> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://lowpolymess.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # #28 - The wait - URL: https://lowpolymess.com/28-the-wait/ - Published: 2026-09-24T09:00:10.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-24T09:00:09.000Z - Author: Thomas Orry - Tags: Tom Orry Minute, life, comedy, video games, awkward, News, art, waiting, parenting I walked my daughter to school this morning, desperately hoping she’d say something amazing. The kind of incredible phrase only a 5-year-old could come up with, their brains only partially able to form exactly what they are trying to put together. A comment or question that upon close inspection is pure nonsense, but occasionally comedy gold or surprisingly deep. Nothing. All I got this morning was a constant guilt trip about why she’s not allowed a laptop or an iPhone 18 Pro Max - the latter highlighting the perils of having a significantly older, tech-obsessed brother. did you pay for this? Can you pay for this? Will you pay for this? Please pay for this Listen, I want everyone to be able to read my inspiring words on ~~video games and~~ things, but I also have bills to pay and a desire for nice things (like a pizza pretzel from Lidl). If you can, I'd really appreciate you upgrading your subscription to a paid plan. Or, if you are mega loaded, just scroll to the bottom and tip me an obscene amount of money. I've heard whales (high-paying fans) exist - maybe that's you! [Pay Tom ](#/portal/account/plans) “It’s not fair,” she forcibly yelled. “You know what’s not fair?” I replied. “The fact that I earn a quarter of what I used to and that there’s seemingly no way back to that life because the job market is absolute Hell. Constantly waiting for rejection.” That’ll tell her, I think to myself. That’s some perspective for her to chew on! “Daddy, why won’t you let me get a new lunch bag?” comes the next moan-laced question, mere seconds later. It’s never ending. “You need to wait until you’ve earned enough ticks on your chart,” I say. “It’s not fair,” she yells once again. Is anything? ![a photo of a lunch bag, green, with popit balls all over the front that can be pressed in and out.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/ea/97/ea97ed15-0c14-4ee7-821b-976b8be55f76/content/images/2026/09/image-3.png) My daughter wants a lunch bag like this one, but she always wants about ten others. It’s now 10am. I’ve got to write this newsletter soon or it’ll spill into the time I need for other work. I’ve been waiting for something to happen. Something big or small that will spark an idea that can be spun into a thousand words of hilarity (or at least a kind of mild nodding appreciation of underlying humour). I’m still waiting, but nothing is happening. Something amusing usually just… happens. As I wait I make coffee. But I don’t *just* make coffee. I’ve developed a dislike for wasted time while making coffee, so I use gaps to do little tasks. When the coffee machine is turned on it does a little whirry cleaning cycle - that’s a few moments to take the cutlery out of the dishwasher. The coffee dispensing also takes a minute or so, so that’s the cutlery fully wiped down and put away. But, and this is key, the milk frother takes 3 and a half minutes, so that has to go on before I’ve even pressed a single button on the coffee machine. I started to think about how I manage my time like this all over my day, especially when working. I’ve always got a bunch of tasks running along in parallel so I can hop over to another if the current one hits a time-wasting bit of downtime. I’m sure loads of people function like this, though (most people must, right?), and to be honest it’s quite dull to talk about, so it’s not really worthy of a whole newsletter, is it? ## Sign up for Low Poly Mess A sideways look at life and a variety of other things. A new mind dump every week. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Still, while I was making coffee this morning I took a phone call about our patio sliding doors. They need replacing. The guy from the sliding door company asked me how wide the current doors are, so I had to ask him to wait for a moment so I could whip out the tape measure. My mind instantly started hoping for a mild disaster to ensue, an event so minor but pathetic that it would come to life via my words in this blog. No such luck. I held that tape measure up solid for over two metres with just one hand. Incredible wrist strength. While waiting for more inspiration I edit a couple of articles about video games. Quite minor edits, really, so I give myself 5 minutes to wonder if I’m a fraud whilst simultaneously