neon pills

No blog tonight - I accidentally stayed up until after midnight last night, and then got up at seven (after fitful slumber), so I'm v tired. But I did a bunch of work pretty early in the morning, and then I took a quick shower and headed to Des Moines, where I did another couple of hours of work at a Starbucks before grabbing lunch to go. My main destination was getting my hair done, which was a nice way to spend a couple of hours playing hooky from work. Then I picked up a couple of things at the spice store next to my hair salon, went to Home Depot to get a couple of things first [censored], and then drove home.

When I got here, I did a bit of sorting and packing, and then I took a break to make sweet corn and hamburgers for me and [censored]. I had picked up corn in Indianola even though I won't be here to eat all of it - and it was worth taking the time to make tonight, even though I really should have been packing instead.

So I ate supper and cleaned up the kitchen. I had planned to pack tonight, but I'm so tired that I'm going to go to bed at 10pm instead. I'll just get up early tomorrow and hope that I have enough time to pack and take care of my various gardening activities before all my usual meetings. Goodnight!

tell me what it means to be human

I'm v tired and need to go to bed - yesterday I woke up with a continuation of the headache I had on Monday, and it was bad enough that I basically didn't work all morning. I rallied a bit in the afternoon, and then I made dinner (porkchops and roasted potatoes) for me and Mom. And then I turned the lights low in an effort to finish my recovery, which was a mixed bag.

Today, I didn't have much headache, but I did wake up before six. So I got up and wrote before work, which was great. Then I slogged all day before taking a break around six to do some gardening tasks. And then I sat on my balcony and wrote until [censored] got home, at which point I ate a late supper while catching up.

And now I need to go to bed if I'm going to repeat similar feats tomorrow - goodnight!

i start to feel pixelated

I had a v lovely weekend, which bled straight into the work week (and unfortunately a massive headache today). On Saturday I spent some quality time writing on my balcony until it was too hot to write (which was unfortunately far too early). I also did various household tasks, cleaned various things, and actually washed the pendants over my kitchen island, which only happens on the rare occasions when I have houseguests.

The guest in question was Katie, the queen of my heart, who was in town for one night only before a work trip to Kansas City. She wasn't able to get up here until almost 8pm, and we met at Ludlows to have dinner with Hannah (another excellent friend whom I should probably see more often since she lives thirty miles away instead of eighteen hundred like most of my friends). It was great to hang out together, even if I was repeatedly reminded of how much fun they used to have in six grade when I wasn't invited to be their friend. Joke's on them since I'm pretty cool now!

sssanyway, we had a great dinner, and then we parted ways with Hannah and came back to my house, where Katie availed herself of my guest room (and a long conversation with [censored]). In the morning, I did some gardening while Katie went out and explored her childhood haunts on her own - while I dislike using pesticides, my anti-pesticide approach last year resulted in almost no crops, and I would like to avoid this year's gardens suffering the same fate. So I harvested the tomatillos that were already ripe, and then I sprinkled some pesticides on the nightshades that were all showing signs of insect damage. If I'm successful I'm going to have way too much produce, but I would rather suffer that fate than not have any at all.

When Katie got back, I made brunch, and my mom joined us for the meal - so we all caught up over scrambled eggs and hashbrowns and fruit, which was pretty tasty. Then Katie, [censored] and I chatted before driving down to the south part of the county to see one of the murals. We swung back through town to see the murals here, and then we parted ways with [censored] and went into (the other) town to see the murals there. We also grabbed soft serve at the hospital, which was a real treat. And Katie was just as affected by the Farm Aid mural as I expected her to be - it's really a stunning work of art, and I'm glad she got to see it.

When we got back to my house, Katie had just enough time to load up her car before needing to get on the road. We said our sad farewells, and hopefully I'll make it out to Colorado to see her sometime this fall. Then I spent the afternoon taking care of tings, and I also made a fresh tomatillo salsa verde by roasting the tomatillos with a jalapeno and then blending it with onion and lime juice. I didn't have any cilantro, which probably would have made it better - but for a first effort, I really liked it a lot. [censored] did not, but salsa verde is often wasted on him, so I wasn't surprised.

