Fri. Aug. 21, 2015: This & That & Enough Already

Friday, August 21, 2015
Waxing Moon
Neptune Retrograde
Pluto Retrograde
Uranus Retrograde
Venus Retrograde
Sunny and hot

Rough couple of days. Dealing with the recent deaths makes me even less patient than usual with meaningless bullshit. The fact that I haven’t punched several people’s lights out is a testament to my self-restraint.

On the positive side, the library is repainted and looks nice, and now the work of getting everything back on the shelves is ongoing. I managed to process a LOT of books on Wednesday during the painting (once we got the books OFF the shelves), and almost all of them went out on holds. In other words, I made the right choices in ordering! 😉

Collapsed Wednesday night. Watched KINGSMAN, which was clever and fun, although I would have trimmed about 20 minutes total, making a few internal cuts here and there. Colin Firth, as usual, was sublime.

Thursday was another painting day and also trying to get things back on the shelves as they dried. Managed to get PR out for the photography contest, which had to go out yesterday or wouldn’t make deadline. By mid-afternoon, I had a screaming migraine, which only got worse as the evening progressed. Managed to watched some of the final season of SPORTS NIGHT, but that was about it.

The migraine woke me up at 2 AM, and I was not amused with people texting and calling me by 8 AM asking if everything was back on the shelves. Sorry, bubbelah, I am NOT pulling all-nighters by myself watching paint dry and then reshelving. No.

The Meet-and-Greet for NYU Cape/South Shore Alumni is all set for the 28th of September at Mezza Luna in Buzzards Bay. I’m checking out the location for the wine event next week, and I also have the HobNob Event. If I can just get rid of this migraine, it’s all good.

I work tomorrow, and then the ghost hunters are coming back in the evening to do the overnight. Sunday and Monday are writing days.

I’m also investigating new phones and new phone plans. T-Mobile sucks and my phone is already “out of memory” – which is ridiculous, because I have hardly anything on it. Good thing I’m NOT on a contract – I can find something better.

I can’t believe it’s nearly September! Looking forward to the autumn. We’ll be staying in the house for another year, so that’s all settled. I’m cleaning out a lot of stuff and getting rid of a lot of stuff.

Looks like we’re losing almost all our tomatoes to Blossom Rot, which is discouraging. Live and learn. The hollyhocks, cucumbers, lettuce, morning glories, moonflowers, four o’clocks, rose of Sharon, and hydrangeas are all doing very well, though.

Have a great weekend!

Devon

Monday, February 28, 2011

Monday, February 28, 2011
Waning Moon
Saturn Retrograde
Raining

The drive back on Saturday was much better than the drive down or the drive to and from the acupuncturist. Less traffic, and it kept moving. Made a quick stop in Old Saybrook, picking up a couple of things including a ceramic cheetah. I just fell in love with it, especially the details on the paws and the expression. Made it all the way back to Bourne, and the well-priced gas. In NY, the gas was $3.77/gallon, on Long Island (where I refilled when I went to acupuncture), it was $3.49/gallon, and here, it’s $3.29. That’s a huge price differential, and I’m very grateful that my car gets such good gas mileage. Also, I won’t have to drive much in the next few weeks (I think), so I can make this tank last for awhile.

Once the weather is nice enough, I can walk the 3/4 of a mile to get the papers and to the yoga studio.

The cats were thrilled to have us back home, and they were Velcro kitties all night. It was really sweet, and it was so good to be home!

Wrote two more workshop proposals, and they were both accepted — a two week writing course in June and a two-week revision course in July. I’m taking the month of August OFF from teaching (and, hopefully, just about everything else). If I’m careful with money this summer, it should be fine, and I can afford it, and then, come September, the financial picture eases up a bit, so I just need to be careful between now and then.

I prefer paying the quarterly taxes so much — it makes much less of a burden in April, in fact, once I’ve done all the paperwork, I’ve usually overpaid, so it all works out. I am probably the only person who considers quarterly taxes a “perk” of freelancing! 😉

Hop on over to Goals, Dreams, and Resolutions, where I’ve got my wrap-up on February and musings about it. I also talk about some re-envisioning of what I want in my work that’s come up as I worked on this month’s list.

It snowed again on Sunday, and the cats woke me up at 6 AM. I have to teach them how to read a clock, and that Sundays are not for getting up at the usual time. So far, it’s not working.

I finished Devon’s Random Newsletter — the first one to go out since the move. If you didn’t get your copy, please ask me to update your email address by dropping me a line at devonsrandomnewsletter – at – gmail – dot – com. Moving the newsletter to Gmail is much more efficient. I don’t have to fight with the web host all the time. If you want to sign up for the newsletter, that’s also the best address to send the request.

Speaking of 1and1.com, one of the worst web hosts on the planet (really, I’m ready to create an award), I spent five hours updating the Devon Ellington site and creating a Workshop page, when it should have taken an hour or less, all because I was fighting with the webhost, and it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. I couldn’t change font size, it wouldn’t stay black, I couldn’t chose to bold, I couldn’t cut and paste and had to hand-enter everything. Nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. Early April, I can get an appointment with a local computer specialist who will teach me how to circumvent the fact that the webhost is keeping my webmail hostage; once I get my hands on all of it, I’m switching hosts. I’ve created new designs for everything in iWeb — I just have to be able to get my years’ worth of files and contracts downloaded so I can move.

I still have to update the Fearless Ink site, but one site was all I could handle yesterday.

The new workshop page is here.

Watched the Oscars. What I like and respect about James Franco is that he decided he wants a life in the arts and he’s not going to be put in someone else’s box. He goes and does whatever interests him, and to hell with what anyone thinks. Because he approaches whatever he does as a wonderful new adventure, he usually pulls it off. I was grateful there was less forced patter, but still, the whole thing didn’t quite work. I’m glad Colin Firth is finally getting recognized for his excellence as an actor. He’s got a wonderful body of work, and he always brings something unique and special to any role he plays. The only time I cheered was when the winner of the documentary award reminded us all that no one who caused the financial meltdown is yet in jail. Since I think not only should many of them be in jail, but go up for treason, that was my favorite moment. Overall, the show didn’t really move me one way or the other. If they hadn’t wasted 90 minutes on a useless red carpet pre-show with idiot “entertainment reporters” asking moronic questions, I would have probably enjoyed it more. But I was already over it before the actual show started.

Got some work done on POWER OF WORDS. I really, really need to find those notes in the boxes.

Today, I start the play. Of course, the notes I took so carefully are not on my desk, where I left them last night, so I will have to do without.

Devon