Wed. Oct. 2, 2024: Herding Cats is Easier than Herding Eclipse Emotions

image courtesy of A Owen via pixabay.com

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

New Moon

Solar Eclipse

Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Uranus Retrograde

Partly Cloudy and pleasant

We are already at midweek. How did that happen?

Yesterday was stressful. Management needs to come in today to check some water something, so we had to set that up. And of course, I have a production meeting this afternoon, and the two cannot happen simultaneously.

I took my mom to the popup COVID clinic to get her vaccine. We HAVE to now download the information from the state’s website instead of them filling out the vaccine cards, which is bullshit.

It was the Moderna, so it’s a good thing I already decided I wasn’t going to have mine done, or I would down until the end of next week.

Ran errands on the way home, and got my mom settled in with a lot of water. She said she barely felt the shot at all this time. They were very, very nice at the clinic.

Felt off the charts stressed in ratio to the daily whatevers and realized, hey, there’s an eclipse coming up – of course I’m feeling things out of proportion. Deep breath. I mean, my stress response to absolutely everything was out of proportion to the actual situation.

Got the book review out the door before we left, and got my next assignment.

Spent some time marketing.

One of the things I’m reminded by the stories of people in the flood zones is how important it is to have some cash on hand. In some of the A4A workshops these preceding months, I was joking about having an escape fund in a shoebox (which we were told isn’t making the money work for us), but really, especially with the power grid more and more fragile, cash on hand matters. It’s something to think about as I work on my financial plan for next year (with thanks to what I learned in these workshops). While we tried to handle physical cash as little as possible during COVID, we also need to think in terms of having something on hand for disasters.

Along with the emergency fund we’re supposed to build and investments we’re supposed to have, and the way most of us are underpaid, it’s a lot. But it’s something to keep in mind.

Got us fed for lunch and my mom settled in the afternoon to rest. Started work on a coverage, but didn’t get very far. Since I pushed so hard on Monday, my brain just had trouble yesterday. It needed a rest.

The script development program where I tried to withdraw since I applied (and the website had no contact information) rejected me, which saved me from having to tell them I couldn’t accept a slot. A one-act was rejected from a festival in Georgia, but with a very nice letter.

I applied for a script development program over in Northampton that would happen next year. And I heard back from a company where I’d submitted the first 10 pages of a script to an open submission call that they liked those pages and would like to see the rest of the script, so I will get that off today.

I also have to settle on a quote from TAPESTRY and get that author interview out the door today.

Corporate media is, of course, spinning the VP debate for clicks instead of reporting on the actual event. Blech. So tired of them. I’m starting to think Vance is some sort of poorly programmed android. AI at its worst? Only half-joking here. Walz is someone who is trustworthy and stalwart, with compassion, a brain, a heart.

I did something fun – my name is travelling in a time capsule to Antarctica! Matty Jordan, a New Zealander who works down there, and who I follow on Instagram (because I know nothing about what it’s like to work on a base in Antarctica and it’s fascinating) posted about the chance to be part of this time capsule. I figured why not try? And I’m all signed up. The vessel, the RRS Sir David Attenborough, will send virtual “postcards” along the way. It leaves on October 13 from Harwich, UK and goes to the Rothera research station – 8200 nautical miles. It’s exciting!

My mom woke up this morning feeling absolutely awful. I dosed her with some more liquid Tylenol and lots of water. I will take care of both of our morning chores this morning, and give the bathroom a quick scrub down before maintenance gets here. I mean, we keep it clean anyway, but you know. It can always be cleaner.

Maintenance in the morning, taking care of my mom, getting more Tylenol and cat food in, and then the big production meeting this afternoon. If it gets out in time for me to go to tarot (and my mom is well enough for me to leave), I will go. Otherwise, I’ll stay home. In and around all of that, I need to get some marketing and some writing and some coverage work done.

I’m so tired of all these sites talking about “major energy shifts” every damn time something trucks along in its orbit. Can we please just have a few months of steady peace and quiet? We’re all exhausted.

Have a good one!