Chef L

Happy Halloween!
The final day of October has arrived and because it is in the middle of the week it has made it rather confusing.  It feels like today should be a Friday and tomorrow a Monday since it will be the first of the month but the benefit is that tomorrow will be Thursday and I'll not have to start the week over.  I mean I will next week but then I'll have another weekend in-between and that will work out fine.
But today is Halloween.  I went over to Sonny and Selma's house last evening to make some fitting alterations to Mr. L's costume.  The apron was slightly too big and the hat too small.  It didn't take long to snip and re-sew and come up with a more fitted version.  Selma had sent a picture this morning before the alterations were completed and I thought he looked just fine. 
Now I don't normally post pictures...with people...but he will probably grow up and not look like this after a while...maybe...so I couldn't resist.

Look at that knife action!  He's a natural and now that the apron has been shortened and the hat given a little more width to the headband it sits on his head very nicely.

Happy Halloween!

TT

Make time

Have you ever been at the point that you are ready to start something that you have been thinking about and working on?  You have finally done the research and the preparations and you are at the point where you feel confident enough to begin again and get going?  You have left the anxiety and doubts that were floating around long enough for you to separate the real from the imagined and you can start working?  Well, maybe you haven't exactly separated everything completely but you've put aside the imagined for a while.  And then what happens?
Life.
Can't start yet because I have to do this.  Can't do it now because that just came up.  It will need to wait until I finish the other thing. 
Are they excuses?  Not all of them.  Some, yes, maybe so.  But, blast, dang.  When I look toward my week I might lose half of it.  I only have so much time from when I get home to fit so many things in and that's after a full day of work.  I couldn't get more organized and ready.  I couldn't be better at time management and yet it's still slipping away.  I guess it's better to be ready to start and get going than to have the time and not start.  So I'll have to bide my time and pounce when I get the opportunity.  Besides, there is no perfect time...
except now and when you can make it.
TT 

Not really blah

I am not ready to go into work.  It's winding up to be about the time I need to head out the door and I'm dragging my feet.  It's probably Monday morning blahs except that I don't feel blah-ish about anything except having to leave.  How's that for spoiled.
I think the best thing to do is make the best of it.  Stop being blah-ish and get the day going and I'll be back here in a few hours.  Then how will I use my time?  There it is...
It's up to me.
TT

Baby Sous Chef

It's been a while since I was tasked with creating a Halloween Costume for a small child.  Let's face it.  My two sons are no longer small or children any longer.  But, they know I have done it in the past and I might still have a few sewing skills even if I don't use them very often. 
Sonny and Selma asked if I could sew up a simple costume for Mr. L.  Their little one is all of 10 months old already and they decided they would like him to be Daddy's Bloody Baby Sous Chef.  So he would need to be dressed appropriately and who better to put together a custom outfit than...well, me.
This morning I put it all together.  I had an idea of how to do it.  I had already purchased a yard which was too much material but for $1.50 I couldn't see asking for only 1/2 a yard.  It went fairly smoothly and having taken care of Mr. L last weekend I had pulled out my measuring tape to down-size everything.  I mean, do you know any 10 month old Sous Chefs?  You can't exactly buy their outfits off the rack.  So this is how it turned out....

Simple.  Miniature.  I'm thinking I need to embroider his name at the top right hand area of the apron.  I mean, why not?  It's custom-made for him anyway. 
TT 

Work table

 

I turned my chair around to face the wall behind me.  I turned away from my desk with my laptop and the windows before me.  I was just taking a break, a moment, with a cup of coffee in my hands.

 

It's an ordinary work table.  Cleared off, neat, but with me all over it.

 

What do I see?  Running medals, food handling certificate, index cards and writing notes.  Binders filled to read of my writing, a yard of white material for a small piece I will be sewing and a Ouija board.  Of course.   Because there is always the maybe, suspicion, and mystery.

Insert smile here.

TT

 

Check

It's a little too cool this morning but I've got a fresh, hot, cup of black, black coffee in my favorite milk chocolate brown mug.  Will it turn into one of those Saturdays I can sit quietly and hit some keyboards?  I mean the kind of keyboard I am using right now although if I went downstairs I could tickle some real ivories.  I don't know how that would work out.  It's been a while since I attempted to play those keys.
It's been a while since I've attempted the keyboard in front of me, too.  Or so it seems.

