THE DAY
Here’s the thing: the problem with holidays is that your husband, whom you see every day, is suddenly underfoot. As in…all the time. Not that he’s bothering me; he understands that I have work and he has his.
But when someone’s around whom you don’t see very much–and I really don’t; while he works long hours, I think I’d go crazy if he were home more than he is . . . anyway, you want to spend some time with that person.
So holidays are tough. Hard to concentrate and then the husband wants to go have some fun, and how can you say that you can’t? Yes, he understands about the work (I think I just said that), but we do fun things together so infrequently…
So that makes it hard to be productive. Another thing that makes it tough: when you’ve rethought something so radically that you HAVE to stop and take a breath and do a little research. For me, today, that meant researching penjing, the Chinese forerunner of the much more widely-known Japanese bonsai tradition. The philosophies are completely different; the aims are different. The mindset might be the same: having patience, taming nature, and the tools, too. But for someone who knows NOTHING, that means having to learn enough for a) fleshing out a character and b) verisimilitude.
Which translates into virtually no words. I spent the writing time researching and, now, in a few minutes, I’ll outline the chapter beats for tomorrow. Just how it goes. Although I got into a plant-mode and so repotted three of my orchids as I thought. It’s all process.
Otherwise, stopped working at about 12:30 to dash off to the pool. Lovely swim, though it was so hot, they finally opened the roof to the pool–so that was nice. Only a few lanes occupied, too, so it was good. Then did some quick, last-minute shopping. Then, home, where we’d despaired of finding a Chinese restaurant that might actually be open (we found one).
Roundabout 4-iwsh, we left to engage in a time-honored tradition amongst my people on Christmas (or Christmas Eve; so long as you hit one, you’ve fulfilled the obligation): a movie and Chinese. Saw THE BIG SHORT (terrific film that I didn’t expect to LOVE but did) and then went out to a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place that was so good, I could taste the char on that lovely, light tofu. So we’ll definitely go back. Also saw trailers for about three, four films I would actually see.
And now I’m home, writing this. Hoping the Go-Daddy Bowl makes an appearance sometime soon 😉
WRITING OUT LOUD
GHOST IN THE MACHINE
Day 1: 4326 Day 11: 2500 Day 21: 1800
Day 2: 2085 Day 12: 500 Day 22: 0
Day 3: 3011 Day 13: 1000
Day 4: 2652. Day 14: 3700
Day 5: 3210 Day 15: 5630
Day 6: 3450 Day 16: 1060
Day 7: 0 Day 17: 130
Day 8: 2756 Day 18: 0
Day 9: 4580 Day 19: 3000
Day 10: 2670 Day 20: 2600
Blog Post: 495
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What I’m Watching:
THE BIG SHORT was great, like I said. Otherwise, nothing else.
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What I’m Reading:
That anthology.
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What I’m Listening to:
Let Me In
