Long Day to Start a Long Week

Today wasn’t particularly stressful or painful but somehow it managed to feel long and stressful and painful. Why? I don’t know.

This week however… this week is going to be busy and tough. There’s a lot of stuff going on at work. Managerial stuff, not customer stuff. Lots and lots of stuff going on. It’s going to be nuts. I also have to go into the office three times this week, which is not fun, and two of the three are a zillion miles from home in Forborough. Crud.

In happier news, I shipped four rolls of film to the photo lab in California today. That’s a happy thought, right? New film photos! Now if Cleveland could just win game six over Tampa Bay. I don’t want the ALCS to end yet and I sure as hell don’t want the Devil Rays in the World Series. Oh well. I probably just jinxed Cleveland.

Sunrise Fail

I had another of a bummer sunrise photo failure today. I got up early enough to get to the ocean, drove the whole way there, it was 30 degrees out so I was wearing a winter jacket, no clouds to be seen the whole 40 minutes I was driving, I got to the beach and…

One band of clouds blocking the horizon. Clear skies everywhere else. Sunrise failure. Also, the tide was so far in that there was no beach. I had about a five foot wide area between the water line and the sea wall at the side of the road. It greatly reduced the potential photos, seriously.

I got a few nice pics, just nothing with the sun poking it’s big round head out of the water which is the whole point of these visits. I did eventually finish this month’s installment of the Frugal Film Project though. I just packaged up four rolls of film to ship off to the lab. That’s a good thing at least, even if the sunrise photos are duds.

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I mean, could those clouds suck any more?
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I might try again next Sunday. It will be Halloween after all.

Sunday Agenda

We spent today (Saturday) visiting with my wife’s mother and step father. It was a good visit. Gastric Bypass boy over here had a mild case of The Foamies after dinner but it wasn’t too bad. I coughed up a little bit of something but never full on puked. Breath that sigh of relief, Robbie.

Tomorrow is Sunday. What am I going to do with the day? My wife let me know that she just wants to hang out and be lazy. I am all for that. I have to go grocery shopping at some point tomorrow but I think that’s the only thing I have to do. I am thinking about going to the ocean for sunrise photos. I mean, sunrise tomorrow is at 6:59am. I don’t even have to wake up early to make it there on time. I feel like I need to take advantage of the super late start time at least once before Daylight Savings time ends in a couple of weeks. I also have to shoot a roll of film for the Frugal Film Project thing. Yeah, I think I will go to the ocean tomorrow morning to catch that sunrise.

In closing, here’s a cat. This is Robin Sparkles. She’s adorable.

Random Stuff

Some random thoughts on a Friday night shortly before bed when I am so tired I can’t think straight.

16 days until our next Rush concert. It will be my 28th dating back to December 1987. It is the last show we currently have tickets for. Will it be my last Rush show ever? I thought my last Rush show ever was in 2015 but I’ve seen them three times since June and that is a seemingly miraculous gift. I’m very thankful.

I watched the new TV version of Carrie. It was so fucking good. I read the book years ago and while it was fine it is not my favorite Stephen King novel. King might be my favorite author. If he’s not my favorite he’s probably top three… or top two… I’m a huge fan. Carrie though, that one is good but it seems somehow… lesser than most classic King stories. There’s something missing. I don’t have the vocabulary skills needed to describe what is missing.

The show though… Mike Flanagan made the show. I’ve never seen any of his movies, but I’ve seen all of his Netflix TV series and they are all fantastic. This show slots in perfectly. It’s so good. He’s supposed to be working on an adaptation of The Dark Tower and I can’t wait. I can’t wait. Did you hear me say that I can’t wait?

Now that I am through with Carrie it’s time to start watching Vision Quest. I’m also watching Dark Matter. That one is really good too.

I need to take the camera out this weekend and shoot a roll of film. I’m trying to shoot a 120 roll of both Kodak Gold 200 and Kentmere 100 each month. I already have a roll of Gold done for October but I still need to shoot the Kentmere. I just don’t know what to shoot. I won’t have time tomorrow (Saturday) so I hope to get it done on Sunday.

I want to write a couple of songs before October ends too. Think of it like releasing a single. I had an idea pop into my head yesterday but I didn’t have a chance to put it down somewhere and now its gone. I hate when that happens. I also want to replace an overdrive pedal. I don’t like Boss pedals as a rule but I bought a mod of a Boss overdrive pedal made by a boutique company a few years ago and I recently found out that the boutique company donated money to trump. Nope. Done with those fuckers. Now I want to find anyother boutique mod/clone of that Boss pedal that is better than the shitty standard Boss pedal. I hate how snobby I get sometimes but there’s no way I am using a pedal made by a fascist collaborator on the off chance that someone might someday see me playing it and want to pick one up for themselves and give money to a fucking fascist. Nope. Not happening.

