While it’s fun to zip away for a quick family holiday I now feel more tired than when we left. I feel as though I could sleep an additional twelve hours today and still not feel as though I got ahead of my fatigue. Was up earlier to deal with the recycling, and wouldn’t you know it, the green bin bag ruptured on the front porch, spilling mouldy steaming old food everywhere. Dripped on the tile floors too. Lovely. Nothing quite like shoveling steaming garbage into a fresh bag at 7:00am, when it feels like -13 outside. Fun times.
I may just go back to bed at this point. Still no news regarding our van, so one can only assume it requires more extensive work than originally planned. Can’t wait to hear what the bill will be for more than a week at the mechanics shop. That should lighten the old wallet a fair bit.
Lastly, we have several items to accomplish for the funeral service this week. Photos, and flowers, food, and speeches etc… this will be a long, short week if you know what I mean.
Not going to front, I have zero desire to go outside and do any more skating today. It was warmer yesterday, but extremely windy when we did our first skating session, and that was cold enough. This is lose fingers, and noses cold. No thank you! Even the hot tub would be a bit of a reach in these temps. The water is lovely but getting to & from the hot tub in this weather is a cruel endeavour. Again, I decline. This would be when we should have massive Terry cloth robes to prance about in, or some type of wind blocking privacy screen. But nope! Open to the elements on all four sides, and the wind off the lake is something else.
You guessed it, today is a holiday Monday. Family Day here in Ontario. I think the US has Presidents Day too. We had thoughts of being in Florida right now, but uncle Fred had something to say about that, poor old chap. We have flower arrangements, photos, and all manner of items to sort out for Thursday and Friday. I need a hair cut, and a shave. Will need to sort out some reasonable clothes to wear. Best get to exercising a little more this week, and eating a little less in order to get all the clothes to fit properly.
Hard to believe that month number two for 2024 is almost done now too. My how time flies! March Break is going to be here before you know it. Then Easter, and then Spring.
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