I think we’re alone now
38 hours to myself--can I win the weekend?
Okay, here’s the situation, my parents went away on a week’s vacation…
Not quite, but Ethel and Ezra planned a quick weekend trip to Chicago that I sadly had to miss due to a late shift Friday. All week I was stressed that I wouldn’t get the most out of the weekend alone; I wouldn’t have the most fun, wouldn’t relax enough, wouldn’t create enough, wouldn’t complete enough of the to do list. The life of an introvert is a struggle sometimes, battling with yourself over just how good an introvert you can be. Let’s see how I did.
Friday
1 pm: Before leaving for work I make lists: Need to Do, Want to Do Inside, Want to Do Outside.
Having a good list is the key to happiness, and writing it the day before gives crucial momentum.
11 pm: Home from work, dinner of leftover pulled pork and a beer. Googled “Top 20 best modern smart space movies,” cause that’s what I was feeling, and discovered Coherence, which is actually about a dinner party inside Schrödinger's box—not a space movie at all but a fun mindbender. Gotta love a 90-min movie with no explosions. To sleep by 1.
Saturday
9 am: Awake to a rainy day which happily limits the pressure to do anything on the outdoor list. Tried a thing I remember I did once in high school called exercise. I lie, I actually exercise in six-month cycles—that is six months on, six months off. Not on purpose, it’s just how it happens. Today we begin again. Had some tea and I’m seeing how long I go before eating that cinnamon bun on the counter. Laptop on, blog commences.
Wait, what I’m doing today IS the blog…So move on to do things.
9:30-11 am: Comics project management: Review pencils for Dallas 6 and Trinity Project 6—down to the last page on that one! Files need management, guest cameos to wrangle, details to be cleaned up in Photoshop, expenses to tabulate.
Pay bills and do other easy pickings on the to do list. Cinnamon bun eaten. Hate watch Man City v. Brentford.
12 pm: City won’t lose so it’s time to hit a thing with a hammer. Our building replaced its front hall mailbox; the old one had a wood frame around it, the new one does not. Refitting old frame to new box is the project. Step one, take apart old frame. Wack wack.
2:30 pm: Still raining but I leave the house anyway on a Target run for paper goods, cat food, etc. If I don’t do this my family will find someone else who will.
Think about dinner.
430 pm: Shower during Ezra Klein podcast, short nap, Arsenal training videos on Instagram.
Think about dinner.
6 pm: Cocktail time! If I don’t try to remain civilized I’ll descend into madness. Make a low alcohol highball of Campari and Averna, doesn’t seem to have a name. Cheese and crackers, Chet Baker on vinyl, catch up on the blog.
(Chet Baker did time in an Italian prison for drug possession. Perhaps this drink should be called Chet Baker Does Time.)
Think about dinner.
7 pm: Catch up with Ethel having fun in Chicago. She’s in a gorgeous hotel lobby drinking a Sazerac. Jealous.
8 pm: Kickstarter strategy time. Update the Prelaunch page with more art. think about email campaign ideas to capture past backers who haven’t kept up with the story. If you know anyone like that, let them know they’re missing something awesome!
Dinner decision: Soup dumplings, stir fried rice, beef and broccoli ordered from place down the street. Gather ingredients for a Sazerac.
9 pm: Dinner and another movie, 12 Years a Slave, been on my list forever. Might have fallen asleep during it. Read a bit, asleep by 1. Never made the Sazerac, guess I’m getting old.
Sunday
9 am. Awake to find it dreary and overcast, not the sunny day I was promised, but it’s dry so I do the carpentry project in the backyard, so I’m finally outside. I’m not that strong a carpenter.
1130 am: Arsenal v West Ham. A heart rending game. Ethel and Ezra arrive from airport in the middle of a crucial video review in stoppage time while I’m having a small seizure. But in the end it’s 1-nil to the Arsenal! And also my family is back! Collapse in a puddle for a while.
2-5 pm: Mailbox frame complete, it’s fine if you don’t look closely. Weather finally cleared so while Ethel gardened I took a nice long walk to buy groceries, then stopped in a pub for a pint and to unpack the Arsenal events. Got compared to Hugh Jackman at the bar, never a bad thing.
6 pm: Kebabs on the grill, enjoyed a lovely night in the back yard, heard about the awesome Chicago trip. I need to get back there, it’s been forever.
Things I didn’t get to: take an online guitar lesson, go running (as if), get outside to a park of some sort, write as much as I wanted. There’s always room for improvement but I give myself a B+ for weekend management.
Next weekend it’s a string of night shifts, so I’ll see you when I see you!
Colin
PS. I NEED THREE OF YOU TO CLICK THIS THING!
We are at 97 followers for the next launch! When we hit 100 I’ll send you awesome folks the first seven pages of By the Time I Get to Dallas #5! Click on the link and the “Notify” Me button and be a hero!
PSS. Nice little surprise, a backer from my the book 1-2 campaign (summer 2020) just emailed back their survey to collect their books! That is digging deep into the inbox. Happy to send him his books, and the next two!
I am so with you on "Gotta love a 90-min movie with no explosion."