Unusual Thursday

Is a day truly unusual if one doesn't do much of anything?

The last of three scheduled days off, which fall within my injury absence. Up at 9:00 am, and then breakfast was a banana, apple pie and Starbucks Fall Blend coffee. I spent the rest of the day in front of the tv, online, and reading "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", which I began last night after finishing the previous book in the series, around 3:00 am.

Late lunch (circa 2:30 pm) was pizza (BOOOO!). I took a nap from 5:30 - 6:30. Then it was more tv, including sports, "The Big Bang Theory", the new version of "Murphy Brown" and Vikings at Rams.

It was kind of a waste of a day, but it's inspired me to make the next week (Friday through Thursday) a lot more interesting and productive, despite my injury...

Unusual Monday

Today was Day One of my back injury work hiatus.

I slept until 9:00, fed Chumble, and had a normal breakfast (cereal & coffee). Then it was tv and my tablet. Online for awhile, then I got hungry so I washed the dishes in the sink, and then prepared a deceptively complicated lunch (which I rarely do).

I had the remnants of a cooked barbecued chicken from Market Basket, a can of mushrooms, and a can of mushroom soup. SO: I prepared a pot of fettuccine and the soup (can of soup, can of 1% milk). I stripped the chicken bare of all salvageable meat. I added the chicken and mushrooms to the simmering mushroom soup. I strained and then buttered (and salt & peppered) the fettuccine. And last but not least, I plated the fettuccine on a big deep plate with an indentation in the middle of the noodles, and then spooned the chicken & mushrooms out of the soup (and then poured some of it) onto the pasta. It tasted fantastic. I'm so glad I didn't have something delivered or settle for something lame & lazy like pretzels and apple juice...

Around 4:00 pm I went to my bed and read some of "Harry Potter 3" until I fell asleep until just after 6:00. Then it was sports tv, a bit of "The Voice", and then the season premiere of "The Big Bang Theory". Supper was more coffee, vanilla wafer cookies, and then later, ice tea and tortilla chips.

My back hurt a lot off & on all day, depending on how I was sitting or laying. Hopefully tomorrow it will feel better. I can't sit around for a week again.

Friday Funday

I have today off, and I received my check from the time my boss was away, including its 19 hours of overtime.

I did some reading in front of the tv over breakfast, and later I paid the rent and bought some high-quality sheets, a book and a bamboo toothbrush from Amazon. It's actually sunny today for the first time in days.

I shaved my head and then took a shower so I could run errands. I food shopped and the grabbed some beer, and came back home for a late Hannaford fried chicken lunch. Then it was off to the lake!

I was there 3:00 pm - 7:00 pm, and the place was pretty quiet for a sunny Friday afternoon! A few jet skis, a few floating porches, and a couple of slow-moving motorboats. That made me very happy. I read some of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets". I drank a pair of Hanging Hills Brewery Metacomet IPAs (one as I read, one as I floated). I had pretzels and an apple. And I listened to Tiny Firelies "Nothing/2040" and Cocteau Twins/Harold Budd "The Moon & the Melodies". What an afternoon...

No Plans

Today has been a nice day off. I had no specific plans, nor a list of things to get done for the day.

I got up a little after nine, and had a banana, cereal & coffee for breakfast while I watched an episode of "Nova" about origami. Then I went online to watch a bunch of the final season of "The Office" on Netflix. Midway through, my hardcover English version of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" finally arrived.

Kevin came by around 1:30 and we sat outside (cool and dry, if a bit cloudy) and caught up for about an hour. I gave him the five tallboy Patriots Pepsi cans for his traditional NFL Week One 'shut in' event (haha). After that I bought a couple of books on Amazon.

The rest of the day was more of "The Office", and night coffee.

2 Days Off

Yesterday: It rained off and on all day and it was incredibly humid too. I watched tv, hung out online, and didn't talk to a single human all day until my cashier at approximately 9:07 pm in the Hannaford check-out line. In between I made a scrambled hamburger sandwich with the last of the ground beef, the last of the 4-cheese shred, and two slices of multigrain bread. Supper was cold fried chicken from the food store. I fell asleep reading a chunk of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", after watching the first half of the recent "Jumanji" film.

Today: The rest of "Jumanji" during breakfast. Lunch was the rest of the fried chicken. At 3:30 I shaved & showered and then headed down to the lake from 4:00 - 8:00. No one else was there (though Sarah's crew had been there earlier, according to her reply to my first Instagram post of the day), and there were not a lot of boats racing around.

I had a 25 oz. Pond Jumper IPA from Flying Dreams Brewery while I read another big chunk of "Harry Potter". Then it was floating/swimming in my inner tube (and another small beer), and then more reading, with "The Moon and the Melodies" in my ears. What a great afternoon. Supper was Kraft Mac & Cheese while I watched sports tv and a shark movie called "Frenzy".

