Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Sunday evening, I watched episode 3 of this season's GOT. I'd not watched any of GOT until November 2018, but after the first season, I was hooked. I watched each season until I reached the end in late December. That's a lot of GOT to take in over a short time. I loved every single second of it. One of my favorite parts out of all the episodes to then was the Battle of the Bastards, particularly the scene when Jon Snow's army charges forward on the horses, and the camera pans, going slowly from the horses' heads back and down to their legs. Just a beautiful image of the horses running. The artistry with which some scenes are made is truly amazing. I felt the same about several moments in Sunday's episodes. But it really wasn't any particular scene in this episode that touched me so much. Rather, it was the music. The music that started when Sansa and Tyrion were hiding from the undead running through the crypts. That music, aptly titled "The Night K...

I've missed this space so much! So, where to start? My landlord asked the neighbors to leave. When he stopped by to tell me they were moving out, I asked if I could move back into that unit. The smile on his face was all I needed as an answer. He told me I made his day. He then clued me in about the conversation he had with them, telling them he wasn't going to renew their lease, them being angry over this, the mom of the young man calling my landlord to plead with him to let them stay, him not budging, them saying fine, they'd be out by the end of the month even though their lease isn't up until the end of May. He told them he'd give them back the last month's rent, which I thought was really nice (though if I had to guess, the last month's rent was paid by the mom of the young man, so it will really go back to her). They've been in the process of moving for the last two weeks, with a moving van showing up this morning to get all the big items. I wi...

Last day of spring break. And it's a beautiful day right now. This morning started off with big, wet snowflakes falling, but presently it's sunny and warm. A great way to end the week off from work. So, I've been thinking a lot about taking a break from the blog. For a few months. I just want to spend as much time as I can working on my project. My writing friend has indicated he thinks I have something pretty good going and I need to finish it, try to publish it. That's what I'm going to do. Removing a couple of things from my plate will help me get further along with the project, and the blog is one of those things I can remove from my plate. Happy St. Patrick's Day, and happy almost spring! Just a few more days until the calendar says it's officially spring. I hope you all are well and happy!

My project is currently at 26,000 words. Almost halfway to my goal of 60,000 words. Actually, I'm shooting for 60,000-70,000 words by the time I'm done. That'll give me a good starting place to go in and revise, maybe add to what already exists. Every time I see the wordcount roll past another thousand words written, I get stoked. Even finding out I have to pay a couple thousand in federal taxes can't diminish the happiness I feel seeing the writing coming along. I went in and did my taxes last night, figuring I better get on it, and by the time I was done, I was just shaking my head over how much I have to pay on top of what was taken out of my yearly salary. I couldn't figure out why I owed so much since I had gone to HR and revised my withholding, so I went out to work today to see if I could make another change. I'd like to avoid having to write a check to the IRS every year. After talking with our payroll person, we figured out what will work. Hopefully. ...

Happy birthday to me! It's official -- I can order off the senior menu at Denny's. That makes me completely happy. And I must be looking older these days. The checkout clerk at Jewel asks me every time I go in if I'm a senior, wanting to give me the 10% off the entire basket. Only their senior is 62. So far, I've said no, but the next time she asks me, I'm going to say yes. If she insists on asking and thinks I actually look 62, then I'm going to just go with it. I'd love to get 10% off my grocery bill. I thought about riding my bike to work, but the wind chill talked me out of it. I don't mind 11 degrees, but a -5 windchill just doesn't feel all that great when riding the bike. So instead, I walked to Uptown. I started out, got about a block and a half away then remembered I 'd not saved the PPT I'd made for the Honors class today. I turned around, trudged back to the apartment and saved it. Which then reminded me I'd forgotten my hand...

March! So good to see you. You are my favorite month, you know that, right? And you didn't disappoint yesterday with the mostly sunny day, warm enough to get a lovely long walk in, to roll down the Jeep window while I drove to the store. Warm enough I only had to wear a long sleeved shirt. No sweater. No sweatshirt. You are a month of change, handing the reins that'd belonged to Winter over to Spring (though I hear Winter is having a bit of a fit right now, not wanting to give up the reins, threatening to bring cold and snow again tonight and tomorrow). I don't envy you your job, having to convince Winter it's time to rest. She is quite headstrong and full of energy. And she really does have three more weeks to spread her fun, so you can't be too hard on her just yet. Between you and me, I like your style of sprinkling in a warm day here, a warm day there, just to give Winter notice. Well done, March, well done. For today, I chose to stay inside and work. Catchi...

Come on, February, you're killing me. Just be done already! I feel like that kid waiting for the last day of the school year. Or Christmas day. Or the day for going on that much-awaited trip to Disney World. I'm just really excited about daylight happening around 6 am and staying until 6 pm. Winter is on the downhill, which is fine by me. All the snow is gone, though we're supposed to get some this weekend. All the ice has melted, thank goodness. I ended up falling once while walking Ado, mostly because I'd forgotten about one particular ice patch, wasn't paying attention, and the new snow cover made it even more slippery than it was when not covered in snow. Ado kind of looked at me with the expression of hoomin, wut ar yu dooin ? Having a hold of his leash actually helped me go down with a bit of control, dare I say even with some grace? With the ease in temperatures, I've been able to walk to Uptown to catch the bus to work. Then I walk home from Uptown...