Thursday, June 25, 2020

Sleepy

It's Thursday afternoon and I'm sleepy. There is work to be done but I'd rather be sleeping. I have a reminder pop up for me to take care of something but I've put it to snooze for another hour. I'm back after taking off 4 work days and I'm having a hard time getting back into work mode. It's like my brain is stuck on relax mode. I have an hour and a half left for the day but I'm not sure I can make it past the finish line today. I'll be on my own tomorrow. Most of my team is taking the day off. It should be fine, just need to kick myself into gear. I think the heat, my sunburn, planetary alignment are all working against me today. Ha! 


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2020 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Honeydew List and Relaxing Rewards

I spent the past weekend painting my apartment. A light green color called Heart of Palm on the main wall and a light yellow on the adjacent wall. I absolutely love the look of it. I've been spending so much time staring at these walls, working from home, that after a year of living in this place...I had to do something to spruce it up. I love it! I can scratch out two items off my to-do list. Yay!


Then on Monday I spent the day at the beach with my sister and my niece. There was hardly anyone there...which helped with the social distancing. Unfortunately, I have been far too pale for far too long to have spent so many hours at the beach. My shoulders are crispy. But it was lovely to be near the water, listening to the waves, feeling the cool wind while reading and relaxing.  
That's all I have for now. 
Peace,
Lily

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2020 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Sunday, June 14, 2020

OMG! It's been too long...

First thing....my latest song obsession GHOST by Kylie Rothfield, produced by Ester Dean. Love Kylie Rothfield's tone, love the lyrics, love this song. It has so much ache and pain that I can't stop listening to it over and over again. You need to put the close captions on because the words are gorgeous. Before I even put it up on this blog, it was making me well up. So good!!  

Gosh, it's been 6 month since I last wrote on this blog. Nothing much has been going on. Pandemic, protests, looting, fires, working from home...you know, same old, same old. Not! 

This blog was always supposed to be about the creative work, my process and even a bit of whinging. However, my day job has basically hijacked my brain for the past year and a half. That's the very short answer to the very complicated question of, "where have you been hiding?" 

I've been working and reading. That's a fair assessment of the past six months.  I've been binge reading on books because I've been out of pace with my writing. I'd rather navel gaze than pick a pen up to write. My sister Ces is (right now) writing a story that she's so excited about that she's trying to finish it, so she can bring over a draft for me to read. Seriously?!  Ugh, I have no excuses. * head hung low in proverbial shame * 

My friend J gave me a couple of cheesy romance novels to read, very niche, very quirky...I won't even bother with the title but the writer in me was appalled at the simple story. The writer's inability to keep to the story arc. The climax of the story was 10 pages from the end of the book. Terrible! So disappointing and formulaic. I won't get back the couple of hours that this 200 page novel took from me. I'm sure you're asking, "well why didn't you just stop reading after the first 10 pages?" The quirkiness of the language kept me engaged and it had some funny literary references that made me laugh out loud. I admit it, I'm a literary geek and once I'm engaged in some way, I need to see it to the end. 

I digress, my point is that reading this book reminds me I am quite capable of writing my own novel/play/story. Seriously!!!  I can't stop saying that word...even in my own head. 

Next week, I'm taking a couple of days off just to give myself a break from work. I am going to spend those three extra days painting my living room (FINALLY!!!) Can't wait. I love painting, it takes me out of my head and the task itself is almost meditative. I've already taken all the books and DVDs out of the bookshelf and piled them on my dining table. If I can tackle moving the furniture out of the way, then painting on my own won't be quite so overwhelming. I was going to reach out to a friend to see if she has time to help but I have a hard time asking for help. There is a part of me that thinks..."I can do this on my own" and only when I'm in my 6th hour of trying to paint edges will I kick myself for not having reached out to friends or family. Stubborn. Like Mule <said in a Russian accent>  The other part is that it's a small space and once I move furniture, there won't be much room to navigate. Better to do it on my own so no one gets hurt.  Ha!

The last bit that I wanted to share is that I tried out for a playwriting residency with a NYC theater. I received my rejection letter at the beginning of this month. What a bummer! My creative life has taken a dramatic turn AWAY from where I had hoped to have been with produced and published work. Does that last sentence even make sense?  I've read it several times and I still don't know if it's grammatically correct. I'm losing my touch. Where is my Modern English Usage book?  Oh, that's right at the bottom of a pile on my dining room table.

That's all I for today. I don't know if I'm going to keep this blog going but at least for today, just one more entry into the ether.  

-Lily


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2020 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.