Bits and Bobs
May. 15th, 2021 07:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captainsblogPretty fly for a white guy busy for a Saturday, so no real narrative to share from it. I'll hit a few points, past present and future, and update at least one from yesterday.
I left out the best two pictures I took at my first concert in an age:
To the left, Blue Maria; she also went through celebrated green and red periods as the lighting changed. This was close to her finale of "Love You More Today Than Yesterday;" I vaguely remembered the one-hit band from the 60s that did it, but didn't know until today that they cleverly made their name the "Spiral Starecase." That reminded me of the band in That Thing You Do, pronounced the Wonders but spelled "Oneders" on the label of the 45. Tom Hanks played their manager in that film, in perhaps his least America's Sweetheart role other than Road to Perdition. When he sees he sees the single, he mocks them and says people will call them the "O-Needers."
Which, of course, we do.
On the right is another friend only briefly met before last night, and alas not for long then. Scott Williams is a mathematician emeritus of local uni fame, more recently known for his poetry, organizing poetry events, and producing poets in his path like his daughter Eve. I'm sorry I had to get the south side of a Scott facing north, but I'm glad we got to talk for longer than we ever have in the same room.
----
Noonish today was for two things: finishing taxes and working with the Saturday writing group I first participated in two weeks before. We've streamlined things a bit so it wasn't nearly as long a go, and I was reminded of a NaNo novel I finished in November 2012 and then circulated to no acclaim whatsoever. Beta readers thought it was implausible. Then at least three things predicted in the text came to be, to one extent or another. We may have discovered a fourth in the two chapters I read today. Overall, the reaction was positive, and I may do some dusting and polishing and give it another go around the query rounds.
Taxes were mostly done previously except for the dreaded business mileage schedule, which is a blur of blinding black type of EZ-Pass statements and calendar entries. Since ya gotta drive places to take the deduction and I largely didn't after March, it only brought things down about 30 bucks, which unfortunately is not much in the world of the self-employed as we pay a full year's income tax and FICA at once. At least the CARES Act provided some relief, and now that we're hitting 65, deductions will be going up in this and future years so we will expect not to be looking at a Wile E. Cliff of tax debt this time next year.
----
The Super Genius icon is also there because I was confirmed in my usual slot for the new season of Learned League that begins Monday. My recruit from a few rounds back, who I usually am neck-and-neck with all season, will also be in the same group. I've missed the morning routine of answering (or flailing over) the six questions while caffeinating before work and walkies. Anyone reading this who wants an invite into future rounds, comment as always.
----
Today's activities for both of us also included napping. Eleanor took on another aspect of the bathroom reno that's more boring than anything else: replacing caulk that did not belong between tiles when a previous owner decided to use that instead of grout for the job.
Often, neither of us can get much actual daytime sleep with outside noises and inside aminals, but this time I did manage at least a little shuteye. Jack was in the window behind my head when I awoke. I thought he was going to come in for a cuddle, but instead he decided to check out the nice throw rug that was on the bed next to me:
I swear, he was on her for at least 30 seconds, and not a peep or a jostle out of her. She is so tolerant with all of them.
Zoey has been on the antiviral med for three days now and has been leaving her lair at least occasionally. Once the eyes are all healed, we're hoping she will reclaim her spot as the grande dame of the household and kick the remaining balls off the little whippersnappers who mistake her for a large toy.
And with that, we step into (or possibly onto) Sunday....
I left out the best two pictures I took at my first concert in an age:
To the left, Blue Maria; she also went through celebrated green and red periods as the lighting changed. This was close to her finale of "Love You More Today Than Yesterday;" I vaguely remembered the one-hit band from the 60s that did it, but didn't know until today that they cleverly made their name the "Spiral Starecase." That reminded me of the band in That Thing You Do, pronounced the Wonders but spelled "Oneders" on the label of the 45. Tom Hanks played their manager in that film, in perhaps his least America's Sweetheart role other than Road to Perdition. When he sees he sees the single, he mocks them and says people will call them the "O-Needers."
Which, of course, we do.
On the right is another friend only briefly met before last night, and alas not for long then. Scott Williams is a mathematician emeritus of local uni fame, more recently known for his poetry, organizing poetry events, and producing poets in his path like his daughter Eve. I'm sorry I had to get the south side of a Scott facing north, but I'm glad we got to talk for longer than we ever have in the same room.
----
Noonish today was for two things: finishing taxes and working with the Saturday writing group I first participated in two weeks before. We've streamlined things a bit so it wasn't nearly as long a go, and I was reminded of a NaNo novel I finished in November 2012 and then circulated to no acclaim whatsoever. Beta readers thought it was implausible. Then at least three things predicted in the text came to be, to one extent or another. We may have discovered a fourth in the two chapters I read today. Overall, the reaction was positive, and I may do some dusting and polishing and give it another go around the query rounds.
Taxes were mostly done previously except for the dreaded business mileage schedule, which is a blur of blinding black type of EZ-Pass statements and calendar entries. Since ya gotta drive places to take the deduction and I largely didn't after March, it only brought things down about 30 bucks, which unfortunately is not much in the world of the self-employed as we pay a full year's income tax and FICA at once. At least the CARES Act provided some relief, and now that we're hitting 65, deductions will be going up in this and future years so we will expect not to be looking at a Wile E. Cliff of tax debt this time next year.
----
The Super Genius icon is also there because I was confirmed in my usual slot for the new season of Learned League that begins Monday. My recruit from a few rounds back, who I usually am neck-and-neck with all season, will also be in the same group. I've missed the morning routine of answering (or flailing over) the six questions while caffeinating before work and walkies. Anyone reading this who wants an invite into future rounds, comment as always.
----
Today's activities for both of us also included napping. Eleanor took on another aspect of the bathroom reno that's more boring than anything else: replacing caulk that did not belong between tiles when a previous owner decided to use that instead of grout for the job.
Often, neither of us can get much actual daytime sleep with outside noises and inside aminals, but this time I did manage at least a little shuteye. Jack was in the window behind my head when I awoke. I thought he was going to come in for a cuddle, but instead he decided to check out the nice throw rug that was on the bed next to me:
I swear, he was on her for at least 30 seconds, and not a peep or a jostle out of her. She is so tolerant with all of them.
Zoey has been on the antiviral med for three days now and has been leaving her lair at least occasionally. Once the eyes are all healed, we're hoping she will reclaim her spot as the grande dame of the household and kick the remaining balls off the little whippersnappers who mistake her for a large toy.
And with that, we step into (or possibly onto) Sunday....