Day: July 19, 2021

Took a break from the ‘hard go’ of my vacation to catch up on a few needed hours of rest and to publish all of these blogs I’ve been writing and collecting in wi-fi free space. In fact, I took a day to simply recharge physically and mentally as I move forward into the new week. I think this ought to be the way. I firmly feel that Sundays are for rest and relaxation and just the straight kick back–be it watching football or what have you. So long as you are with who you love the day holds so much promise. All days do.

I had a pretty solid Sunday. We took the bus down to a breakfast spot that turned out to be utter trash, but we walked home and that was more than enough to make up for it. Afterwards it was chillax central for the rest of the good time I had with my partner for the day. Makes me happy to know that I have a person in my life who, merely being with them, makes the day worth being a part of.

Some Thoughts:

1. Over the last two years my family fantasy league did not pay out. This year I’m having the kids each put in $20, which should cover part of the winnings. I used a payout calculator to determine the payouts for the league this year and they are as follows: $100 for the ‘ship, $50 for second place, $5/week for top score of the week, $20 for highest scoring team overall (considering raising it to $30 or splitting the difference @$25) . This puts the overall purse at up to $200 in prizes. That means my personal contribution to the league would be $60, with the remaining seven people providing the rest. It also means multiple people could earn back buy in. That’s a good look for a family league. Oh, and there is the matter of trophies for first and last place.

I don’t often discuss being on the road until I’m back and no longer worried about people robbing my empty how, but the home is filled with family while I’m away, so yeah.
I’m writing from the Amazon Spheres today and absolutely redefining my understanding of workspace. The Spheres are a crazy indoor rainforest (Amazon) concept where the entire space is clear domed and filled with plant life. It smells like heaven. It also changes my mindset dramatically. Between the running water and the green I feel safe, calm, alive, free, and especially creative. This is the kind of place that grows ideas and the kind of workspace that allows for a freedom of thought that often seems to be lacking in the cold grey of academia and business.

I want to find a way to live in these sort of environs. I want to be able to smell the flowers and think of worlds beyond these as I look at what is possible in our own reality.

this is going to be a fundamental part of how I conceive of climate fiction moving forward, because what they captured here argues what can be done and also argues if it should.

that being said, I am grateful for the introduction to the possible because it reframed the impossible immediately. Beyond the beauty it also made me think of the societal construction whereas office and work is normally meant to be about hierarchy, a workspace that lacks that formal hierarchy suggests how people may be able to function in another way professionally and may find the space to grow creativity within themselves within these Spheres.

I couldn’t find a way to sleep last night. I was up at 1:20 in the AM and stayed awake through four with intermittent periods of wakefulness through 9:30 AM, which is when I finally gave up trying. My mind is tired. My mind is so tired that I didn’t make the effort to put the 3+ hours in today. If I’m being totally honest, the 3+ haven’t gone well for weeks now. I haven’t done better than 1.5. As a result my progress in all things writing has slowed to a crawl. On the bright side, the schedule I designed allows for this week to be a sell without the situation getting too out of hand.

The key is to stay on track. The key is to keep going and try as hard as possible to produce what can be produced everyday—even if it is just ten minutes of somewhat mindful excuse making about why you didn’t or couldn’t or wouldn’t do more.

So, lets take these next five to get to the mindful part of things:

I know that part of the problem is that my current set of activities is means far more to me than sitting around and writing alone. I need to reconcile that quickly, because the way things are is exactly what I mean the rest of my existence to look like.

Some Thoughts:

1. Been trying to rationally think through my wants and needs in a way that prioritzes some things over others yet either allows me to give up some dreams or fulfill them in a meaningful way. I have this house, which is a hot mess. Seriously, it’s a dump and I don’t think anyone in my family cares about putting it together as much as I do or at all beyond a paint job. The interior was a problem situation that brought out the worst of my tendencies and alienated all of the females. So, now I’m stuck deciding where to go from here. I want to put together a nice backyard. And a nice front yard.

It didn’t take long for me to decide I’d screwed up the job something extra awful. The guards were tearing out of the building in search of the man I was sent to protect and he was wearing nothing but a medical smock and a bad attitude. He’d probably get picked up by NYPD INC. and placed into the system as a crazy or a homeless person unless he came to his senses long enough to explain the situation. I’d be better off not being here when that happened. I had a few close friends in the NYPD but a lot more enemies who had the power and the resolve to put me behind bars so thick I couldn’t fit my hands around them.

It didn’t take me much longer to recognize that a near-naked Choi meant that his clothes along with any possible clues were still here. I stood up, ignoring the looks of confusion and derision from the handful of nurses stationed all around me, and moved quickly to the room where I first heard Choi screaming. Sure enough his stuff was there. I gathered everything I could, not stopping to look through any of it. Then I dashed back to my room where my clothes and confused Doctor were waiting.

“Sorry, Doc. I’m going to postpone. Things have gotten a bit complicated on my end.”

The doctor was standing with commlink in hand, likely sending a message to NYPD. That made it all the more important that I left immediately. I rushed to put on my clothes as he stood there staring but not saying anything. Then I ran as fast as I could towards the back of the building, hoping they were up to code and there was indeed a back way out of there.

Indeed there was. I cracked open the door with a quick peek for flashing lights. Finding none I pushed through and ran down the alley towards the one part of the city I knew would be a safe place to hide, if only for a little while.

Some Thoughts:

1. I’m having fun with the story. It doesn’t make a ton of sense, but arguably most on the fly drafts don’t—especially if written chapter by chapter within a ten minute window. It is a dream to continue this and make this a fundamental part of the blog. I’m about stories and storytelling and this is a fun way to get my wiggles out while working on larger things.
2. I’m hoping to do more and more of those larger things as I recognize how to best manage the hours of the day I devote to my craft as I move through life. Writing is a priority. While not the only one it is a major one and above almost everything else.
3. As I am scheduling the words I am realizing how much I can really get done when I put my butt in the chair.