comic completed

Current Mood:

In 72 hours I sketched and inked and polished an eight page mini comic collection. And it looks really good! I've very pleased with the results. It took a lot of work. Hours at night after long days.

First chunk of sketching happened after Dad's visit. He showed up at 8:30ish and put the shrimp pots in. I made coffee. When he got them the first time I had my breakfast and got ready to face the day. A jerk in a big boat almost dragged his pot down because they were clueless about line management!

I helped (slightly) cut some metal for my new large glorious planter box. We snacked. I made tea. For the final shrimp collection, I joined Dad on the open water in the smaller kayak. It was quite the paddle out to the bouys, and the big jerk boat saw me coming and they motored away. They knew backup when they see it!

I got lots of good photos out on the water and photos of Dad. A boat was headed our way and I did the Tusken Raider cry and they turned away. I'm a force out on the water!

We got the shrimp limit. Cooked them. Set them aside to cool. Assembled the planter box. I need to buy the dirt for it, but I've been occupied with my comic.

So LineworkNW is this weekend! Indie comics and stuff. I wanted to have something new to show and give out and I managed to get it made! There were two nights of sketching and two nights of inking (one night overlapped between the two). It's all black and white because I didn't want to futz with shade and copying shades. It looks good! I did eight hours last night after work (a five hour shift which was pretty packed with turns and laundry) and stayed up way too late doing it. I was thinking I would have them done last night and copy them today, but alas I assigned too much work to myself and at 3am it was obvious I would have to copy them on the way down to Portland (I'll stop in Olympia or some such). Today (Friday) I was running on empty but I still got everything done in just about the right amount of time. One room was finished slightly after 3pm but they didn't (early attempters at check in) come back till 3:45 so it was all good. I took out trash and ran laundry and generally tried to stay composed but man I was feeling it. I had coffee in the morning. Coffee with lunch. And after work I called in an order to the Pho place for pork bahn mi and spring rolls and I had a cold can of assam black tea with that (I ate the sandwich on the way home, it transports well). And the spring rolls were a good later in the day sustaining snack. I knew I wouldn't quite have the time to set aside to make a big meal (nor the ingredients) and I needed some veggies. I'm glad I got those because I pretty much, after a power nap, worked from 6:30 to 11. With some pauses. Still. Yeah.

I'm tired. But proud of myself. I'll see y'all on Sunday night because tomorrow I pack up and go to Portland!! I'm only staying the one night though.

that tub is cursed

 Bonked my elbow something fierce on the tub at work. Big tubs are a pain to clean! And that tub proved to be trouble because turns out there was a drainage problem and now there's a bunch of drywall repair that is going to have to be done in the room below it. Major bummer!

Trained a little more on check ins and mostly did turns and fluffs and stuff. Not a bad day but I was really tired when I was done and took a hearty nap, then drew some, then had a hard time getting back to sleep due to the nap.

Arrived to find out about the room being out of commission. Turned two rooms, forgot about my pre-flights (that's my task weak point, I tend to forget them), did laundry, lots of folding. Stretched a few tasks out. Did the bathroom for the room that is temporarily not available, so when it is ready it can be good to go!

Then at home I played some FTL (getting better at it all the time, it's a fun game) and worked on my comics scripts and got the pages set up to draw. Just have to sketch them out now, and ink them, and color them. I wish I had more ready access to a copier because I don't know the best way to color them. Well subtle things get lost in Xerox? Hmm. I'll ask Daniel. I'm very pleased with how today's comic turned out because I drew it with no pre-sketch. Compare it to the one about the tub that was more sketched out. Both very different in gestures.

I really like how cool I look in the driving panel.

Time to go to bed I am up way past when I should be.

drawing on a countdown now

Worked today, and left Mom and Dad at home to not burn the house down. Hustled to get a few rooms fluffed fast, and then turned a room, and watered plants, and unloaded/loaded the dishwasher. Not such a heavy day. Swung by QFC and got s'mores fixings and other things.

