Adjusting to the new normal

As of yesterday I am working from home and so far it’s pretty good. I never really wanted to work from home because I really like chatting with my coworkers and just getting out every day to do work. Now that it’s not a choice anymore, I’m learning to adjust. The last two days I worked in the office nobody else came in and most of the other businesses in our building were closed, so it was actually a little eerie there anyway.

So far, I’ve been getting up at my normal time and done my usual morning routine. I’ve been going on a walk around my neighborhood in the morning while I would normally be commuting so that when I get home I can feel more like arriving at work. I plan to take an afternoon walk every day, as well to simulate getting home. Luckily, we’ve had amazing sunny weather here and we’re still allowed outside.

My cat is loving having me home and it’s pretty cool to be able to run laundry and do a bit of extra tidying throughout the day. I even set a calendar reminder for 2pm today to add veggies to the tagine simmering in the oven.

Yesterday our small staff chatted in a practice Zoom meeting that was pretty hilarious at first. We had our usual comedy of errors with everyone figuring out how to use it, including some of us holding up pieces of paper saying “can you hear me?”, hahaha. I forgot you could use chat, but I’ve got that down now. We’re having a big board meeting via Zoom tonight, so that should be interesting.

Otherwise I’m trying to avoid the news as much as I can (it’s not that easy) as it seems to just get worse by the hour. It’s great to see folks working to help vulnerable members of the community, though. That’s where our focus should be for sure.

How are you getting along in this new world?

The Cat in the Top Hat

Just thought I’d share a photo of the top hat I made for my familiar (a stuffed black cat) as part of my Halloween costume, but now belongs to my real cat. He’s so dapper and seemed to feel right at home in a top hat. It didn’t bother him at all. Such a gentleman. He always wears a white tie, so he’s ready for any occasion.

It’s day 4 of Nanowrimo, and so far I’ve written just a smidge more than the required 1667 words per day. I have a big weekend planned, so I will probably fall behind, but I know I can catch up. Here is a tip for all of you participating in this crazy novel-writing adventure:

When you find yourself struggling to remember a character’s name, eye color, etc. or identify a place that needs research, just insert a symbol and a note there instead of letting these little details slow your writing down. It’s way easier to fix that stuff when you have time to edit than to go back to find the information, or to distract yourself by googling a detail and falling down that rabbit hole. Just keep writing! Edit in December 🙂

Have a great weekend, y’all!