Greetings: May was a bit of a nightmare, and I am hoping that June will be much better. I did not get far along in any of my projects, but I am hopeful with the new month. I have changed up some of my artwork because people were complaining that the images were too small. Keep in mind that if you have a favorite image I would be more than happy to supply you with a master copy which is much larger, but of course there is a price. If you are interested, tell me which one you want and I will tell you the price.

Close, but not done...

The weekend has been very short compared to what I usually have available, but I did my best to get things done. You would have to look back at the last day of last month to see what I did yesterday, and today I took care of the car, attempted to move the climbing wall, cleaned up the garage, and made a half-hearted attempt at pepperoni bread. I used a new recipe for the pepperoni bread, and the crust came out horrible. It is still edible, but it is far from terrific. I finished out the artwork for the month, and you can see that above, and I opened up the novel, but I had too much of a headache to work on it. I am ready to tackle the month and see what June has in store.

Already feeling it...

This week may become tedious because I'm already feeling the time passing. I put in a 12-hour workday today, but I didn't have time before work to get anything done. When I got home, I was exhausted, so I ate dinner nice and early, watched Stargate, and then headed off to bed. I am running ahead at work, I think. I will not be sure until I check on Wednesday, but it feels like I'm ahead. This week, I think I'm just going to try to push through and see how that works out.

The edge...

It's not even midweek yet, and I'm feeling it seriously. I was up a little late, but I made it out the door on time. I pushed through the work day and hit right to the limit before heading home. I made a cup of coffee and started my potatoes for dinner, planning to go right to sleep. But life is a fickle mistress, and I got a call that the Spark had died. I knew it had a failing battery, but that little Chevy decided to choose an abysmal day to break down. I went to Walmart, grabbed the battery, and took it to AutoZone to swap it out. That solves the problem, but there is still a minor engine issue that we need to address.

Back at the house, I continued my coffee and potato ritual, but the wind was out of my sails, and it was time to get ready to go to bed. I still have a very long list of things that I want to get done, and it seems like every time I try, something jumps in the way to block me. But I forge onward and into the land of Morpheus for the night.

Getting Tired...

I am facing the tired side of myself. Every day seems like a fight, and there is nothing wrong with a good fight, but not when it happens every day. There has to be a time when I can lay down my arms and relax. I do not see that day on the horizon.

I pushed through today, with very little time in the morning because I got up late, and no time to stop for lunch. It made me very ornery. The work day was full of both good and bad, and that kept things quite level. When I got home, I had quite an annoyance because my nails started to pop off. Don't worry, folks, they were fake nails. But they looked so good. Before I was done eating my dinner, all but two of them had popped off, so I took the remaining two off as well. By the time I finished dinner, which was mid-afternoon, I had no energy to get anything else done, and I headed off to bed. I hope to get a good reset done sometime this weekend. I am grinding my gears.

True rest is an elusive creature right now. But this is how I am feeling. Made with Daz3D, Photoshop, and stock models and filters.

One more day...

I am pushing at the edge of the abyss right now. I have reached a point where I am constantly tired, but I am unable to sleep. That is never a good thing, but I will continue to push through. I was very rushed in the morning before work, but when I got home, I was still a bit awake. I finished the sleeping artwork I had been working on and relaxed a little before heading off to bed early. One more day and we are in the weekend.

On a personal note, I was not paying attention when my phone rang, and Melody finally got through to me. I have been avoiding that call since the beginning of the year, and I intend to continue doing so. I was not mean, but I also was not in the mood. I do not need that kind of drama in my life, and I understand that she wants to talk, but I do not. She feels that she needs closure about her mother, and where that may be the case, I have had closure on that issue for a very long time. I explained to her that I was working and could not talk. She wanted me to commit to a time when we could speak, and I refused to do so. I feel very callous about the subject, but it is honestly not my problem, and I am sticking to that.

