Tomorrow Is Another Day

Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to go right?

We're under a low, thick layer of overcast today and it's been raining steadily. The land is at its least attractive—the farm fields have been harvested and the stubble's been plowed under, the leaves on the trees are gone, and the prevailing colors of the wet land are a green that looks like a dark gray, a brown that looks like a dark gray, and dark gray. Everything's gone wrong for me so far. Played some pool this morning and missed so many easy shots I made myself mad. Took a nap, had a nightmare. (A napmare?!) Read some more pages in my current book, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer, recommended in that GQ list I mentioned a couple of days ago, and it did nothing but impart a diffuse and dreadful agitation about the evil in the world. (I'm kicking that one to the curb. Life's too short and the book's too long.) Went to a restaurant and bought a meal, and it gave me Montezuma's revenge. Bought something on sale at half price, and got charged double. Drove slowly all the way home. Just in case.

I'm laying low for the rest of today. Not gonna say anything, drive anywhere, buy anything, invest in anything, or get in any arguments. Not going to work on my book. Not going to write a post. Not going to call a friend. Not going to open any mail, or even have anything more to eat. I'm just going to hunker down, stay in, try to keep warm, do nothing, and get through to bedtime with as little as possible happening. Even the moon is setting early tonight.

I'll try again in the morning.

Tomorrow's a new day!

Mike

Featured Comments from:

Nigli: "Actually yes. I went out on my cyclocross bike today, in a brisk 2°C. After falling off for the umpteenth time, looking at the 5' long, 2" thick stick that had thrown itself into my front wheel, I did wonder what the heck I was doing. Somewhat loudly and colourfully."

John Hunter: "Well, Mike, It's funny you should mention it today, because I'm having that kind of day, too. The mood just ain't right. The weather is cold, wet and dark. I made a special trip down to Cobourg just to buy something that turned out to be out of stock. I got called away to help with something silly that I really didn't want to do, in the rain. The supper that I worked so hard on, turned into something else that I didn't have the appetite for. ('Bit of a cock-up on the catering front.') Now I'm hunkering down,too, not wanting any more goofy stuff to happen before bed. Putting my jammies on, maybe reading a bit...I feel for you, man. Yup, tomorrow's a new day. The wood stove is making me feel cosy, and I'll be ready to fall asleep soon. Sweet dreams, my friend."

darlene: "This morning I packed up my van for a few days at St. George Island. Got up early to prep the food, clothing, and cameras. Set up the kitties' water and food feeders. I am looking forward to shooting some 4x5 B&W pinholes of the Gulf of Mexico waves and dunes with the digital. All set to go, and !@#$, the van won't start. Ugh! I got a charged-up battery booster jumper thingy, hooked it up, and got a red light; it will not start. ☹ I called my friend to tell her I won’t be showing up and then canceled my campsite; I will get the van serviced tomorrow. I bought it in February 2018, so I am sure it needs a new battery. I read four years was the expected life of a car battery under normal conditions. I do not drive the van that much ( < 18k miles to date), mostly camping/photography trips. After I showed back up and took their feeders away, the kitties looked confused. I was disappointed but glad it broke down at home. Better luck next time to us both, although your story has a lot of interesting twists and turns, whereas mine is dead in the garage."

Kirk: "Must be in the air. I was in the studio packing for a shoot tomorrow when I glanced at my calendar and realized that the job was really scheduled for the 30th, not the 28th. I'd already declined an invitation for something fun tomorrow. I was...deflated. I spent the rest of a sunny day sitting inside staring at the computer and wondering if I'd already crossed over into...general mental decline. This day just had a bad vibe all the way around. And it wasn't any better for being here instead of there. Some days just conspire to suck.

"Tomorrow might be better. I'm hoping for it. Funny that a bad day can cover so much geography."

Peter Wright: "By the time I got to the end of the main paragraph, I was laughing out loud! What a litany of woe! But nothing too serious, and I am glad of that. We get very similar weather here in Southern Ontario, to you in NY state, but if I was feeling a bit down in any way, your post cheered me up and made it a better day! Thanks!"

Mike replies: You're welcome. By the bye, things got worse yesterday despite my best efforts. By accident, I hit the wrong @#$! button on the thermostat, and now I cannot change the temperature in the house. The whole #$% @^%& thing's in Portuguese now. I've spent some time on Amazon this morning furiously looking up "simple thermostats." Which probably won't actually help—I'll just end up calling the plumber (he does HVAC) and asking him how to reset the thermostat. He'll act like it's elementary and something I should have been able to figure out myself, on account of they're all in cahoots. But then he'll tell me. And then I'll be able to take off my outdoor jacket while typing.

Grant: "I'm sure the HVAC guy has fixed your thermostat by now. Just in case he needs time to brush up on his Portuguese first, a quick Google search provides this: 'Common methods for resetting a thermostat include installing the battery backward for five seconds, pushing a recessed reset button with a pin or paper clip, or shutting off the breaker to the thermostat for 30 seconds.'"

Mark: "It was a great day! Afterglow from the U of M vs. OSU game...."

Mike replies: Funny article about that, by an OSU fan, in the WSJ.

Comments

[Dan Khong]

On days like what you have described, Butters is still there for you.

[Kye Wood]

I would have labelled your post "Pep Talk". Or waited a day. Then post your experience on the subsequent day, at the end of todays post.

Only an unmet expectation can make you unhappy.

Till tomorrow.

[Jeff]

You wrote: “Not going to write a post.” But you just did.

[Rob Campbell]

You have just described my perfect photographic day! So much more interesting than sunshine.

