Writing Challenge Day 17

A quote I try to live my life by:

I think there are actually a few quotes/ideals I try to live by.

There are a few versions of the first. One is “Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” which I believe is from a Samuel Beckett novella. There’s a version of it that floats around tech and startup companies that goes something like, “Fail fast, fail often, fail forward.” I think I’ve heard Will Smith talk about that too. Just generally I remind myself that I need to push myself to do new things and that waiting until “I’m ready” to do something will likely result in me never doing it.

The other big one is And you have to flaunt the weird, my friends.” which comes from “The Ship of the Dead” which is the third in the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard series by Rick Riordan. It’s said by one of my all time favorite characters, Alex Fierro who is just so freaking wonderful and terrifying and brave and vulnerable and just… Look, if you haven’t read the books, I recommend them. Uncle Rick did good (I’m sure not perfect, but definitely good).

Most of my life can probably be summed up with, “When in doubt, go to the library.” I love this quote because it’s actually Ron who says it. Everyone credits Hermione but it’s actually Ron, describing Hermione’s way of thinking in the course of things happening in Chamber of Secrets, which I think was the moment I started shipping the two of them, though honestly I started shipping them before I understood what shipping was so it’s hard to say exactly when that happened.

And no list of mine would be complete without one last reminder (also from Harry Potter), “Don't let the Muggles get you down." I figure that one probably speaks for itself.

Snow Day

My birthday is in exactly one week and I’m kind of freaking out about it because I just can’t believe that it’s coming up so quickly. It’s not that I think 32 is any kind of big deal (I… don’t think?), it’s more that I’m freaking out about how quickly time is passing and how much it still feels like I do not have my shit together. I made huge strides in many areas of my life this year but of course there are areas where I’m still floundering. A lot. Painfully. I know the thing is that I just have to keep working. I remember reading something like, “You overestimate how much you can do in a year, but you underestimate how much you can do in five.” Sort of a fascinating idea, but I think it’s also the truth. That is if you’re working steadily. A year seems like a long time, but it really isn’t in the scheme of things and sometimes getting momentum going takes longer than you expect but once things get rolling, you have a powerful force on your hands (for good or for bad).

 

It just still feels like Christmas was two weeks ago. Granted, it was about three weeks ago really, maybe three and a half since it won’t have been a full month until my birthday if you go day of the month to day of the month rather than four weeks to say “a month.”

 

Anyway, I digress.

 

Part of the other weirdness, is that I usually start going on and on about my birthday right when January hits and I haven’t done that too much. I have mentioned, of course, but not at the level I usually do. I usually celebrate like all of January. I did say that because I wasn’t going to celebrate with Jay until February when I’m headed to Long Beach that I should start celebrating later since that trip means I’m celebrating way into February.

 

Thank God for spell check. I know it’s not perfect, but I can’t spell “February” without it.

 

I got an early birthday present today. Snow! I know lots of people were probably unhappy about the snow and I hate that there are people who still had to try to travel places since I’m sure it was hard on them. I do think people go driving out in the snow when they really don’t need to and then get themselves into stupid situations like dubmasses.

They salted the main roads around here last night, but the problem is that it rained for about 12 hours before the rain changed into snow. All that salt and grit? Most in the grass and runs offs. It’s a great idea, spreading the salt and grit before the storm hits and it sounds like they’re being proactive, but I just don’t think it ends up doing any good, really. Once it’s snowing/icing, sure. But before? I’m pretty sure the rain that always comes first (I don’t think I have ever seen it go from dry to snow without going through a rain stage first in this state--is that a thing that happens in other places?). Granted, I imagine that people would be outraged if the state didn’t go ahead and put the grit down beforehand, regardless of what good it ends up doing. And hey, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe the rain doesn’t wash it away enough for it to not still be effective. And if you can read through those double negatives and understand the sentence, you get virtual brownie points.

 

The point of this rant was merely to say that I got to stay home and be lazy today, for the most part. I did do some cleaning (we had family that was supposed to come visit but the weather messed them up--which I said was going to happen, but no one listens to me) and a couple of little things that needed to be done. Otherwise I listened to audiobooks and watched Sanctuary (not at the same time, obviously). I was a very happy camper and the snow was so pretty.

 

I was worried that we wouldn’t get any when the areas around us had several inches of snow by 8 or 9 in the morning and it was still just rain where we are, but around 9 or so it changed to snow. I didn’t think it was going to “stick” because it had just rained so much and there was so much standing water everywhere. I thought the water on the ground might melt the snow falling and that after a couple of hours the snowflakes would be just rain again and it would all just be muddy and gross and cold while still being just warm enough not to freeze. To be fair, that is what happens in the south 96.7% of the time during the winter in the south when they call for snow (that’s a completely made up number, but whatever). Instead, we got several inches of actual snow.

 

Tomorrow we get to go in late, which is really nice. I can’t say that part of me didn’t kind of hope that I’d get tomorrow off too, but, honestly. I’ve had plenty of time off already what with Martin Luther King Jr. day and today and then my three day weekend (assuming I don’t have to make up snow day hours) starting Friday.

 

Oh well, I may get to go in late, but I’ll need a shower in the morning and to clear the mess off my car before I go into work. And it really would be best if I didn’t wait until the last minute to leave the house, considering.