Sanding and Books
I'm continuing trying to stay busy with things.
I've decided that, since I'm at home and doing nothing, I could try and help my mother with her project to redecorate the hall. However, I found I couldn't motivate myself out of the kindness of my heart, so I negotiated that I would paint a ceiling in return for a book. This proved to be very good, as the promise of the book was enough to make me feel like doing it, and then I got to read the book as well. This is clearly awesome and might help reintroduce me to the whole work ethic thing.
Once I got started, I moved on to sanding the upper stairs. Mum has promised me the same rate of one book per hour but I might just do it out of the goodness of my heart now I've started. I started off using sandpaper and my hand, as my mother had done, but slowly RSI creeped up on me and I wasn't getting far. Then dad came up bearing power tools, and the two of us worked companionably stripping paint off wooden stairs. The noise was deafening, but we got a lot done. I like the work as it relaxes my mind and helps distract me from things.
Apart from working, I'm voraciously consuming books at the rate I used to consume them when I was in school. I'm getting through a book in a couple of days (I could get through one in a day if I let myself). The rate is dictated by the need to distract myself from the imminent nervous breakdown I've felt close to but never reached all week.
I bought the next Yelena Zaltana book by Maria Snyder, which allowed me to get book three out from the library. I've read both and they weren't quite as good as the first novel. It irritated me mainly because it involved the heroine running headlong into situations where she gets captured by the enemy and then escapes. After a while, I kept thinking "Aaargh, just kill her already you stupid baddies!". But, no, they apparently needed her for a rite so they kept trying to take her alive and giving her lots of chances to escape, which thanks to magic, lock pick hair fastners and a thigh mounted switchblade (where no gentleman would ever search a lady), she did, over and over again. At least the baddies started learning to strip-search her by the end.
I also scrounged enough out of my purse to buy the next Kris Longknife book, which was again disappointing compared to the first, and again involved the heroine running off into a non-military intelligence/political trap without a headlong thought about it and then somehow muddling through. Maybe it's me getting older, but I just want my heroines to slow down and think about what the hell they're doing for a change. However, due to some fashion accessories that every girl has to have (including an armoured body stocking and booby bombs), as well as a super intelligent computer and the latest nano spy accessories (courtesy of her Aunty Tru), our heroine manges to (barely) prevail. *headdesk*
I've decided that, since I'm at home and doing nothing, I could try and help my mother with her project to redecorate the hall. However, I found I couldn't motivate myself out of the kindness of my heart, so I negotiated that I would paint a ceiling in return for a book. This proved to be very good, as the promise of the book was enough to make me feel like doing it, and then I got to read the book as well. This is clearly awesome and might help reintroduce me to the whole work ethic thing.
Once I got started, I moved on to sanding the upper stairs. Mum has promised me the same rate of one book per hour but I might just do it out of the goodness of my heart now I've started. I started off using sandpaper and my hand, as my mother had done, but slowly RSI creeped up on me and I wasn't getting far. Then dad came up bearing power tools, and the two of us worked companionably stripping paint off wooden stairs. The noise was deafening, but we got a lot done. I like the work as it relaxes my mind and helps distract me from things.
Apart from working, I'm voraciously consuming books at the rate I used to consume them when I was in school. I'm getting through a book in a couple of days (I could get through one in a day if I let myself). The rate is dictated by the need to distract myself from the imminent nervous breakdown I've felt close to but never reached all week.
I bought the next Yelena Zaltana book by Maria Snyder, which allowed me to get book three out from the library. I've read both and they weren't quite as good as the first novel. It irritated me mainly because it involved the heroine running headlong into situations where she gets captured by the enemy and then escapes. After a while, I kept thinking "Aaargh, just kill her already you stupid baddies!". But, no, they apparently needed her for a rite so they kept trying to take her alive and giving her lots of chances to escape, which thanks to magic, lock pick hair fastners and a thigh mounted switchblade (where no gentleman would ever search a lady), she did, over and over again. At least the baddies started learning to strip-search her by the end.
I also scrounged enough out of my purse to buy the next Kris Longknife book, which was again disappointing compared to the first, and again involved the heroine running off into a non-military intelligence/political trap without a headlong thought about it and then somehow muddling through. Maybe it's me getting older, but I just want my heroines to slow down and think about what the hell they're doing for a change. However, due to some fashion accessories that every girl has to have (including an armoured body stocking and booby bombs), as well as a super intelligent computer and the latest nano spy accessories (courtesy of her Aunty Tru), our heroine manges to (barely) prevail. *headdesk*