Bryce Moore's Blog, page 92
March 31, 2020
When to Stop Reading or Watching
The fact that I like to consume a fair number of movies and books is a well established fact. I also tend to be a completionist. I like to finish what I start. The farther along I get, the more likely I am to want to finish something. But as I get older, I’m finding myself more and more inclined to stop reading or watching things if I’m not enjoying them.
I know that sounds like a fairly obvious thing to do, but it’s been difficult for me. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a corollary to “finish everything on your plate.” But many times in the past, I have forced myself to finish a book or a movie or a TV show, just to say I could.
This week, in the middle of the quarantine, I have stopped reading a book and a TV show that I was in the middle of. I got to the point where I just asked myself, “Why am I reading this? Why am I watching it?” And in the end, I put them aside for different reasons.
First, the book. The Priory of the Orange Tree has gotten really good reviews. A standalone fantasy epic. I’d heard a lot of good buzz around it as well, so I bought it when it was on sale some time ago. I thought this extended time at home would be perfect to start it, and I got about . . . 140 pages into it. There was a lot to like about the book. I was intrigued by some of the characters. I got hints of the bigger plot. But actually reading it . . . just didn’t do anything for me. I found myself more eager to check the news than I did to read the book, and I was making glacial progress in it.
So last night, I stopped. I don’t think it’s a bad book by any means. I can see why people like it, but I also can acknowledge that it’s not for me, at least not for me right now. It dwells on details and world building and characterization. That’s lovely, if it’s what you’re in the market for, but right now I really am looking for escape. The world is lovely and well conceived, but I just want a gripping plot I can’t put down. Will I come back to the book? Possibly. I have a good feel for what it’s about, and I know where to find it now, but at the same time, there are so many other books out there that I could be reading. Why not just read the ones I truly love? Just because I started a book doesn’t mean I have to finish it, and since it takes a long time for me to finish books I don’t love, by finishing that one book that’s taking me forever to get through, I’m sacrificing two or three books I might really adore.
It’s okay to step away.
On the television side of things, I had started Succession a while ago. It’s a gritty show detailing the machinations of a powerful family as they jostle for position in the family owned mega business. Well written, well acted. It’s won a slew of awards, and I’d had several friends recommend it. I was 10 minutes away from the end of the 8th episode (out of a total of 10), and . . . I just stopped it. Why?
Because there was nothing there for me to love. No characters for me to admire. It was a bunch of awful people doing awful things to each other, and each episode seemed to be a contest to see what new awful things they could have the characters do. The eighth episode got progressively more and more slimy, and finally, I snapped. I no longer cared about these characters. They were making terrible decisions, and I didn’t care who won.
So why keep watching? I turned it off and watched an episode of The Office, instead.
Bottom line, I think we should all be a little more ready to put a book down or stop a movie or a TV show. What your criteria for that is going to be is going to vary from person to person. For some, it might be really about content. For others, it could be about quality. Entertainment factor. Subject matter. In the end, it doesn’t really matter why you’re not enjoying something. It doesn’t matter if everyone else loved it. You are allowed to not like things that everyone else loved. You are allowed to love your own things, instead. Sometimes I feel like pop culture has gotten to this point where people are just tribal about things. Territorial. They accost anyone who disagrees with them as if it’s some sort of terrible thing.
Watch and read what you love. Tell other people about those things. If they don’t love them as well, that doesn’t matter. It shouldn’t detract from your experience at all. But whatever you do, don’t just read or watch something out of a sense of duty.
Ain’t nobody got time for that.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 30, 2020
Am I an Extroverted Introvert, or an Introverted Extrovert?
In the lead up to the quarantine and the first few days of it, I saw a lot of jokes going around about what a relief it would be for introverts to not have to worry about going outside and interacting with people for the next while. I laughed when I saw them, and I thought I’d probably be able to relate. In my head, I still tend to think of myself as an introvert, but I do wonder how much of that is due to my brain just translating “introvert” as code for “not popular in high school.” After all, if you’re not popular in high school because you’re an introvert, then there’s nothing wrong with that. You just don’t want to be popular. And in high school, being popular matters, or at least it did to me, even on a subconscious level.
