Unlike last week, the only exciting thing we had on our list of things to do was head over to Costco to stock up. Various meats to put in the freezer in the garage, the cheap $4 rotisserie chicken, paper goods and whatnot...the usual stuff. We usually only stay there for less than an hour tops, considering we know what we're looking for, and it's the crowd chaos that keeps us from staying long. Most people are good about it, but I keep forgetting you need to have the mindset of "I need to go from Point A to Point B so Damn the Torpedoes and GTF Out of My Way". 

I've never gotten used to that. Living in Boston, I learned that everyone understood Other People Existed so you learned quickly how to do the Weave. Navigate the oncoming crowd by making it obvious what your path will be. I got pretty good at it and could slide down Newbury and Boylston Streets at a good clip with no problem. Here in California however, it's sort of an undisciplined meander dead center in the aisle with the expectation that other people will get out of your way or go around. They know you're there, but you're just background noise. Which, you know, fine, but when I'm trying to follow A to the next aisle, the last thing I need is for you to push your cart in my way, stop dead center and abandon it as you walk over to the bags of apples you set your eye on. I know it's a bit of a cultural thing, but it does test my patience now and again...

Anyway! In other news, I believe I have found a solution to a problem that's been bothering me for the last month or so regarding Theadia! In particular, I've been trying to write a few of the WRITE THIS LATER chapters but feeling as though they're not quite working. I knew exactly why: I just didn't have any resonance with the character. The more I tried to write them, the more it felt as though I was trying too hard. Thing is, the scene needs to be in there, so I knew that it wasn't the scene itself but the character. I'd written two chapters with them in it, and was dreading writing more.

The other day while I was at work, it occurred to me: I do happen to have another secondary character that had been seriously underutilized, someone I introduced as a possible connection to one of the leads, and somehow forgot to use them anywhere. So over the last few days, I've been going through those new chapters and changing names (and genders as it happens, so I'd better keep an eye on pronouns!), and that seems to be working well. Hopefully the further I go with this revised character, the better the chapters will be!


Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

It's still chilly here in the Bay Area, probably the longest its been this cold (mid-40s overnight and reaching only the mid-50s during the daytime, often with a sea breeze making it feel colder) in a long time. Our winters do get chilly, but never for this long, and not without several days of nonstop rain. Not that I'm complaining, just that this kind of weather tends to turn me into a sloth these days! 

On the plus side, I've been getting a lot done both at work and at home lately, which is a nice change from the Q4 EVERYTHINGATONCE stress I usually get. On my Friday-Saturday shifts I managed to get to and finish a lot of the "I'll get to it later" report paperwork I usually never have time for, and now the bookkeeping office finally looks a lot less messy. And over the last few days, I've been catching up on not just house errands, daily words, blogging and book revision, but even a bit of frivolous music library nonsense, all without feeling stressed out about it! I'm certainly going to make use of this time while I have it!

We're close to finishing the Christmas shopping for the most part, we just need to gather the last packages coming in, wrap up a few things, and mail them on their way. The post office is a bit more of a walk than normal from our new place, but thankfully there's a cheap parking lot the next block over that never gets completely full during the day. All told, it's been a rather laid back season this year, and that's fine by me. Even though our numbers are up in a good way at the store, it's not as chaotic as it normally is. Although I'm sure the next few weeks are going to see an uptick enough to change that...

Hope everyone's having a good week!