I was clearing out and organizing the files on my laptop and I found a few stray documents that I must have started and saved because I ran out of time.  They were only a few sentences and I trashed them until I came upon one that was a few sentences of dialogue.  I had written it about two months ago and although I slightly remember it I don't have any idea where I was going with it.  I decided since I wasn't doing anything else I expanded on it.  Over the last 4 or 5 days I've taken it from a few sentences to about 1500 words.  That isn't a whole lot but considering zero to fifteen hundred is really more than I would have had if I left it a few days ago it isn't so bad. 
I still don't know where it is going.  It seems to be just another exercise for me.  I decided to write it in first person and let the character be as spontaneous as she wants even if she comes off a little off.  I'm also not thinking about it too much.  That might be the best part of the exercise.  I'm thinking it's title might even be Imaginary Lines but that is just a working title and I'll change my mind about it later.  I also don't think it will be full length.  Maybe, much shorter - I'm thinking 100-150 pages?  Listen to me.  And I said I hadn't been thinking about it.
Actually, what I was thinking was I need to go back and revise the first chapter of my completed draft.  I know I have to go back and make that opening more believable.  I know where to start and I know what I have to do and I think I need to get working on it.
This might be the perfect Saturday.  It's a little too cool.  I have my steaming cup of hot, black coffee.  I need to hit some keyboards.
Sounds like I have the perfect checklist for me to get going.
TT  

T-o-o l-o-n-g

I finally finished reading a book.  It's been f-o-r-e-v-e-r.  Before starting this book I had been in such a place I absolutely couldn't read without turning it into a piece of research.  There was no going off and spending hours (or two or three) reading for the pure enjoyment of skimming through words that took me away and let me go to places I wasn't, with people I don't know.  I would get to know them by the end of the book but that was the fun of it.  Except that I couldn't do that.  The words and sentences and descriptions would be things I needed to remember to do or things I did not want to do later when I was writing.  So I had to stop reading because it wasn't the fun past time anymore but more work.  And it was a very negative experience because there were all sorts of flaws with everything I read because I knew there were 100,000 things wrong with everything I wrote.  Talk about bad attitude.  How could I possibly go on without being able to read?  It was agonizing.
Somehow, it went away a few days ago and I was able to read an entire book without that heavy stigma of picking it to death to learn lessons that it wasn't written to give me. 
And now I've finished the book.  And now I can start another.  I'm looking forward to it because that's what I do.  Finish one book - immediately start another.  Finally!  It's been a month!  It's been f-o-r-e-v-e-r!
TT 

Might need three minutes

Hmmm.

Wait.  I'm thinking. 
Give me a minute.  Okay, maybe I need two.  Sorry, I'm not focused this morning and my mind wants to wander off to other things although those other things are of no significance and can probably wait.  Lie.  I know they can wait.  They can not only wait but they don't even need to be done.  I'm just filling up time with non-substantials.  I think it's called a waste of time.  Hmmm.
I'm going to open another document.  One I can actually focus and work on.  At least if that's a waste of time I might have something to show for it.
Huh?
TT

What time

I am letting this month become it's own self-fulling prophecy of speeding away at an incredible forward motion.  It was a mistake to say at the beginning of this month that it would soon be over.  I should never have acknowledged that fact.  I probably shouldn't ever have mentioned it.  Now it is coming true.
They say that if you think it, if you can imagine it, that it will happen.  Well, well...who the hell are they and how do they know these things when no one seems to know who they are?  But that's a different subject.  Is it really true that if you think it and imagine it that it might actually become a possibility?  Or that it might happen?
There must be degree's of how much you think about it and how that affects the chances of it happening.  The more it's in the forefront of my mind the more it could occur.  If I only think about it sometimes than the likelihood is less?  Oh boy.  I don't have time to go into all the avenue's this might take me.  The month is slipping away from me.  The more I think about it the less time I have.
I've got to stop thinking about that!  It's eatin' away all my time!
TT   

Awake

My laptop seems to want to drag today.  It's slow, its taking longer than usual to pull up a page, it is noticibly clocking.  It just can't seem to catch up.  It should be going faster.  There are four pages open and it should be clicking through these like 1-2-3.  Four.
I think it might have been me not giving it a chance to fully wake up.  I have that bad habit.  I have no account for things that aren't moving along as soon as they are up and on their feet.  It might be my own bad habit of being fully awake as soon as I get up.  Morning person, glaring you in the face.  Not only morning person but pretty much pre-dawn person.  How could anyone or anything not drag a bit when I boot it up while it still thinks it's midnight?
I think my laptop might have caught up to me now.  Maybe it had time to shake the fog from it's brain or hard drive.  It finally realized I wouldn't back away now but I would go away in a bit and it could hibernate again.  Maybe now I can get back to those other pages...
TT 

Remember?

