As I write this post, I'm in the midst of a house-sitting gig that has given me much more time to spend in my own company than I usually have. (I'm also doing more driving, which is really in the same category.) I'm composing on a computer in my temporary home, which may (or may not) explain away any typographical inconsistencies.
I'm not completely alone here, as the job also includes cat-sitting for two lovely felines. I was told that at least one of them would be rather shy but I have found both of them to be outgoing, friendly, and vocal -- they chirp, meow, and purr most of the time. They're a pleasure to spend time with, and they don't even mind the sound of my typewriter.
Yes, I brought a typewriter to this gig. Every day I've been spending more time with it. Last night I typed four pages of freewriting and literally typed until the ribbon pulled off from one of the spools. Then I reattached the ribbon to the spool, touched some mysterious internal levers until the ribbon got into reverse mode, then began typing again. (Note to self: RTFM for this typewriter and make sure that the ribbon is attached properly and that auto-reverse is a Thing with this model.)
I think it will help to use this typewriter at the proper height. I have several desks from which to choose at home, but here I have the Olympia on the dining room table. I put a couple of extra seat cushions on the dining room chair, so now I'm typing down instead of typing up.
I have so much to learn about these typewriters. And it's probably time for me to collect these downloaded manuals into something I can access from my iPad. When I originally bought a Kindle oh so many years ago, one of the first things I did was to load the Apple Technical Manuals onto it. It seemed like a clever idea to use that machine, which is essentially a hard drive with a screen interface, to contain books that would be too heavy to carry around in printed form. At that time I was thinking of working a tech support job at Staples or joining the Geek Squad at Best Buy. Ironically, here I am a dozen years later thinking about a way to make 60-year-old typewriter manuals accessible with a few clicks on my iPhone or iPad.
I also want to Print Out All The Pages and put them in a three-ring binder, but I'm doing my best to suppress such an antiquated urge.
While I've been house-sitting I have also been working on one of my Primary Projects: reading a book for research, and brainstorming about many of the things I'll need to know to tell the story. I have also been keeping up with my usual daily reading (Daf Yomi, and a page of poetry a day, now by Rilke) but not with the Impossible Read -- though I did bring The Mists of Avalon with me. I mean, I'm still working my full-time job. At lunch I drive home to catch up with Eldest and his management of the house, and we walk the dog together before I gobble a lunch and head back to work. After work I drive in the opposite direction, feed and clean up after the cats, eat my dinner, and write until bedtime. In the morning I'm off to work again.
I did start reading another book in the last week. It's a 2017 compilation of essays by Ursula LeGuin, called No Time to Spare. On the first day I read the whole first section of the book, which was about six essays. It's amazing and now I want to read everything that she ever wrote.
I won't, though, and I probably won't even try. But I now respect my urge to do so. Yesterday I read a lovely piece on the Ten Percent Happier app that contrasted the mind as an amusement park with the mind as a museum. I'm trying to keep that in mind and see my ideas more as museums, where I respect what I see on the walls and don't immediately run down a rabbit hole to copy them. Instead, I think, Wow, that was really profound. Let me think about that and see how I can include more of that kind of thing in my life and my thoughts.
We'll see how that goes.
Knitwise, I made good progress on the Secret Knitting Project -- finally. I finished the third part and started the fourth part. Then I left my project bag at home when I returned to the house I'm sitting. #facepalm
No worries. I can pick it up tomorrow when I go home for lunch.
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