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Choo Choo With You
Kelly and I enjoyed a rare treat this afternoon. We took a ride on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway, departing from and returning to Jim Thorpe, PA.
Scenic Railroad
A private railroad car is not an acquired taste. One takes to it immediately. ~Eleanor Robson Belmont
Well, it wasn’t exactly a private railroad car, but the dome car certainly provided a spectacular view.
The ride was smooth. The scenery was sublime. As always, time alone with Kelly was the sweetest treat of all.
Now that the kids are grown, we’re finding more opportunities to do things like this.
Dogs are allowed on the train, but Rose didn’t come with us this time.
Just as well would probably have been a bit too hectic for her.
Even so, it’s nice to know there are dog-friendly options for dates with my darling wife.
In the meantime, the best kind of dog-friendly date option is to stay home and watch movies or binge some of our favorite series.
Legal Hijinks
SHE-HULK EPISODE 5 BREAKDOWN! Easter Eggs & Details You Missed!
They billed this show as a legal comedy, and this episode digs into that.
The supervillain, Titania, is an internet influencer in the MCU.
She’s the woman who burst into the courtroom in episode one, forcing Jen to transform into her Hulk self in order to deal with the rampaging diva.
She gets her vengeance by trademarking the She-Hulk name and running a bunch of products in that line.
Naturally, Jen counter-sues and stoops to completely humiliating herself in order to establish precedence of the use of her superhero name.
I’m still irked that so many people are panning this show. It’s funny. It’s fun. That’s the point of it.
It’s just a bit of fun. That’s actually allowed, people. Not everything needs to be Shakespeare or Tolstoy.
We’re allowed to have fun for fun’s sake.
The world is grim enough without random haters bitching on the internet about a show.
It’s not like they’re bringing anything to the table now is it?
The CGI is cringy? Do better. Seriously, I dare you whiners to make a better CGI character and animate it your miserable selves.
Jeez! I grew up watching a body builder in green makeup bursting out of rip away clothes. Be glad there even is CGI, you nitpicky jerks.
And Rings of Power is fine, too.
Sorry, but anybody who has ever played an elf in D&D basically wanted to be Galadriel. She’s a ring-bearer. Clearly, she got there somehow. This show provides a non-canonical interpretation of how she got to be queen of Lothlorien and wearer of the ring, Nenya.
If you don’t like it, don’t watch it. Those of us who do like it would like you to pipe down and go rain on someone else’s parade.
Work For Pleasure
True artists are almost the only men who do their work for pleasure. ~Auguste Rodin
It has been said that if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.
I feel this way at work sometimes, but not always.
I’m sure it will be this way whenever I transition over to spending more of my time in Nerdsylvania Publishing.
Nothing is fun all the time, but if it’s fun most of the time if you know you’re doing the right thing the right way.
The closer you are to the center of the Ikigai diagram you are, the more effortless the activity or work becomes.
I’ve been on the fringes of the diagram and I’ve been pretty close to dead center.
Believe me, it’s a lot better in the middle.
That being said, there’s always some drudgery to deal with in any endeavor.
As much as I want to get done my September monthly so that I can get on with this year’s Holiday Season Serial Romance, I still need to do real world stuff like taking out the trash, making dinner, running errands or whatever.
Ikigai is a big picture concept. It doesn’t exclude the need to go to the far side of the county for a doctor’s appointment and grocery shopping on the way home.
Doing the needful often outweighs doing the desirable. However, doing so actually buys me some time in the long run.
So, getting that sort of stuff done and out of the way gives me more time to do the stuff I’d prefer to do.
Another thing about being more centered on the Ikigai diagram is that even when you’re dealing with random drudgery is that you can typically still be thinking and planning the things you want to do when you’re done.
On the way to and from the doctor’s, I was listening to a recorded Yale history course in preparation for future work on my Tales Of Olde Auringia series.
Typically, when I go to bed I typically put on a playlist from author-tubers like Ellen Brock, Shaelin Bishop at Reedsy and others. I also like to revisit Dan Wells’ 7 Point Story Structure seminar and Brandon Sanderson’s 2020 Creative Writing Class at Brigham Young University either waking or sleeping.
Honestly, I don’t know if listening to educational lectures while I sleep actually makes the lessons stick, but it often helps me to fall asleep faster and sleep more soundly.
Sleeping without listening to something often leads to dreams that range from weird to actual nightmares.
I will sometimes sleep without listening to something in order to encourage dreaming, but it takes me longer to fall asleep.
Having my mind race for an intolerable length of time before actually falling asleep is probably what leads to the disturbing dreams.
No telling, but I usually prefer to minimize the drama in my mind and my life in order to ensure it all winds up on the page.
That’s another day in a gloriously long weekend. I hope you’re getting some R&R as the 🌞Summer🔥 slowly (too slowly) fades away.