I remember when Disney was really a Disney. When it was powered by the visions of a man named Walt. It was when Sunday evenings turned into The Wonderful World of Color and Tinker Bell swept across the screen in a yellow haze of trailing pixie-dust. It drew me in and told me stories. It took old fantasies and made them bright and memorable. It also took old ways of doing things and made them innovative. It would break down the process and show how a pencil sketch could move and turn and run and talk. It showed how it became a character with dress and mannerisms and voice. It led me through the stage door of the possibilities of imagination and creativity.

I have always had my favorite classic Disney movie. Sleeping Beauty was always at the top of the list. Oddly enough for me, it wasn't because of the blond princess, Aurora. She was fine and there would have been no story without her but for me it was always about the bad guy in this particular story. It was about the Mistress of all evil, Maleficent. She was the beautifully regal and slighted participant of the story. She first appears at the christening of the newly born, Aurora, with a gust of wind and green flames. She had a cultured voice and intimidating style. She certainly made her point about her lack of invitation to the event. How much more power could an animated character portray than her? You feel the absolute tension in the room - part fear, part intimidation, part why didn't they invite her and part well, would anyone have?

I guess I’m being nostalgic about things from my long past.  I don’t know what triggered me to remember those Sunday evenings but I do.  I think they played a big part in the whole process of reading or watching something that could draw me in so completely.  It made me want to do that when I was on stage working in community theatre.  I remember a compliment after a performance once when someone told me they had been in tears during one of my scenes.  It was the best thing I could have heard.  I pulled them in and they believed the story.  They forgot about me and got caught up with what was being portrayed.  They escaped and I helped them do it.

I have my original Disney favorites.  I won’t ever forget those Sunday evenings.  They sparked some passions and creativity in me I might never have had without those visions from long past.  I can’t really be sure of that, but for whatever reason, I thought about it today and had to mention it.  I bet everyone has something like what I had with those Sunday evenings.
TT

Choose positive

I had set a goal for myself to do a quick, entire, rewrite of my first draft by 10/27/12.  I do well with deadlines even if I knew this one was aggressive.  I purposely set it that way with the idea I would push it as far as I could and see where I ended up by that date.  I knew it would be tough but I wanted to stay focused and get as much done as I could.  I knew it would need another revision afterward but I felt the benefits of working on it this way would produce a better overall product and it would be done timely.
Well, it's 10/20/12. 
I managed to get through the first few chapters.  Then I had to stop.  I was having more mental warfare with myself about the story itself and how terribly weak it was/is.  I needed to stop and re-think and start again.  And that is where life itself stepped in and blocked all possibility of me even thinking about writing.  Yes.  I have put a few things up here, but how little it told of the total distraction and emotion that was going on behind these posting walls.  But that is now all past and my attitude has made a huge positive turn-around on putting things in new order.  And it's startling how powerful a positive view of things-to-come can influence achieving in bad situations.
So, now that is all past... 
It's a beautiful Saturday morning.  I have a full day ahead of me and so many things to choose to do.  How splendid is that?
TT

Free advertising

I will be baking a batch of my PC cookies this weekend.  They will need to be delivered to a local magazine office for a photo shoot.  They need to be ready for their close-up!
I was contacted by an editor of the city magazine that is doing a feature on Christmas cookies.  She wants to include one of my cookies with five other cookie-makers/bakers to be included in the story.  After talking to her, we decided to use the PC cookie since she didn't think anyone else had that type of cookie and it has the perfect holiday colors of red and green from the pistachios and cranberries.  I thought that made perfect sense (especially since I was the one that pointed it out).  I had to write a short blurb which I didn't understand since she's the expert but I put something together and sent it off to her.
This is coming off the heels of me being contacted to be included in the local entertainment.com coupon booklet.  You know the ones...the big book of coupons you buy that contain all kinds of discounts for a multitude of products and services.  I was offered to have a coupon included for free as a new business.  I checked the contract and it's no cost to me except to honor the coupons.  Not a bad investment for advertising I'd say...how can zero be a bad idea?
So, a simple batch of beautiful cookies is what I need to do.  Not exactly a very time-consuming or labor intensive task for the benefit!  Who'd have thought?!
TT

