2020 Diary: October Begins

10/1/2020: First day of October. Up about 5 PM. Prayers, Bible, then went on to implement that scheme of moving stuff between the drawers. Got all the action figures into the “bus” dresser and moved the Christmas figurines back behind the “bed” dresser. Strange to see the action figures and handle them; it’s been a while. Now 6:15 AM and on to my regular business.

Just a note. Yesterday and today, I’ve been wearing the old dragon T-shirts, and where before they were a bit of a squeeze, now they hang well enough.

So, I played DQ8 until I felt sleepy and laid down for a nap; the weather was perfect for it. I woke up at 1 PM when Kam called me to make him toast. That was good timing. There was a new Ignatius Press catalog arrived. I went in and made my lunch ramen. Looking at Facebook I saw that someone in Seguin had actually won the TX Lotto. Figures. The moment I lack a dollar to play, someone wins it, and someone from Seguin, at that. Probably they would have won whether I played or not, but at least I would have been in the game, as it were, and it wouldn’t have stung so much. Made more Wish List documents to help me organize the Main Wish List, so I don’t have to hunt and peck so much.

At 2:30 PM I did my King Korm page for the day, then a rosary at 3 PM. At 4 PM went in, fed pets, and started supper. Came back home at 5 PM, ate chili. About 5:30 PM Kam comes in to have me cut down large index cards into regular index cards, then stays in to finish his homework. Just after he leaves (about 7:30 PM) Andy comes in and changes that bulb for me, that blew out way long ago on Jan. 1^, which I wanted changed because Kameron would be doing his project in here. Posted 3 new Tolkien-related books for the Wish List. Prepared wish list post for tomorrow. Wrote my page on American Prometheus by about 10:10 PM. Nothing really to do until I hit the hay. Which I did about 11 PM.

 

10/2/2020: Up at 5 AM. Prayers and Bible. Posted apologetics Wish List items, then the last CSL books, then teachers and loved ones of CSL books on NOT. Then I got out the end table for Kam to work on, dusted, and swept. While dusting I noticed the little tin under the computer ‘antenna’, and on a growing realization, opened it. There were the missing memory cards for the PS2. I can now access all my old games. Neat! Shaved. Now 7 AM. Gathered Kid Lit pictures, took garbage out, then did my page of KK. Now 8 AM. By 8:30 AM I had finished my page of AP. Got my ramen and eggs at 9 AM. Found out my memory cards aren’t being accepted by the machine. Perhaps they are too old. Made more mini-lists and gathered covers. Did more straightening up, including sweeping the kitchen porch and wrangling the dog toys back into a pile. Jade almost caught a squirrel running around under a tree. It’s now 10:40 AM.

Well, Kameron came out at about 11 AM and waited about half an hour until his teacher called him. From that time until almost 2:30 PM he spent working on the project; almost an hour of that time was spent looking for something he could shellac onto his wood. After that it went pretty quickly. I had multiples of a Christmas card, and he used the picture of Santa. Almost immediately after that I had to start frying taters. I thank God I got all MY stuff out of the way already. I am exhausted. Trying to herd Kameron to do what he ought to is emotionally draining. So I finished and ate my supper at 5 PM. Said my rosary about 6:10 PM. Zonked out until 8:15 PM then went in and washed up. My goodness, my legs hurt.

 Went back and looked through all of NOT, and that took me quite a while. I don’t know, looking over the covers of what was, what is, and what yet may be gives me a strange thrill that just looking at the spines on shelves do not. Finished and to bed a little before midnight.

 

10/3/2020: Awake at 4 AM, then up at 4:20 AM when it became obvious that I wouldn’t sleep anymore. Prayers and Bible, then went straight into blogging. It’s now 6:30 AM, and I plan to continue until 7 AM, when I will make ramen.

Made and ate ramen and continued posting on NOT until 10:13 AM. Now I feel like I could sleep a bit again. Gathered covers for HPLovecraft, then lay down on the couch.

Slept until a little before noon. Ready to take up NOT again. Also, filled with the desire to clean out the attic. Worked on NOT, not only making more posts, but preparing lists and gathering covers. About 8 PM Andy came out and asked me to make some dip-dips, so I did. Came back out and explored a new book company, Forgotten Books, reprints of obscure volumes, very fascinating. Then played a bit of DQ8, then said my rosary at 9:30 PM, then wrote my page on KK, and now it’s 10:15 PM, and I shall try to write on AP now, even though I’m plagued with a desire for more re-arranging.

