May 2019 Steps-A-Day

[Lynx]

The real day...
What I originally thought :: what I did:

hang out, have a light breakfast :: yup. tamales with sausage
Lunch at school :: nope, lunch at Indian Buffet, just OK; ate my fill.
Thrifting :: nope.
Discount pastries :: nope, realized that a meeting attending on Sat. will likely have leftovers. Taking containers.
Home :: nope
Out again to pick rose petals :: left from lunch directly to pick petals. Succeeded.
ADDED — visit to local mall to look for V-Neck summer long sleeve mens shirts. Nothing doing @ Gap, H & M, Banana Republic, & Tommy Bohama
Added — riding a spell on a bike trail, stopping at benches to read, riding a bit more. Reminded myself I want a hammock with bug screen so I can read outdoors undisturbed by curious winged creatures.
Home :: yup. put petals on drying rack for about 5 hours, then put in a jar and poured on the honey!
Nap :: yup. from about 6 pm to 10 pm.
Piano concert :: nope
home :: since return from rose petal gathering
sleep :: always

Ah, a day to myself, completely unscripted.
L

[Lynx]

Hi steppers,

Anne Lamott, like many beginning writers, had a long stretch where she had to keep her writing going in the midst of doing odd jobs and raising her son as a solo parent.

She held onto her identity as someone who writes by writing at least one sentence a day.

I feel on the opposite end of the question now. I want to hold onto my ID as someone who has choice and does more than work. For now, if I can read 1 paragraph a day for myself I'm still sane.

The earlier in the day the more sense of ease.

It's 7 am, to my paragraph (¶).
L

[Elaine Glimme]

Hi, Lynx, and everyone else.

Feast or famine - seems like it's always one or the other. I have tons of time. Too much. An embarrassment of riches. Kelly, my friend's dog has stickers in her fur that I have to pull out. Back when I had my dog Molly, she came home from the lake with a ton of of small burrs in her her fur - they're about a quarter the size of a burr and she had literally thousands. I gave up counting at about 600. ANyway, she brought them into my garden several years ago, and now I'm fighting a battle trying to get rid of the plant. The seeds have about a 99.99% germination rate. So Kelly picked up about ten of them in her fur, and she won't lie still to let me comb them out. (Molly was quite good at that.)

I think i'll be like Ann Lamott and do a little writing.

To the agent.

[Lynx]

Hi steppers,

Yes, Elaine, feast or famine. I think there's moments of in-between but, naturally, those don't have the same vivid feelings. The best start for kids grant we'd won is getting quickly in motion in June (three days of meetings), and I've been asked to write myself into the senior grant proposal I'm drafting. Talk about both ends. The kids grant is three year, 2019-2022; the Sr grant is four, till 2023.

I'm getting ideas for closing out one project using passive approvals (one someone acknowledges having seen the request for feedback, their doing nothing means they approve).

This past week I might have crested: Monday turned in a draft for a grant, Tuesday finished a workshop series, Thursday had a Key Meeting with backer of a project, Saturday spent all day kicking off another project (I'm participating, not facilitating this one at least).

Fun stuff along the way: Monday afternoon to the Korean spa; Friday got a free lunch because the chef's newly hired assistant flaked a second time.

My ¶ today is writing out a pair of quotes from an anthology.

Steps: talk to my mother, work/rest somehow, and then a play tonight.

2 the ¶,
L

[Lynx]

Hi steppers,

Today, got in my ¶ already—many pages in The Cartoon History of the Universe II, Vol 8 - 13. I've read the CHU volume I, I think, though Larry Gonick has a bunch of these types of books with similar titles.

Today, as all days, I see more work to get through than hours, and body, to carry them out. Had a productive Sunday, and enjoyed the play.

Still, after last week's long haul, I think I'll set priorities, take them up in turn, and simply see how far I can carry them forward.

Plus, and this may be key to getting me out from under a project that's dribbling on and may well reach the 2 year mark if we don't get more creative. I have an idea, and I'll share it later after I've put it in play.

