Friday Malaise
I should have worked on my time for the month today, but I didn't. Same old story yet again.
The day just felt low energy and around 1:00 I felt the same mentally as I do most days at 5:00. Tired, sleepy, ready for the couch. Not sure why, it's been a mostly quiet day work wise. The weather is beautiful; cloudy and gray but balmy in the morning and now pleasant temps and breezy sunshine for the afternoon.
I did do some more cleaning in the office earlier. Cleared off the bookshelves in here I hate and finally wiped the months of dust and dirt off them. My goal here is to pull out this collection of Halloween houses I bought years ago. I can't remember the company (and I am too lazy to look it up right now), but they released a series of houses based on the Universal Monsters. I first discovered them after I moved into my house in 2016. They were limited edition, which means every asshole on eBay sells them for outrageous prices. Back then I was less goal-oriented, so of course I bought up a bunch not considering the financial effects.
They are very cool little buildings though. My parents got me caught up in the Lemax Spooky Town thing after my dad spent years collecting Christmas village houses. When he passed I inherited the bulk of those too, on top of the 30 or more Halloween houses I'd bought or been gifted. The comedy comes with the fact that we can't put the village up because the cats will constantly fuck with it. Even before all these kittens and strays were falling from the rafters, Apollo and Loki both could not help themselves walking through the miniature streets like Kaiju.
Not to mention it's somewhat laborious and stressful putting it all up and then having to take it all down later. There's a million cords and lights that have to be plugged in. It's a whole thing. It's fun to maybe put one or two out, but doing the giant village thing like my dad used to is just too much. At least in the case of the Lemax Halloween houses, I look at those as somewhat of an investment. If and when we learn how to use eBay or find some other way to sell them, a lot of the ones I have are considered "sought after" and we should get a decent return on the money that was spent. Until then, they'll like stay tucked away in the basement.
But yes, the Universal Monster ones are very cool. Dracula's and Frankenstein's castles. The Wolfman's lair. The Creature's swamp. It's just fun and I figured if I put them on a high shelf in the office, I'd be able to see them every day, and for the most part when I am not in here the door is closed, so they'll be safe (I hope) from the feline terrors around here.
The weekend, though it has not even started, feels like it's almost over already. I have to get a haircut tomorrow, which means driving back to my old haunt. The appointment is later in the morning too, so I probably won't get home until lunchtime. The Sparrow is working, so by the time he gets home I doubt there will be much motivation for either of us to accomplish anything.
Sunday we are going to the first showing of 'Saw X', but unfortunately the first showing isn't until 12:45... THAT is a late showing as far as I am concerned. So, that will cut the day in half. By the time we get out of there and get home I am not foreseeing much desire to do anything. Which is a bummer, cause I had wanted to do some Halloween decorating this weekend outside. We may be in the sticks and far off from the road, but I did put my little gravestones and such by the road the first year and had some neighbors saying how much they enjoyed it, as well as people honking when they drove by. Plus, it gets so dark out here at night it's kinda cool to pull into the driveway and see the creepy decor illuminated by moon and/or car lights.
Last year we only did minimal decorating. It was all fine, as I didn't mind the break, but there's something fun about all of it that I've never let go of since my youth. And I hate that feeling of "missing out" by not partaking in the season. As it is, possibly with age, it just seems like the time flies in October and no sooner have I put the decorations out than it is time to take them down. And every year I tell myself we are going to be more prepared than the last, but it never happens (at least not yet). There's so many "September" tasks still yet to be done, and the month is over as of tomorrow.
I am debating still on what my next book will be. I've enjoyed the H.G. Wells stories, because they are shorter so it gives me a much needed sense of accomplishment to keep my motivation going. Though I feel a need to branch out. I got two books a few years back, a collection of "weird" stories from Algernon Blackwood and a 'Haunted Castles' collection by Ray Russell. I've found a great amount of enjoyment in recent years reading "spooky" books as Autumn rolls in and Halloween approaches.
I've actually been somewhat amazed with myself with how quickly I've read the two Wells stories without really feeling I was rushing myself on the second. The key for me is to maintain that feeling and sense of enjoyment to try to make this resurgence of reading into a habit. Every day for the past two years I've walked past our massive bookcase and seen all the books I've wanted to read, and remembering the spines on so many that I had in the past and enjoyed back then. I want to achieve this goal.
I suppose when the Sparrow gets home we could pull out some Halloween totes and put out a few things. Though it is Friday, so he'll walk in with phone in hand and his mom and sister on the line. And depending on the day, this phone call can last two or three hours. So it is totally possible nothing will get done.
As I turn in my chair to investigate the noise some cat is making, I see the stacks of paper to be filed, wires to be stored or tossed and the general leftover mayhem of my efforts to clean the office. I probably should just deal with that.
