Day 25, Level 1: Stair rail, fish & chips, Benee
Well I saw the sunrise this morning over the Omaha horizon out east! It was pretty lovely too.
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| Omaha Sunrise, 7:39am |
The stair rail guy was due at 8am. I was sure he'd be early so I was up at crack of dawn in preparation. He arrived at 7:45am - I had the coffee machine ready to go and offered him one, but he declined, he'd already had one.
What a stunning morning it was. But brrrrrrrr chilly.
He set straight to work - and so did I! I'm not usually at work on my computer at that early hour. Checking emails, catching headlines or something - yes. But not actually full-on at work with brain engaged! But today ... yes I was full steam ahead at an ingloriously early hour.
So while Joss worked on putting our stair rail into position, I worked on getting my biz back-end stuff a bit more shipshape. Logos, website, biz cards - it's all painstaking stuff - and spending the time and effort to get it right is vital. Which, I'm pleased to say, I think mine now is, after a lot of work and angst and changes and tweaks.
Even though I'm creative, and enjoy design stuff, I struggle a bit with straight design/logo work to rules - it's all a bit too formulaic for my chaotic self. I so value input and feedback from those who have that discipline.
So, although I kind of prefer to prance around outside the rules (while still being aware of the fine line, so to speak), I seek advice - and what's more, I take it. And am never offended.
I've had some valuable guidance today. I listened to various suggestions, and I made changes. I am truly not offended by good constructive feedback and advice - but I know that many people (probably most people) absolutely are offended.
Really, how can you improve something that's not up to scratch if you don't take feedback and continue to believe it's okay when it's not really hitting the mark?
Reality - you can't improve if you don't ask for feedback in the first place. I always seek it. There are always tweaks to be done. And it's always for the best. If people take the time to give constructive feedback - they actually care about you. Simple as that.
Joss left at 3pm.
Who knew putting up a stair rail could take so long but it took 7 hours! Joss is an expert in the business and barely came up for air. I offered him coffee three times and he refused each time - too busy at work. On the fourth time I insisted, and gave him a berry pastry to boot. He was very grateful.
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| The Stair Rail! |
It's bizarre what joy a stair rail can bring - it's the final piece of building work we needed completed before we can get full compliance. It finished the stairwell off nicely, and it will be a godsend for me and my dicky knee. We don't have stairs at home so when I get to Omaha and have to climb up and down stairs, particularly upon arrival or departure, with bags of stuff, my knee feels it. The rail will help me haul myself up to first floor level and gently lower myself to ground floor level much more easily! Yay.
It was actually quite nice to have an earlier than usual start this morning - but it was freezing until the sun rose high enough to warm things up. And I bet Joss, nice as he was, won't still be up at 1am as I will be! Everyone's patterns are different.
As I've mentioned before - early risers can often frown upon and cannot fathom those who don't get up at dawn - but early risers are generally in bed at a civilised, if not disturbingly early hour.
Those who go to bed in the wee small hours of the next day (me!) never remonstrate on those who get up early, just a few hours later.
I'm sure the former will always get the most sleep. I can say that, even if I get to bed at 3am (not that uncommon), sleeping beyond 8am is not very feasible unless you're in a cave!
It all depends on preference, work, lifestyle - and a fair amount of mindset. But I rarely get tired before midnight so going to bed before that is kind of a waste of time.
Very occasionally, about twice or three times a year, I will collapse into bed at 7pm or even earlier, and sleep for 12+ hours straight. That's my battery charging time! Otherwise, mostly 5 hours sleep. But it's good quality sleep - not tossing and turning or reading and rueing or huffing and puffing and wishing I could go to sleep. I am actually asleep!
I can say I've never suffered from insomnia which is a blessing.
So back to the day ... I worked until 5:50pm, watched the end of The Chase (a single player beat The Governess, that's quite something!) and a bit of the News, and then decided I'd worked far too hard to cook for one. Much as I tried to convince myself that I could whip up an easy dinner for myself (and there was no reason I couldn't), I had a strong feeling that I needed to zip down to the Golf Club for their Friday night Fish & Chips. I was just in trackies and sweatshirt, no make-up etc. But who cares - I took heed of the calling and I went.
Got there and ordered my takeaways. It was reasonably full but I didn't know anyone. But then spotted someone I knew and had a catch up over a wine while I waited for my food. And then along came a woman who happens to be across just about every sphere of the travel and tourism industry in NZ (and more) over many years! We had a brief chat - I outlined my biz to her, and she was enthusiastic and insightful. We made a pact to catch up for coffee. I will follow that up!
Sometimes it pays to listen to your gut - even if it really is just your gut speaking (I felt like fish and chips!) It can lead to great connections!
I must report that the F&C (gurnard, an underrated fish) was top notch, absolutely delicious. And I told them so on Facebook (newish caterers really trying to make a go of things in a difficult hospitality environment).
Yes, I could have cooked something at home - but then I would never have met Nicola!
Listen to the gut!
SHARE-NOTE OF THE DAY:
Music ...
Well, I have to say I'm loving Benee's "Supalonely" song - it's getting aired around the world including on Ellen and The Tonight Show and whatnot. Good job - it's a supa song, love it. She cleaned up at the Vodafone NZ Music Awards last year - making a bit of a dick of herself on the night with her "loose" speeches (OMG what was she on!?!?)
Thing is, she was on the stage so many times it was probably all a bit bizarre for her.
Yes, she's got some maturing to do - but boy does she have musical charisma and talent.
"Supalonely" is a great song.
How do you make the line "mm, ah, yeah" sound so good and more-ish!?
I think Benee is on the road to supagreat things. She's only 20.
People are touting her as Billie Eilish meets Dua Lipa - and whilst I can totally see why, I actually think Benee stands fully on her own. She's very talented. I'll be watching her closely into the future.
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| Benee |
I've posted before about the song "Lemon to my Lime" by The Grogans.
And Mako Road "The Sun Comes Up".
Both of these bands/songs I discovered through Michael during lockdown.
The videos are the epitome of boys having fun. And even though I'm a thousand per cent glad I'm female, and my generation, these videos makes me want to try out being a male youth in this era!!
So watchable. Good fun, good vibe, great music.
And back to the female spectrum - Tash Sultana is great. Aussie singer/songwriter .
Love her "Jungle" bedroom recording. Reminds me of youth and the good things that uplift in the moment when you're mid 20s.
NB: Posting this at 1:20am Sat 4th July NZ time.
Interestingly, for several days now, Blogger has not automatically flicked over to next day as it has usually done. It seems they've recognised (after 100+ days of posting without missing a day) that most of my posts are done after midnight but relate to the previous day and I have to manually change it.
The last week or so, I haven't had to do that! Is that good? Or spying!?!?
Whatever it is, it really is good night from me.
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