I watched Stargate while eating my dinner and working on the sleeping artwork. Then I got myself into bed nice and early so that I can push out around midnight and get this week over with.

The endless fog...

I am experiencing a level of tiredness that I haven't felt in a very long time. Before I went to work, I was lethargic and did not want to do anything, including drive. I pushed myself through, and I remained positive with my riders, but my heart was not in it. I took the time after work and got an oil change, and that required a bit of an argument with Valvoline. They refused to honor the free service I received from customer service, and it took about 15 minutes to get them to agree. It was tense for a while, but I came out on top in the end.

Once I got back to the house, I barely had the mental capacity to eat food. I tried to stay up, but I surrendered and took a nap. Usually, that would be a good thing. However, in this case, it did not go so well. As long as I was upright, I was exhausted. As soon as I put my head down, my eyes would pop open like one of those 1970s sleeping dolls, but in reverse. I finally gave in, got up, and trudged through the rest of the day. I was able to knock a few things off my list, and I even started making a weekend list, which is something I've been missing. I was planning on going fishing tomorrow morning, but I forgot that my gear is scattered through different parts of the garage. I also need to pull the bike out of the shed and see if it is roadworthy. I want to go down to the lake off of James Rd., but to get to the proper fishing spot on that lake is more than a mile walk. It would be better to have the bike.

I managed to stay up a little later than I originally intended, and then headed for bed, hoping for a good night's sleep.

This is something that I consider quick art. The sky and sea are a product of Photoshop's auto-generation. The boat and most of the rigging are stock from 3D Studio. The model is Evelyn from DAZ 3D, integrated as a matrix. The skin on the model, as well as the hair, is also stock. The weapons and armor are items that I have gained over the years, with open licenses. The only thing that I had to do here was to make some minor modifications to the skin over the wire frame to add the bone structure and the blood vessels. Reducing their size slightly distorted the shape of the breasts. The perspective made it difficult from this angle, and the Evelyn wire frame is quite buxom. The ship in the background is a simple stamp in Photoshop.

I really need rest...

I was not exactly a race horse out of the gate, then I woke up. I was only able to get about 5 hours of sleep. I went to bed late and I got up early. I took care of some of the minor things, mostly data transfers, before the sun came up. I also put away the groceries and tidied up the house a little. Once the sun broke the horizon, I could see storm clouds moving in. I grabbed my equipment and finished putting up the stone circle in front of the house, which will offer a place for some vegetables.

As soon as I finished working on the stone work, the storm came crashing in. It was a pretty good storm. Willow was in the kitchen making homemade pizza and chicken, and the storm just sucked the energy right out of me, but in a good way. I made a conscious choice to sit and do little or nothing for the day. I was in serious need of a mental reset. I fired up all of my art tools and came up with the image above. It's not great, but it's not horrible either. I did a few things around the house and came up with a plan for the next day. I cannot be lazy for a third day in a row. That would not be nice.

As the evening rolled around, I found the time to jump on the META and try the new game, “Dungeons of Eternity”. It is pretty impressive. It is just like playing Dungeons and Dragons in a three-dimensional environment. I did not even make it through the first small dungeon before about a dozen skeletons overpowered me, but there is a learning curve. I look forward to making time to play this.

The day passed by quickly, and it was time for dinner and bed. I am fully aware that I wasted the day, and I am comfortable with that. One thing I did with Laura was to use our new code reader and perform a diagnostic on the Spark. We have several avenues to address the stuttering issue in her engine. We will start with the cheap and straightforward aspects and go from there. There are approximately eight potential causes of the problem, and about six of those are straightforward and inexpensive.

Tomorrow is another day, and I look forward to attacking it with vigor.

No traction..

The rain from yesterday threw a monkey wrench in my plans for today. I wanted to get the front lawn done and the front flower bed, but I was only able to complete the flower bed. The grass was too wet up until about 4:00 PM, when it was time to go to bed. I took the extra time to make a homemade pizza, which turned out pretty well, and I got my desk cleaned off. The desk has been a little bit of a sore spot for a few weeks now. Things have just been piling up, and I have had no urge to get them done. But I went through everything and got them out of the way. I was unable to get the bike out of the shed, and I'll need to find time to do so this week. I would like to have it ready for next weekend so I can go fishing.