So many options.
The day just felt low energy and around 1:00 I felt the same mentally as I do most days at 5:00. Tired, sleepy, ready for the couch. Not sure why, it's been a mostly quiet day work wise. The weather is beautiful; cloudy and gray but balmy in the morning and now pleasant temps and breezy sunshine for the afternoon.
I did do some more cleaning in the office earlier. Cleared off the bookshelves in here I hate and finally wiped the months of dust and dirt off them. My goal here is to pull out this collection of Halloween houses I bought years ago. I can't remember the company (and I am too lazy to look it up right now), but they released a series of houses based on the Universal Monsters. I first discovered them after I moved into my house in 2016. They were limited edition, which means every asshole on eBay sells them for outrageous prices. Back then I was less goal-oriented, so of course I bought up a bunch not considering the financial effects.
They are very cool little buildings though. My parents got me caught up in the Lemax Spooky Town thing after my dad spent years collecting Christmas village houses. When he passed I inherited the bulk of those too, on top of the 30 or more Halloween houses I'd bought or been gifted. The comedy comes with the fact that we can't put the village up because the cats will constantly fuck with it. Even before all these kittens and strays were falling from the rafters, Apollo and Loki both could not help themselves walking through the miniature streets like Kaiju.
Not to mention it's somewhat laborious and stressful putting it all up and then having to take it all down later. There's a million cords and lights that have to be plugged in. It's a whole thing. It's fun to maybe put one or two out, but doing the giant village thing like my dad used to is just too much. At least in the case of the Lemax Halloween houses, I look at those as somewhat of an investment. If and when we learn how to use eBay or find some other way to sell them, a lot of the ones I have are considered "sought after" and we should get a decent return on the money that was spent. Until then, they'll like stay tucked away in the basement.
But yes, the Universal Monster ones are very cool. Dracula's and Frankenstein's castles. The Wolfman's lair. The Creature's swamp. It's just fun and I figured if I put them on a high shelf in the office, I'd be able to see them every day, and for the most part when I am not in here the door is closed, so they'll be safe (I hope) from the feline terrors around here.
The weekend, though it has not even started, feels like it's almost over already. I have to get a haircut tomorrow, which means driving back to my old haunt. The appointment is later in the morning too, so I probably won't get home until lunchtime. The Sparrow is working, so by the time he gets home I doubt there will be much motivation for either of us to accomplish anything.
Sunday we are going to the first showing of 'Saw X', but unfortunately the first showing isn't until 12:45... THAT is a late showing as far as I am concerned. So, that will cut the day in half. By the time we get out of there and get home I am not foreseeing much desire to do anything. Which is a bummer, cause I had wanted to do some Halloween decorating this weekend outside. We may be in the sticks and far off from the road, but I did put my little gravestones and such by the road the first year and had some neighbors saying how much they enjoyed it, as well as people honking when they drove by. Plus, it gets so dark out here at night it's kinda cool to pull into the driveway and see the creepy decor illuminated by moon and/or car lights.
Last year we only did minimal decorating. It was all fine, as I didn't mind the break, but there's something fun about all of it that I've never let go of since my youth. And I hate that feeling of "missing out" by not partaking in the season. As it is, possibly with age, it just seems like the time flies in October and no sooner have I put the decorations out than it is time to take them down. And every year I tell myself we are going to be more prepared than the last, but it never happens (at least not yet). There's so many "September" tasks still yet to be done, and the month is over as of tomorrow.
I am debating still on what my next book will be. I've enjoyed the H.G. Wells stories, because they are shorter so it gives me a much needed sense of accomplishment to keep my motivation going. Though I feel a need to branch out. I got two books a few years back, a collection of "weird" stories from Algernon Blackwood and a 'Haunted Castles' collection by Ray Russell. I've found a great amount of enjoyment in recent years reading "spooky" books as Autumn rolls in and Halloween approaches.
I've actually been somewhat amazed with myself with how quickly I've read the two Wells stories without really feeling I was rushing myself on the second. The key for me is to maintain that feeling and sense of enjoyment to try to make this resurgence of reading into a habit. Every day for the past two years I've walked past our massive bookcase and seen all the books I've wanted to read, and remembering the spines on so many that I had in the past and enjoyed back then. I want to achieve this goal.
I suppose when the Sparrow gets home we could pull out some Halloween totes and put out a few things. Though it is Friday, so he'll walk in with phone in hand and his mom and sister on the line. And depending on the day, this phone call can last two or three hours. So it is totally possible nothing will get done.
As I turn in my chair to investigate the noise some cat is making, I see the stacks of paper to be filed, wires to be stored or tossed and the general leftover mayhem of my efforts to clean the office. I probably should just deal with that.
So many options.