An Exasperating Monday

Exasperated in three areas, so I don’t know which one to start writing about.

Perhaps a chronological approach may be best:

I’ve been formatting a book manuscript for a friend who added stuff to the ms and making structural changes. Each time I thought the work near finished, here she comes with another eight or ten pages of text, or a new additional batch of photos.

Monday I thought my friend was coming over to make the final corrections herself. But some family crisis intervened and she told me to present the final draft myself.

This necessitated an abrupt restructuring of my day.

I thought the ms ready to go to the printers for a proof copy but I could not change it into a pdf. On re-examining the ms I discovered that the last 15 or 20 photographs had been processed by a commercial firm before I scanned them into my computer.

I had blithely inserted them into the book text.

Turns out each photo proved large enough to paper a highway bill board!

I had to cut each one out of the text, resize it, then re-insert the smaller version which changed the pagination, the headers, the footers, the section breaks…

Like the lines on an old clipper ship, when you change the tension on one rope, you must change the tension on them all.

My computer ran out of virtually memory.

It crashed utterly. Not even the on/off button worked.

I had to unplug it from the wall while the screen was lit up — something I understand you’re never supposed to do because you could lose everything on the hard drive. By that time, I didn’t care if I did — but I didn’t…. And on and on and on… then I found the printer has changed the size perimeters for the book covers and they will have to be re-done from scratch…Again…

On some future Monday.

They say tribulation is good for your soul.

They lie like dogs!

When Ginny came home, her day had been a mirror image of mine. Only hers involved more people.

(I wrote several long paragraphs about this but I’m deleting them. I doubt if anyone at her office reads my blog, but why stir the crock?) .… If it had been me, I’d have shredded the work I’d already done on it and let the guy in Clearwater figure out the mess.

Ginny, of course, tried to help and do what is best for all concerned.

Ginny is much more of a Christian than I am.

Finally, right at supper time the phone rang. Our daughter, Jennifer, and Pat are splitting up. Jennifer is moving out…

Tonight.

— with the five dogs.

She did not even know where she’d be sleeping tonight.

Apparently a gun is involved in the split.

This has been on the horizon since before last Christmas but it’s hard to guess which way the wind is blowing in these things.

A lot of pain, anger and anguish.

Sometimes these things blow over — or blow up.

As the situation comes to a head, the lives of a lot of people look to be disrupted.

Ginny and I are not sure what our role should be — if any.

Five, yapping, undisciplined, noisy, neurotic little dogs.

OK, John Cowart, your blog heading says you’re a Christian “looking for spiritual realities in day to day living”.

Let’s see how the Lord and you handle this crock.

Or not.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, what did you think of the play?