Tired

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

This is not an announcement that I’m quitting.

I feel the need to say that because I know you, cartoon critters, and you panic easily.

It’s just an announcement that I’m….. tired.

It’s been one damned thing after another for…. ten years? I was never a happy warrior. I’m simply a crazy warrior. I defend the last redoubt tirelessly, but it doesn’t make me happy about it.

And when everything you predict would happen happens, you start getting tired. Honestly, Cassandra didn’t need the kicking around, she probably kept giving it to herself. “How could I have made them listen?”

(Okay not everything but a significant number of important things, both in field and out.)

It occurred to me last night that I’m exhausted. I’m writing short stories in my worlds (well, the ones that are going to have more books soon) and the stories are there, but I’m so…. tired.

This too shall pass. We now have a functional bathroom. And I’m getting ready for Christmas — a weird Christmas with not even a tree (Hey, we found them yesterday, but which box would we set it up ON.) — and I’ll finish the story today and —

The attacks are relentless, so we must be tireless.

But we’re flesh and blood.

I’m going to concentrate on fiction until the first week of January. There will be posts, but they might not be meaty.

Can you send me guest posts? So I can keep things to maybe 3 posts or 4 a week? For the first month of the year while I catch up on fiction and get some stories off my head. So I’m ready when the next hit comes. So I remember who I am.

And I’ll try to learn to be tireless.

99 thoughts on “Tired”

  1. First, you get tired.

    Then, you get un-tired.

    Finally, you retire. [Very Big Crazy Grin]

    Take Care Sarah!

        1. I love my Slime ™ brand air compressor that works off my car power outlet. Whenever my car tells me Low Tire pressure, I can just pull over and check the tires and top off the one(s) that might be low.

  2. “Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon” (John 4:6 NIV). If He was tired, it’s okay for you to be tired too.

    2. Even the Author himself took a break (Gen 2:2-3 NET)

      “By the seventh day God finished the work that he had been doing, and he ceased on the seventh day all the work that he had been doing. 3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it he ceased all the work that he had been doing in creation.”

      He also made provision for rest (Sabbath years and Jubilee years) in the law. If the Author of all things thinks that 1 day in 7 is a necessary minimum then it is hubris for us to think we can slog on forever. Admittedly sometimes we don’t get a choice but we really should be careful.

      And speaking of that be careful of that black dog lurking in the corner, he often takes advantage of exhaustion. Send the kitties to chase him off.

      1. I remember an old story about a minister never took any time off for himself because Satan never took time off, and his ministry was suffering for it. Someone finally asked him if he was supposed to emulate Satan or God?

        1. I’m up for reading more guest posts from you, too, of course! And same for L, R, and C, whoever’s looking over my shoulder at the time (R right now)!

  5. As someone who had the good fortune to be born in the US – and who hasn’t always been grateful for it – there are times I want to apologize to to the ones who were born elsewhere, gave up so much and came here to be Americans.

    A lot of us have been unworthy heirs who sold their birthright for pottage.

    We dropped the ball.

    1. When I was at Mount Rushmore earlier this year, I found myself staring up at Washington’s and Jefferson’s faces and apologizing for dropping the ball.

  9. If you’re tired, take a break. Slow down for a bit. We (or at least I) will be happy with a non-meaty post every day, or even every other day. They don’t all have to be dense and meaningful. Guest posts make good reading, too. Even skipping a few days would be fine (but please, if possible, let us know that you’ll be skipping them so we don’t get worried). Take care of yourself first, and the rest will work itself out.

    Yeah, I’m selfish. I want you to stay healthy and happy enough to finish the stories and series that I like to read, and if that means taking a brief break here then so be it. As the hippies used to say, “Write on!” I think that was it, wasn’t it?

  10. Simple divine instruction:
    Relax and do only what you are supposed to do.
    The two hardest parts, relax and only.

    Remember God RESTED on the 7th day. The Wagon trains that rested traveled faster. As I have gotten to be old and decrepit, knowing what not to do is the most important thing to know. My Christmas prayer for you is that you KNOW what not to do. My you KNOW God’s true PEACE.

  11. Sarah, as long as you let us know you’re well, we’d rather have you rest–really rest–than do that stupid “push through” thing.

    Please, rest is good! We’ve got so many talented people here who are already stepping up.