putting a wash on and making another coffee. Milk machine and coffee machine on, quickly load the machine. Dispense the coffee and add the detergent. Turn on the washing machine. Pour frothed milk over the coffee. Consider a massive career change. A fun five minutes. Back to work. The game I had set to download earlier (while my first morning coffee was being made) that I need to review is now ready to play. I boot that up, laptop on so I can also form an outline of my thoughts as I play. I’m not one for detailed notes, but I’ll generally write at least an opening in the first hour or so of playing something, accompanied by single sentences I’ll come back to and flesh out later. I wait for the dust to settle before finalising my thoughts. My groceries are due to be delivered soon, but I’ve already had a [whole article](https://lowpolymess.com/19-just-a-normal-day/) dedicated to that, and it’s unlikely I’ll be lucky enough for another cringe moment to occur. I’m not lucky enough, despite my best efforts to make the man need a wee by leaving the tap running in the kitchen. The whole thing went by smoothly, but at least I managed to fire off a handful of emails while I waited for the delivery guy to retrieve my crates of essential supplies from the back of the truck. Nothing exciting, sadly, but it still cost me £100\. Somehow. Back to work, but I notice an email I’d been waiting for since March. It’s about a job I applied for. A job I honestly thought I was perfect for. As with all the 70+ (maybe it’s 80+ now) jobs I’ve applied for since early February, it’s a “no” inside a generic automated email. Am I really this fucking unemployable? I won’t lie. This causes a slump in my productivity and I’m side-tracked by an advert for a pizza. This sends me down a rabbit hole that ends with me watching a video by a man called Greg in which he eats a pie and measures its diameter. Is it too late for me to become a food YouTuber? It’s now 1pm and I’m still waiting for something to write about. My wife will be home for lunch soon. Truly, I think, the only person in the whole world who actually sees and appreciates my value. I make us some sandwiches and prep the latest episode of Escape to the Country on iPlayer, then wait. It’s worth it because I really, really love sandwiches and Escape to the Country\*. Maybe this episode will give me something to write about next week! [Like what you've read? Throw a tip my way](#/portal/support) --- I’m still playing Resident Evil Requiem, and I’m still shocked by how grim this one is. Maybe I’m just that little bit older and have reached a point when I could do without relentless misery, but this one really does seem to be pulling no punches. Outside of this, I guess I’m enjoying it, if you can use that term. I’ve finally got over a hump that was causing me to make little to no progress, and that’s lifted my feelings on the game a fair bit. --- This newsletter was mostly a bit of self reflection on how it’s hard to keep waiting for things and that it’s not always easy to have a creative spark on demand. I’ll have a think about some other bits and pieces and round them up in the quick reviews below. I’m a critic, too, you see. Things I can review: - Deadloch (Prime Video): This New Zealand-set crime dark comedy is slowly starting to win me over. I went into it expecting more laughs, when it’s really more of a wry smile kind of a show. It’s not helped by one of the leads being the most annoying character I think I’ve ever seen on TV for the first two episodes. Still, I’m happy with wry smiles, and I hope this keeps on getting better as the series progresses. 4 make-shift flip-flops out of 5 removed tongues. - Boy Kills World (Prime Video): While looking for something pretty mindless to put on while doing some work, I stumbled upon this Bill Skarsgard-starring action movie that I don’t remember receiving much fanfare on its release in 2023\. Much to my surprise, then, is that this is a jolly good film, full of solid action and a nice dose of humour. Skarsgard’s “Boy” doesn’t speak, so his inner voice is played by Harry Jon Benjamin (Bob from Bob’s Burgers, and Archer from Archer). There’s just something about this that screams “future cult classic”. 4 funny lines out of 5 removed arms. - Caramelised onion and goats’ cheese raviolini (Lidl): At £2.19 I wasn’t expecting much from this, but damn, it’s delicious. It’s pretty sweet, which might be off-putting to some people, but just right for me. Far, far nicer than the spinach and ricotta girasoli. 4 tasty mouthfuls out of 5 spoons of sauce. \*This was a joke. I love my wife far more than sandwiches and Escape to the Country.