All things considered, the weekend has been OK, but it has been far from productive. I do believe that I needed the downtime for my mental health, but now I feel like I have accomplished nothing, and that's going to have the opposite emotional effect. Sometimes, you cannot win for losing. However, I will trudge onward and see where this long road takes me. I did not fire up the art programs today, but I did reformat my old tablet and have it back to operational order. I find that hilarious because that has been on my list for something like 3 years, and I finally got around to it.

Ah, to sleep..

I was up and in motion right on time this morning, and then I ran through the day. I had to take a little time off at lunch time because a child peed in my car and I had to take care of that. By the time that I got back from Union City, I was exhausted and I could do little more then eat dinner and go to bed.

Time to recover and prepare..

I spent the entire day facing fatigue, and by the time I got back to the house, I was just ready to lie down and go to sleep. Of course, that is not what I did, but I probably could have. I spent the evening resting, recuperating, and preparing for what tomorrow will bring. I hope this works out and I can establish a routine of running both rideshare services and improving the numbers on both sides.

A lot is going on in the world right now, and it is challenging to keep it out of the conversations of the day. The mad king is trying to force the country into a position where he can declare martial law and declare himself king. And those on the right-hand side of the aisle are sucking it down like mother's milk. Regardless of how much evidence exists, they continue to believe the narrative of lies. I have some knowledgeable and educated friends who sit on that side of the aisle. They are defending this madness like it is the last lifeline in this world. I am so disappointed in the American people right now. I know that the pendulum swings, and very soon we are going to have midterm elections, and I have a feeling that's going to bring about significant change. But I'm not sure if we will have a country left when that time arises. I want to say that it scares me, but it just makes me sad. We have such good people, and they are all being lost to the madness of a single narcissistic sociopath.

Stuff, I did stuff!..

I was back at the house early, but unfortunately, that threw off Laura’s flow for the day. I did not consider that when I was making my plans. I was able to ignore her for the most part, but just a physical presence in the house can toss off the flow. I need to ensure that I consider that in my plans. But we move past these things quickly.

Back at the house on time, the first thing that I did was take care of the Spark. This is a systematic check of the systems to determine why the engine is idling excessively. Today was vacuum hoses. I physically inspected every vacuum hose and ensured there were no cracks, holes, or leaks. They appear to be in good working order, and it seems that the following item on the list is to change the air filter. I will probably do that this weekend, and then we will go from there.

Next on the list was the front lawn and side yards. They took a little while to get done because of the charge on the lawn mower. I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking last week, but when I put the battery on to charge, I mistakenly placed the wrong battery. I have no idea what I was thinking. So I had to cut part of the lawn, wait for the battery to charge, and then cut the rest. But it gave me enough time to get the weed whacking done as well as a few other things. With the line out of the way, it was time to move on to other green things. I planted my sunflowers, my jalapenos, and my cantaloupes. It's a bit late in the season for all of them, but we shall see what happens. I still want to get my rose bushes, but they will have to wait.

The final project for the day was the bike. It was a bit of a hassle to get it out of the shed, but I managed to wrestle it to freedom. I took it into the garage, pumped up the tires, and for now, they have held. I greased and oiled everything, and the bike appears to be in good working condition. I am one step closer to my plan on going fishing down at the lake off of James Road this weekend. In addition to fishing, we are also going out for ramen this weekend. I am looking forward to it.

With all the projects out of the way, it was time for some well-deserved rest. I made some baked potatoes and sat, relaxing, until it was time to go to bed. Just two more days of this week, and we are into the weekend. Next week, I have my passport appointment, and it just seems like it's going to be a stressful week.

Da mood! Not a mood!..

