Mid-week thoughts during vacation

I am hitting the middle part of my week off from the newspaper, but I’m trying not to focus on it. Vacation weeks always fly by, don’t they?

It was really nice on Tuesday not to be laying out pages and reviewing copy at the newspaper. I like my job, but it’s nice to get a respite now and then from a day that is usually very stressful.

I’ve been doing some editing work. I enjoy the editing process so much, and it’s nice working from home.

I’ve also been reading. I just finished Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn.

Have you read it? What did you think?

I found it fascinating, frightening, troubling. It’s incredibly well- written, and I really didn’t want to put the book down.

But boy, the story itself is disturbing. I hope I never meet people like the main characters, Nick and Amy. Or if I’ve already met them, I hope I don’t learn anymore about them.

If I dream about the characters, which I sometimes do after I read a book, the dreams will actually be nightmares.

Yes, that disturbing. If a book can make me feel that way about the characters, I think the writer has done a good job.

On that note, here are a couple more photos to lift myself out of Nick and Amy’s world:

Have you ever read a book that, while it was excellent, had disturbing characters that stayed in your mind after you finished the book?

Disjointed week

That’s what this week has been: disjointed. Busy, bored. Busy, bored. Worried, calm. Worried, calm. Just one of those weeks that jumped and started.

My Random 5 kind of matches my week. I don’t have an overall theme, so these are rather disjointed thoughts that came my way as I sat down to write this.

I’m linking up with Nancy’s A Rural Journal for Random 5 Friday. Link up and join the fun!

One

Rain. And more rain. Nearly every day, we’ve gotten rain here in Central Virginia. Even when it’s not raining, the air feels heavy with water.

We’ve had dry conditions for a number of years, so we welcome the water. But so much has made the ground sodden, and conditions are ripe for flash flooding.

It’s pouring rain as I write this Thursday evening, and there are news reports of area flooding. We’re OK where we are, but my thoughts go out to those affected by it.

Two

I spent a good two hours Thursday evening looking for a photo. I know it’s here somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. I sifted through pictures I’d forgotten I had.

For example, I barely remember visiting Poplar Forest, Thomas Jefferson’s retreat in Bedford County, years ago. But I found a whole packet of photos I took while there.

And I found the photo I’ve included in this post. I took a journalism/graphic arts class my senior year in high school. We were allowed to borrow the school camera (a 35 millimeter) to take photos to develop in the school darkroom.

One of the photos I took was of the old mill in the rural area where I grew up. You can’t tell from the black and white photo, but it was a painted red. You could give people driving directions by mentioning “the old red mill.”

Three

The picture I wanted to find—the one I didn’t find—was of my first car, a Ford Maverick. Kathy at You’ll ShootYour Eye Out and I found out this week that we both owned a Maverick as our first car.

That connection made me think about that car, and I wanted to see it again.  

I have no visual for you, but mine was a 1977 model, light gray with red interior, with an 8-track player. I bought it in 1983 and kept it for two years.

What was your first car?

Four

My current car is a Pontiac Vibe and has over 100,000 miles on it. 100,298, to be exact.

I am so disappointed that I didn’t notice when it tripped 100,000. I was going to get a picture of it.

They don’t make them anymore, but this car has served me well, and I still enjoy it.

Five

Work at the newspaper has been slow. We have slow times throughout the year, but July is historically slow.

My service date is coming up, and I checked with our HR department to see how much unused vacation time I had. I discovered I had more built up than I thought I did. So with my editor’s blessing, I decided to take next week off. I wasn’t sure if I should at first, but my stories for next week lined up nicely.

I’m looking forward to being off!
  If you suddenly had a week stretching out in front of you with no obligations, what would you do?

What I did during my vacation week (and boy, do I need a routine)

Today I’m returning to work after being off for a week. I had nine days in a row to do what I wanted to do, nine days to not feel like I had to stay plugged into the news, nine days of freedom.

No, I’m not ready to go back to work. But a little part of me is glad to go back only to have more of a routine. Having a routine is helpful for both my depression and my OCD.

First, the vacation week:

*I read a lot, hung out with Larry and with the cats, took naps and just generally relaxed.

*I finally transferred my music library from iTunes to my iPhone. I’ve only had my iPhone for five months.

*I had to get my driver’s license renewed, so I had to spend a little time at the DMV, but it wasn’t too bad. The new picture on the license? Larry said it looked like a mug shot, and it does. And I’m going to have to live with it for at least eight years.

*Larry took me to the bookstore and waited while I picked out a stack of books for my birthday. I was like the proverbial kid in the candy store.

*We had a nice dinner out for my birthday. While we were eating, Larry noticed what he at first thought was a pheasant out the window. Turns out it was a peacock. The waitress told us he had recently taken up there. I got a photo of him on my iPhone through the window, so it's not a great shot.

*We drove up to Leesville Lake, a nearby lake, one evening and enjoyed the peace and quiet and beauty of the water.

It was a wonderful nine days. But they didn’t include a lot of routine. Not having a routine is OK for a while, but overall I feel better if I do have one.

For example, during my time off, I stayed up late, then slept late or napped at odd hours. Getting up at different times led me to take my medicine at different times and to eat at different times.

Going back to work will help me sleep and eat more regularly.

Staying busy with work also helps my depression and OCD by keeping my mind on other things. I don’t have as much down time, so I don’t have as much time to mull over things that might cause anxiety.

With all of that said, my routine still needs help. I’d like to have a routine that suits me even when I’m not working.

I’d like to get up earlier in the morning. I’d like to write on more of a regular schedule. I’d like to have time set aside each day for meditation and reflection. I’d like to have less empty time where I can’t decide what to do. I’d like to live with a more peaceful rhythm.

It’s hard work to change one’s routine. I know that from experience.

So I’m asking you, dear reader, to please offer me and other readers some tips and advice. How important is a routine to you? Does your life have a rhythm? How do you manage your schedule? How do you make yourself get up early in the morning?