I did a bit more writing after that, and then I made supper - I was in the mood for chicken and mushroom alfredo, and it turned out perfectly. Then I should have gone to bed, but I dozed instead. When I woke up this morning, I was somewhat in it to win it - but by early afternoon I was feeling funky, which turned out to be the precursor to a pretty bad headache / possible migraine. So I called it quits on the job early and napped / relaxed / did nothing the rest of the day / evening.

And now I've been back on screens too long while closing out the night, and my headache is coming back, so I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

man that's a different kind of greed

I have continued slogging this week, rather productively, although it's been too hot to do much of it from my balcony as I would prefer to. Yesterday I had to get up early enough to go into town for my annual mammogram, which luckily went very fast, and so I was home by the time I usually start work.

Then I slogged all day, but I stopped work around five to do a two-hour online class with the writer who taught my group at the writing retreat that I went to in New York last month. The class was about fiction vs memoir and gave me a lot to think about, so I really enjoyed it. And I ended the night with some leftovers + some more work, as usual. 

Today I miraculously only had two hours of meetings, but there were a lot of things that I wanted to do while I had time to focus. So I got up early and was out on my balcony working by 8am. Even at eight it was almost too hot, and I ended up calling it quits on the balcony around ten. But I kept going straight until my first meeting at three, and then wrapped up my day with an hour of work meetings and an hour talking to someone from my old team back in Boulder. 

Then I had thought I would go to Indianola to do some grocery shopping, but I really didn't have the energy and also didn't really have the need, since I'm not going to be cooking as much this week as I thought I might. So I relaxed a bit, and then picked up Mexican takeout, and then meant to write but instead dozed off. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

choking on the air that you breathe

I'm v tired and intended to go to bed an hour ago, but I had to do a thing for work that took much longer than it should have. I have been alternating between slogging and various other obligations the last couple of days, which has slowed down my writing progress. Yesterday it was an early morning economic development board meeting and a long city council meeting in the evening. Today I was able to work at my leisure in the morning (although I didn't have time to write), but then I had to take a couple of hours off so that I could take Mom to an eye appointment. And then I slogged until almost 6:30, which was unwelcome.

But I took a break to make dinner - I grilled some chicken thighs for me and some hot dogs for [censored], which we ate with gluten free mac and cheese + regular mac and cheese respectively. And we ate it while watching the last forty-five minutes of The Two Towers, which is still a banger and holds up over twenty years later.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen, came upstairs, and slogged until now. And now I need to sleep immediately - goodnight!

basic being basic

I have continued to be quite busy the past couple of days, although I suppose I didn't get as much done yesterday as I had intended to. It doesn't help that it's super hot here, which makes spending time outside much less appealing. But yesterday I got up and spent a couple of hours writing, which felt great. Then I did various things around the house, took care of my plants, relaxed a bit in the afternoon, did some more writing, and eventually made dinner. Dinner was an experiment from one of the cookbooks that I got for Christmas, and it was a variation of a Spanish tortilla. Spanish tortilla is an egg dish with potato in it, and this one was made even easier because it involved frozen hash browns instead of boiling and cutting fresh potatoes. This was a good use of the farm eggs that I bought at the farmer's market last weekend, and I thought it was quite tasty. I don't think [censored] liked it quite as much, but now I have leftovers for the next couple of days, which makes me happy.

So we ate the tortilla last night with a slice of ham that I cooked on the stove, and all of that was pretty good. Then I took a long overdue shower, read a book for a while, and went to bed early.

Since I went to bed earlier, I was able to wake up this morning before 7:00 and write for a couple of hours before work. Then I slid straight into work mode and slogged aggressively until 6:00 p.m. At that point, I took a little break and journaled a bit on the balcony (although it was too hot for that, even in the shade), and then grilled hamburgers and made sweet corn for dinner. After I had sufficiently relaxed and cleaned up the kitchen, I came upstairs and spent the last hour taking care of a task for my boss. Now I need to go to bed so that I can repeat some of these feats tomorrow, although since I have an early community meeting and also a late community meeting, we'll see how much I get done. Goodnight!

one for the now and eleven for the later

I have continued to be too busy to blog, but none of the things that I've been doing are all that interesting, so you really haven't missed much. On Thursday, I got up early so I could read before work, which was extremely unusual, but I was determined to finish the book club book before our book club meeting that evening. The book was called TRUST by Hernan Diaz, and it won a Pulitzer a few years ago. I started it Wednesday night and wasn't totally sure how I felt about it, but I'm really glad that I kept going because it became one of my favorite things that I read in a while.