I was running late, but made it out of the door on time. I had no time to get things done before I went to work. I had time after work, but no will to get anything done. I am tired and pushing toward exhaustion, but we are rolling into Friday the 13th and then the weekend.

An experiment with some of the new assets of Daz3D and Photoshop. I don't think that I like the ripple effect on the reflected moons, but the rest is okay.

Out with the week and into the weekend..

I got home before noon and tried to get a nap. That did not work out well. So, I took advantage of the downtime and started working on the weekend list. I finished up the bookkeeping for the week, did a major DAZ3D update, went through the job boards, and double-checked the bike. All is good. I watched some Stargate and did my best to relax. Tomorrow, there are supposed to be some severe storms, so my outdoor plans are shot. I was initially going to hit the old fishing hole in the morning, but those plans are scrapped. Tomorrow, we're having lunch at the Raman place, and it should be a relaxing weekend. At least that is the hope.

Since I'm rolling loose for the next couple of days, once I load the new Daz3D assets and update Photoshop, I wanted to try something a bit outside my wheelhouse. I tried out a few of the new assets, using stock images of nighttime trees, a lake, and the moon.

Time to relax..

It was a rainy morning, and family time in the afternoon. We all hit one of the ramen restaurants and enjoyed a good meal. It was very different from what I usually eat, but I think I enjoyed it. We stopped at Lowe's on the way home, and I got two rose bushes for the yard. It is a good start. I worked on my list and relaxed for the entire day. It was well deserved and well needed.

A lot to do..

There were still quite a few things on my list today. I worked on my back journals, Ancient Pathway, and my archives. I cleaned the air fryer and the oil fryer, and that took a significant amount of time. I hit the store and got what I needed for the week, and I ate my Sunday pizza. For most of the day, I rolled Stargate in the background, and I also planted my roses. I think I'm ready for the week ahead. I have reloaded Awakening and my programming courses. It is going to be a long week.

Accomplishments..

Although work was a bit rough, I did reasonably well on the personal front. Before I headed out to work in the morning, I completed my round-robin of projects and didn't forget to take anything with me. I took about two hours off to submit my passport application, and that was a bit of a hassle. The woman working the desk at the post office was very frustrated because she was getting multiple passport applications each day. The problem is that people are coming significantly unprepared. When I arrived, right on time for my appointment, there were still four people ahead of me because everybody had their own problems. They lacked the necessary items and had not completed their paperwork correctly. When I came up and handed her my packet, and everything was there, she was noticeably relieved. However, empathy is a bitch. I could feel her frustration oozing off her, and it was very uncomfortable. I got done right at the 12-hour mark and headed home for dinner and relaxation before bed.

Sit, must sit..

One disadvantage of having a work day like today is that it causes extreme exhaustion. I was up and in motion right on time, and I even got a few things done before I left for work. However, the work day dragged the life out of me, and by the time I hit the house in the afternoon, I was ready to stare at a wall and do nothing. In the morning, I completed quite a bit of Ancient Pathway, but in the afternoon, nothing.

Push on through...

Before I left for work in the morning, I knocked out another 10 pages on Ancient, and I double-checked on my socials to see if the accounts were still active. I'm doing that in preparation for the weekend, where I intend to try to get the podcast up and running. To achieve this, I need viewers, and the best way to do so is to get reactivated on social media. It's the same thing that I'm doing with Lyft. I have to build a reputation. For the longest time, Ancient would get more than 10,000 independent views a day. Now that number is closer to 2000. If I can start rebuilding that following, maybe something will happen, some spark of fire, something. I don't want to put too much thought into it, at least not right now.

Rest, you fool, Rest...

