A quick run-down of the first month of 2014 (so far):
- My car is probably headed for another breakdown. There's an intermittent warbly-whistly noise, not unlike those old-fashioned bird whistles (the ones you put water in and blow through), but thus far I cannot predict or replicate it reliably enough to convince the shop that it exists. No, I don't know that this is a harbinger of trouble, but I've driven junkers too long to write off a strange new noise as "just" a strange new noise.
- On a related note, I discovered that whoever designed Tauruses must have been a contortionist; there is no way a human being can replace a tail light on that thing without physically climbing into the trunk to reach the necessary bolts. Three or four arms also seem to be a requirement.
- I got all my info for the new health care plan, but I'm going to have to change my assigned provider to someone closer to home; I don't consider 15 miles in our traffic to be "local." (I'm still hoping to avoid actually using it for anything but avoiding a tax penalty; even with coverage, I can't afford to be ill.)
- I'm taking a break from my longer writing projects to work on short stories, on the likely-flawed assumption that, being shorter, I can write more of them faster and thus learn what the heck I'm doing more quickly; with luck, I'll have something to show for it by the end of the month.
- Absolutely nothing else worth noting has occurred, which I suppose is a good thing given how 2013 went. I am slightly miffed by the weather, though, which insists on being foggy and cruddy whenever I have days off and beautiful when I have to work. The above sunrise, for instance, was photographed in the parking lot of a post office this morning as I was driving in for overtime. (I'm especially ticked because I got a nice new camera for Xmas - a Sony with a 50X zoom that, amazingly, also seems to take pretty good macros - and I want to try the thing out on something other than the back yard.)
I suppose that's enough procrastination for now.