But when I think back to my days in high school (and all the days since then), then I don’t think that “introvert” label really works for me. Even in high school, I was often the one calling people up, arranging group activities to go see a movie or get together someplace to hang out. And I’m still a person who likes to get together at parties. Not with too many people, mind you. A party can reach a critical mass for me where it gets to the point that I feel overwhelmed and would rather go read a book, but most of the times, I really look forward to get togethers.
Does that make me an extrovert? I don’t think I can really claim that title as well. Meeting new people and talking to strangers is something I pretty much loathe. I don’t mind it once the first bit of the conversation is over, but that lead up to initiating a conversation? Yuck. I’d rather just stay to the side and be quiet. Going to parties at conferences? I’ll be the guy standing there with a water in his hand and a brownie in the other, debating how long I need to stay until I can leave and go do something more entertaining. And after big get togethers, I need some time by myself to recharge.
But I’m discovering I also feel a real need to be around other people, especially when it comes to doing my work. So much of where I feel I’m most effective is when I’m dealing with other people. Learning about what they do and how I can help them do it better. Being connected. You’d think much of what a librarian does can be done in isolation, and that’s true for a lot of it (cataloging, remote reference help, class support, etc.) but when it comes to actually managing a library and helping students, sticking me in a room cut off from the rest of my staff and the students I help is frustrating to say the least.
Part of this is due to an unfamiliarity with how to use the distance education tools. Not by me (I’m quite good with most technology), but for the students. Internet speeds aren’t the greatest in Maine. and a lot of our students are first generation or unfamiliar with how to get the most out of tech. That would be in the best sort of scenarios, which this COVID-19 time is most definitely not. Let’s be honest: people are worried about much more than just “how do I get the most out of my college classes” right now. And even then, their concern for “how do I get the most out of my college library” is even further away from that.
Like them, I’m worried about the future. The economy. The health of my family and friends. How long this will last? What next week will look like, let alone next month.
And in the middle of all of this, I don’t have the usual connections I can draw on to get ideas and generate energy to deal with problems. Ironically, at the same time I’ve been cut off from most of my library interactions, my author interactions have been great. The remote writing group has been a fantastic success thus far, and I’ve been grateful to have those additional connections.
I’m very grateful I can be in this with my family. Yes, it’s sometimes stressful to be trying to get work done when there are so many other things happening around me, but it’s wonderful to have them here with me and be able to do things together and have support throughout it.
Anyway, this has been just a rambling way of saying “I think I’m much less of an introvert than I liked to claim before.” And why does it have to be an either/or situation? It makes more sense that people are somewhere on that spectrum, instead of one or the other. Myself, I think I’m probably . . . 65% extrovert, 35% introvert.
What about you? How are you holding up?
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 27, 2020
The Quarantine is Ruining Everything
Let’s face it, folks. This whole quarantine thing is the pits. It’s ruining all the important things in life. I mean, zombie apocalypse movies? Totally ruined now. Every time I watch one, I’m just going to think about all the things they got wrong about the apocalypse. If they show a single grocery store scene, and it’s got toilet paper anywhere in sight?
Totally unbelievable.
And if I ever become a zombie, I now know to avoid going to places most zombie apocalypse movies focus on. Forget cities. People apparently flock to beaches to ride out the apocalypse by giving as many germs to each other as possible. And what zombie apocalypse movie would be complete in the future if it doesn’t feature a “Zombie Plague Party,” where people get together to give each other the plague so that they can develop herd immunity to it.
Are you making notes, Hollywood?
Also ruined? Any and all time loop movies. That’s right, woodchuck-chuckers: Groundhog Day is doomed. Because now everyone knows what it’s like to wake up and live the same day over, and over, and over. Seriously. Phil Connors goes through the entire film without a single Zoom meeting, and I for one find that highly suspect. The time loop I’m currently stuck in features at least three Zoom meetings a day, and that’s if I’m lucky. Get it right, movie makers!
