Tuesday Random Thoughts: Just a few.

• I almost didn’t write anything for the blog tonight. I wrote a lengthy e-mail earlier which almost made my usual word count. Besides, I almost didn’t have enough energy to write that. I’ve been very tired and sometimes drowsy in the afternoons lately. I have to wonder if the amoxicillin I’m taking for my abscessed tooth has anything to do with it. But I’ll still jot down a few thoughts as I’ve already been too lax with this blog this year. I really do want to get back in the habit of this writing exercise. Besides, I’m feeling a little more energetic now. That’s a little worrying as it’s getting closer to bedtime, but after all of the sleep I’ve been losing lately, what’s a little more?
• My tooth is getting better. The swelling went down by Sunday morning, and the pain is largely gone now, barring sensitivity to pressure. I’m just glad that the prescription of the antibiotics ends before New Year’s Eve. There is definitely bar-hopping on the agenda this year.
• I’m largely taking the rest of this week off from writing. I have some chores at home and errands to run over the course of the week. I imagine that I won’t have much time to do these things on the weekend. Besides, I’m tired every afternoon evening lately, and I don’t see how the next few days would be any different. That and it’s the holidays. I’m definitely not going to be productive on Thursday, known as Mickmas (my birthday, of course).
• I’ve been watching a few episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation tonight as I couldn’t focus on too much else. I have come to hypothesize that Data isn’t as emotionless as he believes he is. Rather, it seems like the writers and Brent Spiner treated the character as having emotions, but not being able to recognize them as such. The episode Data’s Day seems to support that idea. Of course, this could be approach versus the final canon of the show. But it’s an interesting idea to have in mind when watching.

Tuesday Random Thoughts: On antibiotics for a tooth, yes, again.

• I almost skipped writing tonight’s blog post. In fact, I may end up having to cut this one short. Despite my hopes from earlier this year I still have been having pain with a lower left tooth. It turns out that the tooth next to the one which had the root canal therapy (and then subsequent re-treatment) also now needs the same procedure. I went earlier this month because the sensitivity wasn’t going away but had to put off the work on it until January for insurance reasons. I figured that it would be no problem as it wasn’t constant, piercing pain like the last time… yet. This weekend it really started becoming more constant. Fortunately, my dentist already said that he would prescribe antibiotics should the pain get worse.
  I didn’t want to take antibiotics this time of year, seeing as both my birthday and New Year’s Eve (which is on a Saturday this year) both occur before my appointment with an endodontist. I didn’t want to take anything that would prevent me from having alcohol, at least on those two nights. But the pain got so bad that I figured I would have to put off any special celebration. Fortunately, the supply is for ten days, which end on the day before New Year’s Eve. My birthday’s on a Thursday and I can’t get time off that week, so it’s not like I was going to drink that much, anyway.
  The pain was so distracting that I couldn’t concentrate on getting any creative work done, even writing a blog post. The pain eases off periodically, and I did take a couple of ibuprofen pills… although they haven’t seemed to help too much. Right before writing this blog post, however, I took the first of the amoxicillin. The pain seemed to have disappeared entirely. I have to think that it’s psychosomatic, right? I don’t remember it working that quickly last time I had to use it. I thought I had to take it for a few days first. That’s why I said I thought I might have to cut writing this blog post abruptly, should the pain come back.
• Likewise, I haven’t been getting any writing done as I couldn’t focus on what I was doing yesterday and today. It may be tough over the next couple of weeks for me to write on every single day, but I will get to it as much as I can. I still should have a writing progress blog post, however, as it would be a continuation of the one I had for last week.
• Okay, I don’t really have many other thoughts, or are the ones I had tonight that random as it’s been the focus of my last few days. I’ve been productive at work so far this week. There, is that something?

Tuesday Random Thoughts: Upcoming book reviews, automating my reading habits (as well as waste), screenplay ideas.

• I just got a couple of books for the next two weeks’ book reviews, A Natural History of Hell by Jeffrey Ford and Margaret the First by Danielle Dutton. I plan on reviewing those books for the next two Mondays before I take the following two months off from book reviews. However, I forgot that Christmas was on a Sunday this year, and I was going to be busy the day before. I typically try to read books for my reviews in their entirety the weekend beforehand. I’ll try to get to it but I may have to postpone the later review until some weekend in January.
• I’m thinking of cancelling my Netflix subscription and signing up for Amazon Prime. It’s not just that I’m annoyed by the selection (or lack thereof) on Netflix, but I’m very enticed by the unlimited e-books. I don’t know what the selection is going to be like but it’s worth looking into. The only problem is the cost. The cheapest option for Amazon Prime is 99 dollars a hear. That comes out to just a little more than Netflix for a lot more stuff. In other words, I’m spending about the same amount every year anyway. But my brain is stuck on “99” (a year on Amazon) versus eight bucks (a month on Netflix, roughly). I don’t usually have that much at once. Maybe I’ll sign up for the free trial this month anyway, and then pay the one-time fee come January. Of course, there’s always the library.
• One of the reasons I wanted to try the Prime plan for reading on my Kindle, however, was so I wouldn’t have to go to the library once a week for book reviews. If I could stand the selection of books available to me on Prime then I would be able to cut out one more errand. That’s why I’m looking into getting trash pickup for my apartment instead of taking trips to the dump every few weeks. I think my neighbors in the downstairs apartment already do that. Perhaps I should ask them if we could split the cost and I’ll throw my stuff out with theirs. Now, if only there was somebody out this way that would automatically deliver my groceries every week I’ll be all set. We sell food where I work but not enough of the the stuff I get.
• I had the idea of going through some drafts of older work and turning them into outlines for screenplays. I forgot how many of these drafts were really scraps rather than fleshed-out pieces. I got some ideas, especially some weird ones that I might be able to stitch together into a sort of surreal piece. I also have some novels and short stories that I wanted to keep as novels and short stories, but maybe I could rework them into screenplays as well. I think I’ll explore that idea in tomorrow’s writing progress post.

