Tues. Feb. 20, 2024: Tick Tock, On the Clock
image courtesy of Alexa via pixabay.comTuesday, Feb. 20, 2024
Waxing Moon
Partly cloudy and cold
I hope you had a great weekend.
Today’s serial episode is from Legerdemain.
Episode 165: The Corpse Talker and the Fake Singer
Corpse Talker Ren Foster pushes his limits to get Shelley answers. And then there’s that mechanical eyeball flying around.
I was saddened and angered to hear about Navalny’s death in Russia. I hoped he would prevail. The Republicans are, no doubt, celebrating. Someone said Republicans should be scared, because it could happen to them, but until it starts happening to them, they won’t believe it. They won’t even believe it as they take their dying breaths. Because they think they are superior, when in reality, they are convenient to those even worse above them.
Wrote one episode and a bit of a second episode of VICIOUS CRITIC.
Then it was time to go to the grocery store, where I adjusted what I expected to buy with what was there and looked good. Re-doing next week’s meal plan on the fly. Did a drop off/pick up at the library. 17 books waiting for me, a bunch of them cookbooks, a bunch more about Susan Glaspell via Commonwealth Catalogue. I laughed because one was from MCLA. Had I known they had it, I would have walked across the street and checked it out with my community card, rather than having it go through the system to the public library.
Mailed a few things at the post office. Stopped by the skeezy liquor store that’s not too far away. It wasn’t that bad, and they were perfectly nice, but I am less than pleased with the selection.
Hauled everything up the stairs and put it away. Sorted the library books. Did some admin. Did some Scholastic Contest reading. Wrote and submitted a book review and asked to grab some more before the long weekend. Got paid by the coverage agency. Did some laptop/printer research. Got my next two review assignments. Finished the partially written episode of VICIOUS CRITIC I’d started earlier in the day.
It snowed on and off all day Saturday. My brain needed a break, so I gave it one. I let a couple of proposals simmer in my brain. The grant check arrived, so I walked down to the bank to deposit it. That was faster than digging out the car. Did stuff around the house, but mostly, I was cat furniture and read. Read a couple of mysteries that were cute, but oversimplified. Read another that was more complex, but the author was so excited about some of the research that there was too much explanation posing as dialogue on subjects that were tangential to the main story.
While all this was going on, I made vegetable stock (my odds and ends bag was bursting), roasted a chicken for dinner, and then made chicken stock. So, we are stocked for stock for the next couple of weeks! I use it up pretty fast, between soups and using it instead of water to cook whatever it is I’m cooking.
Had disturbing dreams from Saturday into Sunday, but felt reasonably well rested on Sunday morning. Sorted seeds for planting. I’ll pick up some more potting soil this week. I hope, by the end of the week, to order the Black-eyed Susan vine plants.
Had a lot of trouble with the computer on Sunday. Usually, I’m offline on Sundays, but since I hadn’t written at all on Saturday, I needed to get some work done on Sunday, and getting things running properly was not fun.
The sooner I can get the new laptop and get this one into repair, the better off I’ll be.
I drafted two episodes of LEGERDEMAIN, which were fun. My reward for that was working on THE VICIOUS CRITIC. I only meant to do one episode, but it flowed so well, I wrote two.
I turned around some coverage score sheets. I should have worked on the videos for this week, but didn’t feel like it, so I did not. Which, of course, came to bite me in the butt on Monday (because, seriously, I should have taken care of it on Friday).
I worked on the writing calendar for March and April. I need to get ahead on Legerdemain, which I can do the last week of February, on the Legerdemain-centric week, provided I cough up all the episodes I need to do that week. I need to get much farther ahead than I have been; I’m writing too close to deadline, and that means it’s not as tight as I’d like. In March, I think I’m going to skip working on REP, but do two weeks, back-to-back, on LIGHTHOUSE LADY so I can either finish it, or be very close to finishing it. I need to be able to start editing it in April, and start uploading and scheduling episodes by the end of April. It’s going to be more than the original, projected 30 episodes. I’m figuring between 50-60, but I’d be happy if it came in at less. I don’t need VICIOUS CRITIC done until August, but if it keeps flowing well, it might be done earlier than that, and then it can rest. I’m almost halfway through the outline, and a little over a third of the way through the story. I’m figuring it will run close to what the first big arc in DEADLY DRAMATICS ran, which was 64 episodes. I’m figuring between 64-70 episodes. I don’t want it to go beyond that.