Next question

I used most of my time this morning before work taking a running survery on-line.  I guess I was giving them the right answers because it took longer than most I have taken in the past.  It wasn't because I had to mull over the answers but there were more screens of questions that would come up once I answered the previous.  I guess whatever way I answered a question would trigger another question.  Luckily, I might have saved a little time by answering negative to the one about what energy/protein bar I've used in the past two years (none) or what energy drink I use (none).  It was an honest answer because coffee wasn't included in those choices.  I'm sure if I had checked one brand I would have had another screen to tell them more about the drink or bar.  I mean, why not?  They asked about the shoes I bought, the gear I use, the brands I buy, and where and how much they cost.  They did also ask about the miles I run, where, how long, how much and why.  They asked about the number of races I've participated in, what I planned on participating in and whether cost, location or charity had any bearing in my choices.  I guess an overall good survey.  It certainly was a different way to spend my time this morning.  A good distraction.
Now back to reality.
TT
 

Today's forecast

It's straight up 6:00am.  Wow.  I've been piddling around, checking through advertising e-mails, checking bank accounts and doing general, I'm not sure what for how long, type of things.  I looked down at the time in the bottom right-hand corner of the laptop and it was exactly 6:00 am.  A nice round number, a good start for today.  If you want the entire overview, the temps are about 64 right now with a high expected only around 78 with some chances of rain.  It's been pretty overcast lately, maybe today is the day the rain will finally break through.  I'm hoping it does.  Let it loose and let it fall.  Then enjoy the benefits of fresh and clean after it's all done.
I can hope.
TT

Just right

Bad night of sleep or did I get any?  Must have.  Gotten some.  Wouldn't pull myself out of bed until I decided I needed to be postive about the day.  So that is what I did and what I'll do.  All day.  Reminding myself.  Throughout.
Still very dark out.  But finishing an excellent cup of coffee.  Will move from here soon to get a deep breath of morning air.  Outside.  A slow stretch.  To move into the waking hours of most.  Then fall into a normal synch.  Pacing it.  Not too much.  Not too fast.  Not too hot or cold. 
TT 

No waiting

This week has just about come and gone and came and went.  It barely had time to say hello before it was time to wave goodbye.  I had a feeling when this month started that that was the way it would be.  I think I even said something about it soon being day 7 or 22 soon enough.  Well, day 7 is long past and at this incredible speed day 22 will be in the history books before the blink of an eye or before I can get a thought in my head..  Or too many thoughts. 
I have some serious work ahead of me.  It's kind of an excellent challenge.  The only stakes are the time I could lose doing it.  I think.  I always think that might be the only thing and it takes different tolls everytime.  Ones I would never think of.  Which is difficult since I always have so many thoughts in my head.  Too many.  Which has been the problem. 
This serious work needs to start with making some very direct and solid decisions.  That isn't something I am very good at but need to do.  I could lose a lot more of my time if I don't.  And at the rate it is coming and going and nodding to my presence as it passes and waves goodbye, well, it ain't exactly waiting on me.  It's up to me to catch up.
TT 

Start again

I've pulled everything back out again.  I've wiped down my blackboard and made my character board more prominent.  I'll move my binders and blank templates for my plot sketch and story evolution to the worktable behind me to have more room.  I have to roll up my sleeves and get some work done before I pick up the pen again.  I know I'll have to do that soon.  I can't put that part off.  Let's face it...it's the key ingredient.  

I've asked myself a million questions, like a good detective looking for clues.  Unfortunately, it seems most of my leads have headed into dark alleyways with only one way out.  I've had to turn around and go down a different alleyway only to find myself turning around again.  It certainly can be discouraging.  But I happen to love detective novels (why mine isn't, I don't know).  I happen to be persistent...so I'll start again.

Maybe I should have said, I'm also very stubborn.  So I'll start again.
TT

Spineless

I've been giving some thought to this past time of mine.  I was hoping to spend some time today cleaning up my first chapter (again).  I know I've got some things in it that are not believable.  I know it could possibly pass as actually happening but I don't know that I would ever believe it would happen the way I wrote it at this point.  If I can't convince myself, how do I expect others to believe it?  So, my plan for today was to go back and change it up to make it more realistic.  There are a ton of flaws that need to be straightened out in my fiction.
As today went on, I kept putting it off.  It isn't as if I didn't want to work on it.  I don't mind the work.  It's actually something I actually like to work on.  I know that isn't the part that I have a problem with.  I believe my problem is that I have a story but that's all it is.  It's just a story and that isn't enough.  I thought I had this theme and purpose for the story when I started out but once I wrote it up it got lost somewhere.  Or worse, it never existed, or I was just hoping it would show up, or it's so obscure it's undetectable.  It isn't there.  And I can fix and re-write and make chapters more believable all day long and it won't make it any better.  Well, it will make the chapter better (written) but the story will still be just a story.  It will still be spineless and flimsy. 
I might need to go back to the drawing board and figure out what I was thinking.  What is it missing that should be holding it together? 
I might need a longer break. 
TT       