Back at home the house was not burned down! Ate shrimp, rested my eyes, ate a burger, said adieu to M&D. Drew comic. Relaxed.

Today was a lethargic day, though I still drew a comic and roughly planned out a comic for LineworkNW. One that will be photocopied and given out to people, whee!

Played vidya games. Lots of FTL. Ate carbs. The uze.

don't pee on dad

 Last night the internet wasn't going so I just went to bed. So! On Wednesday I worked. It was mostly solo stuff. I put the rooms back in order after all the stuff had been moved for the power carpet washer. And I did the floors and watered the veranda plants and finished the room cleaning on this one deep clean. Nice little shift. Listened to podcasts and things went well.

Filled up my tank, went home, drew a comic, and was pretty tired. Played some video games and went to sleep.

Got up, drew comic, drank coffee, got to doing stuff! Picked up my mail and got some milk so I could make pasta. I have so many pasta boxes. Brinnon Gas Station has free tire air FYI.

At home I drew a comic and tweeted it at Arizona and they got back to me and I gave them my address and I think they are going to send me some coupons!!

And like I said, internet was down so I went to sleep. I also watered the gardens.

 Mom and Dad are over! They arrived at 10ish because we have to get the raft in when the tide is up. I joined Dad on the ride from tugging the raft over to the bay. Now I feel a bit pink from the sun.

After the raft was attached we had bread and cheese snacks and Mom and I read Lucy Knisley comics on the porch. I had to chastise Mom for setting the book open and face down. I went for a swim and stood on the log for a while. Dad paddled over and checked out the log as well. Lots of crabs, and a few almost came out of the water at me. They were all snip snip snip.

Then Dad got stung by a big red jelly. It snuck up out of nowhere and got him. Out of the water we poured vinegar over Dad's stings and touched it up with witch hazel. You do not pee on jellyfish stings!

Dinner was salad and potatoes cooked on the open fire and a glass of vino. Mom let me paint her nails. Then I took a nap. Then Mom and Dad went to bed. Then when I resumed full consciousness I drew a comic and now I'm back to being tired, so nighty night!

tired but less stress

Carpet cleaners were in at work, so we did some kitchen cleaning while they finished, and we put on little booties to keep the floors clean. So clean! One room has carpet that is WAY too light for a hotel room. It spots really easily. Then Ginger and I teamed up on deep cleaning a room. I did the bathroom stuff. Deep scrubbing the shower, removing the toilet seat and cleaning under the bolts, cleaning the light fixtures, cleaning the fan. I'm glad I didn't wash my hair this morning because I got a ton of dust/grime in it from that fan. Now I get to wash it with some of my new Birchbox shampoo! It's not a huge sample but it's something to look forward to. I'll have nice fluffy hair for my two days off coming up.

My jaw grinding has gone away. I was having serious jaw issues that were related to stress and I didn't really relate them to stress until I got this new job and it's gone away. So even though I'm super tired, I'm doing better. And I'm making more!

Got Karen's wedding save the date & birth announcement and both are so great!! I should get married just to have really nice save the dates made up. HJehhee.

At home I napped and did the crockpot cleaning and split the rest of my CTK into lunch portions. Have five left? Four? That's pretty good. I've bookmarked a few recipes in my cookbook so I think I'll continue doing crockpot cooking, because it's so easy and I think it'll help me eat better.

If only you could buy yakult by the gallon.

autobiographical

Oops! Four days behind! How did I get so behind? Besides being tired and having company and being tired again. So Friday? Was that where I left off? Okay! I slept in and did the Chicken Tikka Masala prep in the evening (had to marinate it). And cleaned house. John the acrobat engineer is/did visit! How great to have someone drive all the way over here!

On Saturday I got the CTM cooking and I chopped through my fingernail trying to hack the onion. Now I have to be careful to not snag the nail on anything, less it rip half off. Bluh.