Also spoiled? The ability to complain about anything. I mean, at this point if we ever get back to normal, I fear I’m never going to be able to whine about simple things without some doofus saying, “Hey! At least we’re not in quarantine.” And when I try to whine about things while I’m in quarantine, I’m reminded that loads of people have had it worse than me over the course of history. Which is totally true, and completely valid, but you know what? We’re allowed to have a struggle with all this crap-o-la without being made to feel guilty we’re struggling.
Which leads me to the next big thing to fall to this quarantine: logic. I mean, it already fell somewhat when people decided to panic buy toilet paper, but that was just the first domino. Now people are saying things like, “It’s okay if just 3% of the country dies, as long as the economy stays strong.” They’re also making arguments like “The flu kills way more people than this each year, so why is this a big deal?”
You know what never killed anybody? Shoe bombs. And yet, back when I was allowed to travel, I had to X-ray my shoes every single time I got on a plane because some dipstick had a concept that maybe a shoe bomb would work. You know what killed “only a few thousand people”? 9/11. And what moron would get up and say, “I don’t know why you people are so worried about a couple of planes crashing into a building. Way more people die in car crashes every day, and nobody looks at it like a tragedy. Get over it.”
Nope. Reasoning isn’t going to get us anywhere, except to maybe one of those hawt beach parties happening in Florida a week ago. Instead, I get to watch in horror as Trump’s approval rating somehow goes up, with people happy about the job he’s doing. And I wonder if I’m in some sort of bizzaro world, or if everyone’s watching the same news I’m watching. (Clearly not.) Right now, Trump is King of the Frogs, sitting in a pot of water that’s getting hotter and hotter, and claiming the fire underneath that pot is going to magically disappear any moment.
Ugh. Don’t get me started. I have no desire to get into a Facebook argument with people over this, so if you disagree, go you. Go out and lick a hand railing or something. Whatever it is you feel you need to do to prove to the world this disease is overhyped. (Actually, no. No licking hand railings. Unless you sanitize it afterward for the rest of us.)
Sorry folks. I’ve been stuck inside for a while now, and my mind space is all over the place. Maybe sidle on by and catch me after the weekend, which I’m sure will feel way different than the week has felt.
It has to. I’ll be in half as many zoom meetings, tops.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 26, 2020
Increasing My Internet
Up until this quarantine situation, I was paying for 15mbps (down, 1mbps up) of internet at my house. Specifically using Consolidated Communications (the company that took over for Fairpoint a while ago). It was DSL, and it was adequate for my needs. I paid about $43/month for it.
Once I saw the writing on the wall for the next month (or more) of life at home, however, I quickly decided 15mbps wasn’t going to cut it. I’m a self-confessed technophile, and it’s rubbed off on my family. Here’s a list of internet-consuming devices in my household:
4 laptops1 desktop3 iPhones4 iPads2 smartwatches1 Nintendo 3DS1 Nintendo Switch1 PS31 Apple TV3 Kindles3 Kindle Fires1 Internet phone
I might be forgetting a couple. Mind you, a lot of those devices are older (quite a few hand-me-downs on that list), but they all at least sip some internet. And when an Apple system update comes down the pike? Fuhgeddaboudit. We were already to the point most evenings where I’d go around the house, pestering the kids to make sure they’d turned all their devices to airplane mode, just so I could ensure Denisa and I had a decent picture when we were streaming video in the evening.
15mbps wasn’t going to be enough. I could either cut out some devices, or I could increase the speed. Seeing as how the internet has suddenly become the main avenue for my job, Denisa’s teaching, and all the kids’ learning, simply cutting devices wasn’t an option, either.
It was time to pony up the money.
Because I live in rural Maine, my options are limited. I could increase the speed of my DSL to 40mbps, which would bump the cost up to around $65/month. Or I could switch back to cable, going with Beeline, which offered 125mbps (8mbps up) for $79. I used to be with Beeline years ago, but I left them because their internet speeds tanked each evening, when everyone was online. This time, I asked around on Facebook to hear what other people were using locally. Some of the other internet hungry folks had gone back to Beeline. Yes, it was almost twice what I was paying now, but it was a serious speed increase, as opposed to the DSL bump, which would be only modest.