Anyway, at some point I had to stop reading so that I could get ready, take a couple of work meetings, and then drive to Centerville to see the dentist. Luckily, my teeth continue to be as good as they always are, so I won't have to see him again until my next cleaning in six months. And then I came home, slogged the rest of the afternoon, and felt like it really wasn't that much of a slog because most of my meetings were with some of my favorite people. I capped it off with book club, and while only five of us had finished, that was still better than some months, so we felt quite pleased by the turnout. We read a real hodgepodge of stuff -- t's odd to be in a book club that reads both "Trust" (a pulitzer prize winner) and "Secret of Secrets" by Dan Brown (will never win an award, nor should it ever be discussed again), but it's a good way to bond with some of the people at the company who I otherwise don't talk to as often.

I don't remember what I did the rest of Thursday evening, other than I probably ate leftovers because I was too wiped out to do anything else. Friday, I also wasn't entirely in it to win it, although I did get up and do some writing and then do some work tasks that I needed to accomplish. I ended up working until six, And then I ran into town to get a couple of groceries, came home, and tried a new-to-me recipe out of a cookbook that I got for Christmas last year. It was an enchilada bake that's basically a casserole, and it was as easy as the cookbook promised that it would be (since the cookbook is called 'What to Cook When You Don't Feel Like Cooking', I was really hoping that it would be easy and take exactly as much time as promised to finish). It's very similar in profile to the burrito bowls that I make in the Instant Pot, although this uses ground beef and bell peppers, whereas my Instant Pot version uses chicken breast and chorizo. This one may be just slightly easier, and it's certainly tasty, so it will probably end up in the regular rotation.

I ended up screwing up my sleep last night because I came upstairs with the intention of writing and instead dozed off on my chaise around 9 pm. I didn't get in my real bed until almost midnight, but then I spent an hour scrolling to catch up on the scrolling that I could have done before bedtime, which was a pretty stupid move. But I managed to get up this morning, make some cold brew, and do a bit of journaling before my day began in earnest.

I availed myself of the opportunity to go to the farmers market this morning, which I usually forget to do. There were a couple more people than had turned out for the 4th of July market, which was nice. It was light on actual farmers (no produce, although I did unexpected buy some iris rhizomes). But I had some lovely conversations with people about the things that they make, and I also spent fifteen or twenty minutes chatting with an old high school classmates who is trying to create a community art center. So it was all a very nice way to kick off the morning before it got both too hot to be outside and there was too much demand on my productivity to allow me to relax. 

When I got back to my house, I ate some leftover enchilada casserole for lunch, and then [censored] and I spent a couple of hours pressure washing my balcony. This was extremely necessary because the robins engaged in a war on my balcony all spring, leaving behind a seriously astonishing amount of bird shit, which I was getting tired of looking at. More importantly, it was eating up all the paint on the balcony railing and floor, which I wanted to remediate. However, using a pressure washer meant that we mostly stripped the paint rather than getting the bird shit off of it, which I actually expected because the paint had already been chipping fairly badly before. Now that the balcony is clean, the next task on my list is to find somebody who can paint the balcony and possibly my deck, and then maybe screen in my balcony so that I avoid future issues with birds or bugs.

Anyway, after that, I took a long break, took a shower to make up for the fact that I had become somewhat disgusting during the pressure washing project, and then tidied up, did some housework, and spent 20 minutes writing on my balcony before it was time to make dinner. Dinner was thin-cut rib eye steaks, hamburgers, and sweet corn. I had the meat in the freezer already, and [censored] had picked up corn from the first stand that he'd seen of the season, and it was all very tasty. Mom came in to join us, so we had a nice hour chatting about various local updates. I also enjoyed showing her the potential upcoming plant overload that we're going to succumb to if the tomato plants all do what they look like they're going to do now.

And now I really need to go to bed so that I can accomplish something tomorrow - goodnight!. 

all this feels strange and untrue

I apparently have not blogged since Sunday - I blame the day job, which has been v. busy this week. I have made time for writing in the mornings, and also for watering my various plants, and also for showering - but all other things have gone by the wayside.

