Some links may be affiliate links. I may earn money if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these links on this site.

Rob Knowlan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day 2023

Continuing our culinary trip for as long as random National Days Of… allow, we come to National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. Not a moment too soon. It’s the only thing that could convince me to have a bowl of tomato soup.

Doesn’t Matter

Age is something that doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese. ~Luis Buñuel

People often say that age is just a number. There are some people who are more active and vital in their seventies than other people are in their teens or twenties.

As Indy said, “It’s not the years, honey. It’s the mileage.“

If I was a cheese, I’d probably be Swiss because I feel like I’ve got a ton of holes in me.

I’ve never been into sports or going outside in general, but I did have the good fortune to build enough of a structure to sustain me into my current relatively decrepit state.

I am in good enough shape to enjoy taking a walk with Kelly and Rose or meandering through a museum or aquarium with Kelly and the kids.

I am, theoretically, in good enough shape to work on perfecting a Tornado Kick this year.

All that being said, I feel tired. Could be the age. Could be the handful of life-threatening ailments. Could be that a minivan fell on me. Who knows?

The important thing is, I’ve got a big comfy bed and a beautiful woman to share it with. I had that when I was in my twenties. I have that now. I will have that for the foreseeable future.

Who cares how old you are as long as you’ve got a gorgeous woman to snuggle with and a fuzzy little dog to jump on your head when the alarm clock goes off?

Comfort Food

Air Fryer Grilled Cheese Sandwich

I like grilled cheese sandwiches. I like using my air fryer. Not sure I’d like to take ten minutes or more to make a sandwich.

So much easier to let Dorothy make them for me. I mean, c’mon, the kid’s still living here rent-free. The least she can do is grill me a sandwich now and then.

There are plenty of comfort foods that I can still enjoy that won’t drive my A1C up.

Ideally, I could replace potatoes with parsnips and still make a hearty stew.

Beef cubes, mushrooms, pearl onions and shrimp over a bed of spinach or quinoa is a lunchable version of Surf & Turf.

Sometimes, I just go for a big spoonful of crunchy peanut butter.

Whatever gets you through the day, right?

Drama In Time

But a city is more than a place in space, it is a drama in time. ~Patrick Geddes

The primary villains of the initial arc of The Sentinels are a clandestine group of monied miscreants who have a way of extending their lives.

As such, I’m likely to have some opportunities to recount historical incidents in the development of Empire City.

The members of this villainous group reach back to the very first days of the settlement. Some are successors to the original members. Some have been around since the arrival of the Dutch in 1624. All of them are degenerate, self-absorbed and have no regard for any human life other than their own.

It will be glorious when they go down.

On a craft note, I’ve been working on descriptions. My writing tends to be dialogue-heavy. Since I see the story in my head and am transcribing it, I tend to take for granted that the reader can envision what I see.

I’m working to correct that. Part of correcting that also relies on knowing what needs describing and to what degree.

From my perspective, we know what a Starbucks basically looks like inside. I don’t know what, if anything, I would need to describe that isn’t essentially common knowledge.

I also mentioned this in a conversation with my son, Connor, the other day.

Essentially, the more effort you take in describing something suggests that it is specifically important that you know it. This is known, in certain circles, as Chekhov’s Gun.

For instance, a scene in chapter one takes place in Lucky’s office in Sentinels Station. Lucky is a lawyer. What do you picture when I say “it’s a lawyer’s office“? Is that the same picture you have if you know that the lawyer’s office is in the penthouse suites of the Ghostbuster building on Central Park West?

To me, Lucky’s office looks quite like this But I don’t know that simply saying that he’s in his office in Sentinels Station would tell anybody but me that this is how it looks. Naturally, I should specify that he’s got polished oak bookshelves that are packed with his law books. To me, it’s obvious because I can see it.

The problem for me is that I’m not used to doing this. I don’t want to inflate my word count needlessly by describing things that are either obvious or for which I don’t personally have the vocabulary to describe. I’m sure this style of bookshelf has a specific name. I don’t know what that is.

Actually, it took me quite a long time to figure out that the thing I was envisioning for Tanda’s rooftop activities was called a parapet. I’m still not sure that’s the right word for what I have pictured in my mind.

Until I can find a decent resource for quickly figuring out what architectural details are called, I’m going to wind up getting drawn down silly rabbit holes of research.

Even so, a technique I’ve heard that would be of some use to me is to put in placeholder words until I can figure out the proper terminology for something. Until now, I’ve been taking for granted that the reader can picture it however they want.

A swanky restaurant, a coffee shop, a police precinct squad room, urban roofscapes. These are things that people have either seen in person or in movies or TV throughout their lives. It really rubs me the wrong way to have to try to describe these things unless the details actually matter to the plot somehow.

I guess I’ll have to learn to discern which is applicable and what level of detail is needed.

I don’t think I’ll have this particular problem when I get to Tales Of Olde Auringia or Far-Flung Reaches because those settings will be exotic enough to require specific descriptions.

Gah! As if this wasn’t taking long enough to get done without adding what may or may not be superfluous detail…

---

That’s it for today. I hope you took some time to indulge in a grilled cheese sandwich or whatever your favorite comfort food is. Have a great rest of your week.