Blog

[random-image attachmentids=”820,821,822,823,824,825,826,827,828,829,830,831,832,833,834,835,836,837,838,839,840,841,842,843,844,845,846,847,848,849,851,852,853,854,855,856,857,858,859,860,861,862,863,864,865,866,867,868,869,870,871,872,873″]

“When the world is running down, you make the best of what’s still around.”  That Police song comes into my mind often these days.  As my car slowly disintegrates, my various devices go on the fritz, and medical and dental appointments are put off for some hypothetical point in the future when I have a humane health insurance plan, it’s natural to view the world beneath my feet as fragmenting.  My skills, such as they are, are… let’s just say undervalued by the current market.  Having a published book and a thousand Twitter followers are nice baubles, ornamentations, but they do not do much to fasten that world, my world, together.  Like anyone else, I need money to survive, but the freelancing editing gigs are not quite adding up to survival level.  Hence, as insane as it sounds, my figuring that if I can just get this novel done, it will help to fix everything.  And, I don’t know, getting a video series off the ground too.  In the meantime, I’ll be seeing if I can dredge up some more freelance opportunities.

Today’s Deeds
Edited Benjamin chapter — +1 Fin, 40 GP
Found new freelancing opportunities — 30 GP
Wrote 1000 words — +1 Inv, 50 GP
Did freelance editing — +1 Fin, 60 GP
GP subtraction — -120 GP

[random-image attachmentids=”820,821,822,823,824,825,826,827,828,829,830,831,832,833,834,835,836,837,838,839,840,841,842,843,844,845,846,847,848,849,851,852,853,854,855,856,857,858,859,860,861,862,863,864,865,866,867,868,869,870,871,872,873″]

It’s odd that the hardest deadlines to meet are often those that I set myself, for myself.  Answering to others’ preplanned deadlines seems to be easier due to the fear of letting someone down. Now when I set my own deadline for something I’m working on for someone else, it can go awry because I have a tendency to underestimate the amount of time that something will take.  Call it the great human folly of overoptimism, at least regarding my own production speed.

6/7 Deeds
Did freelance editing — 30 GP
Went to work at paper — 60 GP
Read 100 pages — 30 GP
Ran an errand — +1 Dut, 20 GP
GP subtraction — -22 GP

6/8 – 6/10 Deeds — camping
+1 Gen – spent time with friends
+1 Sta – went for walks

6/10 Deeds postcamping
Wrote 1000 words — +1 Inv, 50 GP
Finished editing my Chapter 4 — +1 Fin, 50 GP

One of the few disadvantages of living in a picturesque downtown, as I do now, is that one’s practical needs are harder to fulfill.  Today I was able to find tucked amid the thousand boutiques and chichi restaurants an office supply store that stocked 40-watt light bulbs.  When I asked the elderly women running the place if there was a place nearby that could copy keys, they told me I was out of luck.  Apparently there used to be four hardware stores downtown, in elder times, and now there were none.  (The place on Daniel Street with purported Tuesday and Wednesday hours “by chance” doesn’t really count.)  The office supply store started carrying lightbulbs because people wanted them, and it was literally a competitor-free sector of the market.

Times change.  Then again, who wants four hardware stores in a five-block town?

Today’s Deeds
Did work at paper — 60 GP
Did freelance editing — 30 GP
Read 100 pages — 30 GP
Ran an errand — 20 GP
Uploaded Tiki Hut video — 20 GP
Went for a run with Jane — +1 Sta, 20 GP
GP subtraction — -138 GP

A thought on Scott Walker’s holding off the recall in Wisconsin.  Overall, it sucks, and I would have liked to see the guy go.  However, I think we Democrats have gotten far too knee-jerk about supporting unions, in particular teachers’ unions.  In the education world, the pendulum has swung back, and teachers’ unions have become one of the greatest obstacles to fixing a broken system.  Read Class Warfare by Steven Brill; see Waiting for “Superman.”

Today’s Deeds
Did freelance editing — 30 GP
Caught the system up — 30 GP
Did cleaning and other duties — +1 Dut, 15 GP
Wrote 1000 words — +1 Inv, 50 GP
Completed project on time — 20 GP
Read 50 pages — 15 GP
GP subtraction — -122 GP