That is not to say that it's been a bad week. I've had many many meetings; I had an eye doctor's appointment on Monday (which resulted in him wanting me to test multifocal contacts, which are supposed to help with my reading distance while keeping my far distance the same - so far so good); I had a library board meeting today; and I have a dentist appointment tomorrow. So, the rest of my life is moving along even though work has been chaotic.

However, because all I have done is work, I have nothing else of interest to report - and I'm already overdue to go to bed. Goodnight!

model citizen zero discipline

I had a pretty nice 4th of July weekend, all things considered - and I think I got quite a bit done, but I'm having trouble remembering it all now. Yesterday I did quite a bit of journaling/writing in the morning, and I also inspected the house that I bought next door - my empire is expanding, but as with all empire-expansions, there will be quite a bit of work to do to rebuild to my standards. I felt pretty good about it all, especially since we verified that the air conditioning is in good working order - until [censored] pointed out a dead bat next to the water heater, which was not a welcome discovery since I hate bats. But the house has a lot of potential despite that, so we shall persevere.

I must have done more things yesterday afternoon of varying types, quantities, and qualities, but they escape me now. And then I sliced up some peaches, took them out to Mom's, and grilled bratwurst and hot dogs to go with her potato salad and baked beans. It was all quite tasty, and we also admired her continued progress in her gardens (although progress was stalled last week due to the insane heat). And then [censored] and I came home and I ended up going to bed quite early.

Today was more of the same - I got up fairly early, took care of some personal business tasks with reasonable efficiency, and did some writing. Then I showered, and then I took [censored] to the shop, where I poked around for a bit to see what I could see. When I got home, I watered plants, tidied up my office, ate lunch, scrolled for awhile, and then spent the afternoon writing / reading on my balcony until it got too hot.

It was too hot to sit, but it wasn't too hot to walk, so I walked downtown to check out the recycling bins (the cardboard bin was full, much to my chagrin). Then I came home and made dinner - this chicken orzo pasta casserole with mushrooms, onions, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and parmesan that [censored] and I find to be quite delicious. While it was cooking, I helped [censored] move a countertop for the garage, and then I tidied up the kitchen so that I wouldn't have to clean after dinner.

Dinner turned out super tasty, and [censored] and I enjoyed it while solving a mystery together - I had run into someone earlier in the week who knew me very well but whom I couldn't remember, and it had been bugging me for days. With the vague description I was able to provide + a single clue (one great-grandchild's name), we were finally able to solve it, with a lot of digging around obituaries, facebook profiles, and one person's wedding photo album that they had helpfully shared publicly. Feeling very accomplished after solving this extremely difficult puzzle, I came upstairs and messed around until now. But I think I should go to bed early so that I can hit the ground running tomorrow - goodnight!

heavy foot

I woke up yesterday morning in Cedar Rapids, and I could have kept the streak going of not stepping foot outside while I was in the city, but I decided that I wanted Starbucks more than I wanted to be able to claim that I had taken the trip entirely indoors. So I got ready, said farewell to [censored], and went to Starbucks, where I fueled myself with cold brew and did a tiny bit of work before hitting the road.

My drive was uneventful, and faster than usual since Iowa raised the speed limit to 60 mph on July 1st. I think that this is likely to result in chaos as people figure out which road signs have been updated and which haven't, but so far I haven't been in any accidents, so yay me. When I got home, I immediately stepped into meetings from 12 to about 5, which was not the best welcome back that I've ever had - but it set me up to be able to go into the weekend without thinking too much about work.

After I was done working, I did various things around the house, and then I picked up Mexican food for me and [censored] since I didn't feel like cooking. We both tried new things, and both of us thought that they were too bland compared to our old things, but at least we didn't starve.

Today was great, mostly since I didn't have to work. So I took care of various things, loaded my car to drop stuff off at the second hand store, and went to Indianola to run a variety of errands. Then I came home, unloaded groceries, and took Mom to Lucas (yes this is backtracking) to check out the last of this season's plants at the greenhouse. We basically struck out, but it was a nice drive. 