    Maybe this is the icing on your crowdfunding cake–the tip at the end of the meal.

    Merry Christmas to you, and to the finest Republic (still) on God’s Green Earth. 🙂

    1. yes, absolutely, she needs to actually rest, and take an actual non-working vacation, and to not have to work on her house(s) all the time…

              1. Sometimes it can be more fun being the one that gets to do crazy things than the one that bales the crazy one out. Or so I’ve heard.

  12. Yeah, I can sympathize. I’ve felt similarly for the last couple of years.

    But life doesn’t really care. So I put one foot in front of the other, and keep trying to figure out which way is forward.

  13. I should have sense to clean up the fractally wrong case study soon. I have one or two other items I can put together.

    For the moment, I’m planning to rest and work on my sinuses.

    Take care of yourself, please.

    1. Have emailed. I know you haven’t had an email from this address before.

      I’ve just joined the Hun’s discord, so can probably commo through there if need be.

  14. No, I can understand that. It’s all just trying to keep things working and keeping my head above water with a lot of the crap going on. Everybody can appreciate how hard I’m working at it, I just know how much my little feet are frothing underwater to keep things this way.

    Get some rest, Great Aunt. Shut down a few projects until after the first of the year, hug your husband, your kids, your cat (as possible), and recover a bit.

  16. Sarah, I would only be worried if Spring has sprung without any spring back in your step. You’ve had crazy, exhausting years in the past, but I think this last one takes the prize – and not quite over yet.

    In the world, I’m expecting it to be twenty twenty too – but I don’t think we’ll see twenty twenty threepeat. The crazies are just moving that fast to the gallows.

    The world will get better. The new home will get mostly done (no home, in my experience, ever gets more than mostly there). The tired will get less frequent and not last quite so long.

  17. Pretty sure tireless ain’t gonna happen until somebody invents reliable hovercars.

    On the plus side, they’re making progress, and as soon as they fix the “propellers will julienne any crowd the vehicle goes through” problem, it’ll be golden!

    Rest well!

      1. I was at work and I don’t have a login to WordPress on my Android phone so couldn’t comment/link anything here. 🙂

        1. I can manage on my phone, and even got a vid looked up, but links posted from the phone tend not to work, and I barely had the time to read a few lines into the email, let alone do everything else.
          Twice this week I got “Need help/What do you need to get X out in a day?” and when I asked for someone to do some of the work, got “Sorry, no one is available to go over there?” or just no one showing up.

        2. Um? For a long time the “email address” I used wasn’t even real. (My domain, but hadn’t got around to creating the mailbox.) And only existed because WordPress threw up all over the real one.

  21. From one of your regular lurkers and constant readers …

    I too have been worn out. The family drama over who’s vaccinated and who’s not, the testing 30 minutes before you feel safe to see me, and the endless yammering over the latest covidiocy … have drained me, left me tired ahead of Christmas. And still, it is the season of God’s own true love.

    This helps me. May it help you too. So relax as you can, and take in the blessings of the season. You are loved.

    Thanks so much for all you do. It’s more than enough.

  22. The cold, dark days of January, when the Christmas lights are down and the parties are all done, well, that’s when my spirit finds rest and solace and comfort in the peace and the silence. Be well. Rest.

  23. I wish I were the creative type to write a guest post, but I’m not. I’ll just say for Heaven’s sake don’t run yourself any more ragged. Put up an “I’m alive, here’s a pretty cat picture.” occasionally just so we don’t worry unnecessarily about you.

    The blog is not your job, it’s your overpressure kvetching valve.

    Relax.

  24. Sent in a guest post.

    Is from a new email, but you should be able to flat copy-past the formatting, I used my blog’s Classic Editor to get the formatting marks.

  25. It has indeed been a crazy decade; I suspect we’re all tired.

    OTOH, being out of damns to give sometimes has its advantages. Managed to face down an unhinged jerk in the produce aisle a few days back by simply being too tired to screw around.

    She was, apparently, breaking open boxes and stealing kiwis (by way of smuggling all the good kiwis into one box and leaving the bad behind). No, really.

    At which point when I informed a nearby clerk of this, she went ballistic and laid out a whole raft of threats, finishing up with “I’ll come over there and punch you in the f’ing mouth. What, you don’t really think I can do it?”