I wanted them to come sooner, rather than later, because quarantine. I wasn’t sure how long companies would be allowed to send crews out to futz around with people’s internet. Maybe it would always be considered essential. Maybe it wouldn’t. I’d rather not test it. I called them up Friday, and they were here on Tuesday.
Overall, I’m already very pleased with the upgrade. During the day, I clock speeds of around 145mbps down, 9.5mbps up. More than what I’m paying for. Up in my addition, it’s slower, because the way I’m getting my internet up to that part of the house is over the power lines, but it’s still 20mbps. (I’m going to look into figuring out a better way to extend the internet across my property. When I have time to focus on it, which isn’t now.)
The best part about it all? I can stop pestering the kids to turn off their devices. Everyone can use the internet, things can autoupdate without me having to ration things out, the internet quality has been excellent.
I’ve run some tests in the evening, and there are still periodic times when the speeds slow down inexplicably, but even when they slow, it’s not an issue, because everything’s so fast in general. All the updates that have to run, run overnight. All told, I’m happy. Not happy with what I’m paying, but it comes with the territory, I’m afraid.
Out of curiosity, what do you pay for the speed you’re getting, wherever you are? Go ahead, make me insanely jealous.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 25, 2020
Quarantine Movie Review: Titanic
True story: up until last night, I had never seen Titanic. Obviously I had picked up a lot about the movie over the years, but it came out when I was on my mission. It was all over the place then. Even in the small city where I was serving in Germany, I heard Celine Dion belting out from practically every store front. Often enough that I had “My Heart Will Go On” memorized, despite the fact missionaries weren’t allowed to listen to pop music.
Titanic was everywhere.
When I got back from my mission, I never really got around to watching the movie, simply because I figured I already knew what happened in it, and it was really long. (By that logic, I should never have watched any of the LOTR movies, though. Right?) It just became one of those holes in my pop culture knowledge, and I was at peace with that, for the most part. Then, about two years ago, I bought the movie in 3D, thinking that would be a fun way to watch it. Then I forgot I bought it on disc until I found it for the next Christmas, and then I wrapped it and forgot we owned it at all, because I never unwrapped it.
Clearly it wasn’t high on my to do list.
However, there’s no time like a current disaster to watch a classic disaster movie, right? Right. So Denisa and I popped on our 3D glasses and went back to 1912 over the past few nights. Now that I’ve watched it, I’m very glad I did. For one thing, it was eerie to see the connections between the way they recognized a disaster was coming in the movie, and the way we’ve recognized a disaster is here in the present day. All the same reactions are played out on the screen. (I’m just hoping we haven’t passed the “the ship is going to sink no matter what” stage of the virus.)
It was also great to watch how Cameron used the historical facts of the event as an asset to his movie instead of a liability. He leads out right in the beginning with the shipwreck. He even gives a general overview of how it sank. Then we go back in time and meet some of the characters and get to like them, so that when the disaster happens, it means something. And because we know what happens and the order it happens, all that scientific description at the beginning becomes much more ominous when you see it played out in real life. Superb.
I know some people had said the movie was overrated. 11 Oscars, tons of money, and it wasn’t worth the hype. I disagree. I thought the effects were incredible (especially in 3D), the story engaging, the acting well done (though not as strong as the rest of the movie), but the way it made history come alive was fantastic. Really, my one complaint about it was the way they threw in nudity for no particularly good reason. It’s not a movie I feel like I can watch with my family because of that, and I don’t think it made it a stronger movie with its inclusion. (I had somehow thought it was just a brief flash of nudity in the movie. I was wrong. Not that it’s there for a ton of time, but still.)
Interestingly, my one real interaction with the film previous to this was on my mission, when a young woman in the branch asked me to draw her a picture of Leonardo and Kate. I happily complied, not having any idea the role drawing played in the movie. I don’t think I would have done that if I’d seen the movie. Not that there was anything salacious about it, but it definitely would have felt much more awkward had I known. (Yay for ignorance!)
