Tues. Feb. 11, 2025: Skating Between Projects

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Day Before Full Moon

Mars Retrograde

Cloudy and very cold

Whew! I hope you had a good weekend, and haven’t been hit too hard with what I call “the Februaries.” It was back down to 9F when I woke up this morning.

I was happy, on Friday, to discover a direct deposit for a small job I wasn’t expecting for another week. That took some pressure off. I spoke to the ghostwriting team; we don’t need to do an official amended contract, they move dates frequently, but were glad I asked. I contacted my elected officials (twice, about two related but different issues). Reports are that the Teenage Mutant Incels (coined by Stephen Colbert, also called “Traitor Tots” by others) are screaming at staffers and hitting things. If they act like spoiled toddlers, TREAT them that way. At least metaphorically give them a good spanking. Caught up on some emails. Did a bunch of admin. Received a refund from the vendor, who refuses to complete the order, even though said vendor is still listing the item on their site. I will avoid them in the future.

Finished reading the second Lynley book by Elizabeth George, PAYMENT IN BLOOD, which was very good.

Turned around a script coverage. Spent too much time doomscrolling.

Put on Real People Clothes and some makeup, and hiked down to Eagle Street. Rough drafted a ten-minute play in my head on the walk down, that’s relevant to what’s going on. I saw my friend’s opening (very good), and ran into some people from tarot. Went to an opening further down the street, at the gallery where I’ll be included in the group show in summer. They had a really good exhibit going on. The friend with the first opening had a piece in this, along with another acquaintance.

Came home, heated up some leftovers, read. Found out the Public Art Commission meeting is not happening on Monday; I will try to keep track on the town’s calendar to see when it is. Talked to the councilor about our next steps.

I’ve been floating some test balloons in conversations to see who can be trusted with what information, and it’s been interesting. The basic categories are:

Constitution Shredders

Those Who Would Turn in Anne Frank

Those Who Stand By (aka Cowards)

Those Who Try To Ignore (and will pay a steep price)

Mediators

Quiet Disruptors

Those Who Walk Their Talk/Stand By Their Values

Constitution Warriors

It’s important information to see where people slot in, and know that people are likely to move slots. Which way they move has a lot to do with our safety moving forward. Information on where you stand to each individual, and with what you can trust them/how far is vital.

I have the most distrust of those who stand by and those who try to ignore, keeping an eye on mediators, too, and adjust my interactions accordingly. But it’s always interesting to see how people respond to test balloons. Talk about a psychological experiment.

By the time I woke up on Saturday, the snow forecast had risen to at least 10 inches, and the city declared a snow emergency.

I ran a couple of errands, including a short library run (without the rolly cart). Got tucked back in at home fast. I’m not usually a snacker, but I craved snacks, so I picked some up at the store at the bottom of the street. I had my pre-storm headache, worse than usual. Played with the cats. Read. Relaxed. Pondered the rest of the anthology story and rearranged a few things in my head. Read Kaye Ballard’s memoir as background for a project and jotted some notes.

Cooked a comfort food dinner and read well into the evening. Learned that my Mastodon instance is shutting down, so I have to find a new one and migrate everything. Not looking forward to it. Researched instances. The one that seems best suited is invitation-only right now. I should have switched over to it when that misogynistic dude on my instance started trouble a year or so ago.

Up early on Sunday, made (American) biscuits for breakfast. It was steadily snowing. It was pretty, but it was a lot of snow. Read the two books for review and played with the cats. Wrote the Community Tarot Reading for the Week and the GDR piece on daydreaming and scheduled them to post. Made up a recipe for dinner, and it worked.

I probably should have dug out the car in the late afternoon when the snow stopped, but I didn’t want to.

