9.26.21
“Frustration Blog”
C. Derick Miller – Head Writer
Your Stories on Video
Have you ever been so frustrated that it prevents you from being creative? A frustration that’s so strong it stops you from being able to make complete sentences or speak coherently? It’s happened to me a lot during my time as a professional writer and it’s happening today. I’ll try my best, though.
Like…why in the heck does Microsoft Word default to a Calibri font at an eleven? No one uses that font or that size, do they? Everything I’ve ever sent to a publisher has specifically requested Times New Roman at a twelve! Obviously, that’s one of the most requested, more normal fonts and sizes, right? Is it not? Then why do so many professionals request your manuscripts and news stories that way? Is there a way to set up Microsoft Word to where it will give you what you want rather than what “they” want? Inquiring minds want to know and they want to know now!
You see? My wife just exclaimed aloud from downstairs that she believed we purchased the from shade of hair dye for her to become a flaming red head before she begins her new job. I sooooooooooo can’t wait to see how beautiful she’ll be with a head full of red hair but the powers that be forced our hands down the wrong aisle or the wrong shelf in the hair store. And, of course, what time does the store close? Six PM. What time is it now? 5:16! Of course, it’s 5:16! We’ve been home for over and hour and we just now realized it’s the wrong blasted color. Thus is the way of things, right? Always a day late and a dollar short!
Oh, it gets even better, my friends! For Christmas, one of my friends gifted me a ton of stickers from The Shining and I totally love them! I didn’t want to just shove them into a drawer where they would’ve been forgotten for all time and either thrown away or sold at a garage sale upon their rediscovery, but my guitar case is already covered in stickers. No problem, right? Absolutely not! (Can you hear the frustration building as you read this? I truly hope so because that’s what I’m going for!) I’m an artist, so I did what any artist would do with something they love. I turned them into an art piece by having my wife (who has an art degree) stick them randomly on the face of a ten dollar mirror I snagged from Target. Problem? Of course, there is! The mirror had no hanging device! No D rings, no tooth bar, nothing!
So, after my wife figured out what they were called, we picked up a “mirror hanging kit”. Perfect! I couldn’t wait to see what this impromptu art piece was going to look like on our bedroom wall among all of our other art pieces. Well, it appears as though the grand reveal will have to wait because the mirror hanging kit is too shallow to hang the mirror frame. Next problem at hand? The mirror frame is made of plastic, and we are unable to attach a D ring or any other type of hanging hardware without cracking the plastic! I only discover this after I’ve already put a quarter of an inch hole in my wall for the weak anchor that the kit provided. Want to know the best part about that? They’re not strong enough to go into the wall! You guessed it! They’re flexible and fragile! Now, even though my back is turned the other way, I can feel that hole in the wall looking at me as though it were something that lived and breathed. It’s taunting me, I just know it!
In the end, I guess the company who manufactured the mirror wants me to use some kind of double-sided adhesive to attach it too the wall. I mean, the mirror isn’t really all that heavy but, in the great land of North Texas, the weather changes teams from one minute to the next. Next thing you know, they’ll be a buildup of humidity in our home, the adhesive will fail, and I will have a floor covered in broken glass when the sticky part of the strip gives way! Also, I’ll either have some noticeable chunks taken out of the wall from the other side of the adhesive strip or four useless, now one sided, adhesive strips uglying up my bedroom wall! I have half a mind to just take the mirror and throw it in the garbage to be done with it, but my friend provided me with this gift as a gesture of love. I’d never do that…or would I?
What to do…
What to do…
I can promise you fine folks that this is not my typical Sunday, nor did I intend it to be when I started it. I woke up in the arms of a beautiful woman who I love dearly. I crept out of bed, slowly, easily so I wouldn’t wake her and cycled fifteen miles in the cool, morning breeze. When I got home, I was met at the door with a homemade smoothie and even played a couple of rounds on one of my retro arcade cabinets. We even discussed the potential of grilling this evening as a way to spend some time outdoors and wind down before the beginning of the work week.
Man, wouldn’t that have been the way to go?
Now, I’m not so sure. I don’t think I want to be setting things on fire at this moment because I might decide to chunk the hair dye, the mirror, my copy of Microsoft Word, and a small section of my bedroom wall which bears the taunting hole into the flames to be done with all of it!
I know I just need to breathe and give that special woman of mine a big hug to make it all go away. This is nothing but a typical day in the life of a modern adult, and I’ll probably look back on all of it next weekend and laugh. I could use a good laugh right about now. Maybe I’ll just choose to laugh about it now rather than wait until next week. Yes, that’s exactly what I’ll do. I’ll just laugh it off now instead. Problem solved.
What was the most frustrated you’ve ever been at a minor situation? Were you one of those lucky people who could just take a few quick breaths to relieve the tension or are you one of those who’s punched a few holes into walls? How did you choose to deal with it? Yoga? Take a walk? Take a nap? Blame a coworker? Do you look back now and find it hilarious or does that mistake haunt you to this day? Here at Your Stories on Video, we want to know! The problem, the solution, and the aftermath are all a part of who you are as a person and we love to hear the stories that make you, well…you!
You know…
That clerk at the frozen yogurt place brought up how much younger I looked in the photo of my debit card and it all went downhill from there. I wonder what time that place closes.