What was I talking about?

I started rambling and started pissing myself off about the state of our shit country. I’ll change the subject.

Yesterday I wrote about our leaky tub getting fixed. At least I hope it was fix. We gave it all day today to let the fix set and dry and settle and do whatever it needs to do. I’m looking forward to running the shower tomorrow to see if we get any water in the cellar. Please no. Pretty please no.

Okay, I am really tired. I’m going to fall asleep. Correction, I am going to try and watch an episode of Vision Quest (episode two, to be precise) and then I am going to fall asleep. Hopefully in that order. Wish me luck.

Momentous Occasion

Could today be the day?

Could today finally be the day?

Could today finally be the day where we stop having water drip from our tub onto the sub-floor, which rots a hole into the sub-floor and then drips down into the cellar and screws up the cellar floor and some unfortunately placed furniture?

We have a contractor here who took out a chunk of the wall next to the tub where the water pools up to inspect the damage and he thinks he found the source of the problem and even more important, he thinks he has a fix that does not include ripping out the tub and starting over. 

Oh please please please let today be the day that this ends and please please please let the fix not include ripping out our tub and starting over. I am crossing my fingers, my toes, my eyes, and even a couple of my teeth.

ADDENDUM: As I was typing this he found another possible source of the leak and he’s going to fix that too. Oh please please please let this end today.

Just Sleep

My stomach has been kind of a jerk the last couple of days. Fun with post-gastric bypass surgery and stuff. I’m uncomfortably full one minute and literally painfully hungry the next. 

I want to sleep through the night and my stomach won’t let me. Now I’m exhausted and I just want to watch an episode of Carrie but I’m too tired.

I Scared the Crap Out of a Huge Bird

We were sitting in the living room today when something weird happens. There was a loud bang coming from the side of the house. BOOM. What was that? We all asked at the same time.

It was not a cat. Both cats were in the room with us. I had a suspicion about what it was. Every now and then we’ll have birds come out of the woods behind our house and fly right into a window. That’s sort of what this was like except it was a lot louder.

I went to my wife’s office and opened up the curtain and looked outside. Sure enough there was a bird on the ground right there. Not just any bird. It was a huge bird. It was a freakin’ red tailed hawk! Well, I need a photo of this puppy, sure do!

I ran back into the living room and grabbed my point and shoot which just happened to be on the end table right inside the doorway. With the camera in hand I went back to the office. My gigantic bird friend was still there. Just hanging out. It didn’t look injured. It looked more… bored. 

I pulled the curtain open a little wider, raised the camera, and our new bird friend saw the movement, turned toward me, looked me straight in the eyes, said “oh shit!”* and then bolted into the woods at near the speed of sound.

Chances are, the hawk didn’t just crash into the house. It’s likely that it was hunting and it crashed into the house while slaughtering a small animal. Let’s call it a taking the good with the bad sort of thing.

*You think this is the part of the post where I say the bird didn’t really speak English it was more of a symbolic thing but no… our friend the hawk actually said, “oh shit” before flying away.

Saturday Stuff

I woke up later than usual but because of the time of year the sun had not come up yet. I took advantage and grabbed a couple of cameras and went out to shoot some golden hour pics. I went to Weir Hill in Andover hoping there would be some fall foliage colors on display. There was… a little… nothing to write home about though. I shot two rolls of 120 film and 2/3 of a roll of 35mm.

I went home and had breakfast with my wife and my step son and his girlfriend. I did some chores around the house and then we went apple picking. Our first stop was out of honeycrisp so they sent us to an alternate location and we filled a couple of bags. I shot most of the rest of that 35mm roll. We then went to a comic/games store in Manchester, NH and bought some Magic the Gathering stuff so my step son could start teaching his girlfriend how to play. My step daughter started teaching me and my wife a month or so ago so we all sat at the dining room table and played a game. I was more lost than not. While at the comics store I finished the roll of film. 

Up next is dinner, my wife is making turkey tacos, and then we’re going to watch the first of the two IT movies. I’m really tired tonight but hopefully I won’t doze during the movie. 

I’m thinking of taking the cameras out again in the morning but I am not sure where I want to go. Should I take advantage of the really late sunrise and go to the ocean again? I might. We will see.