The exercise:
Let's see what we can do with: the schedule.
On the negative side: the Canucks lost in overtime tonight, ending their playoffs far earlier than I would have liked.
On the positive side: it was over thirty degrees here today and I spent most of it working outside.
I'm doing my best to focus on the positive right now.
Mine:
"We're behind schedule," Sophia stated for the fifth time that hour, pointing at her wristwatch with a long, slender finger. "Well behind, in fact."
"No we're not," I said, unlacing my left boot and letting it drop to the dirt of the trail. Digging my fingers into the aching sole of my foot, I was unable to contain the sigh of relief that slipped from lips. "Have a rest; it'll do us both a world of good."
"But then we'll be even more behind!" She looked as though an aneurysm was imminent. It was difficult not to welcome its arrival with open arms.
"Behind what?" I asked, starting to unlace my right boot.
"Behind what? Behind what, she asks!" Sophia turned to the trees surrounding us for support. I began to massage my right foot. "Behind the schedule, you simpleton!"
"That's not possible," I countered, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of my shirt pocket and plucking a smoke from its interior.
"And why, exactly, is that?"
i am sharing this from my own blog in two parts...
ReplyDeleteWith Safari launched, my daily schedule begins. I browse the network for my favourite bookmarks - unknown country, the huffington post, abc, sbs, I could go on and on, but I need more.
And there is more.
Much more.
Apps.That's the answer. There is a virtually unlimited supply of applications now especially suited to iPad and iPad 2, due to its advanced memory and the all-important camera. Add to that the now wireless bluetooth keyboard and I am ready to go. Well, I suppose you could say the keyboard is made obsolete by the Dragon Dictation app, but I still enjoy the feel of the clicks beneath my fingers as they pound the keyboard and, if one has laryngitis...well, you know.
I begin the morning as usual - porridge, shower, brewed coffee (the writer's essential beverage) and a check on Words With Friends. The coffee helps me wake up enough to add to this Scrabble game.
Then there is time for a quick check of my gmail. I quickly type back a response or two but if a lengthy reply is needed I activate the wireless keyboard. I'm a little more accurate on that and I don't get those pains shooting up my arm like I do if I type too long on the tap board.
Morning tea - a warmed up pomegranate cake or two followed by a quick trip to the shops to see if there is any real mail, but before logging off I check Words again, but it's still their move. Other people have a life, it seems.
Back again. It's 11 AM. I put on the radio and tune into Conversations on ABC Local to hear this morning's interview. Sure, I can podcast it but I only do that if I am out at this time.
I doodle with my drawing apps while I listen. Drawcast and Drawfree allow you to do simple sketches using colour or B&W. You use the eraser tool if you make a mistake. Another good one is Spraypaint. I use this on my Photo file. I pick a photo of my car, which is white, and spray it different colours and patterns. This morning I painted a beach scene on one panel, followed by yellow flames on a red background, filled in with purple dots. Very creative.
Lunch time. It must be time for the midday movie. With so many channels to choose from, it takes a while to settle on one but I invariably aim for the ol' black and whites. A Jimmy Stewart, if possible. Classic. I can't sit still just watching, so it's time to check Words With Friends again. Oh, three games to answer. That means three people have had their turn, don't have a life (like me) or are on their lunch break too.
I play a bit of Solitaire during the movie ad breaks. Sometimes that spills over into the movie if my time is good, and it usually is. I am good at this game, at least. 1.45 minutes is my best time so far. I have the score to prove it.
Movie done, it's time to cook more cakes. Hm, maybe GF coffee cakes this time. Check the blog for this recipe. I pull up my blog and check the ingredients list, although I nearly know it off by heart now. I make a cup of herbal tea while the cakes are cooking and sit down, activating my iPod function on the iPad. I stick it on Shuffle. If no one is looking. I dance around the kitchen for a bit until I am all puffed out. The oven beeps, the cakes are done. I cool them off on a tray but not without sneaking one first as a taste test. Mm, hot.
It's a quarter to four. I'd better peel the veggies for tonight's dinner. It's roast pork and veg in the BBQ, that way I don't have to cook. I check Words but there are no more moves. I look and see what I could do with my letters while I wait for someone to complete their move. It could be ages, a whole day might go by. I form a list of words I could use, but they often fail because the opponent takes my spot.
ReplyDeleteHm, time to read some more of a book I got from Amazon on Kindle. It is a great portable reading app. I have over 20 books stored already. I can highlight and notate to my heart's content which is good if you share with other Kindle users, like I do.
Hm, better check Maps before I forget so I know where to drive to on tomorrow's journey. Once fully mapped, I study the route, partially memorising it, even though I don't need to. I can easily pull it up on the iPad in the car tomorrow using 3G.
I have a few minutes to browse my bookmarks before dinner is cooked. I also review my creative work for the day to show other household members should they be interested. Sometimes it's art, or a piece of music I am mucking around with on Garage-band, or maybe it's just a blog update, but I want to show others I have had a productive day.
Dinner eaten and dishes done, it's time to settle down to a rented movie, old style. While it is playing, I improve my score on Solitaire, check Words and answer any gmail that has come in since the morning. I browse Facebook but there are no additional notations there.
I check my TV guide for the night on my browser but there is nothing interesting tonight.
Nearly bedtime. I turn on the electric blanket to warm things up, gather a midnight snack or two from the fridge and settle in for the night, iPad in tow.
I quickly check Words With Friends again and add my words to the game. There are 7 online games now, they seem to have grown. Somebody must have won a couple.