John arrived at around 6 having missed a ferry. He missed the good swimming window, but I did have enough time to have everything tidy and vacuumed and suitable instead of being a cobwebby. House is shaping up! I've been so busy that I've lost the cleaning momentum. I picked up a fifth weekly shift at work too, so I'll only be more busy! Hurray! Though with a schedule already all over the place with few back to back days off, one extra day doesn't seem like it'd be so noticeable.

Plus more money will be nice. I'll maybe start actually getting ahead. Problem with crock pot cooking instead of PB&J: twice as many ingredients to buy.

But I do like having a bunch of lunches prepped and ready to go in the fridge. Just grab and go!

Where was I? Oh! John! Nice guy. We walked in the woods and I showed off how nice and quiet it is. I introduced him to a cocktail from my college days (Giamatti 23, which is Dr Pepper and two buck chuck CabSauv. It's better than you'd think but ... yeah) and he actually drank it. Courageous fella. We watched this movie that is a new plot edited together from hundreds of other movies. Interesting project and really well done because all the sight lines and stuff match up. Super not legal because of all the editing of, ya know, copyrighten movies. But neat!

And John stayed over, ooohhh, I know I know.

John spun one of my plates on his finger and I think he thought I'd freak out from fear of breaking my precious china...but I have so many plates and they are worn and probably not a complete set. And he was spinning it with enough confidence that I knew he wasn't gambling. Hehe. He departed at noon to actually catch a ferry on time (young padawan, he'll learn).

The rest of Sunday was spent chilling and prepping comic panels and lunches and going to bed early because I'm back to work!

Today is Trillian's birthday! Not mine, other Trillian's!

I was on laundry duty and I got many beds done and many sheets washed and towels washed and folded. Not all of them though. There were about... six rooms that had the laundry pulled? But nice to not be scrubbing. Lunch was tasty and bountiful because it was a bigger portion than my sammiches usually are. The windows were open and a sea breeze was wafting in. That was nice.

I picked up Lucy Knisley's new comic Something New after work, so I'm stoked to read that. It's an autobiographical comic about her planning her wedding. Her last one was about food, and I got it signed and she drew my favorite food in it: fish & chips! And Trillian has perogi! I think perogi. How Trillian of us to have the same signed book.

And my Birchbox arrived and it has the Hoola bronzer which is $$$ but I got the sample which is more than enough for me to use (it's an ample sample) and I got a nice lip gloss and shampoo and makeup setting spray that has spf in it. And a perfume sample that's nice and floral. Good selection!

Now that I have a PO Box, I'm wondering if Amazon Prime would be worth it so that I don't have to make Silverdale/Poulsbo/Sequim errands for the odd thing I need that I can't buy in Port Townsend. Like that ink pad. I could have just ordered it and not made the way out there drive just to buy ONE thing. Or printer ink or... well I can't think of anything more so that's probably a sign I DON'T need Prime just yet. But I'll make note of all the times I have to go out of my way to get stuff. I do try to stack trips. Thursday stacked a few things.

TGIMF

It's my weekend and it's a four day one! Got a lot to do and I'm feeling good. At work I fluffed four rooms, including an extended one (when you stay for a while you get fresh sheets and towels and all that). I did the office and powder room and vaccuumed and prepped fruit and all sorts of this and that. A nice way to end the stretch of shifts. Topped off my tank and went food shopping and  at home I played video games and went to bed instead of blogging.

What a great day I had! First I slept in and that was wonderful. Did a full makeup look (full brows instead of gentle tinted brows, among a more involved eyeshadow style) and assembled a road breakfast (that is, breakfast that is consumed on the road) and off I went! Kitsap errands! I now so rarely cross the bridge and I like not having to watch out for the bridge being up. Listened to Brandie Posey's comedy album and it was hilarious. Got toilet paper at Target and some cuff style earrings because they were on sale. Then went to my comic shop and picked up my pull list, whee a big stack of Lumberjanes! And some Southern Cross and Sex Criminals and I bought the new Punisher because Becky Cloonan is aweesooommmme. And Craig was there! Chris's dad! I haven't been to the shop in many months but I reassured Dana the owner I would call if I ever planned on leaving. I wouldn't just let my box collect and not pay. That is the convenience of a subscription pull box: the comics are there when I can get to them. But yeah it was nice to see Craig, who recognized me (and also heard Dana refer to me by name, which is a big clue).