Another dose

We made it back from the short holiday yesterday afternoon.  I immediately put everything back in it's place and did a load of laundry.  I'm looking forward to having today off as well before going back to work tomorrow.  I have a few things I'd like to do even it those things don't stray far from home.  I get to have another dose of quiet and that isn't a bad thing at all.  Not at all.
TT

Quiet

I lost track of what day it is.  I had to take a look at my calendar to see that it is indeed Tuesday morning.  I'm sitting on the sofa of the Hotel room in absolute quiet.  I just used the small gym room and showered and am sipping a cup of weak coffee.  I could go down to the main lobby and get some decent brew but then I would need to put something on besides the towel wrapped around me and should probably dry my hair.  I decided it was easier to balance my laptop in my lap and take a few minutes instead. 
And that is what I have been doing.  Taking my few minutes, without thinking about it, without worrying if I should be doing this instead of that.  The absolute quiet has helped.  And not just the quiet around me but finding some quiet inside, too.   Like sitting on the sofa after a shower with the laptop in my lap.  But this coffee is awful.  Gotta get dressed.
TT

Hotel in Paradise

  Walking into our room there is a full kitchen with all the dishes, pots and pans, utensils, cutting board I could ask for! 

Move into the living area and turn right into the bedroom.

 Turn left and you are on the second floor private patio off the bedroom.

 Go back inside the bedroom and straight through to the other side is the bathroom.

 Then to the right through the bathroom you are right back at the front door and full kitchen area.

I knew this place was going to be nice.  It is...oh!! Let me get a shot of the very small but second floor gym.  Give me a minute...be right back, it's only two doors down...

It's a small gym but look at the view out those windows!!!

This is what you get to see while working out.  Not bad for indoors!

Although, coming back to the room, I noticed the hallway sort of looks like a scene from the movie, The Shining.

But I made it back here to the room, safely.  To my laptop and a glass of Stella.  Oh, dinner tonight is at the Palms Lounge downstairs.  It must be pricey...they gave us a $40.00 voucher coupon to use when we checked in.  Can't wait!
Did I say I needed to take a break?  Did paradise just get an upgrade?
TT 

On holiday

I woke up late after a totally non-productive day yesterday.  Is that laziness creeping in or was I just plain tired?  I'm not going to debate it because one side of me always loses.  This morning I am going to do some last minute cleaning up and then start packing up a small case.  I'm not exactly leaving on a jet plane but I will be heading out to my paradise for two days.  I'm looking forward to the time away.  We will be staying at a different place.  We decided to go at such the last minute that our regular motel was full for today.  I hadn't thought about Monday being a holiday for some.  It wouldn't have been for me but it is now.  So I'm on holiday and we will be staying at the only Hotel in the area instead of Motel like we would normally do.  It's the newest place built and is bound to be a little fancier.  I'll bring the camera...
I would need to download a book or two but I'm at a stalemate with reading right now.  I am stuck on page 126 of a novel about a programmer that has written a Daemon (in fact that is the name of the book) and the concept is great but it hasn't kept my interest and the characters are interchangeable and I'm only able to read three or four pages at a time before setting it down...  But it's not really the books fault.  Everything I've been reading lately has turned from being my down-time and pleasurable get away to becoming my research and analysis to use for writing.  No wonder I'm so tired.  I can't even read anymore and there are a lot of books recently released I've been waiting to get a hold of.  Now I can't.  Not right now, anyway.  So, I am very much looking forward to the change of scene.  That was one of the points an editor said to do after a first draft...Take a break...it did say to read (can't do that), but look at art, listen to music, take a walk.  I think I'll ponder the water when I get a moment.
But right now I need to do some last minute cleaning and pack a small case.
TT

