verbatim: End of the Summer

Ha, you thought I wasn't going to blog in August, didn't you! This will be yet another of my famous catching-up posts.

This has not been my favorite summer, as I didn't do a very good job with the work-life balance thing. I didn't take a single vacation (even though the rest of my family did!) and I didn't get to the beach even once. One of the perks of being self-employed is that you can make your own hours, but I just happen to make my own really bad hours. (I always tell people, "My boss is so mean! She won't even give me a day off.") I have trouble saying no to longstanding clients because they have been feeding me work for years. I have trouble saying no to new clients because I want to add to my client base. I have trouble saying no to interesting projects because, well, they're interesting! And I know that I don't get paid if I don't work—unlike your average job that gives paid vacation, paid sick time, paid holidays, and so on. But I still wouldn't trade freelancing for an in-house job! I just have to remind myself every now and then to make sure I have a life.

So, updates:

Kitties: Calvin and Phoebe continue to be cute and sweet and funny and affectionate and lovable—and subject to death threats from Luna. We have tried everything—including magic potions and actual cat pheromone spray—but to no avail. Our vet suggested we put the kittens in a small puppy crate and then let Luna sniff them and terrorize them in safety. We do that for a little while every day, but it doesn't seem to be helping. They sit in the cage stock-still, not daring to even blink, and Luna hisses and growls and makes menacing gestures at them, then goes back downstairs. So we still let the kittens have the run of the house for most of the day while Luna is locked in the basement/back stairwell/third floor (Pete's attic lair and guest bedroom), then the kittens are locked in our master suite with us overnight and in the morning while Lu gets to prowl around. Perhaps once the kittens are a little bigger, I will feel comfortable letting them have another trial interaction with the Balrog, as Pete calls her. Sigh.

Here's Calvin; he's actually cuter than this in real life, but I love the way he's looking at the camera:

And here's Phoebe, who is exactly as gorgeous as shown here:

Reading: I started a few books that were not worth my time, so I won't bother you with them. (For all too many years I forced myself to finish books I didn't like, but no more! If I give a book a solid chance and it doesn't hook me, I'm on to the next one.) But I did read and enjoy Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty and This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! by Jonathan Evison, although I can't say I would insist that you read either. (I do still insist that you all read A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles if you haven't yet!)

Work: A few weeks ago I taught an online "master class" on editing cookbooks! That was a new one for me. As you may remember, I presented a session at last spring's ACES meeting, but this was a webinar. It went really well—with great questions from the participants! Here is my "teaser post"; the link for purchasing the audio/video ex post facto will be at this page soon.

Insomnia: This has been not so bad of late (knock wood!), but it does kick up now and then. Remember last year when I was trying to think of word games to occupy my brain? It's clear that I like alphabetizing (as you can see here), so lately I've been alphabetizing numbers. I started with one through ten (try it!). Then I did eleven through twenty. Then one through twenty. And so on. Just as I do with the 50 states, 50 capitals, or 44 presidents (yes, I know Someone is the 45th, but Grover Cleveland was prez twice, so there are only 44 names), I tap my fingers with each one, starting with my left pinky and ending up on my right pinky, so I know when I've listed them all. (That is, if I'm alphabetizing the numbers one through thirty and I end up on my ring finger, I know I missed one somewhere in there!) Somehow this is the perfect combination of interesting enough to push other thoughts away but boring enough to eventually put me to sleep. (I asked Andy to try to alphabetize one through ten, and he did. I said, "Wasn't that fun?" and he said, "No. Not at all.")

Comments

So you've sorta adopted my Hundred-Page Rule, which I applaud. So much to read, so little time -- why read unappealing stuff? And I now suffer from annoying insomnia, too -- due to menopause, in my case, I am pretty sure -- and I listen to podcasts in the wee hours. I am very up on all the Crooked Media news these days. Hope Gandalf can vanquish your Balrog, at least in terms of attitude.

Posted by: Wendy | August 30, 2017 at 01:33 PM

My dream is that one of your super intelligent children will take on a deep interest in web indexing and magically link all of your favorite books, recipes, and films to one single page :)

Posted by: Katy | August 30, 2017 at 04:23 PM