I then spent the evening working on cleaning my garage fridges, journaling a bit, watching more than I expected of a Savannah Bananas game, etc. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

may be vader someday later

I have had an extremely eventful couple of days, but you shall only get the highlights that I may wish to look up and fact check later.

Monday I woke up, wrote, worked, and then ran into town to attend a campaign event for Rob Sand. Unclear if he has any real shot at governor, but I think he's the most likely one to be able to do it (although he should be a shoe-in given how Iowa is dropping on all measures of budgets, economic growth, education, water quality, etc after ten years of one party rule - doesn't matter which party it is, bad outcomes start happening if one party is in charge for too long). He had a decent turnout and I enjoyed visiting with various people there, so I'm glad I went. Then I came home, worked more, talked to Katie, wrote some more, etc. 

Tuesday started with a doctor's appointment, which went great. Then I bought another house, as one does. Then I went home and slogged all day, with a break in the late afternoon to pick up the key (singular) to my new property. And then I went to the museum to screen a documentary someone made about the walldogs and the mural festival, which was really awesome. It brought back some good memories, and it was fun to watch it with Nancy, Brenda, and Bonita (+ Cindy and Jeannie, who were volunteering at the museum that day). Then I spent the evening mostly relaxing bc I was spent.

Today was a whirlwind - I got up, made cold brew, packed some clothes, watered all my outdoor stuff, etc. Then I had four hours straight of meetings, and then I grabbed my bag and a pack of salami and some leftover pizza and hit the road. I met [censored] in Cedar Rapids, which involved three hours of driving (slightly less since they raised the speed limit), and I took calls during two of them. 

So by the time I got here I was fried, but I checked into the hotel, met [censored], and we grabbed an early dinner in the hotel restaurant. If I play my cards right I might not step outside in Cedar Rapids on this trip - I parked in a garage, took the skywalk over, ate in the hotel, and our concert was in an arena attached to the hotel. So it was about as convenient as it can possibly be if you ignore the three hour drive on both sides. 

The concert was Weird Al Yankovic, who is an excellent performer. The opener was Puddles Pity Party, and I didn't know what to expect, but he was surprisingly hilarious - a 6'8" clown who has some recurring Kevin Costner bits, which you definitely had to be there for but were great. And Weird Al was awesome - he played a lot of favorites, and the overall production was great. 

And now, after the very onerous walk down the hall from the arena to the elevator (I got less than 5000 steps today and I think most of them were tending my garden and packing), it's time for bed - goodnight!

angels of the silences

I had a pretty quiet weekend. Yesterday started off well, and I did some decent writing - but I took a break to go to Dad's shop to inspect various tings with Mom and [censored], which bummed me out a bit. [Censored] is doing all the (literal) heavy lifting on cleaning things out, which makes sense since I don't know what most of it is (and the stuff I do know has very little value, like dad's old grill sitting in the weeds). He had someone come yesterday to consider buying some random stuff related to directional drilling, since only a driller would need those particular items - and that seemed to go well, although the guy blew a tire on the way home and [censored] had to go rescue him since he was pulling one of our trailers when it happened.

So anyway, while [censored] was dealing with selling things, I slipped into a bit of a funk, helped along by a very cloudy day. It's too bad since it was the last cool day for the foreseeable future, but whatever. Then we picked up pizza to take to Mom's, and I got to admire the progress she's made on her gardens, so that was great.

Today was better, oddly, since it involved a funeral. I got up around 6:30 and wrote this morning, which felt great. Then I did some gardening - I desperately needed to do some Florida weaving on my tomatoes and tomatillos since they're already out of control. I accomplished that in due form, and also watered everything since it's insanely hot. By the time I was done I had less than thirty minutes to eat something and shower, but I managed to get ready (almost) on time.

This afternoon, Mom, [censored] and I went to Kirksville for Aunt Judy's visitation. She was my dad's aunt, and she was always a hoot - I really liked her, although I hadn't seen her in years. She has suffered from dementia quite badly and hasn't really been very verbal for a couple of years, so in many ways this is a blessing. But her daughters invited us to the lunch they had before the visitation, so we went down early to see them. Debbie sat with us, which meant we got to catch up somewhat properly, and we got a chance to chat with Denise as well. And we got to eat some delicious cheesecake that they made using Judy's recipe, so that was pretty special.

