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a-journaling we go
I’m participating in displacement activities, pretending that organizing a bunch of stuff will get my work done. Obviously I know that’s not how it works, but hey, I’m doing it anyway.
I asked for this perfectly gorgeous blank book for my birthday (and obviously recieved it):
but had no actual specific use for it in mind. I’ve been prodding at habit trackers but basically don’t like any of the digital ones, so I thought what the hell, maybe I’d go old-school analog and try a paper one. I’m hoping it’ll get me a little bit back into the habit of journaling again, too. (I used to be a great journaler, back in the day.)
I think you’ll all agree my first attempt at a habit tracker turned out horribly. The rollerball pen I was using smeared everywhere, and I had no sense of the size I needed to lay the grid out at, and…all kinds of stuff. Live and learn, though, and OH GOSH I GUESS I’LL JUST HAVE TO BUY SOME MICRON PENS JUST FOR JOURNALING WITH O NOES. Probably if I keep it up I’ll eventually figure out a decent grid and everything, but my handwriting will never be magnificently calligraphic or probably even moderately tidy, and I’m just going to have to live with that. Also, I have ink all over my hands. *scowly face*
In other displacement news, I did tackle the Work Thinks To Do list and rendered it somewhat more reasonable. I also had a little talk with myself about the reasons I was procrastinating on some projects, and when we were done having that conversation I told me to get over it and get them done. I hope I listen and obey.
I’m still going to have to…effectively *make* time to do some of the stuff, but I (by which I mean, my husband) solved my laptop hard drive memory problem by suggesting I put my works in project into a directory of their own and sync JUST THAT to Dropbox, instead of my entire Writing Directory. Since I already have a Finished Projects and an Ideas & Inactive Projects folder, I don’t know why I hadn’t thought to have a Current Projects folder, and I feel like a moron, but now I’ve got one and the laptop is synced without filling its entire pathetic hard drive. WHICH MEANS (yes, see, there was a point to this paragraph, even though you forgot where it started, didn’t you) that the difficulty of writing in the evenings, post-Indy’s-bedtime, is alleviated; I couldn’t go up to the office because he tends to stay awake even later if somebody’s nearby, but I couldn’t write on my laptop because the Dropbox sync choked the teensy hard drive. So that’s sorted.
Not, of course, that I’m going to do anything as rash as write *tonight*, oh no, that would be madness. But I’m getting myself sorted, bit by bit.
Oh, speaking of getting sorted, I took the newly-fixed secondhand bike out on its first spin today. It’s fine, a little short for me, but certainly rideable. However, after a 15 or 20 minute ride around (maybe not even that long) my nether regions are quite shocked at my behaviour and would like to lodge a protest with the management. :)
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important things
Important things I have learned this morning:
1. It is all well and good to get up and bike to the gym. However, it is necessary to bring some kind of sustenance (ie, an apple) and eat it after swimming but before biking home again. Otherwise by the time I arrive home, I will be light-headed and nauseous from the dramatic inverse of energy expended to energy ingested. Being nauseous makes me disinclined to eat, which makes the situation worse, until eventually I am white-staticky and shaking and cannot function. Fortunately, today at least I recognized the latter half of that cycle, and ate as soon as I got home.
2. the Pilates class at the gym which is “starting soon” is in fact not starting until the fall, because everybody who’s expressed interest has also said, “Ah, but I won’t be able to make it until September so,” except me. So I’m going to have to re-apply myself to Pilates at Home, which I’ve kind of been eh about lately. Exercise is hard.
3. OW OW OW BIKE BUTT OW
ytd km swum: 44.7
ytd wordcount: 188,200 -
the hat
since several people have asked:
In other news, bicycles are fast! I zooped over to the store on mine, and it was, well, fast! I donno if it’s just that I haven’t ridden a bike in three and a half years or if the handlebars are actually much further down than they used to be, but it felt a bit thick and wobbly. I did have to raise the seat, so I kind of suspect it’s the placement of the handlebars, so I’ll stop by the shop tomorrow and see if I can’t get him to raise them some. And to loosen the brakes a bit too, because wow grabby. But I have a bike again! And it’s fast! NEEROW ZOOM
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triumph. sort of.
I reached the part of the book where I can start putting stuff back into TRUTHSEEKER again. The place where I started to do that was, in the original manuscript, page 42. It’s page 85 now. A whole chapter went back in with almost no revisions, which was exciting. I have no idea how this whole middle section will end up working, at this point. It’ll be a little shorter, which will make my editor happy, but shortening it means the last section is going to have to be lengthened, which doesn’t make /me/ happy.
I have to go in to Dublin on Saturday to exchange the new shoes I bought. There happens to be a Dublin Improv Movement/Frozen Dublin (facebook pages) Big Freeze going on at 3pm Saturday afternoon at the spire, so if anybody would like to, I don’t know, grab lunch and then go hold still at the Millennium Spire for five minutes on Saturday, that would be cool.
We got my bicycle fixed! I now need to get a lock for it again, and then I can ride it to and from the gym, and possibly, excitingly, some other places too!
/Jim Hines talks sense about a writing career vs real/day/safe jobs. And to pull together five things make a post, I will briefly natter about X-Men Noir and X-Men Forever beneath the cut.
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oh yes, the other contest
Word Warrior Aponi has won the “random draw for a book for people who have donated to Astres’ 10K run”. It is a day of many winnings!
Ted decided he wanted a bicycle to get to and from work on, so today we boldly went forth to the bike shop, where we found just the thing, plus panniards, bike lights, locks, helmets, and a variety of other Good Stuff. They also told us that although my bike has been sitting out in the rain for the past three years they could probably fix it up properly, so when he went to get his new bike Ted also brought mine over to be fixed. Biking in this country is nigh suicidal, but apparently I’m desperate enough to get beyond Longford’s town borders that I’ll risk my life on it. And in the meantime, Ted has zipped off to work on his new bike. He was very impressed with how fast biking is compared to walking. :)
Oh! My keyboard adapter arrived and worked exactly as advertised, which is to say, plug & play without any screw-ups. So I’m back at the Captain’s Chair for work, which means I can probably start swimming again, as it seems I dasn’t both swim and use a laptop keyboard. Yay!
I still want brownies. *sigh*
ytd wordcount: 181,200
miles to Minas Tirith: 353.4
