Jeff O'Handley, Author

Jeff O'Handley

The Doubting Writer Finds His Voice

Hangover Day


What a lovely sound, eh? That’s about the size of how I feel, though. It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and I feel slumpy and lethargic, hungover without the headache, though through the course of the day I had just two glasses of wine and less than a glass of beer. Turkey and all that other stuff just wore me out, I guess. Holidays are a lot of work.

“That other stuff” yesterday included:

-shoveling the driveway. The Catbird had done this before I got home on Wednesday, but it had a good 4 or 5 inches of snow since she had last done it.
-getting the car back. We live on a hill. We don’t have snow tires on the vehicle yet. Our road had not been plowed in some time, and I lost traction about 30 feet short of my driveway. So I parked down at town hall and had to walk down there, clean off the car and drive it back.
-washing a mountain of dishes. My primary job at holidays is to keep the sink clear so that cooking can flow in an uninterrupted manner.
-Skyping with the Magpie in Japan, who dealt with being away from home on a major holiday for the first time very well, and who also learned that going to a karaoke bar is not the best thing for a slightly sore throat (she sounded a little like Lurch up there).
-Keeping the Table Shark–err, dog–away from the turkey. And out of the garbage can. We were not 100% successful in this venture, though it wasn’t as bad as last year, when she scarfed a whole wing off the platter.
And, of course, eating.

Today I find myself with a day. A day to write. I’m close right now to my NaNo goal of expanding my current project by 50,000 words. I’m about 4,800 words short, so I can certainly do it–but that post-Holiday sluggardliness is tough to battle through.

Of course, I’ve learned the best way to deal with this stuff is mostly just to power through it. And so, it’s off to fix another cup of coffee and then it will be time to dive in. No Black Friday for us.

By the way, I should point out we had a lovely day here. I sound like I’m complaining, but I’m not. We missed the Magpie but enjoyed each other. Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving (if you celebrate) and have a great weekend!

5 Responses

  1. I hope the walk to town hall was too long. Thought that might have prepped your for the eating. lol The whole dog thing makes me smile.

  2. Thanksgiving sounds fun at your house! The Table Shark snatched a whole wing? Sneaky move! Good luck on finishing NaNo – 4800 should be easy over 3 days. 🙂

  3. -Donna–the walk wasn't bad, maybe 1/10 of a mile. At least I was able to offload the remaining groceries and the pre-Thanksgiving pizza at the house before retreating down the hill.

    Lexa–The wing was from 2 years ago. This year, she snagged some bones. Three days later, she's still paying for it (consequently, so am I).

  4. Sounds like you had a great Thanksgiving–with all the little slumps that come with any family holiday. I hope you and the rest of the family handled the Magpie's absence as well as she handled it (and I can relate to the karaoke trap).

    Also, here's me hoping you reached your NaNo goal and powered on through! Hope you've recovered from your weekend. 🙂

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