This week, I have been doing pretty well in the morning, getting up on time and out the door just as I'm supposed to, but it's exhausting. I can feel the shadows moving in from all directions, but these are not personal shadows, even though they tried to be. The world around me is pushing towards something, and I can feel it. I can feel the exhaustion oozing off everybody that I come into contact with. They are just so tired of everything. Even looking around the city of Memphis, the buildings look tired. I am sure that that is just a reflection of my perspective, but there is no denying what I can see with my own eyes. The problem with seeing with your own eyes is that you will also form your own judgment about a situation. I don't think I'm ready to unpack that right now, so I will wish you, my gentle readers, hugs and a kitten, and we will move on.

I received a new moonlight filter for Adobe Photoshop this morning, and since I had time in the evening, I figured I would try it. It's a standard wireframe model of Eve and a stock forest background. There is nothing particularly creative about this one, but I do like the filter.

The week ends...

I was up and in motion nice and early, and I pushed through the day with my usual vigor. Aside from some annoyances at work, I'm going to count this as a decent, but very hot day. Storm clouds are looming, but they don't seem to want to break, and the heat is oppressive. I pushed through the day and put in 11 hours, and then it was time to call it a week. I hit the gym, but my heart wasn't really in it. Then it was back to the house, and I attacked the front lawn before the storm clouds could break. I was able to get the lawn done, clean the car, and do the weed whacking before sitting down to eat my fried rice. I picked up the fried rice from Red Koi at Willow's suggestion, and she is right. The portions are amazing, even when compared to the high price. The rice was nice and fluffy, with a good taste. I was going to break it into two meals, but I wound up eating both of them. I don't think it's something I would go back for, but it was a nice treat.

I started to plan my weekend, but the week has left me completely exhausted. Jumping in and doing the lawn as soon as I got home just added to that exhaustion. So, I started working on creating my list of things to do this weekend, and it's pretty extensive. I hope to go fishing first thing in the morning, but I'm not sure if that will happen at this point or not. I should take at least a few hours and head out to the lake. But we shall see. Finally, I got a notification of a new filter available for Photoshop, and since it was free, I downloaded it. It is the moonlight filter that you see above. This weekend, I'm going through my filters and will delete a number of them. However, that's only because they occupy precious hard drive space, and many of them are somewhat useless. The moonlight filter is not, and I will be holding on to this one. As the day rolled to an end, the thunderheads rolled in, and I fired up Stargate before heading off to bed.

Almost too much...

I experienced both a good day and a bad day simultaneously. I was experiencing mood swings for most of the day, but thankfully, they aligned with the activities of the day. I've started working on my mid-year round Robin switch-up, and it's almost ready for July. I knocked most of the things off my list for the weekend, and I even had time for family time at home. Those were the good things.

I spent a significant portion of the day working on my long-term list. I am very behind in Awakening and I have to get that back on track. I have stagnated in my education, and I have to get that back on track as well. Time is passing too quickly, and there's nothing I can do about it, since it's a constant. With the potential increase in gas prices, driving for ridesharing may quickly become non-viable. Tomorrow I'm going to step up my efforts to find a different job. I'm going to look into forklift certification, and that's because since the beginning of the year, I have seen advertisements daily for those types of positions. They start at $16.00 an hour and go all the way up to $50.00 an hour, depending on the company, demands, and requirements. I am reasonably sure that if I get certified, I can fall somewhere in the middle and make a decent living.

For the most part, I used today as a down day and did not do anything significant other than change the air filter in the Spark. I also did a good cleaning on the air fryer, but I do that every weekend. Tomorrow I want to see if I can get some of my photographs done and maybe go fishing. I am not sure about the fishing, because I still have quite a few things that I have to knock out before I go to bed tomorrow night. I should mow the back lawn, but I haven't checked the weather yet. I would also like to finish cleaning up the garage, and that is quite time-consuming. I still have to clean some of the upstairs area, and I cannot put that off because I promised Laura. Additionally, I need to repair the wall in Willow's room. It will be an interesting day, but I will have the house mostly to myself all day.

That was stupid...

