Coding Like it's 1999
Apr. 10th, 2020 11:02 am With my new book out, I decided to dust off my ancient website and update the information on it. What I SHOULD do at some point, is update the whole thing, but instead I am a stubborn old coot and have hung on to something I personally hand coded in 1999 or thereabouts. I mean, part of me, at this point, feels like the creakiness of it is perfect for a bunch of cyberpunk books? But, it's not the best if a person is looking for information about...oh, I dunno, Tate's subsequent career in the modern era?
I've had dozens of offers to upgrade and update. Feel free to offer your two cents, as well. After all, I think, since I lost Tate's domain, I will finally do something more modern for her. Maybe a Word Press site or some such. Who knows, I might even hire someone to design something truly lovely.
In the meantime, though, I spent the morning trying to remember how to do file transfers with CuteFTP.... which, I mean... yeah, wow. It was very 1999 here for a moment.
So, let's see, other news...
It's sunny today and is supposed to eventually warm up into the 50s (approximately 10 C). I'm hoping Shawn won't be too busy today with meetings and we can go for our semi-traditional, daily walk. If not, I may go on my own after 1:00 pm. I am going to have to brave the pet store (or Target) today because our eldest cat has decided that she no longer likes the seafood pate. Being 19, skipping meals is not the option it once was (or would still be for our 25 pound orange boy). Plus, I should buy another bag or two of kitty litter for the continued stay-at-home order.
Otherwise, I just have to make some bread for tonight's dinner. Vera is not quite ready for us to harvest, I don't think. But, my family is actually only so-so on sour dough, anyway, and I traditionally make my French loaves to go with something like the lasagna we're having.
I've been thinking a lot about my inability to write and I had an epiphany when talking to my writers' group, Wyrdsmiths, last night on video chat. Obviously, the majority of it is existential anxiety, no question. But, I think there's another factor that I hadn't really considered. There's, of course, a lot of talk about the hassles of having your office suddenly become your living room. No one is much discussing the fact that *my* office has now been invaded by my family, whom I love and get along with famously, BUT, with that has come additional pressure to provide.
It's no longer just, "Ima, what's for dinner?" It's become, "Ima, what's for dinner? What's for lunch? What's for breakfast? Are we out of x? Are you making bread/cake/cookies today? When should we go for a walk?" And, so on. One of my love languages is feeding people, so, again, this isn't about feeling necessarily overwhelmed or resentful of all of this--in fact, I take a HUGE amount of pride in the fact that we are going on a month of stay-at-home and we have yet to repeat a single meal.
But.
I used to have several hours a day to write.
Alone. By myself.
With no thought about lunch, unless I was hungry or I knew a friend was dropping by.
Also, with Shawn occupying the living room, even though we have the luxury of a lot of space to spread out, it's funny the extent to which her office stress gets filtered out into the rest of the family. So, that's new and different, too. And part of why I've shifted to doing things like quilting, because physical activity, for me, shaves off all that stress and puts it to use in something.
Anyway, I didn't say it was a brilliant thought, but it was new to me. It's funny because our house doesn't really have the usual division of labor that comes with gender, but, since making the choice to be the stay-at-home parent, I have often ended up with the lion's share of the emotional labor of keeping a household together. When everyone is home all the time, that increases exponentially.
Again, I feel fortunate in that none of this is really anything I hate or find particularly onerous. I've just suddenly realized that these duties, if you will, now occupy the majority of the time that I used to set aside for writing. I'm going to have to go back to how I used to write when I had a full-time job... oh, wait, I used to just shirk.
Damn it.
;-)
Well, honestly? I can do that with this job a little, too.
I've had dozens of offers to upgrade and update. Feel free to offer your two cents, as well. After all, I think, since I lost Tate's domain, I will finally do something more modern for her. Maybe a Word Press site or some such. Who knows, I might even hire someone to design something truly lovely.
In the meantime, though, I spent the morning trying to remember how to do file transfers with CuteFTP.... which, I mean... yeah, wow. It was very 1999 here for a moment.
So, let's see, other news...
It's sunny today and is supposed to eventually warm up into the 50s (approximately 10 C). I'm hoping Shawn won't be too busy today with meetings and we can go for our semi-traditional, daily walk. If not, I may go on my own after 1:00 pm. I am going to have to brave the pet store (or Target) today because our eldest cat has decided that she no longer likes the seafood pate. Being 19, skipping meals is not the option it once was (or would still be for our 25 pound orange boy). Plus, I should buy another bag or two of kitty litter for the continued stay-at-home order.
Otherwise, I just have to make some bread for tonight's dinner. Vera is not quite ready for us to harvest, I don't think. But, my family is actually only so-so on sour dough, anyway, and I traditionally make my French loaves to go with something like the lasagna we're having.
I've been thinking a lot about my inability to write and I had an epiphany when talking to my writers' group, Wyrdsmiths, last night on video chat. Obviously, the majority of it is existential anxiety, no question. But, I think there's another factor that I hadn't really considered. There's, of course, a lot of talk about the hassles of having your office suddenly become your living room. No one is much discussing the fact that *my* office has now been invaded by my family, whom I love and get along with famously, BUT, with that has come additional pressure to provide.
It's no longer just, "Ima, what's for dinner?" It's become, "Ima, what's for dinner? What's for lunch? What's for breakfast? Are we out of x? Are you making bread/cake/cookies today? When should we go for a walk?" And, so on. One of my love languages is feeding people, so, again, this isn't about feeling necessarily overwhelmed or resentful of all of this--in fact, I take a HUGE amount of pride in the fact that we are going on a month of stay-at-home and we have yet to repeat a single meal.
But.
I used to have several hours a day to write.
Alone. By myself.
With no thought about lunch, unless I was hungry or I knew a friend was dropping by.
Also, with Shawn occupying the living room, even though we have the luxury of a lot of space to spread out, it's funny the extent to which her office stress gets filtered out into the rest of the family. So, that's new and different, too. And part of why I've shifted to doing things like quilting, because physical activity, for me, shaves off all that stress and puts it to use in something.
Anyway, I didn't say it was a brilliant thought, but it was new to me. It's funny because our house doesn't really have the usual division of labor that comes with gender, but, since making the choice to be the stay-at-home parent, I have often ended up with the lion's share of the emotional labor of keeping a household together. When everyone is home all the time, that increases exponentially.
Again, I feel fortunate in that none of this is really anything I hate or find particularly onerous. I've just suddenly realized that these duties, if you will, now occupy the majority of the time that I used to set aside for writing. I'm going to have to go back to how I used to write when I had a full-time job... oh, wait, I used to just shirk.
Damn it.
;-)
Well, honestly? I can do that with this job a little, too.