Having not worked for the past 4 weeks, one would think I’d have made extraordinary progress on all my book and art related projects. One would be wrong. I haven’t even attacked the blasted house in a cleaning frenzy.
Instead, my attention has been all over the place, and I’ve been fighting a lack of ability to focus.
What have I been doing, you ask? Pirating my little black heart out on my favorite old Sega Genesis game, Uncharted Waters: a New Horizon; watching both good movies, such as The Greenbook, Best of Enemies, The Bird Box, and Blinded by the Light, and either cheesy or fun eye-candy movies like The Naked Gun, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Cannonball Run II, and The Dark Tower (which was actually pretty good if you don’t compare it too closely with the source material). My husband even got me to binge watch the original Omen trilogy, something I’d only ever caught glimpses of here and there over the years and never actually watched all the way through before.
I have also been reading on The Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny. I picked up a couple of audio books out of the series on a freebie table at a convention a few years back then came across the entire series in hardcover at an estate sale about 2 years ago. I figured this was as good a time as any to read them. Currently, I just started book 5, The Courts of Chaos.
I’m finally getting myself back on track with the art commission I received last summer.
Also, before I forget to mention it, LibertyCon has been cancelled for this year and moved to June 25-27, 2021. While it was set for mid-June this year, the venue cancelled the contract due to being tagged by the state government as a potential COVID-19 overflow hospital. While some have griped about so many conventions getting cancelled or postponed this year, I will not do so. I know of at least two convention friends/fellow authors, who’ve tested positive already. I also know how virulent common Con Crud can be, therefore how truly devastating this nasty new bugger would be on the fandom community. A large majority of my tribe are in their 50s or older with sometimes severe underlying health conditions. I would rather wait a year to see them, than see them now and risk never seeing them again.
As to the visit to the land of oblivion: while I have seen a few people wearing masks in Walmart on the occasions I have to go for cat supplies and groceries, there are many, many more I see without them (all ages, too). Plus, I still encounter the Oblivious Shoppers as much as I did before all this mess. I call them this, because they move and act as if THEY are the only ones in the store or with a right to be in the store. The levels of rude are astonishing, and there is very little evidence of social distancing. Usually, I only achieve these heights of anxiety while shopping during the Holiday season. If you wonder how high, I sometime wish I could either legally use a cattle prod while shopping or borrow Freddy Kreuger’s gloves to clear a path. I realize that sounds horrible, but I do NOT like having my personal space invaded during normal conditions, let alone when something this contagious is lurking about and being spread by asymptomatic people. at least I carry sanitizer in my car and wash my hands often enough to need lotion for the dry scaliness this causes.
So, to all those out there reading this, stay safe, stay healthy, and be patient.
Tamara Lowery's Scribblings 