Written by So I finally got Rob into the dentist a few weeks ago and we were given the bad news that he needed 4 teeth pulled. We tromped into the oral surgeon’s office on Thursday and we scheduled his surgery for today. Success! 4 teeth gone and he’s stoned off his gord. He’s recovering nicely, thanks to some pain meds and rest.
Posts in category Everyday Life
Low Tolerance
This weekend was a mix of fun and complete duldrums. We had dinner with my dept. at work over at JL’s house. It was fun to hang out with everyone, just be relaxed, eat good fish (all the way from Alaska!), drink, laugh, talk. I’m enjoying my job a lot this year, in a different sort of way than I did before. I’m feeling settled and at home with work. And yet.
On Saturday, we spent the day puttering. We’d talked about going up to Yosemite again for the day but it was hot, we were exhausted and I wanted to nest. The highlight of the day was going out for Mexican for dinner. On Sunday, I was in a serious funk. I hate sitting around all weekend and watching movies or just puttering. I wasn’t in the mood for vegging out but I wasn’t sure what I wanted. When I get restless, I start pining for England. I want to plan a vacation. I want to do something that requires planning. Rob doesn’t get this really but bless him. He tries.
So after moping around for a while, he suggested we get out of the house. We drove up 108 for a while, walked around downtown Sonora and looked at antiques for a while. I needed the break and we needed to talk about my restlessness. It’s never about being married. I love my husband. I love my life. But I have a low threshold for the mundane. I get bogged down in the day in, day out stuff and I burn out. Feeding the animals. Folding the laundry. Sweeping. Constantly sweeping after the dog. Staring at the keyboard. Watching TV. Making dinner. Going to work. Makes me want to poke my eyes out after a while.
We’re trying to figure out where we can afford to go during my 4 breaks from school. I have a week off for Thanksgiving in November, 2 weeks in December, a week in Feb, and a week in April. I’m so thankful for a patient husband who sees me climbing the walls and is smart enough to throw me a lifeline.
Harlan, Judy and Vincent
Written by This is turning into a good week around here. Kristi’s classes are starting to settle into routine, I’m feeling more creative and productive than I have in a long time, and the weather’s finally improved: after a week of 108 degrees, we’re back to the sleeping in the mid-sixties at night. So we’re both much better rested and ready to work.
Last few days or so, I’ve been feeling an inner shift – sort of a refocusing on priorities. Certain long term distractions are out of the picture now, leaving me free to really hunker down and get on with the business of creative production. It’s a good feeling. Right now I have on my desk some client work, a magazine article and a gradually developing short story, along with a novel outline that I continue to not be happy with. Now that summer is coming to an end, we’re both looking forward to a happy fall.
So, lately I’ve been punching up Harlan Ellison interviews on YouTube. Harlan’s one of my favorite writers, but aside that, he gives great interview. He’s opinionated, strident, and often angry. No one does the flying rant of righteous outrage the way Harlan does: once he gets rolling, you don’t want to be the guy he’s rolling at. I’ve often found writerly inspiration in not only his works, but in his fearless way of attack-dogging where other writers are content merely to document and record.
Anyway, I found this video of Harlan and just laughed. (Warning: Strong language.)
So last night I told Kristi about it. “I found this great Harlan Ellison rant, babe. He goes off on the morons who appear on Judge Judy, funny as hell. Then he says he only watches two TV shows, and one of them is Judge Judy.”
“Ha! What’s the other one?”
“Law and Order: Criminal Intent. Says Vincent D’Onofrio is the modern Sherlock Holmes.”
Kristi grinned wide.
“Mr. Ellison sounds like an intelligent and perceptive man of taste. You would do well to take notes.”
Hey, hey, hey. I tease you about your Vincent TV crush, I tell her, but I don’t have any real issue with Vincent D’Onofrio; he’s a decent actor. I just can’t stomach the awful writing on L&O, and you can thank Em for that: you know that the only TV police procedural drama I watch is The Closer. Which happens to be rolling through a really strong fourth season, by the way.
And while Law and Order certainly isn’t my first choice for TV entertainment, it still beats CSI:Miami by a thousand miles. I can’t even enjoy that show on the level of twisted comedic parody.
A Good Morning
Last week was rough around here. Kristi went back into the classroom, to be greeted by an overpacked crowd of 170 students. I had some client and business issues that weren’t particularly pleasant. We also had an assortment of side dramas, some minor and others not so minor, that just seemed to sap our energy by the day. It was a week of stress, misunderstandings, exhaustion, irritability and 108 degree days.
Friday night, we both needed some us time, unplugged. So we went out and had a nice romantic Greek dinner over at Pappapavlos. Then on Saturday, we went book shopping, coming back in time help Kristi’s father put up the new wraparound kitchen shelves he made for us recently; they’re beautiful, and suddenly we have a lot more desperately needed storage space in the kitchen. Other than that, we mainly spent the weekend hanging out, enjoying some quiet time together and trying to reconnect after a very tough and long week.
I’m very lucky to have a loving wife who has the perceptiveness and patience to say, okay, it’s time to take a break.
Getting back to life this morning, things are so much better than on Friday. For one, the temperature finally broke, giving us an almost cold night that let us both sleep like the dead. We’re both having a good day, Kristi in her classroom and me sitting here at home getting some writing done. The coffee’s strong this morning. I’m actually feeling alert and creative for a change, ready to tackle the half dozen writing projects languishing on my desk (including new entries here and on Less Urban, my other blog).
You know, some days I wonder why I didn’t just become a plumber. You have a bad week as a plumber, you can still go to work and tighten pipe and put in your hours. As a writer, the only bad-day options you really have are to either write out the mood, whine and complain, or go play video games. Or some combination of all three.
On a related note, I’m loving Resistance: Fall of Man. 🙂
Note to the gang in Florida. We’ve been watching Tropical Storm Fay from here, and we’re hoping and praying that she leaves you all relatively unscathed. I know she’s a little girl – projected to hit Tampa as a Cat 1, and to downgrade well back into Tropical Storm territory before reaching Orlando – but 60mph winds can still pack a punch. Take care of yourselves.