Time, already meaningless, meant less this weekend
(On the nature or lack thereof of time)
"Eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're tired" is not a good system for me; I'll typically eat too much and sleep too little for several days, then sleep a really long time. So I get anxious when things get really unstructured. The kids, left to their own devices (pun intended) will neglect to eat and/or sleep until they are so hungry and/or tired that they have no control over their emotions and (in the case of the older kid) nothing will be satisfactory to eat, which leads to more anger and less patience, and it's a very irritating vicious cycle. So generally if I do nothing else constructive in a given day, I remind and require the kids to eat (or at least take a break for a few minutes) at times that I believe to be reasonable. The last few days I have not done a good job of that. As a result the kids have been going to bed way too late, which means I've been going to bed too late, and I've been late to work a few times. Nobody really cares, but 12 months ago I was routinely walking out my front door at 7am to catch a bus and be at my desk by 8:15, and now I'm having trouble literally rolling out of bed, making a coffee, and getting to my desk in the basement by 9am. 12 months ago I was also planning dinner most nights of the week in advance, and lately it's just been like "fuck it, if you want cinnamon toast crunch, you can have it."
(Some recently read books)
"Eat when you're hungry and sleep when you're tired" is not a good system for me; I'll typically eat too much and sleep too little for several days, then sleep a really long time. So I get anxious when things get really unstructured. The kids, left to their own devices (pun intended) will neglect to eat and/or sleep until they are so hungry and/or tired that they have no control over their emotions and (in the case of the older kid) nothing will be satisfactory to eat, which leads to more anger and less patience, and it's a very irritating vicious cycle. So generally if I do nothing else constructive in a given day, I remind and require the kids to eat (or at least take a break for a few minutes) at times that I believe to be reasonable. The last few days I have not done a good job of that. As a result the kids have been going to bed way too late, which means I've been going to bed too late, and I've been late to work a few times. Nobody really cares, but 12 months ago I was routinely walking out my front door at 7am to catch a bus and be at my desk by 8:15, and now I'm having trouble literally rolling out of bed, making a coffee, and getting to my desk in the basement by 9am. 12 months ago I was also planning dinner most nights of the week in advance, and lately it's just been like "fuck it, if you want cinnamon toast crunch, you can have it."
(Some recently read books)
- The Last Emperox, John Scalzi. If you enjoyed the first two (which I did), you will enjoy the finale.
- The Inkeeper's Song, Peter S. Beagle. I'm sort of angry I didn't read this one sooner; I liked it at least as much as The Last Unicorn. CW for some gender-related shenanigans.
- Community of Magic Pens, edited by E.D.E. Bell. From indie press Atthis Arts, an absolutely delightful anthology sharing the writing prompt of simply "magic pens". There are probably one too many stories that took the "whatever you write with this pen comes true in real life" side, but there's still a lot of variety and I was introduced to a lot of authors I'd never read before. Disclosure: I received a free copy of this because I (as well as
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glynhogen ) have a story included in the collection.
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I loved Innkeeper's Song. The dedication brings me to tears every time also.