What do you do when the cable guy shows up?
Every time I've had a service guy come to the house, I'm always left wondering. What am I suppose to do with myself? If I stand around hovering over their shoulder, that's rude, right? But I need to be around for any questions they have, which they usually do.
This morning, I had just made my first cup of coffee for the day, and peaked out the front to see if anyone was out there. With amazing timing, the Comcast van pulls up. (I know, it's like a magical fairy tale.) I stand awkwardly in the hallway while he parks thinkinging, Is it creepy to be standing in the doorway? I decide I don't want to make him nervous, like I'd been staring out the window for two hours wondering where my service tech was--because I swear I wasn't.
Instead, I leave the storm door open and head back upstairs with all the doors open like a trail of breadcrumbs leading him into the den. ('Cause that can't possibly be creepy.)
In an effort to make it look like we don't disrobe in our computer/dining room, I start clearing off the table, putting things back in their places. (This is how you know I wasn't waiting attentively for two hours.) After the tech finishes his paperwork in the van and tentatively makes his way up the stairs to our apartment, I peak around the corner and say, "Come on in," holding my coffee cup hoping to appear nonchalant.
He asks the big question, something like what's going on, but all I can think is: Isn't there a mile long report on this? Where the heck do I start? So I start pointing at things and telling him what my husband did, the fact that he use to be a cable tech, yada yada, all the wiring's run upstairs in the attic, and we've burned out two small cable boxes in three days. Is that it? Nope.
Over the course of an hour, the tech is checking a few things that my husband was hoping he'd check that I forgot to mention. Good thing they sent a competent tech, runs through my head. Meanwhile, I'm on my third cup of coffee, the dishes are all put away, I'm ready to make a gallon of tea, and my paperwork is all layed out for when he leaves. Nervous? I'm not nervous. This is what everyone does when they don't want to just stand around looking stupid, right? Sure.
So, after checking every level and line known to man and giving us an awesome cable box bigger than my face, he tells me everything inside is all set. The line outside is weak, but they'll have a guy out here within the next 24 hours or so to fix the line outside.
I give him a big thank you, but can't shake his hand 'cause they're both full of equipment. Then, proceeded to follow him down the stairs to "lock my neighbors out" as I put it. Yeah, that was probably weird.
Twenty minutes later, I'm sitting here writing, nearly jittering off the kitchen chair, when I hear metal clattering outside. They can't possibly be here already, I think. So I amble to the front porch to peer out through the screen and sure enough, the guy never left. The man's outside up on a later across the street fixing our line. It's a good thing he excused himself already, otherwise I'd probably try to hug him.
Slinking back, hoping he didn't see me, I go back to my last cup of coffee to finish my blog post. Does anyone else have no idea what to do with themselves when the service technicians show up?
Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Poker Face Writing
There's a time and a place for different types of music. This is especially true for writing.One of the challenges to writing in a coffee shop is the music selection. If this is your writing space, then you learn to deal with it. The most obvious way is plugging in a blaring set of earbuds. But what's a good idea to listen to while writing?
It All Depends on What You're Writing
Some songs to avoid from my list own playlist as I write:
Each time one of these songs came on, all productivity ceased. I love these songs, but they completely derailed my train of thought.
Dance music will usually lead to one thing--clubbing scenes. If that's what you're writing, then have at it. Otherwise, you're making life REALLY hard on yourself. This is only one step up from listening to the radio in Dunkin Donuts.
If you're writing lyrics, listening to anything WITH lyrics is going to mess you up too. Last week I gave lyric writing a try with a general playlist on my iPod. I realized what kind of problem this was when I started trying to rhyme with what I was hearing. It didn't change the subject I was writing, but when you realize you've just written something to rhyme with "astronaut" it's time to switch to instrumental. One really cool instrumental group is Two Steps From Hell. A lot of their pieces sound like epic movie trailer music. (I have the Archangel album from iTunes.)
For those of you working on a long piece of writing such as a novel, I highly recommend putting together a playlist specifically for that book. Songs that speak of the characters and their motivations or the atmosphere of the story or location will help your consistency when writing those characters and atmospheres. My husband has a playlist of songs that would fit in a post apocalyptic movie to help inspire him as he writes his book in a similar genre. I've even talked to other writers who have playlists for each character and scenes.
Whether you're working on a blog or your first novel, pay attention to what you're listening to when you write. Notice how it influences you're writing. Is it helping? Is it grinding you to a hault? Is this something you could see playing in the background during a scene? Make sure to jot it down when you find a song that's significant to your pieces. It'll help you pick up the scene again if you need to go back to it. And it wouldn't hurt to have another layer of media to add to your story.
It All Depends on What You're Writing
Some songs to avoid from my list own playlist as I write:
- Poker Face - Lady Gaga
- Raise Your Glass - P!nk
- Just Dance - Lady Gaga
Each time one of these songs came on, all productivity ceased. I love these songs, but they completely derailed my train of thought.
Dance music will usually lead to one thing--clubbing scenes. If that's what you're writing, then have at it. Otherwise, you're making life REALLY hard on yourself. This is only one step up from listening to the radio in Dunkin Donuts.
If you're writing lyrics, listening to anything WITH lyrics is going to mess you up too. Last week I gave lyric writing a try with a general playlist on my iPod. I realized what kind of problem this was when I started trying to rhyme with what I was hearing. It didn't change the subject I was writing, but when you realize you've just written something to rhyme with "astronaut" it's time to switch to instrumental. One really cool instrumental group is Two Steps From Hell. A lot of their pieces sound like epic movie trailer music. (I have the Archangel album from iTunes.)
For those of you working on a long piece of writing such as a novel, I highly recommend putting together a playlist specifically for that book. Songs that speak of the characters and their motivations or the atmosphere of the story or location will help your consistency when writing those characters and atmospheres. My husband has a playlist of songs that would fit in a post apocalyptic movie to help inspire him as he writes his book in a similar genre. I've even talked to other writers who have playlists for each character and scenes.
Whether you're working on a blog or your first novel, pay attention to what you're listening to when you write. Notice how it influences you're writing. Is it helping? Is it grinding you to a hault? Is this something you could see playing in the background during a scene? Make sure to jot it down when you find a song that's significant to your pieces. It'll help you pick up the scene again if you need to go back to it. And it wouldn't hurt to have another layer of media to add to your story.
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