After lunch, we went to visitation (across the driveway), and then snuck out instead of staying for the funeral. We had to go pick up the aforementioned trailer that the guy had borrowed yesterday to take the things he'd bought, and then since we had access to a trailer, [censored] and I picked up a 10' countertop for my garage project. Then we came home, and I spent the rest of the evening relaxing / journaling / trying not to overheat.

And now it's time to unwind and go to bed - goodnight!

she's a butcher with a smile

I had a v odd day. I got up early enough to write a bit before work, which was great, and then I had to slog in a v focused manner to get some stuff done before meeting with my boss (and Adit) after lunch. That meeting went well, and as soon as I was done, I went to Des Moines on secret business. The secret business was not accomplished as easily as I had anticipated, and it was compounded by needing to do some day job work in a parking lot, but c'est la vie.

As soon as I was done, I went to see Drewbaby and Sammie and Marcella. We hung out at their place while Marcella ate, and then we went downtown to check out the Des Moines art festival. It was surprisingly impressive - I only walked away with a ceramic piece, but there were many other things that I coveted. They apparently get 2500 applications a year and only take 250 artists, and the quality of everything was extremely high.

So it was fun to walk around, and Marcella was v well behaved until finally being over it right at the very end (acceptable). Then we went back to their house and I picked up my car and drove home. 

And now it's past my recent bedtime and I need my beauty sleep - goodnight!

empty nest

I have been slogging the last couple of days, so it's hard to dredge up interesting content for zee blog. It doesn't help that I'm still mildly congested two weeks after getting sick... I'm mostly cleared up, but every once in awhile I get a hacking cough, which is most unwelcome. 

But yesterday I took a break in the late afternoon to go into town and have a margarita with Brenda and Bonita (they are a generation older than me, but still a good time). And today I did some decent writing before work, and I spent some time on my balcony this afternoon, which almost made up for my 6:30-7:30pm work meeting. 

But beyond that I have nothing to report, and much sleep to catch up on - goodnight!

being clever never got me very far

I have reentered the work world, which is unfortunate since I would rather still be in the writing world - especially since I'm finally starting to feel better and could have used a week of non-congestion with which to write. However, I did get up early yesterday and today to write before work - tbd on how that goes tomorrow since I have not gone to bed yet, but we'll see.

So today I woke up early, wrote, showered, and then slogged until after six (with a break somewhere in the afternoon to water my gardens - I shall perhaps be inundated with tomatoes since all my seedlings survived the transplant shock). Then I threw together an easy supper of roasted chicken breasts, roasted potatoes, and roasted cherry tomatoes. [Censored] turned his into a caesar wrap, while I ate mine with copious amounts of storebought tzatziki and hummus, and I believe we were both quite pleased with our choices.

Sadly, I then made the choice to do day job work for the last hour and a half, which will make me feel a little better going into tomorrow, but does not make me particularly joyful tonight. So I'm going to go to bed and hope for a reset in my sleep - goodnight!

debi tirar mas fotos

I made it back to ye olde Iowa yesterday, after a relatively easy morning of travel - while checking my bag took longer than expected, everything else was smooth, and I had time to eat breakfast in the amex lounge and pick up some coffee before boarding. When I got to Des Moines, I wanted to go see Drewbaby's baby, but the fact that I'm still congested + was probably covered in strange plane germs made me think it wasn't a good idea.

So instead I grabbed a quick lunch at a Mediterranean place near the airport, then stocked up on groceries at fareway. When I got home, I unloaded my car, did various tings, and then [censored] and I picked up Mexican and took it out to Mom's to eat. She has made amazing progress on her gardens in the last couple of weeks, so that was fun to see. And then I came home and went to bed early to start recovering from my trip.

Today I was not really in it to win it - it was rainy and cloudy and strangely cold all day, and that affected my mood. But I got my desk set up for writing again, did some writing, did some journaling, read a bit, etc. And I made chili for dinner, which [censored] and I enjoy quite a bit.

