Bryce's Ramblings

Friday's here again, like a girlfriend in high school that keeps taking you back, only to scorn you again a few days later. Honestly, can't somebody talk to Wednesday and see what Friday really thinks about me? Monday seems pretty attracted to me--maybe I could make her talk to Wednesday for me, and find out. Because I want this thing to work out between Friday and me. When we're together, life is happy. Birds sing in the trees, the sun shines, and color returns to the world, like Dorothy stepping out into Oz.

Oh well.

My NCAA picks yesterday didn't turn out too shabby. 13 out of 16 right, and none of my Sweet Sixteen are eliminated yet. So that's something. Of course, I've now realized that as soon as I blog about something going well, I curse myself. Like yesterday. Remember how I talked all big about how well writing went and how I liked GoogleDocs? Yeah, well, this morning I had a bit of a falling out with GoogleDocs. It wouldn't automatically tab for me, and I wasted precious writing minutes trying to get it to behave. Only 300 words written, which means I still have to finish. Some of this is due to starting a new chapter--and a new viewpoint character--but I'd rather blame Google. It makes things so much simpler.

And as a final last barrage, let me take a moment to grouse about Easter and the lack of vacations connected thereto. Maybe somebody out there's getting spring break, or Easter Monday off or Good Friday. Not me. I'm at work. Working. (Well, technically I'm at work blogging, but that's because this is my lunch break, and I have to do something while I'm breaking for lunch. (Since I already ate my lunch early. (Since I was hungry. (Although as a sidenote to this sidenote, I was down to 225.6 pounds this morning, which pleased me. (Even though it also confused me. (Since yesterday I went to town on a Ben & Jerry's New York Superchunk Fudge pint, and by so doing prepared myself to be back to 228 this morning. And I think that's enough parentheticals for now.))))))

Where was I?

Oh yes. Lack of vacation at Easter time. What I mean is we get the glut of holidays around the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas), and then we have to eke them out one at a time the rest of the year. A President's Day here, a Fourth of July there. Gimme my Easter Break! All I want is a Friday and Monday off. Not just for me. For the entire nation! For the entire world! Equal holidays for all! And when I'm President, there'll be a chicken in every pot and a . . .

Oh. (*looks around sheepishly*)

Excuse me.

I'll get off my soapbox now.

See you Monday.

So this morning I got up about 45 minutes earlier than I usually do. Why, you ask? Because I've been having a difficult time doing my writing in the late afternoon. I stress about it all day, wondering how it will go. Not because the writing itself is difficult, but because there's so many other things that need my attention after I get home from work. Family, chores, dinner--you name it. And I really don't like putting my writing off until late at night. The stress then is what if I don't get it done. So I tried early morning. Fantastic. No distractions at all. No one else in the house was up, and I knew I only had a set amount of time to churn out those words, so I got right on task and stayed there. 600 words plus written. That's a good feeling.

Another change I've made to my writing routine right now is that I'm using GoogleDocs to write instead of Word. This sacrifices a lot of features, but it also means that I can write from any computer connected to the internet at any time. This brings enough advantages with it that I'm willing to sacrifice Word's perks. Plus, GoogleDocs is free, and it keeps backups of all my revisions, automatically. I feel much safer having my writing there. No more worries about lost drafts. Nice.

And the Madness has started, baby! I'm keeping up with the scores as I type. Come on Xavier, Michigan State and Kansas. Don't make me look bad! I'm looking particularly at you, Xavier. Down by 6 to Georgia? Come on! Kevin, looks like it's just me and you on the ESPN bracket group. You realize you're going to lose, right? I was tempted to join in your pool this morning at the last minute, but I couldn't justify the $10. We need it for other purposes up here in Maine. At least my family bracket ended up panning out. But that's  been going on for quite a few years, so it has tradition on its side.

Finally, I'm writing this from the lobby of one of the buildings on campus.  I'm technically fulfilling my duties as a librarian, sitting here with a "Librarian Is In" sign next to my computer and a "Research Assistance Free" sign on the other side. I've been here for almost an hour. No one has come up to ask me anything, and I feel like a real dingbat. Sigh. If there's any UMFfers reading this, next time you see one of us Librarians out and about with these signs up, do me a favor and at least swing by and say hi. We need the encouragement.