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My Four-Day Weekend Was Completely Wasted On Watching The West Wing

Good afternoon, everyone! What’s it been, like a week? Or did I blog twice last week? Honestly, I can’t remember, and I’m probably not going to stop writing this to go look. I did discover something interesting by not blogging every day – my unique visitors stay roughly the same, though my individual views go down. I guess you guys just get bored after a few days into the week and just start clicking crap. I’m not judging – ya’ll can do whatever. But, hey, at least I know that I don’t HAVE to blog everyday if I don’t have a lot going on.

The last few weeks I really haven’t done much except be infected with the coronavirus, procrastinate in my grad school classes, and write some. I think I’m officially over the coronavirus. It look a good long while. Not fun. Anyway, I’ve not had any symptoms for like a week and I haven’t had to take any fever reducers for about 8 days, I think.

My Four-Day Weekend

My Thanksgiving was alright. My roommate and I bought Thanksgiving dinner plates from a local dining service and ate by ourselves in our living room. How was your all’s Thanksgiving? Or your weekend? Also, can four day weekends just be standard now? That’s what I’m going to work towards – setting my life up to enjoy four-day weekends as often as possible. Unrealistic, you say? It goes against the grain that’s been perpetuated by society since the dawn of unemployment rate monitoring, sure, but I’m not convinced.

While we’re talking about unrealistic life goals, Yes, I’m still thinking about moving out of the state rather quickly. Within a year would be best. Have I mentioned how over Kentucky I am? Yes, being gay in Kentucky still very much sucks. I used to think it was getting better, but every election year I’m reminded that I’m still looked down upon by about 70% of the people here.

I think with my next paycheck, I’m going to plan some bus trips to Chicago sometime next March and April. Then maybe a trip to San Francisco in May, though I’ll have to schedule it way in advance to get a lower price on a plane ticket. (Not bussing to California, sorry.) Gosh, I really hope 2021 works out.

What I’m Reading/Watching/Doing

What am I reading this week? I suppose I could start throwing that in these things. I’m reading The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson. It’s um, not my usual reading, I’ll give it that. Yes, I’m just sort of trying to catch up on Pulitzers. I try to read them because, well, some people met and discussed them and determined they were worth reprinting a million times.

Also, in other random life news, I’m trying my best to avoid buying a new cell phone, because I finally paid off my Samsung Galaxy S9+, and would like to keep a lower bill for a while. I don’t know if I’ll succeed, especially if a new one comes out in March.

Also, I’m watching The West Wing. I can’t believe I haven’t watched it until now. Apparently it leaves Netflix December 24th, so I only have a few weeks to finish it.

What Are You Doing?

Anyway, how is your all’s Monday going? What did you do over the weekend? What are ya reading? What are ya watching?

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I Finished The Goldfinch

Yes, I finally finished reading The Goldfinch, the book I started reading back in the fall of 2015. I don’t really do book reviews anymore, at least not in written form. But, the one thing I will say about it is that if it taught me only one thing, that one thing is how to linger in a novel.

Here are some of my tweets as I was reading it.

When I say “finished reading”, what I mean is being read to. I listened to the Audible version all weekend. Turns out I like audio books now. I may finish some other books I’d been neglecting for a long time as well by getting them on Audible. Maybe. I also got some new Bluetooth headphones, which I can’t believe I waited so long to get.

I may listen to some other books this week as I use my new gym membership and figure out how the gym works.

Anyway, it’s Monday, so this is a short post again. How is your Monday going? Comment below.

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I listened to The Goldfinch on Audible at the gym.
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A Bad Tweet About My Writing Process

This week, I’m preparing for a trip and reading A Man Called Ove, by Fredrik Backman.

I’m supposed to be making sure I can find warm clothes for the trip, but instead I’m reading Fredrik Backman’s novel, A Man Called Ove. This is one of the novels I’m making myself read this year. There are also a few more. I’m also very much aware that it’s nearly the end of the year. I read so many novels my final semester at the University of Louisville that I had to take a break from reading novels all summer and fall. I won’t get done reading this novel before next year, so we might as well go ahead and say it’s the first novel I’m reading for 2018. It doesn’t matter. I have to plan a trip.

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My trip is Friday. Well, it’s Friday at 6am. That means I have to basically be ready Thursday night. So from Thursday through Sunday I will be on a trip. That’s what I’m trying to say. My trip is for business. Well, personal. Well, I’m making it business. Okay, more personal I guess. You know what, it’s both. It doesn’t matter. I’m going somewhere to do things.

I have other goals, too. I tweeted them.

 

I sort of regret tweeting this. I don’t like talking about my “process”. First of all, it assumes anyone is even asking. Also, while the tweet is basically true, I don’t like the illusion that I’m consistent with my writing process. Nothing, I repeat, NOTHING about my writing process is ever consistent. I also regret the typo in the word “weeks”. So, by the power vested in me by my English degree from the University of Louisville, I hereby declare this tweet a bad tweet. I’m not deleting it though, because nothing matters anymore, anyway.

Back to Backman and coats. And writing, of course.

I’ll see you all Friday when I post this week’s short fiction. You can see an early draft if you support me on my Patreon page.

Here’s last Friday’s short fiction story, “The Arrangements of Bird Men”.

fredrik backmans a man called ove novel and a coffee cup

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