But I've been falling asleep on my chaise for the last hour, so I think I should go to bed and hope for the best in terms of productivity tomorrow. Goodnight!

the killer in me is the killer in you

I am in transit to ye olde Iowa, but I won't be fully home until tomorrow. My workshop ended today, which meant I had to get up at six and pack + grab coffee + eat breakfast before the nine am session, all of which was accomplished in due form. It was a v nice end to the week, and while I would have liked another day or two, it will be good to go home and start incorporating some of what I learned. 

After we were done, I had a final lunch with the group, and then I caught a train to New York. Sadly I had to do day job stuff as soon as I got here, including a meeting with my boss (even though I'm on vacation and it's also a corporate holiday) - it was not an emergency, but everyone's various summer holidays is making discussions difficult. 

When I was finally done with work, I grabbed a quick bowl of pasta nearby, then came back to my room, put on a robe, pretended I was going to write, and dozed instead. And now I need to sleep since I need to leave for the airport in eight hours - goodnight!

no time is a good time for goodbye

I had another truly excellent day at this retreat. I got plenty of sleep (although I still have a deficit) and I decided to take some pseudoephedrine to clear out my sinuses, which felt great except for the fact that it makes me thirsty. But I grabbed a v quick breakfast and then had an excellent workshop.

And then I got a massage, which was transformative - my whole left side was tight, and now it feels better lying in bed. Then I chatted with some people, grabbed a v late lunch, did some journaling, and went to a panel on writing the self through various genres, which was extremely illuminating. And then I spent some time telling an ER doc that he should just make a fortune writing erotica, which was v fun. 

I took a too-short break, got ready, and then went to the final reading evening. I read a bit of something I'd been working on, and that was super fun; I think I have now convinced most of my class to move to Iowa and start a cult with me. The other readings were all really good too, and my class seems to have gelled in a way that makes it likely some of us will keep in touch. 

After the evening ended, some of us grabbed ice cream, and now I need to sleep so I can get up super early and pack before the final session. Goodnight!

love you mean it

I had an excellent day all in all - and I got a truly excellent amount of sleep last night, which helped. I'm still congested and snot-filled, and I'm still not 100%, but I didn't let it stop me from enjoying my day.

I got up later than previous days, but early enough to grab breakfast and chat with a couple of writers from my small group for awhile. Then I sat at the cafe and nursed a cold brew while scribbling in my notebook, which was v enjoyable. At some point I decamped to my room to change into shorts since the day warmed up, and then I spent some quality time this afternoon with others from my small group.

We didn't have a workshop scheduled this morning (there were various optional tings instead), but a bunch of us met up to discuss our work independently. There were student readings tonight and more tomorrow night, for which people can sign up for a three-minute slot. Three minutes isn't much time, so some of us met up to read our things to each other to get some practice with timing + feedback on whether it was working. It was really fun to do, and I'm enjoying getting to know some of the people in my group more - and it's too bad that we only have two more class sessions left.

Sadly I had to bail to do another meeting with my boss and Adit, but that only took an hour and I ate a sandwich while we talked, so it could be worse. Then I did some personal work, ate dinner, and dialed into a special session of city council. That meant I missed the first few readings tonight, but I caught several people I wanted to see, and had a glass of wine with a couple of my classmates, so that was great.

And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

you're too sweet for me

I had an excellent day at my writing workshop - I'm starting to make some friends, and I'm really enjoying my breakout group. I also figured out my nutrition situation - I had a bigger breakfast (clearly their strong suit), bought a sandwich for lunch (meals are included at the dining hall, but I wasn't in the mood for lentils; I had to pay for the sandwich at the cafe, but it was one of the best sandwiches I've had in a long time, so it was #worthit), and then had a reasonably acceptable dinner.

I was, however, quite tired - while my cold is improving, I got less than six hours of sleep last night, and I woke up to do a bit of writing before class at nine, so I was wiped out. So after the workshop ended, I attempted a nap, then grabbed aforementioned sandwich, talked to some people, took care of various tings, and then journaled/napped in the sun. Unfortunately I had to spend two hours on a day job call in the late afternoon, but I ended in time to grab dinner before going to the evening readings. They were all quite good, so that was v enjoyable.

And now I'm going to go to bed and attempt to get eight hours of sleep for the first time in a week - my sleep debt on my oura ring is the highest I've ever seen it, so it's time to prioritize some sleep over anything else. Goodnight!