DELAYED POST FROM TWO MONTHS AGO: “Random Thoughts: I’m out sick today.”

For some reason this post that I wrote two months ago didn’t get published. Instead, it’s been sitting in the drafts section of my WordPress account the whole time. Seeing that I don’t have a writing progress blog post to write for today—that’s not to say that I don’t have any progress to report, but nothing interesting enough to write about—I’m going to publish this old post instead. For a point of reference, I wrote this Random Thoughts post on a Monday when I normally write a book review. By the way, I may not publish a Friday Flash Fiction tomorrow. I fully intend on writing something but by hand. I’ll publish it online the following day. I plan on going to a concert in Cambridge tomorrow night and I’d rather take a notebook and pen with me instead of my computer.

• I’m swapping the Random Thoughts post with this week’s book review. I’ve been so sick today that I can’t really focus on something that involved. But I didn’t want to let a day go by without a post, and these Random Thoughts posts are a little easier for me to write. At least this way I’ll get some writing in. I’ll try to also start working on revisions on the screenplay, but it would involve me getting up and taking my laptop to my printer. I’m feeling better as the day goes on but I still get a bit nauseous.
• I was so sick this morning that I had to call out from work. I never do that. But I got very little sleep, especially as I was up vomiting throughout the night (you wanted to know that, right?) so I took that as my clue that I really shouldn’t try going in to work. I’m still not feeling very well as I write this in the middle of the afternoon, although I probably could go in at this point. But what would be the point of that, when I have to go back at seven in the morning tomorrow? I already have a lot of work to make up, I’m sure, by the fact that I took some time off from work last week. I’m used to having to make up work there anyway from time to time. What’s one more day?
• The one thing that I did miss that I feel kind of bad about was that today we were having free lunch paid for by the company, and they were going to make sure that they would have vegetarian food on hand. The store was also combining the free food with a pot luck. I don’t know what I would have taken but it would have been some sort of dessert. Granted, I wouldn’t have been able to keep anything down, anyway. But I’ll take in doughnuts or something tomorrow to “make up” for it. Honestly, I’m not a fan of pot lucks but now I’m worried that people might think I was just trying to get out of it. They probably won’t, but once the thought is there in my head it sticks.
• Soon after I called out this morning I did manage to get some sleep for a few hours. That definitely helped me feel better. I’m still a little queasy. I’m going to risk something spicy for dinner. But I think I might throw out the bagged salad that I was going to have with it. I’m 95% sure that that wasn’t what caused me to get sick, it was more likely something else I had last night. But I’ve had bad luck with it before. I don’t know—I’ll just have to see how it smells.

Tuesday Random Thoughts: Book Reviews (or lack thereof),old routines, root canals.

• I’m going to make another announcement when it comes closer to the actual time, but I decided that throughout January and February I’m going to put a hold on book reviews. I have too much reading that I want to get caught up on and this will be easier for me to do so. For one thing, I feel ill-equipped to review the likes of Dickens at Twain right now, and I have complete collections of both on my Kindle that I’d like to read through. This will also help me have the time to read as I sometimes have to read at a slower pace for reviews than when I read for pleasure, especially when I take notes as I go. In February I’ll also be taking part in the RPM Challenge again, so I won’t have time to read much anyway. I’ll continue the book review books for the next three weeks (aside from possibly this next Monday, although that’s up in the air still).
• I found that I’ve gone back to some sense of my old routine, involving guitar practice (mostly classical) right after dinner followed by a writing session, reading regularly, my old grocery shopping habits and keeping up with all of my podcasts. I tried taking up jogging again but it’s hard when it’s cold and dark this time of year. My father’s treadmill, which is in the basement of my apartment building, is broken for good, and I can’t afford to go to a gym right now. I also haven’t taken up meditation again yet. I wanted everything else to settle into place first. I really want to add both back to my regular schedule, though.
• I just had to make an appointment next January for another root canal treatment. This time it’s for the tooth that they’ve been working on for the past couple of years. The dentist did say that he was watching that tooth, unsure if it was also infected or not. It turns out there’s an abscess in the gums underneath. Because I’ve nearly maxed out my insurance, I have to wait until next month in order to pay for this. The insurance pays half. Considering the bill is going to be over $1,500 I’m willing to put up with the pain for a little bit longer. After all, I haven’t been able to comfortably eat on that side for years anyway, what’s a few more weeks?