A life in a day
I love lying in bed when I've just awoken, pressing the snooze button on my alarm 5 or 6 times.
The perfect warmth under the duvet. Stillness. No one asking me to do anything. Listening to the birdsong, in the distance a terrier barks, and the low hum of vehicles passing by.
Crunching of gravel as our neighbour prepares for work. Any time between 10 minutes and an hour I shall get up. What a shame to have to get up at all.
Then I become aware of the ever-present tinnitus in my left ear - a very high-pitched tone that sounds almost like central heating.
Pills, pills....100mgs of Sertraline, 30mgs of Nifedipine, Vitamin B complex, Vitamim D, Lions Mane, and a soluble Vitamin C.
Always blocked up - spray some saltwater up there. I am a martyr to my sinuses. It's hereditary. I can hear my parents blowing their noses - they sound like elephants.
Breakfast is a glass of worthy green sludge, a bowl of porridge made with water with a spoonful of real honey and plump blueberries on top.
I have to have breakfast with my headphones on to avoid the television and its rolling news; a cafetière of smooth coffee and a carton of oat milk, then go through the paper starting with the columnists I give a shit about, thereafter working through the news.
Someone's taking someone to court over a boundary issue...World News, get 7 out 15 on the quiz, then YouTube. Any NRL matches? What's Trump done now?
I walk Tomos. Meet Herb and his dog Daisy, get ignored by Dame Joan (still don't know what I've done - my feelings alternate between loathing and laughter), get the next instalment of Gillian's Mexican soap-opera life, bump into multiple others.
Some of us humans know each others' names now - we all know the dogs' names before we know each others'.
Spend too much time on YouTube. Get angry. My version of Tik Tok.
Must write more adventures. I'm rediscovering my writing side, my creativity having been strangled by years of institutional education.
An ember still lies there. Must get the bellows out and some twigs. Need to work on this.
I almost forget lunch. It's a powdered Huel drink. Some people say it tastes of cheesy feet. I quite like it.
Snacks are shortbread biscuits or Bahlsen chocolate biscuits washed down with a mug of tea. Maybe a banana and an orange too.
Do a shop. Go to the supermarket every day. If I'm cooking for all of us I'll get a marinated spatchcock chicken, roast some veg and have some couscous with it. Other than that I'll eat on my own; pasta with a ton of spinach, or a pizza with a ton of chilli oil.
Might go for a walk in the afternoon but avoid the pubs. Don't want to start all that again. I want to keep the moderate drinking going.
Evening might be gaming online or I'll watch a film or some documentaries. Went to the local cinema last week with Nerys and watched A Complete Unknown with Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan. It was great. Must go more often.
Repeat.
Pushing Envelopes, pulling pints
Rupert visiting for the day, Suzy down for the previous weekend with her eldest daughter, playing online with Adrian, Larry and the other goblins as well as Sacha, Tim , Boyd and Eddie. 2 days of DMing with the kids in Pilton (see below) then writing a brand new adventure for the Wells lot for a one shot.
Going to London to do a talk to 10-15 MSc students only 6 turned up and only one asked any questions. It was okay though.
Almost every day there was something on. And I just can't do that without paying the price anymore.
So on Tuesday 25th I woke up late with a cold. First cold I've had in 2 years. And it's a stinker. Still got it just as bad a fortnight (that's UK English for 2 weeks) later.
I've barely left the house.
The oldies never got it. But I'm still very good with hand-washing and staying out of other humans' way.
So I'm off to see the duty nurse who, apparently, is very rude. And I'm so tired.
Too much gaming?
2 days of DMing in Pilton. The kids. You know. But there's a big age difference between 11 and 14, and it showed at times, with the older kids getting annoyed at the dumb stuff the young 'uns were doing.
It's supposed to be a collaborative, team effort you see.
One evening of playing on Zoom. We're playing D&D in realmspace. I won't go into details: it's all top-secret stuff.
One and a half days of writing a one-shot adventure.
I wrote one the week before last, based on Wizard of Oz and Beauty and The Beast, with the screenplay in the manner of HP Lovecraft.
This week's was a time-travel extravaganza which I've always wanted to write. Being me there is zero method. I start at the beginning and bumble through to the end, changing stuff as I go, confusing the shit out of myself and writing the dialogue as the characters seem to emerge embryonically as I go.
The plot reveals itself as I overcome every hurdle. I would publish it but I nick everything so there'd be multiple copyright issues. Hitchhikers' Guide, multiple Alan Moore comic strips, Star Trek, evil toad-like tyrant (Trump obviously) and populated by the anomalous denizens of Drakkenheim, with a certain Hollywood blockbuster ending.
Run in one 3 hour session for Hannah and Katy.
They said it was probably the best adventure they'd ever played. But then again Carlsburg is probably the best lager in the world. (Hint: It's not.)
I particularly enjoyed roleplaying the AI Moulinex T3000 Food replicator.
You had to be there.
Songs from the shower of insanity.
Singing "Oh Mr Grimble and his magical pants..." The theme song of a 1970s sitcom THAT NEVER EXISTED.
Interspersed with superfluous disclaimers/caveats of "I'm mad!! I'm mad!!"
What must the neighbours think? Lol
Shouting out "MY WINKLE'S SHRUNK!"
Well, it has a bit. But winkle-shrinkle is a thing at my age.
It's still scarily massive though.
Oh yes.
I'm 55.
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| That's my winkle, that is. |