One more month of the school year. More importantly, the schedule goes back to the normal one this coming week. Last time my son and I had this schedule was February 2020. Things got shaky in March and then the pandemic came in like a stampeding herd of bison. Both of us are really happen that normalcy is returning to our lives, which means his anxiety may be reduced. Honestly, I feel like some of my own stress is disappearing because this is a better system for him. This is going to give me the energy to get through the rest of the school year.
Surprisingly, we only have 3 weeks of classes and then finals left. Feels like the end of a marathon for many people. My mind is having trouble wrapping around it, especially with the summer being off. I’ll either get a lot of writing time or it will be tons of outings with my son. Both are good. My original plan was that my son would be in camp for most of the summer and I would do writing then a trip in mid/late August. Well, things are still screwy, so we’re going to have to roll with the punches. The trip might end up being a casualty to finances and other things too.
Writing this week wasn’t what I expected. Work was so busy that I didn’t get to outline during breaks and came home exhausted. It doesn’t help that I’m at the part in the series where I have to rewrite things, so my notes are useless. Finished one on Thursday night by staying up late. Didn’t get much done on Friday with the other outline, so I won’t get to these until next weekend unless I’m lucky. Got my son for Memorial Day weekend, so he gets my full attention. Meanwhile, the Nintendo Switch gets his full attention. That’s parenting these days. If I can get this outline done then next weekend could just be for the finale. The rest of June will be used for editing the next War of Nytefall book, which clears the summer for potential book writing.
Let’s see . . . I had yesterday off, which was fun. Helped move furniture around and got to have lunch with a friend. Been a really long time since I got to do anything like that, so it was nice. I should really do it more often. With the pandemic stuff settling down here, I feel like I can go out a bit. Still nervous, but I need to get my social life back in place since I’m a mental wreck these days.
Health! That’s something I tried to focus on. Sadly, the diet didn’t change much, but I’m trying to create a healthy snack stash in the room. Dried fruit and nuts mostly. Really enjoying dried cherries, but they’re hard to find. Dried pineapple is even more difficult to locate. I’m going to up my water intake, but trying to drink 3 liters of seltzer a day. I wish I could afford a soda water machine to decrease the amount of bottles I’m using, but maybe some day. Also, the cartridges for those are expensive.
Trying to get back into biking at a more consistent rate. Long ago, I used to do 30 minutes a day. That was when I was able to lose weight. I don’t have that amount of time any more, so I’m trying to decide between 30 minutes/3-4 times a week or 15-20 minutes every day. Both are difficult to carve out time for since the mornings are a rush to get to work and the evenings are filled with exhaustion. My son comes back earlier, so I can’t get it in before he gets home like pre-pandemic. School meetings and errands tended to make this activity inconsistent too. This is why I’m leaning towards doing 15-20 minutes a day after my son goes to bed. Cuts deep into my writing and resting time, but I need to do something.
Television has been only one show, which was a slog. ‘Hunter x Hunter’ is an anime based on a manga that is known for lengthy hiatuses. I really enjoyed both and finally got access to the whole anime. I was curious because the story arc I could finally watch was as long as the first 3 combined. Well . . . I want to love it, but it dragged at so many points that I lost interest. There were emotional highs, especially near the end, but I felt empty because I was just watching to get it over with at this point. Forums talked about the deeper meanings, but I felt this was a class on how NOT to do ‘show, don’t tell’. I don’t need to be told that two doors are opening or a character is crouching when I see it. Not to mention, a slew of new characters were introduced and I couldn’t connect to most of them. One-armed guy with self-esteem issues? I forgot he was around until he had a big fight, lost, and then I forgot about him again. Guy with glasses? He’s . . . around? The villains didn’t make any biological sense either and this is now a rant. Getting through this anime took a lot of time, so I’m not going to do a second watch to see if I do better. Guess it’s a good thing I let the ex-wife take the manga too.
Now, to finish watching the new episodes of ‘Lucifer’. Musical episode with Deborah Gibson with definitely something.