I started the day on a roll, and I knocked out a significant part of my backlog list. I was pushing through the day, and I got to cleaning the closet and the bathrooms upstairs, and then everything went to hell. I was a little messy with cleaning the shower, and there was water on the floor. I found that water with my bare foot, and that was when the fun began. I went down hard, and then it was 2 hours later. Yes, my friends, I knocked myself out. I wish I had a better story of doing something fun or heroic, but that is not the case. I checked myself for a concussion, and aside from a headache, there don't seem to be any ill effects. But I guess I got a nap today, so I will take it for what it is. It could have been much worse.

Back at it...

I am back into the work week, but I am not feeling it. I still have one hell of a headache, but that is to be expected, considering the antics of the weekend. I was up in plenty of time, and I even had the time to make my sandwiches, and I pushed through the day even with the heat hitting close to 100°. I worked a full 12 hours, and when I got home, I was hoping to mow the backyard, but with the heat, that did not happen. I have to find time later in the week to do it. I also did not make it to the gym, but I will try to make up for that tomorrow.

On a sour note of life, my friends in Chicago who were said to be living the life of Romeo and Juliet forgot that William Shakespeare wrote tragedies. They're both still alive, but their relationship has taken a turn in an accurate Shakespearean manner. It makes me very sad to see something fail so quickly, especially when one party is holding on for dear life and the other one is carrying it with nonchalance. I don't know how this story will end, but it is very sad.

Need rest...

I am more tired mentally than I am physically. That says quite a bit, because I am physically drained. However, as I stated in the work portion of this post, the conversation today was off the hook. Everybody has an opinion, and most of them are negative. People are scared, angry, and at all ends of the spectrum, which tilts the balance toward the negative. Those who continue to back the rising regime have dug their boots in and continue to praise idiocracy. I try just to let it go, but it digs into my mental state and tries to bring negativity. When I got back to the house after work and after a quick run to the gym, I could do little more than stare.

Full workout...

I pushed straight to the edge of my available time for the day, and then I hit the gym. I completed a full-body workout, which included all sections of the body, and it felt pretty good. Or should I say that it felt good until I left the gym and had to deal with life? I am pretty sore, but I think it was well worth it. If I can get back into the routine, things will be fine. Along the same lines of thinking, I believe that I have finally decided that Planet Fitness is my favorite gym. They are a bit smaller than the other two, and they don't have around-the-clock access, but it is a comfortable setting. I haven't made my final decision yet, but they are the front runner. Not that it will change anything, but at least it is a check mark off a list.

Speaking of lists, I need to schedule my annual checkup with my primary care physician and address all the associated matters. I've been putting it off for weeks, and I really need to get it done. It doesn't help that I also have to undergo my Department of Transportation physical. I wish that I could do them together, but it doesn't work that way. I should get to a dentist, but I've been putting that off for even longer. Time is an enemy right now. There never seems to be enough of it, and it's passing away a lot faster than it should.

Along with accomplishing a few tasks today, such as working on both ride shares and attending the gym, I also continued my archive project and started rereading the sections of the novel that I have already edited. It's time to get caught up and get back in motion. We're almost to the weekend again, and I'm looking forward to it very much. And yes, I am looking forward to it even though I have quite a bit to do.

Not feeling it...

I am just not feeling myself today. I was up plenty of time before work, but I had hardly any drive. I pushed through and did what I had to do to get out of the house on time and ran through the workday. However, when I returned to the house, I had no energy at all to accomplish anything. This is becoming a daily issue. I was off from the gym today, and I used the extra time in the afternoon to complete a number of applications. I'm not sure if it matters though, because I rarely hear anything back. It severely impacts my self-doubt, and that is never a good thing. At least tomorrow is Friday, and I have plans to go to the doctor in the afternoon and then start the weekend. Maybe that will help.

I dislike the American Medical System....

The morning was typical, but the afternoon was not. I had to cut off work about an hour early so that I could make my doctor's appointment on time, and that was only the beginning of the annoyance. The doctor that I usually see was in a different office today, so I got to see one of the physician assistants. She was nice enough, but I do not feel that her attention was on our interaction. She seemed highly distracted after we discussed the last six months, and she was going through the motions.

