A few Measly Steps a Day

Busy today with housework: dishes & laundry mostly. Took a nap and awoke with much energy.

Ah, time. Reading through some old pre-covid free newspapers. The paper itself is now all online and immediately let go of much of its staff when they saw the closing of restaurants, bars, and theaters announced.

Anyway, one issue. I have several long music pieces to research.

While reading a book of article on food from 2015 I come across references which need research as well. All part of my education.

Helen Hanff has a great story about her self-guided college education based on close reading and follow-on research of Arthur Quiller-Couch's On the Art of Writing.

Quote:

In the first chapter of On The Art of Writing he threw so many marvellous quotes at me – from Walton’s Angler, Newman’s Idea of a University, and Milton’s Paradise Lost – that I rushed back to the library and brought home all three, determined to read them all before going on to Q’s second lecture. Which would have been perfectly possible if I hadn’t included Paradise Lost. In Paradise Lost I ran into Satan, Lucifer, the Infernal Serpent, and a Fiend, all of whom seemed to be lurking around the Garden of Eden and none of whom my teachers at Rodeph Shalom Sunday School had ever mentioned to me. I consulted my Confirmation Bible, but I couldn’t find Milton’s fearsome personages in Genesis. I concluded that Lucifer and the Fiend weren’t Jewish and I would have to look in the New Testament for them, and since this was an entirely new book to me, Q had to wait while I read that one, too.

Yup, off I wander on a Hanff tour of music.
Revu2

I'm not a Bible expert. As far as I know - there are references to hell (weeping and gnashing of teeth. But I think the war between the angels is all Milton. But it's a great story, and a piece of Milton did make it into my novel.

So speaking of weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I can't remember what I've posted, but I've been away for a while. If I repeat myself - well - it won't be the first time.

Through Unfamiliar Waters is published. Yay! Somehow the version that is published is an older version, and doesn't have all the latest changes in the manuscript. Someday, I will get around to writing a second edition, but, i can't face that right now. If there's a way to get me a snail-mail address without sharing the info with the whole internet world, I'll send you a book for free. (You is any of the people I've been chatting with, not just R.) This is step one of my marketing plan. Also, the Kindle version is published. The Kindle version is the correct version.

Meanwhile, I'm back to working on Temporary Address. It's the prequel to Through Unfamiliar Waters. If you self-publish something and don't like it, you can always change it. Ta-da! I knew my writing has improved since I wrote it, and I knew that people might want to read my books in order, so I figured I'd spruce it up. Shock of shocks! I really didn't like it. (how's that for great - sarcastic - marketing strategy. Anyway, I'm trying to fix the parts I don't like and put out a second edition. I've gone from "this is so terrible, I'll never get it good enough" to "maybe there's hope" To "there's definitely hope."

Interesting observation. I was visiting my mother-in-law a couple of days ago. She's in a nursing home. (a really good one. Good nursing homes do exist - who knew!) The staff brings her to the front of the building, and we visit through the glass. She can't hear much, I write what I'd say on a dry-erase board. So I'm writing, and my husband nudges me. "You forgot the R" "What?" " There's an "r" at the end of "remember." "Oh,"

So I write another note. "you left out a word," he said. "No wonder you have so much trouble editing your novel."

He's not wrong. Later, I wrote a note to a friend on the flyleaf of my novel, and I left out a word, and had to sign another book for her. I hope this isn't all too much information.

So, go do marvelous things, everyone. Or just do small things, but do them with heart.

Hello world. D, I just pm'ed you with my mailing address and bit of other contact information. Thanks.

I'm looking hard at my opinionated-argumentative-advocacy-activist self. That side of me is worn out. With the likely approval of this property transfer on Monday, the most intense advocacy project of my life will close a chapter.

I also see a lot of this side with my partner. So today, after a morning mediation on what I'm weaning away from and what I'm adding (is there an opposite term to weaning?) I found myself twice simply saying, "Well, I'm not going to argue about it." And really feeling fully calm and OK with it. One I still recall, the other is already faded out of memory. Ha!

Refreshing. I'm recalling a scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. After Paul Newman and Katherine Ross enjoy a bike ride to the musical score of "Raindrops keep falling on my head" which never made any sense as it was shot on a clear day ... anyway I distract.

After this bike ride, she wonders if she and Butch would be together if they'd met first. Newman says in some Arabian countries sharing bike ride is akin to being married.

The Sundance Kid steps out on the porch in his skivvies and sees them hugging.
Sundance Kid: Hey! What are you doing?
Butch: Stealing your woman.
Sundance: [Going back inside] Take her. Take her.

Most times, most days, most issues, the difference of opinion is not worth the breath to argue about it. Even when you're a crack shot like the Sundance Kid.
Refreshing.
I'll practice again tomorrow. And the day after that and the day after that.
Revu2

Interesting. I do think it's important to pick your battles. I learned about that raising a child. Some issues are worth throwing every ounce of parental authority into the fight - anything involving safety, for example. Others are not. Once I figured out my priorities, parenting became a lot easier.

