My week began with a tabletop RPG at a friend’s where we sat outside and spread out for social distancing.  Each of us got our own pizza and it lasted for a little over 6 hours.  Of course, it was around 90 degrees with minimal wind and no real shade.  So, I left the whole thing fairly cooked.  Also later than intended and my son was being dropped off that night.  Ended up spotting my ex-wife driving behind me for the last half of the trip home, which was slightly comical.  On the plus side, I didn’t make her wait, which can always lead to awkwardness.  It was a really busy and chaotic beginning to the week, so I expected that to be the theme.

If I had to pick a word for this week, I would go with: Exhaustion.

I didn’t get to recover from Sunday because my son had school in the morning and then it was playtime after lunch.  I managed to finish the September posts, set up the War of Nytefall: Ravenous Teaser Tuesdays, and begin on the October posts.  I’ll get into the future blogging stuff later in the past.  Not that I have much else to say.  I dragged my butt through most of the days.  The father/son activities were basically this:

Monday– Failed attempt at pool time because the water didn’t warm up enough.  Then, it was a Yugioh battle that lasted about 1.5 hours.  He almost beat me this time by driving me to my last card and I bet nobody has any idea what I’m talking about.  We relaxed after that since I was drained.

Tuesday–  This was successful pool time for him, but I was still cooked.  I stayed in the shade and read until it was time to go inside.  We rested afterwards, but I can’t remember all of the little things we did because I was trying not to fall asleep.  Wait.  It was some Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robot and he played Beyblade outside with kids.  All were wearing masks.

Wednesday– LEGO Harry Potter on the Nintendo Switch.  I got nauseous from all the wild camera movements since he was a little erratic with his playing.  Tried to lie down and rest, but he wouldn’t have it.  Played some Mouse Trap until he was called to help grandma with dinner.

Thursday–  With me in the morning and then to his mom’s after lunch.  Then, it was writing throughout the day because Friday is the only one worth talking about.

So, Friday was interesting because I returned to my school as a substitute TA.  It was only for a day and I made sure I got enough sleep.  Shaved the night before, ate a good breakfast, and even did some biking that morning.  I headed with extra masks and a bottle of hand sanitizer in my pocket.  Of course, I can’t go into details because that would be an intrusion into the lives of my students.  All I can say is that I really missed it.  The day went quickly and I wore a mask for the whole time, except when we had socially distanced lunch.  After the first hour, I barely noticed the thing on my face and really only adjusted it when my glasses fogged. It was really nice to see familiar faces.  Some I saw over the months during Google Meets while others I hadn’t seen since March.  Of course, I didn’t see their full faces because of the masks, which was fine.

The day was also rather surreal.  There was a combination of changes to accommodate the new guidelines and phantoms of the old world.  I saw things marked with March 2020 up in some areas, which drove home how long it had been.  Arriving in the parking lot, I wasn’t in the back as usual and there were only a handful of cars overall.  I saw markers for social distancing as I got closer as well.  Even with the changes, I smiled beneath my mask as I walked into the lobby.  Kind of sad when I had to go home, so I’m hoping to get called in again at some point.  We don’t know what is going on come September either.  Nobody really does.  Everything is up in the air.  I think the symbol for 2020 should be a person shrugging while on fire.

I’m taking the weekend to do more writing.  My hope is to finish two more chapters of War of Nytefall: Anarchy.  It’s coming along nicely and I have 8 more chapters to go.  Sadly, I wasn’t able to tackle Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) this summer.  I was going to do it while my son was in school for the morning, but it doesn’t work like I thought.  He’s in for 45 minutes, out for about an hour to do writing/reading, and then back in 40 minutes.  That middle section pulls me away from my laptop because he needs help with writing and I promised him that I would read when he does.  Sure, we’re both doing manga, but it’s fun.  The kid loves ‘My Hero Academia’ and is excited that I’m letting him read the manga I own.  He probably thinks they’re adult books too.  Think I wandered off the topic here.

Another reason I couldn’t work during the school time is because I have to stay in the dining room in case he needs me.  This puts me in the path of other people, so book writing is difficult.  Blog writing is barely possible since I’m always getting interrupted or called away.  Wait . . . I had October blog stuff.  Should get to that before I hit the end.  Here we go:

I have a plan for Fridays and Wednesdays when it comes to October.  People jumped on those when I posted about it.  Nobody dropped an opinion on Monday.  I was hoping to do a War of Nytefall promo for each of those days, but I don’t think a teaser post would work.  I’m having trouble thinking of something special that I could put together in the limited time that I have.  Character interviews never work and standard promos are rather bland.  Maybe there’s nothing I can do here for each book.  Feels like I’ve gotten worse at the promos.  I plan on stopping Teaser Tuesdays for October as well and doing a series of Halloween-based Questions 3.  Going with Lycanthropy, Horror Movie, Zombie Apocalypse, and Grim Reaper.  The specifics have yet to appear in my mind.  Anyway, I’d appreciate any help with that Monday issue if anybody has ideas.

Goals for the week:

1. Parenting
2. Drawing time with son
3. Writing
4. Blogging for October
5. Finish a puzzle
6. Birthday event in a week