Queen Mediocretia of Suburbia

Putting the TMI in absentminded

Month: November 2021

  • Rewriting the Novel: This is What Happens When you Finish a Draft of a Novel

    I am giving the novel a rest until Christmas. Still, I woke up this morning hashing out a scene in my mind: a scene in which our heroine scrabbles though some nuclear waste in a mine that is on the outskirts of her depression-era oil boom town. My thoughts in order: I need to revise…

  • Covid too Close to Home

    For duration of the pandemic, my social circle hasn’t been too touched by the Covid. One co-worker had an asymptotic case, and one co-worker I technically never met died, as did one good friend’s close relation. That was last year. Two weeks ago, two close friends got Covid from two different sources. Thankfully, they were…

  • Rewriting the Novel: Draft One is Done

    It was nice to have Thanksgiving week to devote to finishing up the empty spots in the book and the hard spots. The hard spots were ultimately not that hard, because I allowed myself to do a crappy job, to be fixed later. Then again, I refer you to every painting I’ve done for the…

  • Icebreaker

    In the past, icebreakers at work were easy. “Say your name, your department, and one interesting thing about you –” and boom, born with an extra thumb, on to the next person. Ice breakers are harder now, because we have zoom meetings every day, and the extra thumb has very little impact after the first…

  • Thanksgiving 2021

    Gary spent the week claiming that he was unable to chew because of his recently extracted tooth. “DO NOT MAKE ANY FOOD FOR ME FOR THANKSGIVING I CANT EAT ANYTHING NOT EVEN YAMS.’ Unfortunately I had already stocked up early on the Turkey Day supplies, and when I say supplies I mean items fully prepared…

  • Weekly Paint Progress: Thanksgiving!

    This week the Ball pitcher went from this: … to this:

  • Review: That Hamilton Woman

    I had a dim memory that I enjoyed watching Vivien Leigh in That Hamilton Woman, so I recommended to Gary that we watch it. IMDB claims this was Stalin’s favorite movie. (He gave it 5 hammers and sickles.) It was also Winston Churchill’s favorite movie. (5 victory signs up.) I don’t know why it was…

  • First and Second Kisses with Gary

    The first time I kissed Gary, there was nothing. No sparks. No chemistry. Then I went home and went to bed and resigned myself to a cold loveless marriage, because I did really like him. I don’t know what happened, but when we kissed after our second date — wow. Lots of chemistry. Big beakers…

  • Fancy Stationery

    I remember twenty years ago Mom bought herself some embossed monogrammed stationery, and did the same for me as a birthday gift. She made no comment on what it cost. I hoarded the last piece for twenty years, until the other day I used it for a thank-you note. I tried to buy some more,…

  • Wattle Watch 2021

    Thirteen years ago I began tracking the progress of my wattle. Over a month I graphed it, starting with this drawing on my laundry room wall. (The laundry room wall is the best expression of the variety of winter light – I should paint the contents of the laundry room, like the iron, instead of…