My Silver Lining Day

It has been incredibly, blindingly sunny and record-breaking hot lately the past few days in the great Northwest, and so this morning I did not take a coat  work.

I just finally managed to convince my boss that my route car needs the air conditioning fixed.  Lately, it has been like driving all day in an oversized Easy Bake Oven on-wheels.  I really should not be driving with the windows down, due to a severe allergy to bees, either.  A wasp landed on the outside of my windshield yesterday, so I baked to a nice medium-rare to well-done stage, after rolling all the windows up, waiting to get to an area less populated by insects.

After taking my car into the shop, it was discovered that the car has a leak.  So, I wound up borrowing someone else's route car for the day.  My morning run went well.  So well, that I offered to help cover another person's route in addition to my own, due to being a little short on drivers today.

My boss gave me a special delivery that I just barely had time to get to, if I left right away.  Feeling positive I could make all my stops, I rushed out the door to make my deliveries.  As I headed down the interstate, I noticed the car steering wheel shook a little.  I thought, "No big deal, that happened yesterday, and I told my boss about it, and he told me 'the car is old.'"  So, I drove on.

The route car started making a loud noise.

"Stupid car...," I grudgingly thought, "it's old, I am sure it is fine.  I am in a hurry.  I will check it when I get to my next stop."

I took the exit to the next interstate highway.  The noise continued.  I wanted to keep going, but I had a strong feeling that I should pull over just in case.  I quickly made my decision when I looked over to notice an unusually wide shoulder in the area I just happened to be in.  I got out, and sure enough the back tire had gone flat (later to be discovered that it had a medium-sized nail lodged into it).

I called my boss, let him know that the delivery would not make it on time, and then called for road-side assistance that we just got recently.  So recent, that my boss asked me this morning if I had the number for them.

Two very nice young men from the insurance company came and changed my tire to the spare, and I was on my way.

The special delivery wound up a hour late, but fortunately, they understood.

I was able to make all the stops on the route I helped with, but only able to make one of the three stops I had on mine.  I wound up calling the two places instead.  Everything was okay.

As I was leaving work, it started to rain.  "Great... the day I didn't bring a coat!"  I mused.  That is when I remembered I stuck an umbrella (I never usually carry) in my purse, and proceeded to walk to my car (not parked too far away for once).

I am grateful how everything that tried to ruin my day, turned out for the best.  Even if the sun is shining, sometimes it is best to take a jacket.  Good days can take a turn for the worse, but if you are prepared, your challenges may have a silver lining.

Looking Back: Things I Want to Remember from 2013,LookingForward:Things Happening In 2014

Where does the time go?  January flew by, February only had 28 days in it, and now it is March!  I started to write this blog either in early January or late December.  I suppose I should finish it!  Here are some things I want to remember from 2013, and a few things going on so far this year.  

Driving in Seattle:

The Ferry Ride to Bainbridge Island:

I had been on a ferry before (when I was a kid), but never by myself with a car. Just before I was asked to do my current route, I was asked to go to Bainbridge Island for a special delivery for my work.  It was a new experience for me.  

The music I enjoyed during 2013 (and still today):

Clarity - Zedd (featuring Foxes) - I love this song, the video is kind of different, but I really like it.  The vocals are excellent.

Let Her Go - Passenger - The singer's style on this song kind of reminds me of Cat Stevens.

Radioactive (also It's Time, and Demons) - Imagine Dragons - Very catchy tunes.  Radioactive is my favorite.

Stay - Rhianna (featuring Mikky Ekko) - Nice, soft and slow song.

Red Hands - Walk Off the Earth - I liked this song the instant it came on the radio.

Out of My League - Fitz and The Tantrums - They also had a great song that was free awhile ago called "MoneyGrabber."  I like their style.
Trouble - Taylor Swift - I like many of Taylor Swift's songs, this just has some extra oomph to it!

Safe & Sound - Capital Cities - Upbeat sound.  The lyrics are kind of cool, too.  

Battling dragons.  I had to battle some dragons last year.  I am not going to go into it, but I am glad I am past having to deal with certain people or circumstances that made my life difficult last year.

Working with a great group of coworkers.  Last year, I have had the opportunity to work with, and get to know some great people at my current job.  I do not get to see them as often as I like, now that I am on the road almost the entire time for my current route.

In 2013, the workers at my current job had great camaraderie.  I have not had that at all the jobs I have worked, and my current place has not always had that in past years, either.  It makes a difference when you work at a place where everybody tends to get along.  It only takes one person to make a good situation not-so-good, to downright miserable.

For Christmas I got a Kindle Fire! (I have been making very good use of it in 2014, reading tons of books, streaming movies, etc.)

Finishing my friend's 3rd book (an early birthday gift to myself).  Here is my review from Goodreads:

Eena, The Curse of Wanyaka Cave by Richelle E. Goodrich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is probably my favorite in the series so far. The cover is my favorite too, really like the colors used, and I like how it has some depth perspective to it.

There are many memorable and interesting things that happen in this book. Like meeting the other civilizations on the planet, and how they live. Ian's new talent. Getting a peek into the past, to understand the characters better. I liked how it ended, too. I could even be okay if the series just ended there, leaving it up to the reader's imagination -- but I know that is not where it ends.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

View all my reviews

 I set some small goals for 2014:

This year I plan to... by jackie-s-eyeslikeacat featuring LSA International

Eat more vegetables.  So far, so good.  I have been adding more vegetables to my lunches, and the dinners I make.  More variety, too.  I am particularly enjoying cucumbers and red bell peppers lately.

