"Puppet wrangler? There weren't any puppets in this movie!" – Crow T. Robot
I kept my bag, which I liberally sprayed yesterday with disinfectant, securely in my lap today, on both my morning and evening commute. There was no sign, in either direction, of another toilet-overflow disaster, but I wasn’t taking any chances.
Other than that, it was a pretty average — albeit ridiculously hot — day.
It was a hot day, well into the 80s, and of course today is the day one of the air conditioners decided to quit. While my parents are away, of course. I’m not even sure it’s covered by any kind of warranty or is repairable (by myself or others), and I’m not sure I’m prepared to go buy them a brand new unit and have that installed while they’re away, but I’m worried it might come to that. It’s going to get hotter before it gets cooler around here.
Meanwhile, I spent the day doing some more slush reading and mowing the lawn. I’ll let you decide which was more productive.
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The construction workers/window washers/whatever-they-were finished early(ish) today, only being insanely loud and disruptive until a little after lunchtime. I spent most of the day waist-deep in the big muddy, editing — or rather mostly reformatting — a manuscript, which really could not be more problematic in its formatting if it tried. No, wait, I take that back, not least because there’s a tiny part of me that’s afraid the manuscript itself may be reading this and will have its revenge before I get in tomorrow. (Not really. But yeah.) Truth is, I’ve run into worse manuscripts, messier formatting, bigger problems. But oh man, my head? It asplode. |
| Otherwise, the day was pretty uneventful. We had another birthday celebration for another co-worker — I’m seriously starting to think everyone I work with was born in June — with red velvet cake (and cupcakes) instead of cookies. It’s a tough life. And the heat continued to rise, slacking off just a little this evening when the skies opened up and it poured rain. But, seriously, when you start talking about the weather, and it’s not even particularly interesting weather… |  |
Today was a typical Tuesday, for the most part. We had a small birthday celebration for a coworker at the office this afternoon, with cookies and brownies and a card I don’t remember being asked to sign. It’s not really his birthday, but he’ll be out the rest of the week at a conference. Then this evening, my parents and I celebrated my father’s birthday, which is actually today. There were presents and cake and all that good stuff.
And meanwhile, the weather outside has just be lovely.
Oh, and I finished reading William Sleator’s House of Stairs. I don’t have a lot to say about it, except that I can maybe see the influence it had on the movie Cube, and that ultimately I was left kind of disappointed. It was one of those books, like A Wrinkle in Time, for instance, that I probably would have loved if I had read when I was younger but now…
Still, lovely weather.
I spent the day mostly reading, mostly in the backyard, except when the sun got too hot and I had to come back in. My iPad actually overheated, which has never happened before, and refused to start again until it had cooled down. The next time I went out, I brought along the more traditional paper-and-binding type books. I’m mostly alternating between Jennifer Egan’s A Visit from the Goon Squad and Scott Westerfeld’s Leviathan, although I threw a little collected Tintin in for good measure.
It was a lovely day, and the weather, although warm, couldn’t have been much nicer. When I woke up this morning, a little after eight, I noticed it was raining, and I thought, well, that’s it then. Our streak of unanticipated clear and sunny skies has come to an end. But the rain had all gone away by the time I actually got dressed, and it must have been perfect weather for a Memorial Day parade.
I didn’t see any of the parade myself, even though the route runs past just a couple of blocks away, and I could hear some of the gun salute at the town memorial up the road. I don’t think I’ve seen the parade since I was last in it, and that was easily sixteen or seventeen years ago, when I was still in the Boy Scouts.
Nevertheless, I am grateful to all the men and women who’ve served in the Armed Forces over the years, particularly those who have died defending our nation and freedoms. I recognize that I wouldn’t have this day of good weather and lazy reading — though no barbecue; we had burgers last night — were it not for their sacrifices. Many thanks.