Anyway. The country isn’t sinking at least, and we don’t have to worry about hypothermia any time soon, so if you’re looking for an “at least it isn’t that bad” sort of an escape, go ahead and give Titanic another shot. 9/10
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 24, 2020
Cult Classic Movie Review: Strange Brew
Look, people. We’re stuck at home for the next who knows how long. Desperate times call for desperate measures, so over the weekend, I hit the emergency button. I’d had it with all the doom and gloom, and I wanted to introduce my family to what has to be the most absurd Hamlet adaptation ever filmed.
I’m speaking, of course, of Strange Brew.
In a perfect world, this review would not be necessary, because everyone would already be aware of Strange Brew. In fact, I feel a little sheepish even writing this, because a big part of me wonders if the majority of you aren’t just rolling your eyes. “Strange Brew,” you’re saying. “What does he think we’ve done with our lives? Lived in a cave?” But considering the movie is something like 37 years old at this point, I’m thinking a significant number of you might not have just not seen Strange Brew. You don’t even know it exists.
Let me set the stage: two Canadian brothers decide to get free beer by taking a bottle of beer with a mouse in it to the Elsinore beer factory, claiming they bought it that way in the store. There, they discover something fishy’s afoot: the owner of the beer company died, and his wife married his brother soon after. Hilarity ensues.
There’s not really a way to encapsulate the true majesty of a movie about two brothers who just want to drink beer, and lots of it. It sounds inane, and it is. But it’s inanity raised to an art form. Rick Moranis(!) and Dave Thomas are perfection. They don’t just star in the movie. They wrote the movie. They didn’t just write the movie. They directed the movie. Talk about true auteurs. They even got Max von Sydow to play the villain.
If you haven’t heard of this movie before, don’t feel too bad. My first experience with it was going to a midnight movie showing of it at BYU my freshman year. My friends swore it was hilarious. I went along for the ride. They attended in full Bob & Doug costume: huge overcoats, knit hats, and t-shirts. It was a blast.
I was extremely pleased to see just how well the movie’s held up since then. It’s been a while since I watched it, and my expectations weren’t incredibly high. They were blown away, however. Zany fun throughout, with great one liners, and a plot that you keep thinking can’t get any more insane, until it does.
If you’ve never seen the movie before, and you’re up for some mindless fun that will really take your mind off the present blah, this is definitely worth the time. If you have seen it before, but it’s been a while, I encourage you to watch it again. My whole family loved it, except for MC, who thought it was too scary. So maybe . . . 10 and up? Assuming you’re okay with a movie that shows two people drinking beer almost constantly. 9/10
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 23, 2020
A Year of Perfect Crosswords
I started doing the New York Times crossword each day starting in May of 2018. I’ve kept the practice up since then, enjoying the time when I can just sit there and think through the puzzle and not think about anything else. It’s somehow therapeutic, in a way.
I’m also, quite frankly, hooked. The new puzzle releases at 10pm the night before each new day, and there are many (most) times when I wait up just to be able to do it as soon as it releases. Sleep? Who needs that when there’s a crossword to complete?
I also discovered that the NYT app gives you a gold star if you complete the puzzle without turning on the clue checker. If you just complete it late or with hints, you only get a blue star. Worse yet, they keep track of how many days in a row you’ve gotten the gold star. (Never mind the fact that they let subscribers peek at the answer key, so you could theoretically just copy the whole crossword every day.)
Because I’m always goal-oriented, I decided I wanted to get 365 gold stars in a row. An entire year of perfect crosswords. Today, I finally reached that goal, and (despite the fact that tomorrow’s puzzle is a Tuesday, and I’m sure I could get a gold star easily), I’ve also decided that I’m going to deliberately throw the puzzle tomorrow. That’s right: I’m going to get a blue star on purpose.
Why?
Because I don’t want to think about gold stars any more. It’s not a corona thing. I’m still planning on doing the crossword each day, but I don’t want to have to worry about gold or blue stars, and I think my low level OCD will be fine looking at my “Highest streak earned” as being “365” for the next ever.