Deborah Turbeville did an interesting black/white feature for the male Vogue, I think it was, called Rainy Day People. Love it. So much atmosphere. What would sunshine give unless shooting commercial travel/girlie stuff? Sunshine’s the stuff of bland!

[Tom Burke]

I was going to mention biorhythms; but then I started wondering “whatever happened to biorhythms?”, and duly did some research (i.e. I read an article in Wikipedia). Turns out that the theory of biorhythms is now regarded as pseudoscientific because numerous well-constructed studies have found no correlation between human performance and supposed biorhythms, other than coincidence. Sorry, Mike; you can’t blame biorhythms for your bad day.

[See? Now ANOTHER thing has gone wrong!!:-D --Mike]

[Dennis Mook]

Mike, tomorrow has a 50/50 chance of being a better day. Not bad odds, if you ask me. Keep smiling!

[robert mckeen]

I'll try again in the morning.Tomorrow's a new day!
History is written by the winners.Go and enjoy it.

[K4kafka]

With your new commitment to B&W,I would have thought gray should be your “thing” now days. Embrace the monochromatic…

[John Camp]

Biorhythms are pseudoscience, but chronobiology isn't. That's where your problem was.

[Stan B.]

Long as you're not lying prone due to a medical condition- you're ahead of the game.

[John]

Today was a perfect day to be a lousy day, what with the gray weather and rain and all.

[Dave]

Mike, the Ohio State players know how you feel.

[Anton Wilhelm Stolzing]

"No hour of life is wasted that is spent in the saddle."
(Winston Churchill)
I made 92,8 kilometers on bicycle in the three days from Friday till Sunday.
That is not a lot, but heck, it is late November - the days were not totally wasted.

[Dogman]

Cripes! Now I feel bad 'cause I had a pretty good day yesterday. Hope things improve, Mike.

[hugh crawford]

You know the iPhone will translate anything you point it at, right?
Gosh that video is funny, Kodak makes cameras? How old is that?

[The YouTube short is a lip-sync. The original by Kathleen Madigan dates from the '90s maybe? Perhaps the 2000s. --Mike]

[Peter Komar]

It’s probably a low voltage fuse in your furnace unit. Thermostats usually run under 5 volts max. Either way a heating person is needed, YIKES you are having a bad run of luck.

[hugh crawford]

You want real confusion?
https://www.whirlpool.com/blog/kitchen/what-is-sabbath-mode.html#:~:text=Sabbath%20Mode%20allows%20people%20to,disabled%20to%20accommodate%20these%20needs.

[Is that a real thing, or a satire?

The Mennonites and Amish have certain parallels. Certain things that are allowed with limitations. One I recall is a church that allowed its members to have one electrical outlet, but it had to be on a pole in the yard. --Mike]

[darlene]

My van was up and running by 1 pm this afternoon. I used a local service that came to my home, checked out the system (the alternator checked out as “excellent”), and the battery was replaced with a new one with a 36-month replacement warranty and a total manufacturer’s warranty of six years. The repair guy was super professional with a pleasant demeanor. He showed up with the same model and year vehicle as my van. I told him I was not happy with my local dealer for service, and he acknowledged it is well-known as not a great dealership. He told me where they take their fleet for service, and they are happy with them so I will try them out for my next service. Overall, an excellent repair experience. Living in a small college town has its perks as long as I live miles away from the college campuses.

Mike, I replaced my home’s thermostat last year with a Google Nest. It was not hard, as I took a picture with my phone of the wiring (my system is a heat pump/AC) before installation. I am guessing the thermostat stopped working from age, and before I purchased a new one, I looked on my county’s utilities page to see if they had any rebates for thermostats, and they did. The Nest was listed, so after I purchased and installed it, the county reimbursed me 100%. It is much better than what was there prior, as I have it set to ECO, and my electric bill went down by about 15-20%. My last name is Portuguese (maiden name), but I cannot help you with the translation; Google is your friend.

[James]

For the past day and a half (since reading this post) I can't get a song out of my head. It's by Elvis from, I think, GI Blues, so, 1960-ish.
It may be called 'Didj'ever' or some such (for 'did you ever?')

"You're on a Sunday picnic and then it starts to pour,
Run thru poison ivy, scratch until you are sore,
Ants come dancing and carry off the bread,
'j'ever get one of those days when you should have stayed in bed?"

That's as best as I can recall it.

[Here ya go:]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnyZXzzUAr4

--Mike]

[Rob Spring]

Wow, what was in the air Sunday? I packed up my Honda CRV with trash and recycling. I had a full load so I opened the rear passenger door to put the seats down but failed to close the door as I went around to the back of the car to push the load forward. I then got in the drivers seat and backed up until the rear passenger door engaged with the side of the garage door putting a crimp in the door and damaging the door hinge. You may ask why I did not see the door in my rear view mirror as I backed up. Well, the CRV has a rear view camera that I use instead. It has a great field of view, but only from the rear of the car. So much for the latest technology. There goes my new Nikon Z7ii and your commission from B&H.

[David L.]

Cloudy and cold weather goes with my disaster of accidentally deleting all the 8328 files in my Lightroom catalog, including deleting them in the hard drive :( I spent much time with Adobe today. Attn: LR Classic users, when LR does a Remove Photos on Disk, MacOS 12.6 does not recognize it properly and there is not a “Put Back” option when right clicking files in the Trash. Adobe needs to fix this nightmare.

[David Brown]

Napmares are the worst!

[Stephen Scharf]

At least it rains where you live. Be thankful for that. It was an incredibly beautiful day today in Northern California, and the late autumn light was gorgeous.

I would have preferred that it rained.