I can't sleep. I turn on the iPad and put on a movie. Great, a new release. I'm warm and cosy and no one can interrupt my viewing with questions about who's this and what are they doing? That kind of thing.
I sleep for a bit. A couple of hours, maybe, Then I am wide awake. I activate Kindle and read a couple more chapters. I choose a light novel for this time of the night. I bookmark it and turn it off. I have to remind myself to turn off notifications too or the iPad will wake me up with alerts.
I sleep another 5 hours until morning.
I wake up, check my Words With friends, have my GF rice porridge, type a little article for my blog, check out some new recipes on the web, answer my gmail....
I'm paddicted.
Why schedule the bus
ReplyDeleteWhen it can’t keep the pace
It is causing quite a fuss
I wish I had some mace.
These people have gone wild
They’re making an awful din
That’s putting it quite mild
I can’t believe the mess I’m in.
The pushing has just started
Now I’m bouncing all around
All sense of restraint discarded
I hope I don’t get knocked down.
Now someone’s thrown a punch
And it’s landed upon my face
The impact ended with a crunch
So my eyes rolled up in space.
I’m a victim of this ugly fight
Which did not have to happen
I’d of made it home tonight
If the driver wasn’t napp’in!
@Marc - oh how many times have I wished to burn those pesky schedules.
ReplyDelete@Writebite - can you imagine what a person would think just ten or fifteen years ago? I remember the days when I was a kid when we didn't even have a TV. Not like now because I choose not to, but because my father didn't think he wanted one of those fangled contraptions in the house.
@Krystin - too funny. Love the driver nappin.
The Schedule
Abby opened her eyes a full five minutes before her alarm was set to go off she loved that. It made the morning so much more under her control. Suddenly she sat straight up in bed and looked around the room. “What the hell?” she said out loud. This was wrong, all wrong. “Monitor,” she commanded. The screen popped into existence across the room showing a life feed from the beach in front of her house. “Health report,” she commanded again.
The screen flashed to a timing icon and played a small tune. “Health of one Abigail Andrews is at acceptable levels. Slight increase in heart rate and blood pressure,” the House voice said in a soothing tenor. “Biological age is steady at thirty…”
“Okay that’s enough,” Abby said. She swung out of bed and pulled her wrap over her shoulders and padded into the other room. “Coffee,” she said. Immediately the smell of the dark brew began to fill the room. Pouring herself a cup she stepped out onto the lanai and watched the breakers crash against the reef two hundred meters from shore she could feel her heart pounding in her veins. “Phone,” she said. A screen popped into existence a few feet from her face. “Call Overseer Wilson.” The phone played a light waiting tune while it tried to locate her call.
“Abby. What a nice surprise,” Jarron Wilson said when he answered.
“Jarron do you know what day it is today?” Abby asked in way of a greeting.
“October sixteenth,” he said a well-shaped eyebrow rose on one side of his forehead.
“Precisely,” she said. “I was scheduled for cessation on October fifteenth, but yet here I stand very much animated.”
“Oh I didn’t know,” he said his face falling and suddenly looking like a little boy. “Aren’t you a little too young to be liquidated?”
“My hundred and fiftieth birthday was yesterday. I don’t understand,” she said. “I am all prepared. I’ve taken care of everything. I was scheduled for cessation last night, but I wake to find myself very much alive. How do you explain that?”
Jarron Wilson looked confused and quickly spoke to his tech ring, his fingers fluttering with agitation. “I am so sorry Mesra Andrews,” he said using her formal title. “But it looks like the Overseer Command has changed the schedule and you have been given another hundred and fifty years. I’m afraid that is non-negotiable.”
Abby waved her hand and the phone disappeared. How was this possible, she thought? Another hundred and fifty years that was unheard of. She sipped the hot brew in her hands and watched the white spray of water as it turned to foam and followed the more sedate waves into shore. Well who was she to question the schedule. She would go for a run and then start to make plans for the coming century.
Writebite - hah, I think Iron Bess' comment summed it up perfectly. I still remember when we got a VCR for the first time!
ReplyDeleteKrystin - ah, the bus and its inability to arrive as promised. You've touched on a subject dear to my (raging) heart.
I too love that last line :)
Iron Bess - fascinating stuff. This is a world to be explored.
Love the descriptions.
@ Marc - *snickers* That makes me think of the Balir Witch Project... And seriously if you're out hiking or what not - there should be no schedule... Enless your doing an Enduro (dirt motorcycling) I bet Sophia woudl be good at that! (Enduro's are not about being fast, but about keeping to the schedule, your docked points for being too early or too late - the good riders take breaks to make sure they are on time) *grins*
ReplyDelete@Writebite - okay I confess I didn't read the wall of text you wrote - I read some of it. :} And am now glanicing at it as I write this. It really is amazing where our lives have gotten too. gone are the days where we simply worked to live from dawn to dusk hunting and gathering and cleaning. :}
@Krystin - Loved your poem. it's got my kind of rhythm to it. Loved it... Oh wait I already said that. ;}
@Iron Bess - Intriguing. A very interesting concept that her biological age is thiry something and yet she's 150 years old and has now ben scheduled for another 150... What do you do with all that time? :}
And No post from me. I'm playing catch up today but had to comment on all the excellent work on this prompte... mayeb later if Beta vegas 5 Management wants to give me the time... Or Rachael. She does have a delivery schedule to kepp *giggles* :}
Cathryn - I'd not heard of Enduro's before. Sounds like something I'd be terrible at - I don't think I've ever been right on time for anything!
ReplyDelete