personal

Thursday

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So apparently there won’t be a Long Island Railroad strike next week after all. The governor has stepped in and forced the two sides, the MTA and the union — neither of which I’m especially sympathetic to — to reach a settlement. I don’t know that this qualifies as the eleventh hour, but it’s easily the ninth and some change. And while there might have been some fun in having an excuse to work from home even more, I’m really glad the strike has been averted.

I didn’t know it had been averted until I got home this evening, since I spent nearly all of my day in a training session on how to improve presentation skills. It went surprisingly well, given how little I enjoy public speaking and actually giving presentations — both of which I had to do at the session — and I think as near as it’s possible to enjoy that sort of thing, I did. And hey, they bought us lunch.

This evening, I’m just sort of decompressing. I’ve been writing some this week, and I poked a little at the story again tonight, but I’m mostly just taking it easy. It was a surprisingly non-stressful day — well, not horribly stressful or anything — but it was all surprisingly tiring.

Oh, but that sink up above got fixed, so that’s good too.

Tuesday

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The weather this morning was just awful, a wall of humidity that didn’t really let up until the afternoon when the sky exploded with rain. Luckily that let up before it was time for me to leave. The rain is supposed to keep up, off and on, until the weekend, but I’ll take that over mugginess that weighs on you like a heavy chain.

Meanwhile, it seems increasingly likely that the Long Island Railroad will go on strike starting next week. Talks between the MTA and the union have reportedly collapsed, and as early as Sunday service may be shut down completely. That will make getting to work mighty difficult for me, since the New York subway only goes as far as Queens, not where I live. If I can get a ride there in the morning, say to Jamaica, I can hopefully catch the subway then into Manhattan. That’ll likely add a chunk of time to my daily commute — and god knows how many other people will be trying to do the same thing — but it would be better than trying to take a bus to Jamaica from somewhere closer to home. (Just for kicks, I looked into that, how long a bus ride plus subway would take me, and it looks like the answer is about two to three hours, each way. So, you know, no thanks.)

I hope I won’t have to do that, or at least not much. There’s still a small chance the strike won’t happen, and my boss is okay with me working from home most days if I need to. (That’s basically the best the MTA can suggest commuters do right now.) I may have to go into the office on Tuesday, thanks to a couple of face-to-face meetings, but that might be the most of it. Right now, I’m just waiting to see.

It’s not like I haven’t survived terrible commutes in the past. After Hurricane Sandy, it took a long time for the LIRR to get back on its (never entirely stable) feet. So we’ll see what happens.

Not having to venture out into wall of humidity each day might not be the worst thing that could happen.

Sunday

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Circumstances prevented my writing group from actually being a writing group this week, as we spent too much time waiting on a third member and then just talking to really get anything done. To make up for that, I came home and plodded away at a short story for a little while.

In between failed, then half-failed attempts at writing, I saw Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. It’s really quite good.

And that was Sunday, I suppose.

Friday

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It was an absurdly quiet day at the office, with summer hours back in swing for most everyone (but not me) after last week’s holiday break. By two o’clock, it seemed like there were less than a half dozen of us still left in the building.

Inspired, perhaps, by Heather’s recent cubicle exposure, or perhaps simply by the boredom of a very long day at the end of a pretty long week, I started snapping photos of my work area.

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I swear, it’s only carefully chosen camera angles that make my desk look remotely neat. I lucked into one of the larger cubicles maybe about a year ago, and I really do like working at it. Which, I swear, usually keeps me too busy to be snapping photos left and right.

Anyway, that was Friday. Had a spicy seitan burger from a local food truck, which proved to surprisingly tasty for vegan food. Had time to kill before living for the end of the day. No big plans for the weekend beyond writing, which I am determined to do some of tomorrow.

Much like any Monday

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Last night, I settled in to watch I, Frankenstein for some reason. I could claim that it seemed like a good idea at the time, but that would just be lying to you. I knew perfectly well it was going to be a terrible movie, but then I watched the trailer…and, well, Bill Nighy was in it, and I hoped it might be the right kind of terrible.

I watched maybe half of it until Heather guilted me into switching it off and trying to write instead.

I wish I could say the writing went well, but that too would just be lying. Still, it was likely better than watching gargoyles clobber demons, or vice versa, or whatever it is I, Frankenstein was supposed to be about. (It was very Underworld-y, right down to Nighy’s casting, and I don’t mean that as a good thing.) I’ll have to consider the small amount it cost to rent the thing a lesson learned, or something.

Tonight’s writing didn’t go terrifically well either, but there’s something to be said for getting back into the swing of things and a regular-ish routine.