Skipped the Super Bowl, because I don’t care, especially since That Thing was there, and I resent footing the bill. I did, however, watch footage of the halftime show on Monday. Well done. Kendrick Lamar’s content and performance were outstanding. And Samuel L. Jackson? Sublime. They had excellent tech, too, which made a difference. The precision from all the performers and the overall quality, including and especially what the performance said, was outstanding. I haven’t appreciated a halftime show that much since Prince in 2007. We owe Kendrick Lamar and Samuel L. Jackson a lot of thanks. If you haven’t seen it yet, go find the full video. NOW. “This is bigger than the music” he raps, and he is right. The man has a Pulitzer Prize along with his 22 Grammy awards, the production was IATSE, and it had a backbone. The choreography was terrific, too. That halftime show is an absolute master class in layered context, symbolism, and craft. It’s an amazing fusion of lyrics, visual, and multi-layered meaning.

Rap and hip-hop are a form of poetry, with strong structure and commitment to imagery, rhythm, and metre. There’s plenty of rap I don’t like, especially the misogynistic “women are whores” subgenre. But when it’s done well, it’s a powerful storytelling device. And the storytelling in each of these songs is exquisite.

Slept reasonably well, and up around the usual time Monday morning. Fed the cats, got my act together, and humped the laundry down in the rolly cart to the laundromat. I considered waiting until tomorrow, but everything will freeze over tomorrow night, and more storms are expected, so I figured I should get it done on Monday. Two loads, and back by 8 AM, which isn’t too bad.

Folded everything and got it put away. Did a bunch of admin. Prepped for the first library cohort meeting. It was all of us introducing ourselves; there are 24 of us. An interesting group. I’m curious to see where it leads. There’s another member from the Berkshires, so once the weather gets better and my car is fixed, we might get together in person. We have to be on Discord, which I am not looking forward to having/messing up the computer again.

Moved instances on Mastodon, which was easier than I expected, thanks to advice from colleagues on Mastodon. I am now @DevonEllington@writing.exchange, since bbq.snoot.com is shutting down in a few months. I think I’ve successfully migrated everything over there, and I’m trying to get oriented. It still took time, but there wasn’t much swearing and muttering going on. I’m getting a warm welcome over there, and a big follower bump, which is nice.

Wrote and submitted two book reviews. By the time I got them done, it was too late to ask for my next assignment, so I will do it today.

Had to rip out part of the anthology story, and have to rework it. I made a stupid error, and can’t just adjust. I have to rip out a whole section and reconstruct it.

It started snowing again in the afternoon, so I did not go out to dig out the car. I will try at some point today, although I’m worried it will have all frozen down.

The damn smoke alarm, which I thought I’d unplugged, started it’s “error” message every 60 seconds. I climbed up on a tall stool (highly unsafe) and yanked it down. Hopefully, maintenance will replace it soon. Again. What is this? The 6th time now, in the past few months?

Read David B. Coe’s HIS FATHER’S EYES, the second Justiss Fearsson book, which is very well done.

I wrote and submitted both book reviews, but it was too late to request a new assignment (the third book, which is a cookbook in print, hasn’t yet arrived). I will get in touch with my editor this morning.

Still waiting for the revision notes on the ghostwriting project, and still no coverages showing up.

Two big grants I considered are now cancelled, so that’s off the table. I still have 3 to write between now and mid-March. There’s also a new grant out of Creative Capital (along with the other one in which I’m interested), so I will attend a virtual information session at the end of the month and see what’s what.

Slept well, up at the normal time, got the cats fed. Tripped over Bea in the dark, and now she doesn’t want anything to do with me.

The Public Art Commission meeting was moved to Thursday night, but I’m already committed to the Library Trustees meeting. This morning, I have to be in touch with the Mayor’s office about these two committees, per my promise to the town councilor who recommended me to them. I also have to break through on the anthology story and work on my slides for the screenwriting workshop. I want to get out some LOIs, and will do the daily rounds of my elected officials. Hopefully, I’ll get my next reviewing assignment, and also do some work on contest entries. I need to send off homework to the library cohort and a slide presentation to the artist cohort.

PowerPoint has removed the design feature for slides. There’s still something called “design” but all it does is fill in background. Microsoft Office gets worse and worse.

It’s supposed to snow again today, and then more on Thursday. I like living in a place with seasons, and this is part of it.

Have a good one!