Intermissions: A Numbered List

 Hi everybody.

So in the background, there's been a lot going on. As mentioned, this site is mostly on hiatus while I get my book put together, but here's a list of things that have been happening while I do that -- just so that you folks don't think I've forgotten about you.

1. I got a bonus and a raise.

Yeah, this happened. I got a 9% raise this month (it takes effect starting tomorrow's paycheck) and I got about a $100 bonus for helping out during the Friday the 13th weekend outage -- the repercussions of which echoed throughout the rest of the month, give or take. I am mostly satisfied with the raise, though I still think it's far less than what I'm worth. It is what it is. It's a good start, so to speak.

2. Our oven died.

On Saturday night, the oven shot sparks out of its sides and internally caught fire. Don't worry, it didn't last long. It likely blew out its electric heating element, as now it will sort of get warm, but won't get hot. It stressed us out at the time, but we have two air fryers, a toaster oven, and a microwave -- we'll be fine. And the burners up top still work. Once Daisy figures out what days she's working from home next week, we're going to open a ticket with our home warranty people to have it fixed or replaced -- as that's what we have the home warranty for.

3. Daisy's grandfather is bad off.

It's likely that Daisy's grandfather (maternal grandfather) will be entering the hospital sometime this week, and sadly will likely not return home from it. I should mention that he is part of Daisy's Canadian family, so when he dies we will be dropping everything to fly up to Canada to pay our respects. We're scheduled to head up there later this summer for a family reunion anyhow, but I personally will only have enough money and PTO for one single round trip before I'm tapped out. Daisy is determined to make both trips if necessary and possible, and if she can, more power to her -- but I don't know if that will be possible for her, given the same reasons of money and time. 

4. Plans made and broken

As mentioned in my last post, Daisy and I were off on vacation for the past six days, both for our anniversary and for an extended holiday weekend (Memorial Day); well, I was off for six, she was off for four. We both return to work today as per the usual. There are many things we wanted to do during our time off that we either didn't get to do, or didn't end up wanting to do -- or we changed some plans on the fly. Daisy was sick for most of last week with a cold or light flu (who knows, but it wasn't Covid -- we're both fully vaccinated and she took a test, negative, and I never felt ill). We were going to book a room at a spa/resort in Missouri, but with Daisy being sick and with bad weather supposed to hit -- it never did -- we didn't spend the money. We had planned to go see a movie, and there was nothing playing that she wanted to see, so we stayed in and watched Stranger Things. We were going to do an anniversary dinner at our favorite local vegan place, Modern Love, but instead ordered pizza and stayed home. I wanted us to go get new tattoos (I wanted to continue the flower motifs on my other arm), but decided against it. The money we would've spent on the resort trip and big dinner, along with the tattoo(s), we spent on the pizza, getting some groceries, and -- at least on my part -- TeePublic's 35% off Memorial Day Weekend sale. We did, however, plan a day trip to hike through the Iowa wilderness, and we took that trip on our actual anniversary (there is a picture from said trip attached to my last post here).

5. Yard work and gardening

Well, it's June now, so because of the warmer weather we've actually been able to get out into the yard and clean it up, mow a few times, and Daisy has gotten most of her garden planted for the year already. This was pretty much to be expected, though we (mainly her) got it done a lot more quickly this year than in previous years. Allergies this year have been terrible -- like far worse than the past few years -- which has slowed us down quite a bit as there are some days we'll just feel miserable, but overall, stuff is planted and it's growing, and I'm doing what I can to get into a routine of mowing once a week or so, and will never let the weeding (string-trimming) get as bad as it was when I did it a few days ago.

6. Health and wellness things

Daisy and I both have our physicals on the 23rd, during which we'll likely get another set of Covid boosters and I'll have my bloodwork/A1C done again to see if I've made any actual progress in staving off my diabetes. I also have my next eye appointment on the 18th, to see if I need an updated prescription (I likely don't, as with my current glasses I have pretty excellent vision) and to see if I can get the lenses replaced in my two favorite older pairs of glasses with my current -- or, if necessary, new -- prescription. We're also resuming our gym regimen starting now, too, as we've both been very lax about that. I've been eating like an asshole as of late and have gained six pounds over the past two weeks, so back on a much more restrictive diet I must go.