Weather was absolutely beautiful today. Warm, sunny, sometimes a breeze. Perfect farmer's market weather! Bremerton Letterpress Co. did the posters for the new Bremerton Farmer's Market and they had a booth so I went to hang out and help a bit and generally spend time with my pals Karen and Marit and Baby Lily and Rob too. Lily gets bigger and bigger! She holds her head up and has big blue eyes and is such a little sweety. I got to hold her a little bit and I kissed her head plenty.

Also Karen had a Beanie Baby sloth to give me!!!!!!

Mom and Dad came to the market too and we all hung out and I saw my old art teacher from Silverwood though I don't remember her that much. Nice to see the parents. They bought some cards from the booth. Dad gave me the stand with the piece of PNCA rubble! It looks great. Right now it's by the Christmas tree & camel skin lamps. Tomorrow I'll be doing some house cleaning. It's in need of it. And I have a visitor (John the acrobat) so want to look less...so slobby.

After the market I did some more food shopping. Going to make Chicken Tikka Masala but I could NOT FIND between QFC, TJ's and CM any red chile peppers. So I'm going to try it with jalapeno. But that's the next crock pot recipe. Having my lunch ready for work cuts so much time out of my morning.

looks

 Yesterday was a "boy am I tired!" day and I tucked into bed.

BUT I did go swimming. Work, I turned some rooms and whatnot. It was very hot and I was feeling very melted by the end. It does tend to fry the brain, exercising in the heat. But I got a waterbottle and I drank it all and stayed very hydrated.

I went swimming after work and that was great. The water was warmer than expected and I got a selfie where I was looking fiiiiine hahah.

It was so cooling and nice. I swam out to the log even! It wavered a little under my weight but not much. It certainly didn't go under water when I sat on it. There is a lot of green growth up the log and I saw a couple crabs clinging on as well. It was nice to sit out there on the water. Counted three seals huffing at me.

I showered, relaxed, drew, and went to bed.

Not so exhausting! I only turned one room and fluffed two others, did the pre-flights, did some laundry, dusted, ironed napkins, didn't do the floors. Nice little day.

At home I did laundry and drew and drank pineapple juice and I think I'm about ready to tuck into bed. OH! Socks! Need to fold my socks. And there's probably some dishes.

Tomorrow is my Friday! And there's a lot to happen in the four day weekend I have after that. Wheee.

tag criminal

I always underestimate how long it takes me to make the beds at work. It takes a while to get the fitted sheets, three sheets, comforter, and pillowcases all together in a neat little package that looks presentable. It makes turning a room take almost half an hour longer, but at least I wasn't having to manage the laundry too. I just stripped the beds and grabbed the extra sheets from the stack.

As you can see, I accidentally tore the tag from a duvet. I turned myself in to my boss, but they didn't call the police. What good bosses! I met another coworker, one who had been out for a while due to an injury. I turned three rooms and did the floors and put creole seasoning on my pulled pork which made it extra nummy. It is a bit bland I fear. I'm not a great cook.

I took a nap upon returning home and now I'm up and about and I guess I almost have enough energy to do the dishes.

weekend over

Oops forgot to wash my work shirts, so it looks like I'll be up a little while longer till I can get them in the dryer.

So yeah I was tired today. Woke up early. Slept again. Dozed about. Went on the internet. Put three pounds of pork in the crockpot with chopped onions and pineapple juice and slow cooked it. Once it was done I brought some over to Celia's and we had dinner and caught up.

It was good though it needs a few extra things. Like sweet peppers. But it'll be a nice and easy meal to dole out for the next four work days.

Yup.

