Not sure if I mentioned this last weekend, but this week started midterms.  Not the whole week, but midway through and it continues through next week.  I work a lot in the Testing Center where kids go if they need extra time or want a quiet place.  Needless to say, things have been busy.  I actually feel asleep on Thursday before I wanted to be, which was around 9:30.  Had just enough energy and sense to turn off the light, charge my dying phone, and shut down the TV once I felt it coming.  Figured I’d be awake again by midnight, but I was out until my alarm went off.  So, you can tell that I didn’t get much else done.

Last weekend was all about getting time with my son.  Saturday was resting since I got the first Covid vaccine shot and my arm was sore.  Sunday was the big zoo trip that I’m sharing the best pictures with tomorrow.  A long day of walking around and running into peacocks.  One of them was very interested in my son’s lunch and he jokingly offered it to the bird, which almost took the opportunity.  The peacocks roam the zoo since they can’t be contained.  It’s a lot of fun to walk along and end up with one of them following along or coming around a corner.  The tigers were the only animals that didn’t come out, but there were a few that we don’t normally see moving around.

I wasn’t that bright on the trip though.  Walking around in rundown sneakers is bad enough, but I didn’t drink a lot of water.  This lead to me having pain in my lower back for a few days.  When this happens, I’ve either hurt my back, which sets off my IBS or vice versa.  Makes things really frustrating and awkward.  I still did my best to play with my son on Monday.  Since I needed to use the heating pad at times, we did indoor stuff.  Cartoons and video games mostly.  I’m not regretting that since the rest of the week was bonkers.  Definitely need this weekend to rest up for what’s next.  It should be fine . . . Right?

Do I Need to Use a Dragon? is coming along fairly well.  I worked on a tough section Thursday, which brought me down to 24 sections to go.  My hope is to get 6 done this weekend and then 1/weekday except for Friday.  If I can do another 3 next Saturday then I only have 10 to go.  The project will be done by mid-February and then I’m going to tackle the next frightening project.  This would be outlining ‘Tales of the Slumberlord’.  I don’t know why I get twitchy about this.  Part of it might be that I keep doing short story outlines, so now I’m getting back into novel mode.  Last time I did a set of outlines for a series was . . . Geez, I was still married.  Well, it needed to happen eventually.  This isn’t something I can do at school either.  My goal will be to get the books outlined by spring and start writing in the summer.  I might edit War of Nytefall: Savagery one more time before doing that too.

Speaking of outlines, I really need to figure out what I’m putting in my next Idea Book since the current one is almost done.  The first one had most of my core series and connected books.  This one has all of the Sin related things.  I’m not really sure what to do next because everything else is kind of muddled.  Part of the issue is that I want to have related books with each other.  So, I’d put the dreaded Project Phoenix with all of the other former superhero things.  I really have to sit down and organize things.  I know I have a lot of stories/series that involve organizations and groups.  There are some random ones like a series where an alien bounty hunter lands on Windemere, which I still wonder if it’s a good idea.  I really want to use this character and her being an alien is essential.  I also want her to get involved with other characters.  Maybe I’ll make a post about the problematic ideas down the road.  Although, I think I’ve done that before.

Well, I’ve basically told everyone my plan for the week.  Television for me hasn’t been very exciting.  I finished one series called ‘Angel Links’, which was pretty good.  Then, I watched the new season of ‘Disenchantment’, which is a fantasy Matt Groening (Simpsons) show on Netflix.  Good story and comedy.  Now, I’m working on an anime called ‘The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya’.  It’s about a girl who can alter reality, doesn’t realize that she can, and the other characters are trying to make sure that she never figures it out.  That’s really basic and doesn’t even cover it.  I own it on DVD, but now I can see the second season too.  Figured I’d start from the beginning since it’s only 28 episodes together.

Goals of the week?

1. Work and some play.
2. Do I Need to Use a Dragon? progress.
3. Sleep.
4. Puzzle time . . . This one is tough.
5. Prepare blog posts if I can’t do anything else.
6. Maybe try to organize the ideas into Idea Books while I’m at work.
7. Rue something.
8. Fun outing next Friday.
9. A few meetings.