Done writing and listing at 11 AM. Time to settle down.

 

10/4/2020: Up about 5 AM, prayers and Bible, then put books from old World Book shelf onto the shelf by the lamp and other ‘rearranging’. My legs hurting and my ears ringing. Now almost 6 AM; time for YouTube mass.

Afterwards I blogged on NOT. Wrote on King Korm. Rearranged the drawers, sorting out the Xeroxes, clippings, maps, pamphlets, etc. Prayed the rosary. Swept under the fridge. It’s now almost 10:30 AM.

“Like many other things, he loved Summer most when it was dying.”

I went in a little after noon to get a ramen. Susan seemed a bit annoyed to see me. She and Andy worked on the yard most of the afternoon. I blogged, and rearranged, and cleaned. Switched the batteries between my clickers and changed the channel at last for the evening Fox animated shows. When I went in at 6:45 PM to get another ramen I also got some mushrooms she was going to throw away.

So watched some of the Fox animation (for what it was worth) [worth even less now], then spent the rest of the evening after 9 PM hunting first Chesterton covers, then (obsessively) covers for all the Wish List Items, finishing a little after 1 AM. The room looks and feels different, airier somehow, since my new arrangements. Time to try to sleep.

 

10/5/2020: Up at 6 AM, prayers and Bible, and went right into posting on NOT. At 9 AM started the wash, boiled eggs, made egg salad, and my breakfast ramen. Went right on posting on and off all day, until about 10 PM. About noon made cucumber salad. Went in at 4 PM to take care of pets and start supper; left at a little before 5 PM. Rosary about 6:30 PM. Didn’t have to go in to wash dishes; no couscous to cook today. But also, none to eat. Just had 2 more ramen and cucumber salad. Went through Chesterton, Sayers, Blaylock, and Powers, among others. Rounding the bend toward Tolkien. Considering doing posters and magazines after I’m done with books. ‘Wot larks!’ Did my page of KK about 10 PM; think I’ll just do 2 of AP tomorrow, maybe. We’ll see if my OCD will let me. My e-mails to John today:

“If my calculations are correct, you're out of Purgatory [work] at the moment and perhaps have decompressed enough to enjoy a day of 'regular life'. The weather is certainly nice enough.

I was able to keep up my 2 pages a day over the weekend. I'm really starting to be able to get into "King Korm" again. "American Prometheus" continues to stymie me, although I progress.

I'm also getting into the swing of "Niche of Time", putting out multiple posts a day. Sometimes it is hard to find the exact copy of a cover that I have; there were a couple of dozen for GKC's "Orthodoxy" alone, and none of them seemed to be mine! I was able to track it down at last, though. So far, the only one that has completely eluded me has been Dorothy L. Sayers' "The Mind of the Maker". An abundance of covers, just not mine. Sometimes I really miss having a scanner! But I found one close enough and made a note of it. I can see the end in sight. Today I am on Tim Powers and James P. Blaylock; when I am done with them that only leaves a couple of shelves worth of various and then Tolkien, whom I have saved for last. I hope to be done with my task before the end of October, this fatal month. And whither then? I cannot say. Perhaps loading my favorite music videos from YouTube. It is, after all, a celebration of my enthusiasms.

I realize (rather late now) that I should put a rating on the Items from the Wish List, indicating how much I desire them, from 'nice to have' to 'must have eet' to 'way too expensive to ever get', and probably some grades in between, like, 'I'd like to try that'. As I go along through all the books, I realize or remember new things I would 'wish' for, and new things come along at a fairly regular rate.

There are now rumors that there might be NUDITY in the new Middle Earth Second Age show. Please God that will never happen; it will indicate that the franchise has ran away from the creator. [Luckily that never happened]”

“With a little extra search, I WAS able to find a cover for my copy of "The Mind of the Maker". A little blurry, true, but quite recognizable.

With the arranging I've been doing, the house looks a bit airier than it did. I think that's because a) things are going a little taller, with the spice rack/display cabinet up on top of the shadowbox and my framed old drawing of Mom on top of the mirror under the attic door, b) not cramping the shelving so much, and c) Andy replacing that light bulb that's been blown out since New Year's.  And being able to have the house open again. All of which means nothing to anybody but me, of course, but I do feel somewhat easier.  And I'm having a blast further refining my organization.