I don't like things that glow in the dark

I'm fading. Today was a real ass kicker. Turned only one room, but also did a lot of crouching and moving (dusting all the floorboards) and cleaned all the floors and did the office and some watering. I don't know why it was so totally killer but that last bit with the floorboards really just took everything out of me. Also I kept waking up in my sleep for no reason (maybe eagles woke me up?)

But I'm also *whispers* menstruating. So that might be affecting my body. I think we are all adults here and as a member of half the population that does that thing, I should be free to talk about it. Why is it so hush hush?

Anyhoodles, I'm more than ready to crawl into bed now. Also I went food shopping. Tomorrow I'm making pulled pork from BT's recipe. I'll be having pulled pork sandwiches for the next few days. Yay protein!! yay a break from PB&J!

hair tips!!

 Yesterday wiped me out so I just went to bed. Still drew! Make sure you follow me on instagram to see the comics, cuz I tent to post them there first.

I turned three rooms with time to spare, and breakfast shift was really easy so that got done in good time. Well not EASY just not many people and they were all spaced out. With my extra time I refilled some spray bottles and ironed some napkins. We sanitize the counters everyday after breakfast, so I put back all the things that were taken off the counters.

After work I topped off my tank, and put a letter in the mail, and got a meal from the Halfway House because I'm low on food and felt lazy. The meal covered me for the rest of the day and part of today, so yup.

I've been listening to a lot of the Judge John Hodgman podcast, it's pretty good.

I don't think I like day on, day off scheduling. It's good for not leaving me totally exhausted but it also makes wanting to leave the house on a day off a non starter. So today I relaxed, played some FTL (thanks Natey!), drew, watched telly, ate food. I'll be working a more usual schedule in a couple days. It goes all over the place, which is good because nothing is ever constant.

Paid PUD. Nice to have the moneys to pay bills within a day or two of them coming in. Just gotta be tight on the purse strings for six days and I'll be good. No unnecessary boat buying.

Speaking of consumerism! I called Swatch and they said they can't fix the watch due to it being sealed and all that but if I sent it in, I'd get a 30% off coupon for the Swatch store, so I could buy the watch from Swatch and get all the proof of purchase documentation warranty stuff for the same price as it is on Amazon (where it is, outside of eBay) the lowest price. Oh! The battery I have Dad (I put it in my miniature Ark of the Covenant) is an Energizer size 392/384.

There's pictures of me wearing that watch in Japan, so it's gotten ten plus years of wear. And the Swatch lady I talked to on the phone knew exactly the watch I was talking about when I said Chessboard. I didn't even have to give her model number.

This watch saga sure is going on and on.

Zine Fests Rule!

Woke up at 7, like a good person. Dozed off. Woke up. Dozed again. Lay awake in bed till noon. My tired body has earned a good horizontal lay down, and I'm still tired at 10.

I think I shouldn't have done all that gardening and cleaning on my last day off.

Today I played computer games, ate carbs, farted around on the internet,

Oh! I also went down to the post office and mailed my monitor rebate and letter of confirmation of my friend's relationship. She is getting some international visa thing and needs people to write saying they saw them be a couple.

And my electric bill came and it was higher than it ought, but I guess I have been generous with my heaters since I realized the bill was lower than usual. But not bad higher!

worn down

So yesterday I was on laundry, which means up and down up and down and hauling and folding and timing. Did three beds, a bunch of towels, stripped two other beds... and this was after breakfast. Though it was a lighter breakfast shift, with lots of 30 second breaks to find this and that to do. Not the rush to wash and wash and dry and fill up the machine and empty it that other breakfast shifts have been. So breakfast and then into laundry. VERY tiring, but hey...it's good cardio.

And at the end of the shift I hustled down the Taylor stairs to catch the 2:30 showing of Midnight Special. The bosses gave me a thank you gift certificate for The Rose so I spent that on the ticket and some popcorn and a hard Finnriver cider because damnit I earned it!

