Writing away, all the long day…
Halloween is a lot of pressure when you work next to a creative department.
I feel like we put a lot more effort into this than we do the absolutely insane workload that’s piling up on us currently as well.
Well, except me, because I’ve been tired and have been neglecting my Halloween decorating tasks in favour of … work?
I’m doing this wrong.
What I want to do when I get home after a long, crappy day:
Soak up to my chin in hot water in front of a fire, drink wine and read my book.
What’s likely to happen:
Get half of me wet in a too small bathtub that I can either choose to have my knees in or my shoulders, but never both, in a bathroom I’ve hauled my fake fireplace space heater into while the cat yells at me.
I often cast on fairly simple projects to take with me or because I know I won’t be able to sit down in front of a chart for long periods of time.
These are the kinds of projects that are great for taking on a car trip, on the bus, a lot of places.
The only problem is when you’re finally somewhere you can actually look at a pattern to work on something, the original ones you picked can get really boring to work on.
405m of sock yarn and two rows repeated endlessly make Stephy go something something…
I was convinced I was going to attempt NaNoWriMo this year.
I’m still going to make the effort, but it usually goes the same way every year; you write 5000 words in the first two days, limp along hitting 1600-1800 for a couple weeks, then all of a sudden, BAM. Writers block.
Now, if you go into the month with a story you really want to write, this can kill everything. It’s really hard to throw in random elements when you already have a vision for where the story should be going.
If you’re doing what I plan to do this year, which is Winging It (TM), you can random to your heart’s content…
Though you tend to hit that ‘where the hell was I going with this?’ point much sooner…
I’ve never really gotten the knack of cooking for one. I have lived by myself for years and I still keep a chest freezer because I seem to be categorically incapable of cooking a single serving of most things.
Sure, I could half a recipe, but then I’ve got even more leftovers of whatever I was using (half a squash, part of an onion, one leek, etc.) that I either then have to find a whole new meal to make something with, or I can just use it all and hope it will either freeze or keep for a few days (or until I’m tired of eating it, ymmv).
Now, at this point in my life, I’m not even certain learning to cook for one or two is a useful skill.
I should probably figure out the whole baking ratio thing sooner than later though… No one needs a 9×11 inch pan of anything for one…
I bruise easily. If someone looks at me sternly, I’ll be wondering where the hell this bruise on my elbow came from.
So being the nerd I am, I start looking up ways to make bruises heal faster.
And I’m 98% certain they’re all bullshit.
Trying to find balance between “enough coffee to be qualified as human” and “not stopping to pee every 38 seconds” is tough when planning a car trip.
I’m also not great at napping, especially while travelling, so… yeah… ugh.
I have time for one more cup of coffee before I go, right?
They’ll thank me for not having to put up with decaffeinated Steph.
As time goes on, dealing with people, especially relationships, you notice that things evolve a bit like putting together a puzzle.
Sometimes you find all the edge pieces, and they start to fit together, and you fill in the details as you go. Sometimes two center pieces fit together well, and you build on it, finding more and more things that work as you grow.
So long as the pieces fit together.
It’s not to say things are perfect, but there has to be some give and take, some balance; you have to be willing to accommodate those pieces, but yet not so many of them that they are no longer your own. You have to be willing to throw away the ones that don’t matter, and find the ones that do.
Things tend to fall apart when you find those pieces that just won’t fit. They can be anything from the incredibly complex, to the almost ridiculously simple. Those fundamental things you can’t, or won’t, change enough to accommodate or accept. Everyone’s limits are different. Some can accept just about anything, others are so rigid they will probably never fit with anyone.
And in a 10000 piece puzzle, sometimes those differences can break the whole thing.
And it’s always a little scary to never know if or when you might find one of those differences.
Or if something great might change down the line.
A few things have happened as of late, which prompted me to put together a list of things I still want to do.
I have always been a little lackadaisical about planning. I go with the flow with my career (less so in the past few years, I’ve learned to focus a great deal more) but I have goals I’d like to get to. I have vague ideas about places I’d like to go, things I’d like to see.
So rather than just doing random things, I started making a list. Things I want to try, things I’d like to make, places I’d like to go.
And I plan to spend a lot more time checking them off.
I’ve waxed on repeatedly about never having enough time to do all the things I need to do, let alone the things I want to do.
But there’s a hard deadline for Halloween coming up and I REALLY need to get my costume sorted and finished because I’m running out of weekends before all the parties come down and my need to compete with all the creative types at work.
So this would be the right time for me to, oh, I don’t know, start getting everything assembled and painted and oh my god there aren’t enough days left PANIC.
Why did I think making a lot of my costume was a good idea?
Crafty Words 