Hopefully, I'll have interesting stuff to post in the future.

Hello PC. Lazy-ish Sunday morning and whole day. I have a call with a new friend in about 45 minutes. In that sort of open field place where I'm twist and loving it.

Yup, all battles picked. I don't pick easy ones, or easy ones don't pick me.

Eager to exhale from this long haul of getting our transfer. City Council will decide at their meeting on Monday @ 2, PST.

Other than that, have many ideas, but next will be some reflection days.

Revu2

My goals for today - two phone calls to friends I haven't talked to in a while. A full-strength attempt to fix a part that I'm stuck on.

Thursday was a terrific day. Felt great and got an amazing amount of work done. Friday was a mopey day - felt like @#$@%! and got nothing done. This was due, in part, to really bad food choices. yesterday was just average.

R - about picking battles - when I was younger I was great at letting go of things that bothered me, but I couldn't do anything about. or things that weren't worth the angst. Today, I get furious, even when I know it's not doing anyone any good, and I can't seem to help it.

Today - ?????

Distraction happened. Water still seems to be wet.

Good negative results from a covid test.
I had an upper gastroenterology exam, and hospital checked covid first.
On GI: Well, my heart is in the right place, but stomach lining could use some improvement.

Census finished. During that Diane prudently requested a semi-quartentine-- hugging only -- until 2 weeks after last day of work. Time passed, and with that and test results, now cleared for regular smooching.

Anxiety spilled over earlier this year, -- got it fairly well under control, but also now dealing with more depression than I'm used to. Getting help, but it's "driving with the brakes on" extra effort to start and keep going.

Something my brain is doing that I'm really pleased with: I'm sleeping poorly (that's not it), but when I get to sleep, I sleep peacefully, without being haunted or nagged by nightmares. Subconcious seems to have decided "It's not you it's them!" and decided that I ddidn't need shouting at when asleep.

Homework assignment on working on depression includes reaching back out online. Now to see how many days in a row I manage.

To be continued,

Lyndon the Intermittent

He True, well, this is day one. Keep the string going (a la the Seinfeld Method).

Myself, terrific news to report. The Seattle City Council meet today and voted on the Ordinance for the property transfer to my client. WOOHOO!!

Exhale. Inhale. E x h a l e. Inhale. Now Shout! Shout! Shout!

Revu

Congratulations R. Success is so much fun! Enjoy.

HI, True, wishing kind, gentle, healing thoughts for your stomach lining. Our stomachs do seem to be the shock absorbers on life's bumpy roads.

Me - my stomach, and my feeling are doing a "some days you want to cry and some days you will shout." number.

I'm getting more writing done, which is good. It's not as much as I'd like, but I'm never going to be as productive as I'd like. I think, too, that my working rhythm includes frequent breaks, during which my subconscious works on my ideas.

I think there's hope for "Temporary Address." I'm down to the final edits - typos and such. It's not going to be as good as I'd like, but I don't want to scrap it completely, and I don't want to keep working and working on it. I want to move on. Fingers crossed.

Besides writing, there are a lot of things that I need to do that I have put off. And that list is making me depressed. That along with not getting any exercise. I will write a list - it's too long to post here. Oh, speaking of lists, I got all the tasks done on the last list that I posted here.

Okay, that's it for me.

Good luck and good stepping to you.


.

Another mopey day today. The evening seems to be picking up, and I'll try to get a bit of writing done.

Good vibes to everyone.

Mopey days are part of the cycle. Could be your biorhythms are trailing lower.
I'm finishing up a week of few goals. Watching the election results and follow-on celebrations is a welcomed release. Also had a sore shoulder and my dream doctor said I needed to dance more. That's easy. DJ, music please.
Have a general celebratory meal in a restaurant tomorrow (elections, partner's artistic successes lately, the transfer going through).
For fun, I'm taking the Gerry Spence's 10 keys to winning arguments (every time) and flipping them to 10 keys for dodging arguments (every time). Doing this in my head for the time being but I'll begin to reflect on them here when the moment's ripe.
Revu2

My biorhythms were low on all counts, so that could explain the mopes. But, more importantly, the election had not been decided at the the time that I wrote the last post.
I like the ten keys to winning arguments.
For today, I wish for enough intelligent biorhythms to finish my edits. I have a couple of hard parts, and then I'm done.

The Mayor of my fine city signed off on the transfer bill yesterday. "My work here is done." Thanks D. and our many friends from B Sher's list who have stood with me these past 2.7 years. And that's only my part of this journey. Funny, when better government folks scream for 'audits' they don't look at delays and obstructions and what it burns in staff salaries, overhead, and degraded public confidence.

Now, today, pending getting about 20 grant proposals to score, I'm looking at the next letter to my mom. I've been sending out postcards and then letters each month featuring a virtue or character strength. We just finished up 16 guidelines. The next one will be keyed to "I have the gift of opinions" quote I put in the quotes thread. These things take about a hour and I like to take my time. The best part is looking for a few quotes on goodreads.

