Rodney M Bliss

d10 Roll For Initiative . . . In My Garage

rodneymbliss

I was tired. I’d been on an outage call all day. And not only that, it was a stupid call. By that I mean that someone made a mistake. They missed a step in the process we had run a week earlier. Now the error was showing up.

And now, I was sitting in my garage. The door was up due to the heat. The thermometer showed 90 degrees. At 40% humidity, it was not uncomfortable. But, I was tired and simply sat and stared.

And I noticed the trim around my garage door was coming loose. Maybe I should fix that?

Instead I just sat and stared.

And I noticed a set of golf clubs I meant to list for sale online. Maybe I should post them?

Instead I just sat and stared.

There were other things. Maybe I should spread that bug poison on my lawn? There was my broken shop light. I could fix that, maybe? Or maybe build a storage shelf for my drills? Oh, and I needed to repost the fish tank and terrarium online. And there was an inside door panel on my Suburban that needed fixed. Oh, and that stroller that showed up in our yard? Yeah, I needed to post in the neighborhood group asking if anyone was missing one. And there were weeds between the patio bricks that needed spraying. And the bugs. I needed to spread that bug poison on the lawn. Oh, wait. I mentioned that one already, didn’t I?

ADHD can be a bear at times.

In the mean time I sat. I sat and stared.

Maybe I should write down all the things I need to do. That would require getting up. Maybe I should put “Make a list” as the first thing on my list?

Finally, I decide I had to do something. I drug myself off the chair I was on and found a shipping receipt. My list looked like this:

I added the times to try to motivate myself. But, once the list was complete I just sat and stared at it. Everything needed done and I didn’t really feel like doing any of them.

Because I couldn’t decide, I let someone else choose for me. I decided to roll a die. There were ten items so I needed a ten-sided die. They exist. They are used in role playing games, especially Dungeons and Dragons. They are referred to as a d10.

I no longer play D&D. I don’t actually own a d10. So, I did the next best thing. I opened my Clock app and chose the Stopwatch option. I let it run for a few seconds and stopped it. It read 4.23 seconds. I looked at my list and found the third item,

– Spray Poison on Walkway

I found the RoundUp and spent a few minutes spraying the stray dandilions and grass that had sprung up between the cement pavers.

I finished and put away the RoundUp. I then rolled again. This time the number was 3.56. I found the sixth item,

– Relist Fish tank/Terrarium

Well, this was a more involved task. I retrieved the fish tanks that had not seen a fish for over a year, and the terrarium that had housed hermit crabs over a year earlier. I cleaned, organized and photgraphed them. I’m sure my estimates were off.

As I worked on staging the pictures for my post, the Mariners game started. I “turned on the radio.” By that I mean I opened the MLB.com app and selected the Mariners game at the Aneheim Angels.

As the innings past I added the golf clubs to my “for sale” posts. And fixed my shop light with some liquid nails. And since I had the Liqued Nails out, used it to secure the weatherstripping.

Many of these items have been on my list for weeks. Some for only a few days. I have four items left, but I’m out of time, and the Mariners lost their game to the Angels.

Tomorrow maybe I’ll try this again. D&D players use a d4 as well.

Stay safe

Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.

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