Goals of the week:
- Fun with son for the 3-day weekend.
- Outlining
- Prepare July posts when I can
- School/work
- Puzzle time
- I swear, I’ll bike every day
- Try to do the Baby Yoda Lego set if I can get my son to agree.
- Watch ‘Lucifer’ and ‘JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’
Legends of Windemere 
It’s good that things are getting back to normal. Same here in the UK. I’m a bit concerned that people will think it’s all over, though, and start behaving as they did before the pandemic. I.e. Crowds with no social distancing, which is bound to increase the spread.
You seem to have a very busy schedule with work, your son and writing. Not to mention exercise. Good luck with getting it all fitted in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m worried about a surge too. If things go south again then I don’t know what I’ll do. The personal situation was really rough on my son, but I know there will be a push for that nightmare schedule to return if things go bad. Fingers crossed, I guess.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The trouble is people. I’m sure the average intelligence is dropping. How can’t they see that if we keep apart, the virus can’t go anywhere? And as for people refusing the vaccine for no good reason… . I saw on the news today that in Brazil, where there are demonstrations about Bolsanaro’s handling of the pandemic, one reason people aren’t taking it up is because they believe it will turn them into a crocodile!!!
And they don’t think about the fact that a demonstration is a large gathering of people close together. Less intelligent? I rest my case.
LikeLike
The demonstration thing is odd. I remember when there were all the BLM rallies that not much spread came from them. Then again, they wore masks and were outside. Other events were maskless and indoors, which caused spread. The perceived inconsistency of this virus makes it difficult for many people to wrap their heads around. So, they pay attention to whatever advice puts the least amount of pressure on their lives.
LikeLike
I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.
Going to a restaurant feels so weird now after a year. A friend and I went last night and were so glad to get good food that we didn’t cook ourselves.
Hunter x Hunter sounds dreadful. The hiatuses make me wonder if there was trouble behind the scenes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. It was good to eat out though. HxH has great characters and was fun for the most part. The hiccup came from this big arc, which is weird since the shorter final one wasn’t so bad. I was just over the whole thing by that point. The hiatuses are because the creator has a lot of health problems.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you enjoy the weekend. Sounds like good quality time.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks. It’s fun so far.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have three days to work on my project and decided to squander the first one. That’s always a bad idea, but sometimes a guy gets worn out. I started watching Penny Dreadful. I gave up when it got too “woke” for my tastes. I want to be entertained, not force fed an agenda. It’s hard for me to give up on something, but after I have it always feels like the right thing. There are books and shows aplenty and maybe a few of them aren’t makeup covering some agenda.
LikeLike
I tried the first Penny Dreadful series. Don’t remember it being woke though. I stopped because the plot wasn’t grabbing me. My 3-day weekend is family and fun. No way I’m writing with my son and my 8-month-old niece wanting giggling all the time. Too cute to ignore.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m tempted to go to the zoo. My wife is working, but I want to see the new sea eagles.
LikeLike
Those sound really cool. Never seen sea eagles before.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They’re huge. Bigger than golden eagles. I based some Lanternfish creatures upon them and would like to see them.
LikeLike
Probably be easier to aim for short sessions each day. More chance you’ll be able to fit those in. Also, if you miss one or two in a week, you still get some biking in, where as if you have just one or two sessions in a week planned and miss those you end up with no biking all week. Plus, with how exhausted you’ve been lately, and how little you’ve been able to get on the bike, shorter sessions would likely be easier to handle anyhow.
Glad you’re getting some normalcy back in to your life now things are calming down with the pandemic situation. I hope it increases both yours and your son’s anxiety levels enough that it makes dealing with the rest of the stuff in your life easier.
Good luck with the goals for this week.
LikeLike
I think I’ll just bike 15-30 minutes depending on time. I read doing at least 15 is good, so the occasional 30 shouldn’t hurt. Might get easier once school us over.
Hoping the normalcy holds. Got a weird feeling that it may come under attack before too long.
LikeLike