Bank it

I was reminded yesterday that it has been 14 years since I started working at my current employment.  I had forgotten about that. It wasn't formost on my mind and the only thing I could think of was that I had been 14 years at my previous job when I left.  Not that I was going to do that here immediately, I tried to put in.  But I certainly am not going to stay another 14 years, that's for sure.  Just take the total years of my past two jobs and it adds up to a huge number.  And let's not add in all the other previous jobs before that. 
I guess it's just another reminder to myself how I somehow manage to hang in.  Maybe it's a little more than just that but when and where did it all go and how did I make it here?  I wasn't thinking about it.  Maybe that was how.  We already know the when was 14 years ago. 
Anyway.  It reminded me that I need to clear 40 hours out of my bonus vacation bank in order to allow for a 15 year bonus week to be added by next year.  I should do that along with keeping my regular vacation bank below the 322 hour maximum mark where I am currently at 314.55 hours.  Hmmm....that might be the answer to the where it's all going.  It's all stored away in a nice, neat, little (Okay, big) bank of time. 
I should start thinking about 14 years and maybe, just maybe, how I should start spending some of that big bank.
TT 

DIfferent ball game

I could have made better use of my time yesterday afternoon.  I could rant on at myself for letting it slide but what effect would that have on today and is that the direction I want to go?  I don't think so.  Could I have done more yesterday?  The answer is yes.  Did I?  No.  So considering those facts the only thing I should do now is remember that for the next time.  When the situation comes around again I can try to remember the after effects of my inactivity and consider it in my decision.
But right now instead of yesterday I have today.  It is here presenting itself.  Do I want to use that time to go backwards and dread and lament.  Is that the mood in which I wish to start up this new day?  Or do I want to take advantage of what is up ahead with a clean slate and fresh attitude?  I think I am giving myself some easy questions this morning.  My obvious answer is to heck with yesterday.  Today is a whole different ball game if I want it to be.
Yes.  I want it to be.
TT

Later than usual

I could say I went out and ran again yesterday after work because I did.  It was a little later than as soon as I got home, maybe by an hour and a half or even two.  I was on that teetering fence of should I go, do I want to, I should but I could find reasons not to.  But after that amount of time I realized the simple fact was that I wanted to.  So I went.
It proved to be as I thought it would.  A very good decision to go.  Amazing.  It didn't hurt a thing that I went later than usual.  I was still able to get a load of laundry done afterward.  The slight change in time didn't affect anything like I thought it might.  The change in routine, even ever so slightly, didn't turn the world upside-down.  Imagine that.  I was sure it would, especially on a weeknight.
Maybe I should be doing more of that since it proved so amazing.  But then, I'd probably manage to get myself into trouble somehow.  Or maybe not.  A little change-up is supposed to be good.  No?
TT

The only way

So moving along is exactly what I did after work today.  There was absolutely no, I say, no, reason at all not to get moving.  I didn't think once, twice, or at all, before I was geared up and out the front door.  Shall we talk about excellent weather?  Shall we even begin?  I didn't just begin but went up the street, around the corner, past the theme park, up the incline, past the elementary school, down the main drag, past the fast-food shops, turned the corner and back up to the front door again. 
It was heavenly.  It was after work.  It was outdoors!
It's the only way to go.
TT  

Then the rains came

We had several absolute downpours yesterday.  Rain has been happening more than the norm lately which is a very good thing.  The first time was during my lunch.  I attempted to sit outside but got up and moved before the buckets of rain were spilled all over the table I had been sitting.  I got to watch through the glass inside at another dryer table.
Later after work, I had a dental appointment and while I was inbetween my cleaning and waiting for the doctor to check my xrays I could hear the weather start up again.  It could have been the chants through the walls from the childrens' karate studio next door but I was able to distinguish that from the actual thundering and high velocity pelting of huge rainfall.  It was coming down very hard.  It was getting so hard and so late I got a call from Jay..."Yes.  I hear it.  I didn't realize they were going to take xrays...be home in a bit...I'll be careful."
I had thoughts before lunch that I might have been able to get out and have a run after work - after my appointment.  There was no chance of that by the time I got home.  A full Monday, a long dental appointment and rain coming down in sheets didn't mix well with my original plans.  So I had a slight shift of plans and I'll move along.
TT

Fetch

Roll over calendar.  Sit.  I know you won't stay.
It's going to keep on rolling over and not wait for me or anyone.  It feels good and odd staring at a big number 1 marking the day of the month.  One, first...begin, now, because if you don't you will be in the midst of 7 or 22 and then rolling the calendar over again into another month. 
If the momentum is already going keep it up.  If it needs to kick in, now is the best time to start.  Don't wait or hold back.  If it can't actually start now then figure out how and when it can.  No need to rush or hurry, but stop and think.  Sit.  Think, but do more than that.  Get up and do it.  Why keep waiting?
Isn't it worth it?
TT