Stay tuned,
Lynx

[Elaine Glimme]

Hi Lynx,

I'm glad you're getting your projects done. I like reading about all the things you do to motivate yourself.

Me - the last two days were wasted. No work and a lot of angry thoughts that do no one any good. Today I'm getting back into it. WIth the novel almost completed, I'm holding back because I'm scared. I'm scared of rejection. I'm scared of being accepted and then having to deliver. But I did take a couple of steps this morning, and I'll take a couple more this afternoon. (After spider solitaire.) it's funny, but it isn't.

Anyway, to the page.

[Lynx]

… all the things you do to motivate yourself.

Ha! It's all extrinsic right now, due dates, Big Meetings, and planning for due dates and big meetings. If don't deliver I don't get paid, my rep sinks to fresh lows, I feel low, and so on.

For some reason, I'm getting up after just 4.5 hours sleep. Which is not quite accurate as I take 1.5 - 3 hr naps about 3 times a week when I can fit them in. Still, I'm puzzled as I don't awaken feeling too fatigued and my body feels fine all over with no sore or achy spots. It might be a new latex 3" medium firm mattress from SleepOnLatex, or some deep adjustment to this work load that will slip away when I'm safely landed.

I was thinking about this mattress thing this week. We have a Duxiana bed, and the latex top from them is about $1300. From SleepOnLatex: $209. Savings: at least $1200 when you factor in the taxes. The $200 topper is working great. Time to chuck that ol saw: you get what you pay for.

Anyway, enjoying my ¶ a day. Stopped reading the Anny Tyler book (Patchwork Planet) because I couldn't related to the main narrator. Too irresponsible. I'm too busy working to meet my contracts to be entertained by someone full of excuses and dodges. Sorry Anne.

So I'm reading lit reviews I collected from the Little Free Libraries. Works.

To the pillow,
L

[inspiresuccess]

For some reason, I'm getting up after just 4.5 hours sleep.

Yikes! I got worried when I read that. Typical sleep pattern for mania. But then I read that you're making up time with naps. And maybe the new mattress is part of it, too. Keep us posted.

[Lynx]

Hi steppers,

IS - thanks for the 'yikes' alert, but no where near manic. Been there, vaguely recall the feelings. Never going to that country again. In fact, it's a sign of my adjustment that with all of the high marks I've hit the past 14 days, there are few spikes in my mood or sense of accomplishment. Partly due to the pressures of the next big thing, and partly from the work I've put into adjusting my reactions to wins over the past 6 years.

For example, one thing I say to myself, now, is "No adding on." This reminds me that when good feeling follow a gain or win or finish, enjoy them as they arrive, and wave bye when their slacken. HUGE change. I may have put up here the nature of my species of mania, but it was a sub-category called "success triggered mania."

Where matters are: the grant draft is about 97% complete. We need to add a few details. When I'm up tomorrow I'll do a "details' walk through looking for contractions, overlong sentences, etc. Then I'm off to my client's offices with my computer and thumb drive for the last dash to the Finish Line!

Did slip in a trip to a tamales store (good, but @ $5 each may not become a favorite) and a some time at the crowded lake park. Then a long winding bike ride home on streets I usually don't travel. That was interesting. Came across several more Free Little Libraries and got a couple of books. One I've already decided I don't want to read.

Just now awakening after nearly 3+ hours of napping, just staying in bed, between 7 to about 11:30 pm.

Same thing on Saturday night. I'm going to put up some videos for background while I putter about cleaning up the discarded drafts of the grant. Then late night snack, then maybe a long bath before bed again.

And maybe Saturday I'm having some ice cream at a pop up shop,

L

[Lynx]

Hi steppers,

I'm done as in cooked and tired.

And as in The Grant is sent to my client. She wanted it by 3 pm so she could send the full submission in by 5. So we can have a weekend. She said.

I think it's as solid as we can manage. I say.

Other than getting ice cream tomorrow at a pop up stand, I'm sleeping in!