Getting a gold star every day has not been easy, but it’s been more of a logistical challenge than a real one. I decided early on that I just don’t have the time to pound my head against each puzzle for hours on end. (Saturdays in particular can be really hard for me still.) So I often (gasp!) cheated when I needed to be done. Anything to get that gold star. Now, I’ll just turn on the auto check, and who cares about the color of the star? But beyond that, having access to the NYT crossword each day has been tough to always get. European vacation? Camping trips? Bad cellphone coverage? I came close to losing the streak all the time, and the closer I got to 365, the more I worried about it.
(Yes. I’m stupid. I worry about silly things. Just because I know it’s silly doesn’t mean I can force myself to stop worrying.)
So now, I’ve got the right number, and I can ride off into the crossword sunset. Hooray for that. (These days, even the small victories feel like big wins.)
Stay healthy, folks. And stay occupied!
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 20, 2020
Corona Beard
Church is canceled. I’m working at home. I’m not supposed to go out in public. And yesterday it occurred to me: the main reason I typically trim my beard is because I have to interact with people a lot of the time, and there are these things called “social norms” I typically try to follow. But I’ve always wondered just how far I could push my beard if I really let it go.
And you know what? I don’t have to worry about those social norms in a society where norms are more and more abnormal.
I last trimmed my beard in December, give or take. Around about the same time the Corona Virus started to spread in China. So I’ve decided to keep this beard going until the quarantine is lifted. I’m still going to take care of it and keep it up: it’s not like my plan is to turn into a walking bird’s nest. If for some reason, it turns out it’s dangerous to my health to have a beard, I suppose I’d have to cut it, but it’s going to have to be a real threat for me to do it. (There was this “cut your beard so you can use a face mask” message going around Facebook a week ago. I don’t need to use a face mask, so I won’t ditch my beard for that.)
We’ll see how long this beard gets. I personally am doubtful it will get to Gandalf levels of facial hair, but I’m not actually sure how long my beard can really get. Anyone have any guesses? Anyone else want to play along at home? Grow your own! Become a hermit! If we don’t come out of this looking like Robin Williams in Jumanji, we’re doing this quarantine all wrong, I say.
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 19, 2020
Navigating a New Work/Life Balance
Contrary to popular belief, I like to work. (Well, hopefully that’s not popular belief, but just in case it is . . .) I’m a fan of getting stuff done, and I’ve had years of experience figuring out what to do where, when, and how. (“Why” sometimes eludes me still.) I love the feeling of being “done” with work. Coming home for the day and knowing I was effective and efficient, and that I’m on top of things.
Enter COVID-19.
I’m now working from home, because while I view my work as important, I also recognize the bulk of it that isn’t direct staff supervision can be done on a computer or over the phone. And since for now, we’re all supposed to have as little direct contract with each other as possible . . . here I am at home.
But I’m discovering when I’m home all day long, I have a much harder time separating myself from my work. It’s hard to feel like it’s “finished.” I find myself checking email first thing when I wake up and last thing before I go to bed. You would think that being home, I’d be working less. Somehow, I feel like I’m working more. Some of that is probably because I have to take breaks now and then to go help the kids with their homework or solve a computer issue around the house. But all that does is make it so it’s hard for me to accurately gauge how much time I’m working. At work, if I take some time to go talk to a coworker or rest for a bit, I know I’m still at work. Still available for questions and issues that may arise. I’ve got years of practice knowing what the balance is.
That’s all out the window now, and I’m finding myself feeling much more drained the past few days than I should normally feel. Yes, some of that is because the world is exploding, but I think a good chunk is because I don’t know where the balance is anymore, and I really want to get it back as quickly as I can.
So what am I doing about it? For one thing, I’m trying to stick to my routine as best as I can. Wake up. Get writing done. Go to “work” by sitting at my desk at home, checking email, checking blogs, touching base with coworkers, etc. Banana at 11. Lunch at 12. Exercise then. I’m also trying to come up with things that I can do. Projects I can tackle to make it so I can see the progress I’m making throughout each day.
