I started my day by picking dry cat barf out of the rug in my office. No! Actually, my day began a few hours before that when I shut Monte Alban out of my bedroom so I could catch a little more sleep. At 5:30 a.m. he decided it was time for me to get up (maybe to clean the rug?) and proceeded to pick at the blankets and walk all over me. I decided it was too early and tossed him gently out of the room.
My poor, formerly fractured hip has been killing me this week. There is no pain-free position when I'm lying in bed and I haven't been sleeping well. Between that and the cats, I can only (day)dream of having four hours uninterrupted sleep. On the bright side, my caffeine consumption is up and I'm feeling really creative. Plotting and worldbuilding something completely different.
Languishing manuscripts? Not thinking about them, oddly enough. Those stories are written.
If only I didn't have to do this "earning money" nonsense, I could maybe do something worthwhile.
That was my plan for this week, not the writing, but non-monetary pursuits. I was going to turn in a mindbending computer science article and then in the slack week before the next packet of such arrived, I was going to do my taxes, renew my passport, call roofers, goof off, take pictures, work on my resume, cook food … all that good stuff. True to form, I end up with a 19,000 word patent for some semiconductor tool which the client needs, like, now, but, by the way, they're still revising the claims. I'm working like a drone and looking at a weekend of full-on dronehood. I did negotiate an extra high rate. New roof, here I come!
With any luck, today will have been the worst of it. I worked a lot. This working will kill you, that's what I say. It's no good for the photographer's eye either. I went for a Thursday walk and the only thing I saw to shoot was a roofer's truck so I could get the phone number. I had cold feet and a sore hip from sitting still for hours on end. The cats stayed in the warm and cozy upstairs till it was about suppertime, when they came down to stare at me and nibble on my monitor. While they were waiting, Sparky went into the litter box, scratched around for a while, then came out and hissed in my general direction before going back in and scratching around some more. Hmm. Guess it's time for fresh litter?
The chores, they keep me grounded.
We are looking forward to something tomorrow evening. A neighborhood photographer is having the opening of her very first show.
463 words | February 8, 2007 10:50 PM | Real true story