Midnight Special was an odd little movie and I liked it a whole bunch. It didn't overdo it with the more supernatural elements and it was great the way the parental roles switched back and forth. Excellent performances all around with a special note to Adam Driver. Yeah. Good little film indeed. I hauled my tired self up the stairs, drove home no problem, and was well tired for the rest of the day. Still drew.

Today was an empty Inn though I'm sure planned that way as a deep clean is starting on one of the rooms. Nice to have it lighter when we are deep cleaning. I was dragging all day. Seemed like it took extra long to turn just two rooms! And I did the floors and flower water and started on a few items in the deep clean room. It was a full shift but it felt like I should have gotten done with more. But I also did some laundry and folding.

Got a letter from Anita. She's so great. She's engaged to Dan! I stayed with them in Delaware, remember? And Anita has visited Pulali. She gave me that awesome illustrated tide guide.

I worked on some of the things I need to get done. I'm mailing a proof of relationship letter to my friends in Ireland. The ones I stayed with in Toronto. Basically "I have witness these two together" type anecdotal document letter. And I'm sending off my rebate for my monitor. It's an 8-10 week wait to get it back!! And so much effort. I guess that's how they get people to not do rebates. But it'll be nice to get it in the mail come...uhh... June? July?

Now I'm back to being tired so I think I'll go to bed now.

duck duck duck duck duck

all the work of today caught up with me (laundry duty!) so I'm going to bed. Remind me to tell you how much I enjoyed the odd little film that is Midnight Special.

and I didn't break a shovel this time

I had a pretty full and busy and productive day today! Ended up not leaving the house, well I did go to Quilcene but not further errands.

I got up earlier than usual and got through my internet rounds at a good hour, so I got to being productive. I washed and put away the dishes. I went to Henerey's in Quilcene and bought three bags of potting soil. I did flower seedling starts in the seedling tray and repotted one of the jades and the pretty flower. I don't want to throw that little flower to the garden beds just yet. It can look nice in a bigger pot for now. In the garden I dug out the back bed. Anything that looked like a nice plant was relocated to the perpendicular back bed, and the rest was tossed aside. There were oodles of not nice looking mushrooms in the bed too. I dug it, turned the soil, added turn, turned it some more. I removed the carrots from the bean bed and put soil in there and added the peas. Put carrots in the open bed spaces. Put the catnip in the spargle bed and the anemone, candytuft, tim curry plant, and the two dahlias in the refreshed flower garden bed. I sprinkled the poppy seeds in the open areas. That'll be Trillian's Pretty Bed provided everything grows and looks nice. I finished up right as it started to rain a bit. And in a few weeks I can move in the seedlings!

From there I took on the upstairs. I filled boxes with books and the two shelves are all cleared out. I sorted through the clutter and got a fire going and burned the burnables. There's still a lot of sorting to be done but it looks SO MUCH better. I just need to figure out the sorting system, and I already have a few designated areas (like the sketchbook pile and I repurposed the inbox esque tray as a place to put my unsorted art that turns up in the piles. I'm making real steps to reshape my space and it feels great. I think now that I'm aware I have a higher stamina for things, I am more wont to get things done. Like I know I can garden for a few hours and not be totally wiped out.

Also my Swatch is available for $25 less on Amazon than on the main Swatch website like...??? why is it so low? I think if I can't get mine fixed, I'll just save up and buy a second one because I wore the watch today for old times sake and was reminded of just how great a watch it is in terms of simple readability, fit, weight. All that. I just can't trust other watches to fit comfortably nor do I like any other watch face as much as this one. And the Amazon price is barely more than those Timex's I was looking at, so like...why get something you maybe like when you know you'll like something else? So yeah. Once PUD is paid and rent is paid and phone bill is paid...I'll see where I'm at.

Also I need to save for Linework. But I know the watch style isn't suddenly going to be discontinued/was discontinued. So no rush.

ALSO I start a lot of paragraphs in the same way, huh?