Lynx

[Elaine Glimme]

Oh, three cheers, Lynx. And a few more cheers.

I got my pitch and my query done. And I proofed my first ten pages. When I can read all ten pages without wanting to change anything, I'll - gulp - write to an agent. Right now I'm tired from gardening. Talk about baby steps! Still, I've made some progress. I'm trying an experiment. I'm planting my plants in the ground but I'm keeping them in the plastic containers that they came in. I've added a lot of holes for the roots to grow through. The experiment - will gophers chew through plastic? I'm sure that they can, but will they? I'm betting that they won't.

Okay, that's it for me. I'm tired. it's time for TV and dinner.

Happy steppin'

p.s. According to everyone on the Internet, gophers will chew through plastic. If this is true, stay tuned for a really unhappy post.

[Lynx]

howdy,

the grant's submitted as of friday 6:20 something. too tired for capitals. went to dinner out at a new mexican place. too sweet, but it had a strong family following, so the kiddies are eating it up. big servings and specials now three days a week to drum up more business.

looked at weekend. nothing planned as i didn't make the time to pay attention.

looked at next week. nothing planned!? well, a trip to the airport at 4 am, visiting a couple places down by the airport, and beginning of several days w/o my dear partner. judith voirst wrote something for redbook years ago about the sense of liberation for not having to get tangled in argument, compromise, or standoffs. see if i can find it .... who am I kidding, she's got too much out there. here's a good profile from people mag. a teaser:

After they were married… Judith got a job as a stringer with the now defunct New York Herald Tribune reporting on parties in the nation’s capital. “I could never recognize anyone famous,” she confesses. “Milton had to go everywhere with me. I remember the first story I covered. I had to cover something at 2 p.m. and have it written by 6:30. I said to Milton, ‘What if I can’t do it?’ He said, ‘There’s no such thing.’”

she's found the writer's sweet spot for our mainstream culture. it's fun watching her readings and interviews on youtube.

anyway, a week w/o the messiness of getting along.
lynx

[Lynx]

experiment with adding to my list of elves starting at number 11

1. adjusting routine to getting to tasks sooner
2. the amazing voice to text advances in Otter
3. the happy luck of Otter being directly connected to Zoom conferencing
4. evoking my powers to say No and postpone
5. letting a certain cough or tickle in throat serve as my Alarm System, "Um, well lunch" [throat tickle], I'll have put off till a month from now. Too busy."
6. my assistant came through in great colors. Found references that I'd asked for, located the footnote format in Chicago Manual of Style, pulled out needed data, etc.
7. that Word allow merging of versions and document comparisons
8. protected my options to sleep/rest as needed
9. this Thread where I could whine, struggle, complain, announce fresh tweaks, on a daily basis
10. realizing I could use our 24" iMac so every punctuation looks huge. (some restrictions apply, as in, Mornings before Dear Partner wants to use her office.)

Experiment failed. Just looked it up on this handy guide: faq.php?mode=bbcode
Not happening. Oh well, research.

Three days of ziggy and zaggy. May they last forever,
L

[Elaine Glimme]

I know what you mean. Enjoy the week by yourself, and then celebrate your partner's return.

[Elaine Glimme]

I don't consider myself a scanner, but I've just plunged into scanner mode. Suddenly, I have a lot of projects, and I'm bouncing around from one to another and not actually doing anything. Here are my projects.

Clean up the clutter so I can do the projects in comfort. half done

Finish three wooden boxes for church for prayer requests done

Help MIL write a letter to great-grandson. He asked her what life was like when she was his age. done

Submit query. (No, I haven't done it yet.) half done

update Intercessors' lists.

Call my friends who have had surgery and see if they need anything. done

See if I can get an old computer working so MIL can get Netflix. half done - call ERic when he gets back from LA

Finish mulch and weed block job in the garden.

Laundry. half done


The challenge here is to pick one project and work on it. Unfortunately, I should probably start with the laundry and the clutter. That would make the other projects easier and more enjoyable.

I'll be running instead of steppin'