7. A very intrusive gas line

A few months ago, utility workers came to the house and explained that they were redoing all of the city's gas lines and gas meters, and that ours would be replaced as well over the course of the next few months. They then asked where ours was, and we showed them -- in the center of the bottom floor of our house, in the closet under our stairwell -- which is, apparently some of the most asinine construction/meter placement possible. We told them we didn't build the house, we just bought it. Well, apparently, that's where the gas main comes into the house, and that meter in our closet will have to be removed and a new one installed outside on the opposite wall -- that means they have to drill through two walls, and the side of the house, and then run a pipe across the interior of our living room ceiling to install the new meter outside...in the middle of the wife's flower bed. Neither of us are happy about this, but per the utility board, it's the only way it can be done with the new regulations they have to follow. They will not reimburse us or cover the costs to cover the cosmetic damage to the living room, but when they do do it, it's supposed to be a really fast operation, so to speak -- two hours or so. They'll be calling us in advance to schedule it, and judging from the work outside they've been doing in the neighborhood up to this point, including in our own yard and sidewalk areas, I'm sure it won't be too far off now. 

8. The beardening

My beard is at full strength once more, and I intend to keep letting it grow out for most of the summer. It is, make no mistake, a huge pain in the ass to take care of, but Daisy absolutely loves it. I do, however, plan to get my hair cut short again soon for summer, in the short crew-cut-fade style I tend to do, in order to not have to go through a bottle of conditioner every two weeks or so and to keep cool when it's hot. I wanted to get this haircut over our vacation, but Daisy pleaded with me not to so that I could still have my long hair for our anniversary photoshoot. I wrestle with my appearance a lot; if I have my long hair and am clean shaven, I look like a woman. If I have my super-short crew cut hair and have my long beard, I look like a biker (or a hipster, depending on what I'm wearing that day). If I have my super-short crew cut hair and no beard, I look like a penis. Or I look like I'm twelve, either way. So, generally, I'll have more beard and hair than not. 

9. The cleaning

Our house is a wreck. It's rekt, it's Tyrannosaurus Rekt™. When I've had the time and the energy, I've been doing all I can to make it look not so much like a pigsty, with varying levels of success. Time and energy are indeed the biggest factors, and sometimes I'll run out of one or the other halfway through my list of tasks for the day or the week. It's the same with Daisy too, who tries as she might, but as she's also getting older, her previously boundless energy is starting to wane a bit. There's just so much to be done, and even on my days off I couldn't get it all taken care of. I could take a month off work just working on things around this house and probably still wouldn't be finished with all of it. It's frustrating. 

10. Finally, the writing.

I'm going to spend a bit longer on this section because I believe it deserves more attention. Yes, I have been hard at work on my collection. One story, as you know, is finished -- save for a few edits for some basic content and continuity here and there. I'm currently letting the wife and a few friends read through it. 

The second story (which will be third overall in the collection) is about 70-80% complete, and with luck I should be able to finish it sometime this weekend.

The third story (which will be the fourth overall in the collection) is about 15% finished, and is thus far one of the darkest, most hopelessly depressing things I've ever written. 

The fourth story (the second overall in the collection -- the title piece) and the final fifth story have not yet been started. I have notes for both of them but am finishing the others first. 

The acknowledgments section at the end of the book is about 90% finished. 

A final essay explaining the inspirations behind each piece, as well as discussing the creation of new worlds and universes, is about 80% finished as well. It will be the last thing I finish as I'll continually be adding to it and editing it throughout the entire process. 

Daisy has not yet started the cover art and likely won't until the manuscript is fully locked. 

I expect the final length of the book to be somewhere in the realm of 250-300 pages, depending heavily on typesetting and words per page for any given normal paperback book. It's not going to be short or leave the reader feeling "that's it?" when they finish. I want to create a satisfying collection, and what will hopefully be the first of many, but I'm not overdoing it. I'm not putting ten or fifteen stories in there of short lengths or varying quality, because that feels like I'd be half-assing it or not giving the writing itself room to breathe. I am meticulous about how this collection will be presented, because that's the one thing I have control of -- I don't have control of how it will be reviewed, received, read and studied, none of that. I do have control of what is in it and how it is arranged and presented. I don't even expect it to be reviewed or studied. I do expect some people I don't know to actually read it. 

So that's about all that's going on right now. I'll keep all of you updated with new things, sporadically, when I can.