AAALLLSOOOO I seem to be writing more in this blog than I did for a long while. I guess there is more to report on as I'm getting my life together and doing different stuff everyday.

bee happy

Work was a full day. Turned two rooms, fluffed another two. Did the powder room aka the employee bathroom, and the floors, and checked in a guest, and took cookies out of the oven, and did the office (which always takes longer than I think it will) and... yeah! And some laundry too. We got a new hire! Haven't worked with her yet but I will soon. I dressed for warm weather but it turned cold and gray. Oh well.

I swung by the watch repair to double check in person that it absolutely wasn't the battery and asked again about sending it in to Swatch for repairs. The people in the shop were very nice and yeah I need to send it in for repairs as it is something internal, if I want to do that. Timex has some nice watches in an affordable ranger. I really want to wear a watch again because now I need to be a bit more timely and a watch on the wrist is better than always craning for wherever the clock is in the room. Need to find out what will cost more: repair or a new watch.

I went to Henerey's and bought one big bag of the potting soil that was priced under $4, the rest of the big bags were costly. I bought a few smaller bags for seedling starts and repotted, and a seedling starter tray, and some dahlia tubers, and some other seeds. I may not have all the pretty flowers blooming this year, but hopefully they'll get growing. Then I returned to Whitney's and bought that Golden Spirit Smoketree I admired so much. The leaves are so tender looking. I can't wait to see it change colors.

At home I dumped the dirt into some of the raised beds. Wasn't a thick coverage, but it's a start. Don't know if I'll plant something in it tomorrow or wait and see if I can get a few more bags of dirt and a lower price. I put my smoketree with the rest of the to be planted plants.

Dinner was a big ol' potful of pasta with alfredo and the last of the shrimp. I didn't eat it all but I ate a lot. I washed my jeans, I drew a comic, I watched tv, I wrote a letter confirmed Caroline and Gary are a couple.

AND PETRA SENT ME A CROCHETED BEE!!! It's so cute! It's got a little stinger and everything. I have the best friends.

despite not being in the comics, mom was here too

Spent my weekend working on the garden! Woohoo! Though yesterday was pretty mellow. Ma & Pa visited and stayed the night. Dad went oyster shucking and I stood out in the water eating chips. Nice level of warmth and cooling. We grilled hot dogs and it was pretty nice. After a dinner of salad and chicken and cauliflower and hollandaise sauce, we played Careers! A game from 1965 where you come up with a formula for success and try to achieve it. And I won!! Though it was tricky to get the fame points in my formula. The game had some old timey sexism but it was pretty well balanced.

Morning was PEOTWHAMC and coffee Trillian style, which is to say undrinkable if you're mom but good if you're dad. Then we got to gardening! We pulled the weeds out of the bean trellis bed and out of two more beds, really over turned the soil! I planted some potatoes that had gone to seed and now one whole bed is the potato bed. Afterwards we went to Whitney Gardens and walked around admiring the rhododendrons and ... other plants. Rhodys are one of the few I can really identify. Then we picked up a catnip and an anemone and a cottonpuff ball and a marigold and... one other. Bee friendly plants! I need to get some dirt to top dress the planting beds, and I want to go back to Whitney and buy a Golden Spirit Smoke Tree. It needs a special custom raised box because there's oodles of not good dirt on the property, but that's good because then I can put it wherever I want and I want it out front so I can get a nice seasonal plant among the evergreens. It'll look so pretty!

After the plant field trip we ate sandwiches and hugged goodbye. Dad has been working on the stairs. Good hard working dad!

I took a little rest, then dyed my hair and watched telly and drew a comic. Now it's to sleep with me because I work tomorrow. And the 23rd is free but I plan to garden and maybe go see Karen and stuff. Oh that reminds me, I need to update my calendar with my new work days.

the day night manager

My internet finally stopped being ridiculously slow after about 48 hours of being bad. Played vidya games on the laptop. WHee!

Work was good. I'm now on my weekend! Two busy days but not as jam packed. I did the breakfast shift today and got things done with time to spare. Cleaned the same room for 4/5 of the days.