About 25 years ago, I had surgery to repair a double hernia. I was warned at that time that these could return. It appears that one of them may have returned, but it seems to have been there for a while, and all it does is cause me a minor cramp now and then. Therefore, we are not going to take any action about it at this time. The medication is another story. I have managed my medication for going on a decade now. For obvious reasons, I'm not going to go into the details of the medication, but suffice it to say that I know what all of them do and the reason that I am on them. The physician's assistant felt it necessary to change that medication. I find that quite disturbing. When I asked her why she was doing it, she responded that she was not comfortable with what I've been doing for 10 years. I can deal with it for now, and I will deal with it more directly next time I have a visit. Another minor annoyance is that I don't think they got the new prescriptions right. But since they are support medication, they're not going to have any impact on my life, for the most part, I'm going to let it go for now. On my next visit, I'm going to have words with the office. A final point of annoyance is that about a year ago, I accepted the office as my primary care physician. At that point, I submitted a request to have my records transferred from Baptist, but that has never been fulfilled. Additionally, I've never been given access to my blood work, which I track very closely. I'm going to have to schedule an appointment in October to have labs drawn again for my annual check, and I will address all of this then. The only change that I have to make is that I can no longer drink grapefruit juice because it interacts with one of my medications. This means I will have to go back to orange juice or find an alternative. Or I could switch to water. With the price of citrus, that might be the best plan. I could start making my iced tea again. That is something to think about.

My plans for tomorrow are to go fishing at first light. Then I'll come home and tackle the yard to see if I can get it caught up. I want to get the garage cleaned this weekend, pick up my medication, make my lunches, and start a project for Willow for her birthday. I have a pretty intense list, but when I got home from the doctor, I could do nothing but sit. I think that the interaction may have bothered me a lot more than I am letting on, even to myself. I don't have any drive, and I have a feeling that the medication may be part of the problem. However, I've some ideas to address that. I have started with the gym, and I think I am going to stick with Planet Fitness. We shall see how that works out. And I'm hoping for a good weekend.

Nothing ever goes as planned....

OK, I admit that I stole the title for this portion of the blog from the band Styx. I love that song and I have not heard it in a very long time. However, it does teach a very valuable lesson about getting your hopes up for anything. Because nothing ever goes as planned, it's a hell of a notion.

So, the first five hours of my day were spent in an intervention with a friend. They are having some significant issues with their other half, and there is no real way out of it other than walking away. The only problem is that they do not want to walk away, and they are fighting as hard as they can to hold on to what is no longer there. After almost a month of fighting, they were ready to throw up their hands and be done with it. By having done with it, they were indicating that it was time to leave the mortal plane. So I gave five hours of my time to make sure that did not happen. Unfortunately, all actions have an equal and opposite reaction. It is basic physics, even within the mental realm.

Because of the time I spent with them, I didn't get out the door to go fishing before daybreak, and that put the entire day on edge. I did not have time, I did not have worms, therefore I did not have fishing. But that's OK because I am always ready to rework the day when I have to.

First things first, food. I am experiencing something new. For some reason, this morning, I could not take in enough calories to satisfy myself. I ate my typical breakfast, and then, as I usually do on Saturday, I had a second breakfast about 5 hours later. That usually fills me up until lunchtime. But that was not the case today. We got together as a family and made a Big Breakfast, which included some excellent potatoes. So I think I have become a Hobbit in that I had a third breakfast. Thankfully, that carried me until the afternoon, when I had a late lunch that doubled as dinner. However, the morning hunger is something I have never experienced before. Interesting.

