July Sweeps - Day 518

I was just writing a bit in the new Lara Demming story, and went back through my notes to see if I could figure out what kind of car Lara's parents were driving at the end of "You're In Good Hands."  And I came upon a bit where I was playing with the idea of Lara casting a spell on some Rice Krispies treats that she was taking to school for some kind of activity.  She's afraid a dog will get them, or flies will land on them, or some drooly schoolmate of hers will get his hands on them, so she casts a protection spell on them . . . and they come to life.  Imagine, animated lil' Rice Krispie squares running around like mice or gingerbread men, and Lara has to catch and corral them, without anyone noticing?

I never did write a scene like that (in fact, I had no memory of ever even considering it--it was going to be a subplot in that story, I suppose), but it sure is fun to imagine, especially if it's a very young Lara Demming, like ten years old or something (that could be a cool little three thousand word story all by itself).  Ah well.

Sit-ups Today: 100
Sit-ups In July: 300

Today is the toy trade thing they do up in the city, where collectors bring the stuff they want to sell/trade, and my nephews get good deals simply for being kids.  We had talked about it all week, so I cut short my time at the library (after writing quite a lot for how little time I sat there), and came home to pick them up.

And they weren't there.  They had decided to go to the cabin instead, and hadn't bothered to tell me.  Fun.

So, I didn't know what to do.  Nobody was around, so I could've just sat at home and watched TV and eaten ice cream or something.**  Or I could drive up to the city and hit the toy thing all by myself, which I'd never done before.  I had invited my cousin, but he's never once gone with me, and I don't suppose he ever will.  What decided me was reading that there would be free hamburgers and hot dogs in honor of the Fourth, so that was an incentive to go, even if I didn't pick up anything good at the trade.

I drove up, and it was really hot, but I like the heat, so there.  The turnout was impressive, and even though I only get up there once every three or four months, there were people that recognized me and treat the toy trade as some kind of social activity, hanging out with like-minded people, talking about toys and nostalgia.  And that's pretty neat.  

One of the guys I've seen a few times at this trade seemed to be having a hard time, and I asked him what was up, and that turned out to be a complicated answer.  He was really stressing out in his life, was not making any money at these things yet continued to attend every single month, had super-high blood pressure and anxiety, and had just spent some time overseas and discovered that Americans are selfish, insulated scum and he'd be so much happier if he could move away and never come back.  

I had nothing to contribute to the guy, and probably shouldn't have been the one he was telling all of this to, but hey, he needed to unload to someone.  Sometimes my uncle will say stuff that's similar, that he's really under pressure and unhappy, but hey, he's surrounded by absolutely terrible people all day long, and I think we can all relate to not being where we want to be in life.

I did get a couple of cool toys, but I don't think I'm going to keep any of them.  They were also providing free pulled-pork sandwiches, and that turned out to be pretty great.  I felt like leaving, maybe hitting a 7-11 and getting a Slurpee (everybody gets a small one free in July, if they bother), but there was a raffle giveaway at the end of the night, and I had won a Boba Fett cup the last time we went, so I stuck around.  To my surprise, I won again tonight, which is pretty cool (though it wasn't as neat as a Boba Fett coffee cup this time).

Push-ups Today: 50
Push-ups In July: 301

I finished an audiobook from the library this week, so I started on another one, but by Disc 2, I wasn't enjoying it anymore.  It reminded me of that truly infuriating book written by The Alien that made me swear off ever reading anything by him again, and I wondered if maybe Sanderson had been trying to emulate this book's style (which is totally possible).  I did get another book from the library on Friday, and I'll try that one instead.

Words Today: 1648 (pretty good)
Words In July: 3440

*Couldn't figure it out.  So I just wrote "car."  Maybe there's a reason I don't sell a lot of stories.

**Do you remember the other day when I said I ate a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting?  Well, I found out that there is such a thing as fat-free ice cream, and that's what it was, so it wasn't nearly as sinful as I'd imagined.  So, the next time I hit the grocery store, I made sure to buy the regular, fat-full ice cream.  If you're gonna indulge, might as well go big.