Delusions of adequacy
It hardly feels like an entire week has gone by, but the dates do not lie. This week has been busy for a variety of reasons, which probably contributed to my laxity. The new guy at work comes in about 20-30 minutes before I usually get to work, and we only have two decent workstations, while the third is an aging Mac (probably 4-5 years old). Thus I’ve been getting stuck with the Mac workstation, which is no fun at all. Add in the fact that the Mac station is the smallest of the three cubicles, and is invariably piled with whatever random computer equipment is awaiting installation, it makes for a rather unpleasant/uncomfortable morning. Mostly, it means I don’t usually get my laptop setup until after lunch (at 3 or 4pm), which seriously cuts down on my potential writing time.
Spent my usual Tuesday night with the parents and a new episode of Smallville. I’m not exactly sure why I like the show so much, but it’s good. Also made it in to AT&T to re-signup for internet service, which was turned back on yesterday. Due to a convenient billing deal, we also got basic cable with the internet, meaning we have about six times as many channels to check before realizing nothing is on. In any case, I don’t really have that much time to watch TV, and I really don’t find it all that stimulating. Mark seems to be fairly happy about it, since his favorite shows tended to be on the channels we had dismally poor reception on.
I’ve developed a semi-phenomenal reading list of late, with such assorted titles as Writer’s Guide to Character Traits to Harnmaster to PHP and MySQL. Basically, I’ve semi-decided to design my own game system for my campaign world (see the rpg section). I’m also getting more heavily into database programming, hopefully to make the entire site database served at some point in the near future. I’ll probably start with a smaller project, like my movie collection, but it should begin sometime soon, as I’m setting up computers this weekend.
My workout schedule may be changing next week, as I have to decide whether I’m ready to split the workouts into upper vs lower body plus cardio, instead of weights vs cardio that I’ve been doing. Not a crucial decision I suppose, but it keeps my brain running while I lift.
I spent a productive half-hour with my psychiatrist this morning, and he’s basically agreed that I’ve really taken control of my illness. Except for the occasional visit to pick up a new prescription or a basic maintenance check, I’ve got a clean bill of health. I must admit that put me on an almost manic high all by itself.
Had an interesting focus group this morning, for people 21-35, about our statewide newspaper. I realized that I’m substantially away from the norm, since the majority of those people read the paper regularly and actually had favorite sections. I tend to get the vast majority of my news from online sites, and only occasionally pick up the newspaper when it is near at hand and I have nothing better to do. If it weren’t for the fact that I work in the tech department, and not the newspaper proper, I’d probably have burned some serious bridges with some of my comments.
I may eventually gain the ability to make these little sessions more engaging than just a blow-by-blow of my time, but for now, any writing is better than no writing at all. Hoping to add some opinion pieces either here or in the stories section, and I need to get back into my fiction writing, and get some of it up for public ridicule.