Since my morning was thrown off kilter, I switched to my alternate plan and worked on the music database until the sun came up and the neighbors were awake. Then it was time to hit the front lawn. That drained the life out of me due to the heat and humidity. I took a nap before I did it, but an hour outside in the sweltering heat sucked the energy right out of me. When I put the battery on the charger to prepare to do the rear lawn, I jumped in the pool for a while. It was like bath water. I also made a mental note to do the chlorine tomorrow morning. I usually do it on Friday, but I was out of sorts this week. After the swim time, it was time to sit down and relax. Thunderheads are rolling in, and before the day was over, we faced a Tempest. It even knocked out the power for a little while. That is the first time that has happened in a very long time. The power was only out for about 5 minutes, and that was right around bedtime.

One interesting point for the week is that I applied to a law firm. They are looking for a runner, who is somebody who runs errands, and it pays very well. To work for the law firm, you have to take a 100-question online test. I'm used to answering questionnaires and tests, so I jumped over and took it. I didn't even think about the content of the test because it is usually geared toward the industry I am applying for. What I did not realize is that these 100 questions were part of the Tennessee bar exam. When they sent me the test link, they advised me not to worry if I scored low, as it is expected. They just needed a general indication of my knowledge of the legal system. Anyway, I got my score back. I scored a 98 out of 100 on a bar exam. I wonder if you need to attend law school to take the bar exam in Tennessee. Not only would that be hilarious, but it might make a few people nervous if I became a lawyer. Don't worry, my friends, there are about the same chances of me becoming a lawyer, or even wanting to become a lawyer, as there are of me putting on a MAGA hat and a Tutu and singing show tunes at City Hall. Not my repertoire. I'm not sure if that high a score will help or hinder me with the company. We shall say. I could see that it would hinder me because lawyers are notoriously arrogant and they would not want one of their lessers, to coin a phrase, do you know anything about what they do.

I finally made it into bed and let myself drift off to sleep to the sound of rain on the roof. It was not a great day, but it was not a terrible day either. I did not get nearly enough done, and tomorrow is supposed to be my day to relax, but that's not going to happen.

Too much sitting....

I've noticed a pattern when it comes to the weekends. Sunday is not my friend. Don't get me wrong, I was able to push through the day and complete the front lawn, as well as fit in some swimming time. But I had no energy at all, and I wound up sitting on my rear end for most of the day doing nothing. I couldn't bring myself even to open the novel or work on any of my data projects or anything else. I don't know what the root of this problem is, but I have to try to figure it out. This is happening every week now.

New tactic....

I am fatigued, but that is to be expected. I slept well, and I was up and in motion right on time. I hit the ground running and had a decent workday, even if it was a bit slow to start. Once I got rolling, I was rolling full steam ahead.

The challenge arose when I returned to the house in the afternoon. I had worked more than 11 hours, but I did not allow myself to be lazy. It was sweltering hot, but I jumped right into the backyard and got half of the rear lawn done. I would have gotten more done, except the electric mower couldn't handle it. The grass was so long that it had to run on turbo for most of the cut to be able to handle what was there. That cut the battery life in half. Even when I went to charge the battery, the heat in the garage was so intense that it triggered a thermal warning. But I got it done. Tomorrow is another day, and maybe, if it's not raining, I'll get the rest done.

I finished updating the blog through the end of the month and got the next month, July 2025, up and in place. I barely had time this month to finish my artwork for the top of the page, but it is now complete as well. I worked on my data project, my novel project, and started a new lesson for both guitar and Daz3D. I am going to consider today a productive day and hope to maintain this momentum throughout the week.

One little amusing point. As I was headed to my first reservation this morning, the car started making a horrible sound. It felt and sounded as if one of the tires was going to fly off, and I was not in the best part of town. I pulled to the side of the road and checked the tires, and they were fine. I started to roll again, and the sound returned. I finally got down on my hands and knees and looked under the car, and I had picked up a piece of wood that had jammed itself perfectly on the undercarriage of the vehicle. It was dragging on the ground, sending a vibration through the chassis that made it sound like the entire car was falling apart. It was scary and amusing at the same time.