It brings up tons of old memories and feelings too. I was rearranging the contents of a drawer into clippings, Xeroxes, and printed material, and my mind was just flooded with old enthusiasms and associations. Museum pamphlets and college speakers, Mom's old pregnancy care brochures, cut-out comic strips, the cardboard lid of the Enterprise model and the Indiana Jones fruit cart illustrated assembly instructions - weird, useless stuff I can't think about getting rid of. 

Anyway, getting everything into order is just one of those autumnal impulses, I guess, as is nostalgia. Almost a compulsion. I made about 12 new posts today! If only I could figure out some way to make it pay or be of some use.”

I did squeeze my page of AP (and one more blog post) in just before midnight, and hopped into bed right at 12 AM.

 

10/6/2020: Woke up exactly at 6 AM (after the usual ups and downs of the night). Prayers and Bible, and now at 6:25 AM ready to resume NOT (my new preferred abbreviation for ‘Niche of Time’). Except for breaks for breakfast and lunch I pretty much charged hard at finding covers and making posts. A little before 2 PM John called, and we talked for about fifty minutes about books and October and times being what they were. Now almost 3:50 PM and making supper looms. Oh. The weather was kind of overcast and foggy this morning, with a bunch of – seagulls? – crying out. Now it’s clearer. I think I can squeeze some more NOT business in before I have to start cooking. Kind of a persistent wheezing cough plaguing me. I hope it’s mold or something.

I made supper (fish cakes and couscous), and Kameron some sandwiches, then came back about 5 PM. Made my ramen and couscous. Some DQ8. Rosary about 6:30 PM, then went in a little after 8 PM to clean up. Afterward made a note in preparation to start Tolkien books, then did some sweeping up of a few books for NOT. Wrote my pages by 11:10 PM. Nothing to do now but meander around until bed. Played a bit of DQ8 to unwind (I think I’m finally getting a little full of it) then hit the hay a little after midnight.

 

10/7/2020: Up at 5 AM, after the usual intermittent night, complicated by wheeziness and phlegm (seasonal allergies exacerbated by cool air?). Prayers, Bible. Ready to start Tolkien books on NOT.

Searched for covers and posted all day, even putting up a link on Facebook. Breakfast at 9 AM, wrote my KK&AP pages early, and lunch at 1 PM. Made tea, the first time for days. Went in at 3:30 PM to start supper (sausage, cabbage, and taters, displaced from Tuesday) then came back and ate at 5 PM. Rosary at 7:30 PM. Making new lists, breaking the Tolkien books into categories. Washed up at 8:20 PM. Got an extra sausage! Re-arranged the papers into the bridge drawers. Now 9:15 PM, and what I do now is up to me. Hopefully the tea won’t make me jazzed all night.

Went searching for my Tolkien posters and realized they weren’t where I thought they should be; behind the desk. They must be on the other side, behind the recliner and the shelf. Too late to undertake the quest tonight, but tomorrow … 10:20 PM right now, and I know this will haunt me. I did get a good look at the other posters, though, which had some old movie posters from Blockbuster (including Harry Potter), SNL, some music posters (Pink Floyd, for one), Don Quixote in his study, Sherlock Holmes Strand (from Yen’s friend). An interesting examination anyway, and I was able to neaten them up. Perry Mason on now.  Bed a little after midnight.

 

NOTES

Rather mechanical entries. I was falling impulsively into a rhythm, with little opportunity for contemplation. At one time I had about 200 items on my Amazon Wish List, which was whittled down over time by acquisitions and discards of stuff I realized wasn’t really necessary. I’m wheezy again now, so I guess it probably was something seasonal in the air; one can notice these patterns more easily with a Diary. It was quite a while before I catalogued all the magazines, just lately in fact. I still want to go through the ‘attic’ for cataloguing purposes, but I’m beginning to fear that will be a post-mortem project for somebody else. Everything else is pretty much organized, so much so that I only reluctantly disturb ‘the stacks.’ Contemplation of the Hoard without physical manipulation is one of the benefits of the Niche.

I regularly go through 'ponderings' of what my past self would say about the present Hoard; there is much that would merely puzzle, say, my middle school self; much that would amaze and intrigue my senior-year self; and even stuff that would astound the merely five-year-ago me.

I wish I had been better organized when I started the Niche. It would have kept me from some redundancies.