Too much?

I now have Google Calendar, a small purse-size 4" x 6" planner, a matching 8" x 9" paper planner for my backpack, a desk pad calendar, a wall calendar, and a Kindle planner that is hyperlinked between month, week, and day, all synchronised.

On the one hand, I feel very organised. On the other hand, it's a bit much. The main one is the one in my purse. After all, I can jot down appointments in the MD's office, etc. and then transfer them, because I suck at getting my phone to come up well when people are working and waiting on me. But I acknowledge things can go wrong. So every couple of days I do a sort of inventory. But still..it is a lot.

When I get a job, the calendars will separate a bit. The desk calendar will be at work; the planners will be with me. The wall calendar is on the door of my bedroom, and of course Google Calendar is on my phone and computer. I can also get to it on my Kindle Scribe. It would be nice if I could get the book to link to that, but I don't think it can. But it does go through 2027, so that's nice.

Happy Independence Day! Happy 250th Anniversary, America!

I'm not doing much. It's been really hot (heat index of 108°F) here, although it's a little better since some thunderstorms came through last night, but I don't think I'll go downtown and celebrate. I will babysit the dogs, two of which are terrified of fireworks.

I do love the Fourth. It used to be my favourite holiday. Over the years, that's sort of faded, I guess. I used to go downtown for the festival, but it stopped having many craft vendors, and the art vendors were too pricey. Maybe it's changed now. Hopefully. When I worked at the old Shriners, we could park at work, which was right across from the Idle Hour Country Club and Golf Course, which allowed us an excellent view from the front lawn to watch a wonderful fireworks show. To view downtown, I'd have to deal with parking and a lot of traffic and crowds. I just don't feel like doing that for 20 or 30 minutes of wow.

So my main way to celebrate is wearing my new Kentucky Blood Centre shirt, which celebrates the 250th anniversary of the founding of our country. I didn't actually earn it. I tried, though. I went yesterday, and they had to turn me away because my iron was too low. They went ahead and gave me the T-shirt and a coupon for a pint of Blue Bell ice cream anyway, which was very nice. I can try again in three days, and I'll probably come back Saturday to see if it'll be up by then. Considering I'm post-menopausal and take iron pills, I was a little surprised.

Anyway, here is me a year ago at work, in a silly headband I wore at the reception desk (thanks to recreation therapy). I enjoyed doing things like that because the families seemed to like little touches like that. Besides, it was fun to get a little silly sometimes. Then there's a picture I took this morning in my blood centre shirt.

How timely

Given my last post on the collapse of unstructured time and the rabbit-hole, time-sucking danger of context switching. I just got this notice about a book I've had on hold at the Lexington Public Library for some time.

This saddens me so much

Yet I'm guilty of it, too. But I treasure moments like thinking while watching sparrows flitting between branches of bushes when I wait for a bus.  That sort of thinking. It is absolutely useful time.

I need to be off my phone and computer more. Today I've mainly just checked my bank balance, my email, and applied for two jobs at UK so I can put them in for unemployment. But yes, I think my roommate has the right of it. He only has a landline, no cell phone, not just not a smart phone, no cell phone at all. I wouldn't want to be cut off completely, but I need to cut back some.  I was at a grant writing workshop on Thursday after a job interview and we discussed context switching and how much time is wasted with it, and phones are so much a part of that.

Have you seen this?

 

Every night we watch a series, usually two hours' worth at dinner, except on Fridays, where there's conversation.  Recently, we've been making our way through 'Sleepy Hollow', which is an excellent blend of mystery, suspense, the supernatural, and history. I highly recommend it. The only detail so far that either of us has had an issue with? In the Book of Revelation, it is the Lamb who says 'Come and see'. See, very minor in a world where you have an impending Apocalypse, headless horsemen, witches, a shadow Revolutionary War, and the solution to the mystery of the Roanoke Colony's disappearance--all in one. It's very different from Washington Irving's tale (although Orlando Jones' character's surname is a nod to him). It's on Netflix right now. I'd definitely suggest watching it if you like this sort of drama.

This is stunning

23,000-Square-Foot Clasping Arms Celebrate Community Resilience in Minneapolis

Across an expansive lawn at Minneapolis’ Boom Island Park earlier this month, Franco-Swiss artist Saype painted a monumental public artwork directly onto the grass. Part of his Beyond Walls series, which has so far seen 22 iterations around the world, the piece marked the first time the project appeared in the U.S.

Image Credit: Saype

Prints can be purchased at Saype's website to support future work. Isn't it amazing? It's made from a special biodegradable medium that will slowly fade as the grass is mowed.

I am really good

at predicting the next step or ending in a TV series or movie (particularly solving murder mysteries), not by deductive reasoning, but because you can figure out what puzzle piece is missing that will make the story work. For example, last night I was watching where the housemaid was curious as to where the young male servant was going off to with flowers, so she followed him, thinking it was to a sweetheart, but I instantly knew it was to a cemetery to the grave of his mother. And I was right. My friend, who's very good with deductive logic, hadn't expected it, and he said, 'But they weren't funereal flowers'. I said you only use those at a funeral. People bring all sorts of flowers to graves, even gay ones. So how did I know? The story needed to be that way, simple as that, to be a good story. And when I'm wrong--it's not as good as it could be.

I sometimes wonder if it means I really should try to write myself, if there's a writer somewhere in there, and maybe I would be good at creating plots after all.