The university is in “spring break” until next Wednesday. What will things look like once that break is over? I have no idea. How many questions will start coming in via chat? How many problems will arise that I need to iron out? I’ll figure all of that out when it comes. For now, I’d just like to get to the point again where I can be done with work and set it out of my mind. Maybe that’s not anytime soon.
I know there are more important things to really be worried about right now. I know my job isn’t nearly as stressful as some. I’m not a doctor. I’m not saving the world at the moment. But a lot of my blog is about me, and this is where I am right now, mentally speaking. I have to assume I’m not alone.
Even if it feels that way sometimes now that I’m cut off so much from my coworkers . . .
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
March 18, 2020
Go Easy on Each Other
A general observation: we’re all under a lot of stress at the moment. We’re facing situations we’ve never even thought of handling, let alone already dealt with before. And as such, everyone is on a much shorter fuse than they normally are. I don’t just mean your family or your friends, but everyone you meet in the course of your day. Your kids’ teachers. Your professors. Your students. Your librarians. Your shopkeeper. Your dentist. Your church leaders. Your postal worker. Literally everyone you see is dealing with the same crap-o-la that’s making your own life so unpredictable.
So go easy on them.
Last night there was a local school board meeting live streamed. A Facebook page I run admin for turned into a little hotspot of activity as parents began to comment on and critique things that were happening at the meeting. And then they began to comment on and critique things that were happening in the Facebook thread. And then people in the meeting joined in the Facebook thread, and on and on it went. I sat there at 10pm, reading through all the comments, wondering what in the world I should do to stop it all. As I considered my options, I came to the conclusion that anything I did was going to be met with criticism, so in the end, I did nothing. I didn’t see anyone crossing the line into outright abuse, so I let it all be in the hope that it would calm down again.
And this was among a generally congenial group of people who typically were just sharing memes about the importance of teaching children. Yay schools! That sort of thing. But suddenly we’re all trying to figure out what in the world our schools are going to be like for our kids for the next however long, and it’s got tempers running really short.
I get the desire to have some clarity. To find some part of your life–any part of your life–where you can stop wondering “what if” and “what will happen when” and instead just know. Some of things things seem like they should be relatively simple decisions to make, but I guarantee you that they’re just as thorny as the decisions you’re finding yourself having to make in your own job and life. One of my friends called this period “the storm before the calm” right now, and I think that’s probably a good way to put it. We’re getting through a lot of tricky “how do we” debates right now. Once we iron that all out, then hopefully our routines at least can become a bit more regular and, well, routine.
Around Maine, most of the closures I’ve been reading about have said “Closed until the end of March.” I think we need to recognize this might be more like “Closed until the end of April,” and maybe even longer than that. There’s a significant chance we’re still dealing with this in fall, although I know you don’t want to hear that right now. I think it’s better to face things full on and recognize the time spent figuring out problems now will help us far beyond a week or two. I hope I’m wrong. I hope we all quarantined in time, and that after a bit of this, we can begin to identify who’s actually sick and who isn’t, and that life can get back to normal-ish, for values of “normal” that include “if you’re remotely sick, you’re tossed back into quarantine.” But I’m not a doctor, and I don’t know how all of this will work.
What I do know is that we’re all having a hard time, and the more slack we can cut everyone we meet and interact with, the better. In the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, “Be excellent to each other.”
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Like what you’ve read? Please consider supporting me on Patreon. Thanks to all my Patrons who support me! It only takes a minute or two, and then it’s automatic from there on out. I’ve posted the entirety of my book ICHABOD in installments, and I’m now putting up chapters from PAWN OF THE DEAD, another of my unreleased books. Where else are you going to get the undead and muppets all in the same YA package? Check it out.
If you’d rather not sign up for Patreon, you can also support the site by clicking the MEMORY THIEF Amazon link on the right of the page. That will take you to Amazon, where you can buy my books or anything else. During that visit, a portion of your purchase will go to me. It won’t cost you anything extra.