Finished two books for review. Wrote the review for the cookbook, and planned to write the other two reviews on Monday.
Read a critical study of Susan Glaspell and Sophie Treadwell’s work. The Treadwell material was new to me and interesting. The Glaspell was the same information as the biography I just read (and by the same author), re-shaped for this format. I started another biography, by a different author, and that seems more promising.
I’m getting a little tired of reading that Jig Cook, Susan’s husband, was a “genius.” I’m especially tired of reading it from Glaspell’s female biographers. From what I’ve read, across multiple types of material over the years, Cook was an alcoholic manic-depressive egotist with ADHD. He was a driving force at the start of the small theatre movement, but he was not the only reason it happened. If he actually was supportive of Glaspell’s work and believed in it, as claimed, then he wouldn’t have constantly interrupted her to demand she drop her work and join him on whatever half-assed new venture he attempted. It wasn’t just that he was of his time and that’s what was expected. He claimed to want to build a more just and equitable society, but in practice, that was only if it didn’t inconvenience him. His ego was greater than his talent.
Oh, to have the confidence of a mediocre white man.
Slept well Sunday into Monday, although there were odd dreams. Some more snow fell overnight, just a bit, and it was very windy.
Had lots of computer issues at the start of Monday.
I found out that the latest Windows 11 update included and automatically turned on the Copilot AI bot. Someone on Bluesky gave directions to turn it off, and reminded me to restart the computer and then check. Low-tech me managed to get it turned off and it stayed turned off. On top of that, the computer is running better. The person who posted the information suggested checked after every Windows update, but I’ll probably check it more frequently than that, to make sure it stays turned off.
Monday morning was a fight between what I “should” be doing and what I “wanted” to do.
“Wanted” won and I wrote an episode of THE VICIOUS CRITIC, then headed out to get more ink for the printer. Because the Canon inkjet is always running out of ink.
I also grabbed an inexpensive egg-shaped platter for devilled eggs, because I broke my good one a few weeks ago, and haven’t been able to find a good replacement. I have one, maybe two more in storage, but they’re in storage, and I need them here. So I’ll keep my eyes open at thrift shops and Home Goods and the like for something that’s pretty and within the budget. Preferably ceramic or glass, rather than plastic, like this temporary replacement.
Came home, wrote another episode of THE VICIOUS CRITIC. The story flows well, and I don’t want to lose it. I should have been working on REP, but VC was the one demanding attention.
I took care of some admin and email. I wrote up two more reviews, submitted three reviews, invoiced, was paid, and received my next two review assignments. I did one long coverage and one short coverage, and a few more popped up in my queue, for today and tomorrow.
We filled out our mail-in ballots for the primary.
My mom’s blood pressure machine isn’t working properly, so I have to take it to CVS. Bet I have to buy a new one today, because they don’t have the class or customer service to fix/replace it.
Had a weird dream that woke me up at 2 AM, and then had trouble getting back to sleep. Of course, once I did, I overslept. The cats were not amused.
Today, I have a LOT of errands to run: post office, ballot box. CVS. I need to pick up a few things in Williamstown that are supposedly back in stock, then come back, wrap them, and go back to the post office to get them on their way. I need to get some writing done in and around all of that, plus at least two and preferably more script coverages. Plus, some reading for the Scholastic contest – we are in the final days of that.
I also have two hours of yoga tonight, so I’m going to set up the slow cooker and have a meal ready when I get home.
Have a good one!
