Different Worlds

Blog No. 280

I had a strange thing happen to me last weekend. Nothing. For a long weekend, that’s rather unusual. Most weekends I have a combination of work, events, or family gatherings. With it being the Easter long weekend, you’d think there would be some family tradition, but with my parents out of town, no book events, and the day job closed, I found myself with nothing to do for the first time in a long time. I say nothing to do, but I have plenty. My review copy of The Thinking Machine is still in transit from Etobicoke, so it’s at a standstill, but I still have the followup to write, some short stories to write, and a ton of stuff to do for Flags and High Fives. I did spend a little time on work, but to be honest, I relished in the time off. I built a whole settlement in Minecraft.

I live a very segmented life that comes naturally from my schedule. I ten do to work the same days a lot. On Tuesdays I do the rough draft of this blog. On Tuesday nights I have my meetings with Arvin for Flags. Mondays and Wednesdays are often days off, and are spent at Anchor or another coffee place working on stories, layouts, and other such things. Thursdays and Fridays are spent at the day job, and the weekend is a crap-shoot for shifts, events, and time off. What’s unusual is that I check my social media, email, and texts at the day job constantly. I’m often in front of a computer, and as soon as the messages come in, I respond. When I’m at home, I’m all over. I don’t tend to keep my phone with me, so the messages pile up. Even when I’m at the computer, I tend to be working on a specific task, so I am oblivious to incoming alerts.

It’s a strange systems that results in me not getting back to people when I’m at home. Sometimes it feels like I’m hiding in my little refuge and avoid those things, but sometimes I’m making dinner and just don’t pay attention. Also, since I tend to be a day worker (a big change for me over the years) by 9:30 at night, I’m burnt out and I actively shun the outside world. It’s been a sticking point from time to time with friends and colleagues who are night workers, but we’re getting to a consensus. I’ve had to employ blocking techniques to keep the messages at bay since I like to be on alert for emergencies from the day job or family stuff, but for the most part, it’s all just my natural habits.

I’m not sure if any of this is interesting, but after the quiet long weekend, it’s been on my mind. Also, since I am still waiting for my preview copy of The Thinking Machine and my long run of events doesn’t start until next weekend (the first being the Windsor Small Press Book Fair on April 14th) I’m currently just writing and have little to share. I am hoping to get some more of my photos back soon, but for now, it’ll be the ones I take at events with my phone. Except for this week, where the images will mostly be stolen from the internet. That’s all, I guess. See you next week (but not after 9:30 pm, because my phone will be off).