Did finish my first library loan this week and returned the book on Monday. A teeny step towards how things were before.

Revu2

Big congratulations, R. What you do is so far out of my comfort zone!

Me - I did finish the edits. I decided to go through the book one more time just to make sure there are no glaring errors. Sometimes when I edit, I inadvertently add an error. Happy stepping.

I'm starting the publishing work. It's more fun now because I learned from the last time. There's a lot of bad stuff happening all around me. My sister was very sick - She took the COVID test but doesn't have results back yet. COVID numbers are spiking and we're on major lockdown. My Indian restaurant has closed.

On the flip side, publishing is fun.

Sorry to learn your sis, D, is dealing with being sick. Everywhere is shifting back to lockdown.

I think the pollsters have been asking the wrong questions. They run something like: "If there was a covid vaccine, would you take it?" A better question would be: "If there were a c-vaccine, would you want to be first in line?" Those people who would take it early become the influencers for the waiters and then eventually some of the doubters.

Speaking of which, I've been watching the developments of the general flu vaccines for this season. Turns out there's two versions, one has only one flu it addresses and the other has four (4!) and is for seniors because we have supposedly declining immune systems.

The early-takers have reported in, some fine, some with reactions. What I'd expect.

For me, I've been focused on discharging a gig for $500 to help review some federal relief monies. Scored individually first, and then with 4 others reviewers to consense on a common score. Each of the 21 applications had 8 questions we scored. We crunched through all 168 questions in 2.5 hours. And we were slow compared to the other groups (probably only a few minutes). We had better discussions, so there!

That done, I've been faced again with playing bridge online. Turns out the P&R dept has been experimenting and thinks they have an arrangement that better mimics in-person play. Given that this lockdown takes up back to square one after 280 days into this, I seriously have to re-think my keeping away from online playing.

Oh, happened upon a sweet potato cornbread recipe with a peach bourbon & butter spread. Gave it a spin yesterday and it ranks nearly as good as cornbread we had in a local restaurant. The total costs was about $20 to make it.

Yuck List: have to research intercom systems because wannabe break-inners have pretty much destroyed the one we have. Thought I'd dig in today. Didn't happen. Hoping tomorrow morning I have the focus, energy, & heart.

Re: comfort levels. It's all a stretch and I went through every emotion over the past 2 years about this work. Never comfortable, but then again, Never Dull.
Revu2

Hi, R.
My sister is negative for COVID. She thinks it was a reaction to the flu shot. i think she got the single-strain shot. Interesting coincidence with your last post.

I would take the C-vaccine. If I had a bad reaction so be it. I could then be 95% sure I couldn't catch it or spread it. I'd still practice some distancing - no hugging someone who was moaning about being sick, and, as always, no hugging while I'm obviously contagious with anything. COVID or other.

Loving the rain. There wasn't a lot, but it was something.

Hi. I heard from the outreach person from public health today and the earliest chances of getting a c-vax is probably April. Six more months. Aye.

I'm on the cusp of remaking a decision re: online dual app bridge. A bit frazzled today so put it off. I want to set my initial expectations about what would lead me to continue and what to stop. It was for a pilot advertised in Sept. so I might still be too late.

Revu2

I'm trying to publish and having the usual computer issues. The software to publish an e-book uses about 300 MB for the installer and about 300MB for the previewer. yes, that's MB not KB. Another beautiful sunny day in California.

p.s. The six months does sound about right. The first batches should go to first responders, health-care workers.

Hopefully, I'm ironing out the publishing snags.

I'm published, I think.
Impossible - difficult - done.
On the negative side - I know there are mistakes in the book. I just hope there aren't any huge snafus. And "Temporary Address" still has a final review to get through before it's available.
Anyway, to sum up - Impossible - difficult - done. "Temporary Address" and "Through Unfamiliar Waters" are published.

Not done completely. The published format for "Temporary Address" is large print. So I still have one publishing job to do. "Through Unfamiliar Waters" is done,

Thanks for the daily briefs. I fell off a few days just diddling away time. Feels rather good.

Set up to play bridge this Friday & Next. Looking at some presentation videos recorded at The Game Center @ NYU.

ThxGvng day: bought roast duck in Chinatown & bok choi from another place. Plus a few medicinal herb and other groceries.

Tonight after a break I will look over bridge base online to get more comfortable. Had an hour tutorial on Wed. morning which helped get me oriented.

Revu2

Okay, done. All versions are published and available on Amazon. Next - the joy of promotion - Moving "Temporary Address" and "Through Unfamiliar Waters" forward so that everyone can see it.

I had a break in the action over Thanksgiving. We had a huge party of two - me and my husband - and we had Cornish game hens with stuffing, yams, cranberry sauce, the works (small works) And now - it's back to work.

Hope you had a great - good - fun - Thanksgiving.