Odds & Ends: or, Even More Musings & Thoughts for Monday, October 5, 2020

Things I DIDN’T Do Today

It’s now mid-afternoon here in what I call New Hometown in Florida, and it’s a hot and rainy Monday. Presently, the temperature outside is 88˚F under mostly cloudy skies. With humidity at 66% and the wind blowing from the east-northeast at 6 MPH (with maximum gusts of 10 MPH), the feels-like temperature is 97˚F in the sun and 95˚F in the shade. Additionally, the AccuWeather forecast is predicting that rain can be expected within a matter of minutes.

Well, I was going to go for a walk in the early evening after I post this – which, if you are already familiar with this blog, is usually a bit after my caregiver logs off from her remote office job and frees up the Wi-Fi a few minutes after 5 PM. However, if it’s raining or if it’s still that hot at that hour, there’s no way that I’m going to go anywhere beyond our mailbox. I don’t mind walking outside if the weather is mild or at least not so summer-like, but I’m not going to risk getting caught in a sudden downpour and ending up soaked to the bone. I have had that experience quite a few times, including once when I was 25 years old and studying abroad in Sevilla (Seville), Spain.

On that occasion, not only did I get lost for several hours during a torrential rainstorm in the middle of Seville’s Maria Luisa Park on the way home from a friend’s apartment, but I caught a cold after sloshing through ankle-deep water while crossing the Paseo de las Delicias to get to my apartment at No. 1 Virgen de Robledo in Los Remedios, which was located across the Guadalquivir River from Seville proper.  I was sick – on and off – for most of the remaining time I spent studying advanced Spanish and several history and social studies courses related – naturally – to Spain.

So, no, thanks. I’ll wait until the last vestiges of Tropical Storm Gamma go away and go for a walk tomorrow.

As you can see, I did not write a Star Wars Collectibles & Toys Review. I didn’t have enough online time during Ms. Caregiver’s lunchbreak to do the necessary research for one; all I managed to do, really, was to get my previous blog post published here – after, of course, adding illustrations and making last-minute revisions. And since I am still feeling the effects of last night’s abbreviated slumber – waking up at 3 AM is not fun – there’s no way that I could have managed to pull off a book or movie review.

Hell, I couldn’t even play a session of Cold Waters, my favorite computer game of the moment. I tried to play the same Single Mission five times, and in all of those sessions I made tactical errors that got my Seawolf-class nuclear-powered submarine and her crew killed by the People’s Liberation Army Navy out in the South China Sea.

In one engagement, I managed to sink most of the Chinese/Russian ships (including two Kirov-class battle-cruisers) in the scenario I created, but I was sunk – after suffering damage from several enemy torpedoes – by a Soviet anti-sub helo which dropped a torpedo at such close a distance that my already-hobbled boat could not avoid.

I’ve beaten task forces supported by aircraft before; I’ve been damaged badly in the process, but I usually win in the end.

Not today. I made mistakes a rookie player might make when trying out the game, and I made them because I was tired and in a rush to win. 

I also didn’t get any reading done today. Usually I take some time away from my desk to read a chapter or two from a book on my TBR pile, just to get out from behind my desk and, you know, vary the routine while enjoying a pastime I’ve enjoyed since I was a young boy.

While I wait for the Wi-Fi to be available, I think I’ll listen to some classical music. Maybe Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Op. 11. It’s not exactly a rousing piece like John Williams’ Star Wars: Main Title, but I don’t feel like listening to rousing pieces lately. Calming, or even mournful, pieces suit me just fine.

I hope I sleep better tonight. I really do. I need to have my wits about me if I am going to ever write posts that are more interesting (and useful) than these personal revelations/rantings/anecdotes.  Plus, soon I need to start working on a manuscript for NaNoWriMo 2020, a project that I promised myself I would do as long ago as last year. I can’t do that if I am constantly sleep-deprived or feeling sad all the time, right?

Well, Dear Reader, I better wrap this up; it’s 4:32 PM and my caregiver will probably be logging off soon. I hope you are doing well on this first Monday in October. As I always say, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the brighter side of things.