The Michael Swayne Story V: King of his Castle

I arrived at work at 9am this morning. Misty was already there when I arrived. She had been there since seven in the morning. She didn't expect to see me, so she had practically finished the paper when I showed up. After the run down of what she had done, I was left to complete it. I finished what was left and made the corrections that needed to be made. It took a little longer than I had hoped, but it was finished before the deadline, and that is all that matters.

One of the reasons it took longer to finish was because I had to stop and work on the Father's Day flyer we will distributing along with the newspapers tomorrow. My job was to print them out. It may not seem like much, but it was only the second time I worked with the fancy new printer. I had to change toner cartridges three times, and I managed to not get any on my hands this time. The flyer turned out great. I also worked on a new menu we had in the tray. My job for it was small compared to the other menus I have done. All I had to do was get a picture of a farmhouse and put it on the final product. I have better eyesight than Misty, and one of the few things I am good at on PhotoShop is cropping images (that, and changing the colors of things). So I had to crop the farmhouse from the rest of the picture. And that was it for extra work.

The big news of the workday is that I proved to the others that I deserve more office time. And so, I am now working in the office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays specifically for the newspaper. The paper looked great, and I showed them that my ad designing skills have improved in the last two months. I am so glad. I really didn't want to have to look for work elsewhere.

Anyway, my work in the office is now more of a administrative role. Along with my usual composing and editing, I have to also keep the sales staff up to date with the paper's progress. I have to make sure they sell enough ads to fund the newspaper. Basically, I have to cheer them on when they do well, and breathe down their necks when they aren't pulling their weight.

My route hasn't been affected. And why would it? After all, I have been delivering for nearly seven years. They will find it difficult to get a replacement for me. And yes, I technically still earn more money delivering the paper than making it. But if all goes well, I can negotiate for that raise I was told I'd be getting back in January.

The current work schedule is in effect until August. That's when Misty goes back to school. At which point, I will most likely work every day of the work week. Since I need two days to build the newspaper, the other three days could be spent making the specialty products. That's enough about work.

The Gaming King election ends in two days (and about 17 hours). I am still in 8th Place. 8 is the best number after all. The Chinese actually pay the phone companies to get as many 8's in their phone number as possible. And it seems that 8 is to be my lucky number as well.

I would put more in this entry, but it so hot right now. Not outside though. It's hot here in the house. It is now 87° Fahrenheit (30° Celsius), down from 90° (32° Celsius). I asked my brother if we could turn the air conditioning on in the house, but he wouldn't agree to it. At least I have the courtesy to ask for a house agreement before I go and do something that affects the whole house. So that's why I am sweating so much as I type this.

I wish this storm that is supposed to bring some possible severe weather would hurry up and get here. Not just because I don't want to be out in it when I am delivering tomorrow, but because it would cool the house down.

I had a really good dream this morning. It was like I was watching a show instead of being in the dream. What is great is that I managed to burn it into my memory and think about it all day today. I plan expanding on this dream and making into a story. I still haven't written what the dream was about, but I have remembered every detail all day; so I think I can hold onto the thought for a little longer.

Well, I still have to get a shower and get ready for bed. Tomorrow I will be delivering newspapers, as long as both I and the newspapers don't get blown away in this big scary storm we're supposed to get.

That's all for now. I hope to see you around the forums, and until then...

Later!

Michael

PS, I didn't mention my submission for the second round of the GFX tournament in this entry because I didn't do anything for it today. I didn't have time at work to sketch out an idea, and then it was so hot when I got home that my computer was getting hot just uploading the daily video to my YouTube channel. I have the majority of tomorrow and Friday to do it.