    Me (half a foot shorter, but so tired, so done, and so fed up with narcissistic bullies and their constant glee in feeding on other people’s cringes): “No, I don’t really think you can do it.”

    Silence. I took my cart and just kept going.

    *Wry G* I had to put up with that behavior from my own relatives for far too long, I’m not taking it from strangers.

      1. Described her to someone later, was told that’s probably someone who’s a habitual thief, been trespassed from Walmart several times, and has a habit of verbally savaging people while depending on the fact she has a baby in the cart to restrain others from savaging right back.

        In other words, a piece of work. Oy.

  26. Take the time you need! We’ll be around. A HEALTHY you is much better for all of us (and you).

  27. After what you in particular have been through lately any and all rest is well-deserved. Take all the time you need and know me and the kitties are wishing you the best! Hopefully one or more of them will cooperate for a Christmas card if that’ll help!

  28. Rest already. Driving yourself into the ground is not a good thing.

    Good on Dan. I am glad he has put the brakes on you going back and forth to Colorado.

    We will survive without blog posts every day. There is always waves on mewe or FB to let us know you are alive.

  29. Would you accept guest posts from fictional characters? I’m really not good with essays, but I can sometimes achieve the same purpose using dramatic monologues.

  30. Haven’t you seen how much fun your Huns and Hoydens have with your “this is not a post” posts? As long as we have a daily excuse to check in to see if you are alive and well, you don’t need to knock yourself out to provide a wall of text every day. It’s good to take a little time off to sharpen the saw.

  32. Nothing less ultimately productive than trying to do too much at once. Enjoy your rest, enjoy your family and write so that you enjoy it. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Swinging Solstice and whatever else you need to get back up to your speed and your satisfaction.

  33. If you’re tireless, it means you’re driving on the rims. That’s never a good situation to be in.

  34. My hugs added to the bunch. And the reminder that after you rest, after the stuff around the place is done (or even knocked down a bit), just looking at the finished work is very satisfying. Even though our bedroom still has “stuff,” waiting to be put or given away, it’s very nice to look at what we finished.

  35. Go around to all your various social media, tell everybody you’re going offline for a week, unplug the network cable, and take a week’s vacation.

    Write. Edit. Unpack. Sleep until noon. Hang out with Dan. Talk with your parents. Wash the cats. Re-read some old favorites. Get out from under the firehose of too much *stuff* coming down the wire; take a break, get re-centered, and maybe make some harsh decisions about what’s worth your time when you hook back up.

      2. Washing the cats may be fine, especially if they freeze when the water hits. It’s blow-drying them that’s the problem. Believe me.

  36. I know how you’re feeling. Sit down, put your feet up with a small project in your hands to help you not go to pieces, and watch a favorite movie. I’ll be doing that tonight.

        1. Me too! Number one, they’re adorable; number two, one-upping one another with our own kitty antics in the comments will keep the blog hopping for at least a week all by itself.

            1. “The cat did what?!</b” describes pretty much the average Tuesday at the Lane writer shack, ammo dump, and fixit shop. Sometimes I steal stories from what Neighborcat, Othercat, Blacknastycat, and Doofus get up to. Can’t do that too often, though. Fiction suffers under the handicap of having to make sense, where real life does not.

      2. One of my favorite posts ever is the one from several years ago about the feline residents’ battles over Cat Tentistan, the world’s smallest and most fiercely independent country. I think that might have been the post that convinced me to stick around. Cat posts? Yes please.

  37. Just relax and enjoy Christmas and New Year’s! We just want you relaxed and healthy. Merry Christmas!

  39. If you won’t emulate G-d’s example and give yourself a break every seven days because He did, would you like to hear about Heil Lobster’s advice?

    Treat yourself like someone you love, whose care you are responsible for!

    Or, if you must listen to adversaries instead, there’s always the six-fingered man, Count Rogan. “Get some rest! If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything!”