Drink more water.  I have been getting better about taking my water to work, so I can have it on the road.

Read more.  I have been reading quite a bit more since I got my new Kindle.  I can read the pages faster with a bigger screen (compared to my iPod, which I had been using, and still do sometimes). I also like the text-to-speech feature, which is much more smooth than my other Kindle text-to-speech feature.  I still like to read along when I use that feature, it helps me understand the tone better when I read along.  The tone and word pronunciation can be wrong while listening to a automated voice.  I can correct it in my head better if I am looking at the words myself. 

Write more.... oops.

Draw more... It isn't drawing, but I have been entering many more contests in Polyvore, just to keep my creative juices flowing.  Lately, my sets have been going a little more on artsy side than my sets in the past.  I have done a little doodling on the side, once on a McDonald's napkin during a lunch break.  

Another site I have been enjoying, is looking artwork done by various people on Illustration Friday.  The site that gives a word, and then anybody can add their drawings/artwork that resemble that word.  I have drawn a few doodles on my own, from the word given, but I have never actually submitted anything to it.

Exercise for at least one more day (I specifically worded it like this to myself, so I wouldn't get discouraged).  I have had to walk to the Park & Ride lately, due to a change in parking arrangements at work.  I could wait for the shuttle, but sometimes it is just faster to walk the 20-30 minutes it takes to get there!

I was very close to adopting a cat this year.  A friend of mine had to give hers up, and I was highly considering it.  Unfortunately, I feel my apartment charges too much to own a pet, so I probably won't be getting one as long as I live where I do currently.  I don't mind paying a one time deposit fee for a pet (which is how it was when I first moved here), but a month-to-month rent in addition feels like a rip-off.  So, I will just have to visit other people's cats instead.  I will really miss my friend's cat.  Isn't she pretty?

My Review of the DVD "Dear Mr. Watterson," and a Rare Look at Some of My Own Personal Artwork from the Past

On Christmas day, I purchased a DVD bundle with my Christmas bonus money, called "Dear Mr. Watterson."  It is a documentary about how various fans and cartoonists were affected by the classic syndicated comic "Calvin & Hobbes."  I started to worry after a few weeks when my DVD had not arrived in the mail.  I mostly order things from Amazon, and those items ship real quick.  The DVD, "Dear Mr. Watterson," was a purchase from another online company.  I was beginning to think I got ripped off, when, suddenly, my stuff arrived last Thursday!  I was so excited!

I was not disappointed, either.  The documentary has several cartoonists I admire, expressing their opinions and some of their interactions on the very private Bill Watterson, who drew and wrote the legendary comic strip.  I did not always agree with some of their opinions, but it was nice to hear them, nevertheless.  A few of them showed how they they get inspired to draw their own strips.  I found that particularly fascinating.  Being someone who has studied art particularly in the field of cartooning, and read every syndicated comic in our paper since I was very young, to the point I was having to ask my parents what certain words meant, I may have found the documentary more interesting than others.

There was a time when I did publish some of my own cartoons for a brief while.  It was for a newsletter about sheep.  Many of those particular cartoons have been compared to Gary Larson who drew "The Far Side."

I guess if sheep are standing and talking, then Gary Larson is the first person they think of.  I may have been a little influenced by him, but Sandra Boynton also drew standing and talking animals before before I discovered Gary Larson in the comic pages, so I feel like my influence was more from her, at least to begin with.  Peanuts influenced me as well, being my first absolute favorite of the comics.

In college, I would look at Bill Watterson's work to figure out how to adapt some of the facial expressions to my work.  I think I may have read somewhere that he would make faces in the mirror to capture an expression... or that could have been some other cartoonist I read about, that said that.  It was a long time ago.  I found that the advice helped.

There were a number of occasions I would take my work to Kinko's, for an art project for school, and they would almost not copy my work for me because they thought it was not my original artwork!  They thought I was in copyright violation of my own drawings!  I would pull out my I.D. to show them that I indeed was the illustrator to my own signed work, and then they would then make the copies.  One of the workers compared my artwork to South Park.  I had not heard or even seen any of that cartoon at the time.  I think I even asked, "What's that?"

In the "Dear Mr. Watterson" documentary, cartoonists talk about some of the challenges that come up when writing and merchandising their strips.  Merchandising sounds like a particular nightmare.  I can definitely understand why Mr. Watterson would not want to merchandise his product for the most part.  He did merchandise his books, obviously, but he also merchandised calendars as well, which featured his comics from the newspapers on a once-a-month glossy page.  I really enjoyed flipping to a new month to see which strip would be featured for the next 28-31 days.

The one thing I wished the documentary had was at least a short interview of Bill Watterson himself.  I am sure everybody would have loved that.  However, the man is a very private person, which I can totally empathize with.  I fondly remember seeing interviews on T.V. from the cartoonist, Charles Schulz (Sparky).  He reminded me of my grandfather.  In some ways, he was like a grandfather to me - just one I was not related to, and never met.  Bill Watterson is more of a mystery.

I am not disappointed that Mr. Watterson wants his privacy.  I think most of us, who are fans of the comic strip, would just like to have an idea of what he is like in real life.  I think "Dear Mr. Watterson" does help satisfy some of the fans curiosity, and I am glad to have it as part of my collection.