Nothing makes me happier than having a (mostly, because I forgot to add a couple of things) clear schedule!
— Tidy the house; my wife is getting of her shift today and I love having the domestic tasks and some lunch ready so that when she gets home we can sit around and relax together. We need to make a dent in Jaws before book club meets next week. My sister in law moved to Houston last year and she came through town a few days ago to get the stuff she’d been storing in our garage (then happened to be driving back during the floods, she was stopping in San Antonio to visit a friend on the way, so it put her directly in harm’s path, but she made it); I’m itching to organize everything now so I can finally use it for my car again.
— Drive my daughter around for some things she’s got going on. She’s got cheer camp, then we have to go pick up her check and talk to the agency about a commercial she’s been asked to do. This child is 13 y’all, and she got herself signed w/ an agency after seeing a model on an ad that looked just like her. “Wait, so I could be a model?” and she called the agency that day for a meeting—all I had to do was drive her there and they signed her on the spot. This is the second commercial she’s booked. Okay girl, get that bag I guess.
— Submit my grad school application; all I have to do now is attach my previous transcripts, but that requires making a couple of phone calls and that’s a Task. My neurodivergent brain hates Tasks, especially when they involve phone calls/replying to messages and emails. Mail? I don’t know her. Anywho, it took me a long time to decide if I wanted to continue with the more “practical” route of literary analysis or pursue my passion of creative writing and I finally settled on the latter. I’ve already got an established career, that’s not a factor. I’ll be seeking certification to teach dual credit along with the MFA, so I’ll make more money, and I’ll be doing what I love more than anything in the world: writing. If I could publish a book before I die I would die feeling fully accomplished.
— Read; I started Jaws late, so I have to hustle through it. I make it a point to annotate book club reads, so they go slower for me. My copy of Annihilation came in yesterday and I got through several chapters immediately, despite having four or five unfinished books staring at me like “really?” Nightbitch also came in, and I should get What Feeds at Night and The Hidden Palace today or tomorrow, so I have a nice little lineup forming. I finally finished One, No One, and One Hundred Thousand—it took me a while to get through the first half but I’m glad I did, the end was beautifully written, though I can’t say it’s one of my favorites by any stretch.
— Have a night swim; it’s been to hot to take walks recently, but the pool is warm by nightfall. There’s nothing in the world like a night swim. I might even set up the projector so that after I’ve done my laps we can lounge around on floats and watch something spooky. (It’s Summerween, after all).