Listened to podcasts. Napped. I was just about to work on cleaning when my internet came back, but now I'm getting a second post nap wind so maybe I'll do that after I've had my fill of the internet.

work hard, play hard. but like not the 100% most fun kind of play hard

 ARHHHG wow the past 48 hours have been manic.

Went to work on Saturday and swung by USPS in the morning to pick up whatever had arrived that the yellow slip in my box indicated...

 And it was my new monitor! I safely tucked it into my trunk with whatever padding I could find. I didn't want it breaking on the drive, but it seemed pretty well styrofoamed in it's box. It arrived much earlier than I was expecting it to! I hadn't the time to clear the desk or any of that. But hey, it's here!

Work was a long shift and also very frazzling. Errands took the bosses out of the Inn and traffic kept them away, so I was left to check people in!!! I also had to pick up the croissants from Pan D'Amore for the next mornings breakfast. And get two rooms ready for check in. And manage laundry. And I managed it. The guests arrived in the order of which the rooms were ready for them, I ran down the intro and got them to their rooms. I think I showed giddy confidence, but also mentioned they were like...my second (and third and fourth) people I had ever checked in. But I got some good laughs with my quips. Yeah. And when my bosses returned and I was all @_@ they were very appreciative. I'm a MVP employee and if you let me work, I will work.

I dragged my weary body down to Pho Thao and ordered Bahn Mi and spring roles and Vietnamese iced milk coffee. I devoured the Bahn Mi. It was SO GOOD!! Such a tasty sandwich. I ate all my food. Member of the clean plate club, I am!

Then I made my way over for Dungeons and Dragons, which was a bit less fun this time. Very hectic and not a lot of planning and two people died in the first 20 minutes because they investigated this lake turtle. Oops. I'm not learning as much as I'd like and I keep fumbling because I do things wrong and there's not enough opportunity for me to really play through my character. I wish it was a smaller group. I gave Diana a ride home, they weren't that far out so it's all good.

Got home at midnight which wasn't the best decision because I had a breakfast shift! I think I could have skipped this game of D&D but I'm really bad at commitment, in both it takes me a while to commit to anything and that when I do commit I MUST DO IT. Missing out causes me a lot of anxiety. I need to allow myself to miss things.

Anyway, the breakfast shift was less of a hustle than I expected. An even flow of dishes and everything scrubbed up well. I turned three rooms after than and Erin did the beds and I listened to a lot of the You Must Remember This podcast, which is awesome. Old Hollywood stories. But by the end I was very tired.

Once home I took a 2 hour nap, which when you come home from a breakfast shift makes the nap happen 3-5 pm.

Awake, I cleared everything off the desk from my scanner to the left. I wiped down the desk with this grapefruit cleaner I bought that's nice and I cleaned up the cobwebs behind the desk and evicted a few spiders (I'm afraid to remove the left speaker because I saw a doozie of a spider come out of the side of the desk and eat a fly). I also emptied one of the drawers that was full of Grandma's old stationary. I didn't trash it! It is in a tub! My bed is pretty thick with the moved clutter, but it's a first step. I keep writing down what I want to do but I do think I'll get to where I want to be soon. Just having the cleaner bathrooms and the visual of the clearer desk makes my mind more at rest. If I can get the rest out and sorted, then it'll be even better!

So I got the new monitor up! It's an Asus LCD monitor with built in speakers and it's 23" and since I put the power strip behind the desk on the window sill, my wire management is much better! Before all the wires were coming down the front and to the left. And with the old speakers gone (not thrown out) there's even more space. It's really nice, and my screen has so much room for stuff to happen. I'm very happy with this purchase, now just remind me to mail off that rebate so I get some moolah back. Yippee!

And now I think I'm going to game a little on the gaming laptop. I don't have a way to dual monitor it with my new monitor, BUT it's got a big screen and overtime I'll deck that computer out with the same programs and eventually duplicate files so that it will be a backup if the HP goes fully kapoot.