  40. If you forget who you are, just let us know. There are many people here that will remind you.

  41. I wish you all the blessings of a Merry Christmas.
    So much has happened, for good or bad that I just felt you all deserved a gift, So I offer to you all this small token: A Christmas Joke. (Not a joke about Christmas)

    Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had finished their business in LA and were taking their private jet back to New York.
    Shortly after takeoff, as the wheels went up a goose suddenly flew up and wham! When right into the left engine.
    The engine exploded into flames and the jet sagged and shuddered under the blow.
    Mick grabbed the armrests in a grip of death.
    Keith looked at his nails.
    The captain cursed and the copilot prayed. The jet staggered in a circle as they desperately tried to turn back to the airport.
    The intercom crackled: “Passengers assume crash positions!”
    Mick pulled the cushion from under the seat and buried his face in it, sobbing.
    Keith yawned. He put his seat back and closed his eyes, settling in for a nap.
    Through heroics unmentioned, the Captain was able to recover the ship and brought it in for a landing.
    As the plane raced down the runway towards its parking space, Mick looked over at Keith and glared: “bloody Hell! Weren’t you scared???”
    Keith opened one eye and regarded his friend; “Oh, Mick, you Nancy boy! That’s so absurd!
    Everyone knows you can’t kill two Stones with one bird!

    1. OK, that deserves a Carp, but not just hurled at you. That post deserves a perfectly broiled and seasoned Carp dinner.

  42. I agree with Dorothy; “If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything!” Seriously, I expect I’m not alone in urging you to relax a bit. Kick back, enjoy the holidays. Unpack as you need. Have a very Happy Christmas and look forward to an even happier New Year!

  43. Via the morning open thread on Insty today-someone came up with this and it is absolutely brilliant:

    Merry Christmas to all

  45. Take care of yourself, Sarah, and just have a Merry Christmas. Maybe you can get back to us next year to tell us all about it!

    I’d be happy to do a guest post, but I have no idea whatsoever what I’d do it about!

  47. Gaudete! Christus natus est ex Maria Virgine. Gaudete!

    Ergo nostra contio, Psallat iam in lustro; Benedicat Domino: Salus Regi nostro.

    A blessed Christmas to all.

  48. Oh, my. Nearly midnight already; I must get to bed quite soon. Although my children are still up, but I suppose that Santa will at least fill MY stocking.

    For those who drop by tomorrow, and especially our lovely (but cantankerous) hostess – I wish you a very merry Christmas, and a peaceful Boxing Day for relaxation after the hustle and bustle.

  49. Oh, man, you guys shoulda been there. Some lady arrives at 4:30 PM on Christmas Eve (when we closed at 5 PM), demanding eight pizzas. Claiming that we had said it was okay. And that she didn’t have to order ahead or anything like that.

    And she was doing this for charity, so it should be totally okay.

    I ended up managing six pizzas, because we just so happened to have some blank dough sheets laid out, but the whole thing was so ridiculous that even the Karen in question apologized.

    Meanwhile, since I was working the whole cafe alone, we had to have someone come over and help with the register, people’s food was getting extra-crispy because the oven was full of pans, we had to redo somebody’s pretzel like three or four times…. Yeah.

    Most Christmas Eves are very quiet, and there’s usually only one or two last minute customers. Not this year. Sheesh, we got inundated. (Probably because most eateries and stores were closing early on Christmas Eve.)

    To be fair, up until the last minute Karens, we had a busy but fairly nice crowd. And the same for most of the other days.

    We did have another Karen the day before who was memorable. Calls to order a pizza. We don’t have that flavor, we have only three pizzas left. She chooses a flavor we have left. We cook the pizza right away. It turns out that her daughter is picking it up, and Mom didn’t tell her, and she doesn’t have the money in her account when she tries to pick it up. We put the pizza away and keep it warm. A half hour later, she’s back with money. She pays, then opens up the picture and takes a picture and sends it to Karen. Karen isn’t happy. Daughter sits there with the pizza box open on the counter for about ten minutes, discussing this with Karen, and finally Karen demands to tell me how disappointed she was and wants to talk to managers. I have to tell her that the managers are gone for the day, and what their names are.

    Anyway, during all this time, of course we had sold the other remaining pizzas before Karen’s daughter even showed up the first time, and we were about to close.

    Honestly, I wasn’t even upset, because that was a Karen that I saw coming a mile away. Karens do the most damage through surprise.

    Anyhoo, I slept in today after 11 PM/Midnight Mass last night. I’m pretty exhausted, so it’s lucky that dinner isn’t for a couple more hours. Bleh.

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