Things and Stuff

Special things I have bough lately:

1. A coffee mug from my favorite local coffee house, Union Coffee Roaster in Ayer, MA
2. The 20th Anniversary Ravenclaw Edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone". The original (British) version of the first book.
3. A new pair of selvage denim from Brave Star Selvage. Something new and fun to break in this summer and fall...

More Deliveries

Amazon: I have always wanted to play Dungeons & Dragons with my nephews & nieces, but thought it might be a bit too complicated with my old books. So I got the Starter Set for less than sixteen bucks. Also, I snagged a few ridiculously inexpensive character figures from Funko Pop's Rock Candy line.

L.L.Bean: I got an amazing green & blue chamois shirt, which I'll wear to Easter brunch, and then keep in my long sleeve shirt rotation until it gets too warm outside.

Deliveries

Several things arrived yesterday, one early, and two late:

•  Early (one day): my new bed frame! I am buying a new queen mattress, and I found a high frame that is boxspring-not-needed, for less than a hundred bucks.
• Late (two days): My Amazon order of another Robert Silverberg book, "The Ace Years: Part Two"; and a silly but cool, greenish Hawaiian shirt.

Side Note: Also, a few days ago I snagged two tickets to the Turnover concert at The Sinclair on Sunday April 29th...

Day Off: 4*4

I slept in until 9:30 am (I was up reading until 3:00 am or so), and then had a banana, cereal and coffee for breakfast as I watched a new documentary on the 1972 Andes Mountains plane crash. Around 11:30 I went outside in the bracing cold to shovel and clean off/move my car. The snow was so light & fluffy that it took less than ten minutes, although the wind was so intense that my fingers were frozen by the time I went back inside. At least it was sunny out, with a bright blue sky!

And the mailman delivered my Barnes & Noble order: "Legion of Super-Heroes: The Silver Age Omnibus", nearly 700 pages of comics from the team's earliest years, in amazing color, all under a hard cover.

Lunch was sausage and bread & butter. At around 1:30 pm I headed out to the ATM and Market Basket (cat litter, bread, Boylan's Black Cherry Soda). DAMN, it was cold with that wind! I walked across the street around 4:30 for a few mega Millions tickets, since the jackpot is well over $400 k. Then I did dishes and laundry, and watched sports tv. Then I cooked 2 boneless pork chops and made rice for dinner (along with one of the sodas) while I watched "Brooklyn 99" and part of "Jurassic World". At 9:30 pm I watched "Bright" (not bad) on Netflix, and then I showered.

Visual Arts Delivery

I received my Amazon order yesterday before work, which included 2 trade paperbacks of favorite comic books series "Low" and "Black Science"), and a new set of Pigma Micron art pens. I photographed them on a new area rug I bought the night before.

Lazy-ish

I have today off. So far I:

• Got out of bed at 8:00 am because my cat Chumble demanded it to be so.
• Watched last night's "Survivor" and "Modern Family".
• Finished my 'castle & fields' drawing (see below).
• Finished watching "Jobs" while eating Chinese food (chicken wings & fingers).
• Read some of Jack L. Chalker's "Priam's Lens".

Day Off Stuff

I have today off. I spent the grey morning watching "The Gifted" and "Supergirl" (both just so-so episodes, with several nonsensical reactions by various cast members).

Then my Amazon order arrived:

• "LOW" Volume 3 by Remender & Tocchini.
• A new 8" frying pan from Green+Life.
• A blackberry pear bar of soap from One With Nature.

I went to Cinema World to see the 1:00 pm showing of Justice League. It was a pretty decent movie (and not horrible, like all of the internet trolls predicted/proclaimed). I'd give it a solid B-grade.
* Pros: Wonder Woman, Ben Affleck's Batman, Superman returning all bright and blue & red. Cyborg, rapports with Aquaman & WW. Luthor & Deathstroke after the credits. Amber Heard as Mera. Superman reuniting with both Lois and his mom.
* Cons: The Flash (who decided to get a young Howie Mandel-type to play Barry Allen?). The Flash's uniform and running effects. Jesse Eisenberg as Luthor (again).
I enjoyed the movie a great deal, but it's not a 'multiple view' in the theater.

I arrived home to gas trucks & a traffic officer. They spent a couple of hours updating the gas lines & connections. It was done by 5:00 pm.

Saturday

What a great day off.

• I watched "The Comedian" with Robert DeNiro and Leslie Mann. Breakfast was apple pie and coffee.
• I bought a new 8" frying pan. I haven't had one since January.
• I drew a calendar for December.
• Lunch was a salad.
• I added my new music to my old iPod, and changed out a bunch of songs too (it's mostly shoegaze bands and 80's songs).
• I worked out from 2:30 - 4:00 pm.
• I did more work on the 'castle' drawing.
• Supper was a boneless pork chop and buttered egg noodles.
• I finished "Not Quite the Three Musketeers".

Castle

I began this drawing yesterday. It was inspired from a scene in the book I am currently reading, "Not Quite the Three Musketeers" by Joel Rosenberg. I'm not sure if I should make the dirt road a stream instead. Time will tell...