This was the last week of the first quarter of the school year.  I’m explaining it that way because I don’t know if everyone will understand a simpler explanation.  That and I’m still wrapping my head around events.  It was busy.

First, I work in a school, so it was a lot of testing and organizing.  Things started smoothly . . . I think since that feels like years ago.  Middle of the week is when things got crazy because we had Thursday off for Veterans Day.  So, I was doing my best and ending every day collapsing on the bed.  Tried my best to stay awake and interact with people, but I was drained.  The weather didn’t help, but it was really the work.  At least the days went quickly and I had stuff to do.

The other reason the end of the quarter had me exhausted is that I was handling it on the parent front too.  My son had the last test of the quarter and some homework to help bolster his grades.  We still haven’t figured out a good system to help him remember to write his assignments down, but we’re getting there.  A few rough mornings due to the weather giving us post-nasal drips too.  Through it all, he got really good grades and I’m wondering if he actually got on an academic list.  It might not happen because of one grade he got in October, but I’m still proud of him because he worked hard.

I touched my notebook, but only to get at the phone charger it was covering.  My only author victory is writing the blurb for War of Nytefall: Eulogy.  I’m on track to release it on the weekend of December 3rd with a few volunteers on the list.  Starting to wonder if I should just release books, announce them here after the fact, and see if anybody feels like reblogging.  I have so little time to do real promos that I’m wondering if nothing is a better way to go.  Besides, we all know that reviews are what you really need to promote a book and those are hard to come by, especially if you can’t afford them.

Sorry.  I’m kind of down because of life drama on top of the exhaustion from a busy week at work. Worst time for that to happen, especially since I couldn’t do much while I was working.  So, I would see messages coming in that I couldn’t do anything about even after I pointed out that I was busy.  It’s frustrating when people are told you can’t talk or interact at the level they require, but they keep going.  Always makes me think the other person smiles weakness and is going in to gain an advantage.  This really rings true when the person suddenly goes silent during evenings when they become aware that you’re free to talk and think.  This is why I prefer the characters in my head some times.

Veterans day was good because my son and I both had off.  Last week, he had 2 days off and I had none.  We lucked out this time.  To celebrate his good grades, I got tickets to a movie and had him guessing which one it would be.  He thought ‘Eternals’ since it was the only one he knew was out.  Nope.  It was ‘My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission’, which is an anime.  One of my son’s favorites, so he was excited.  The plot was simple, but the fight and chase scenes really popped with IMAX.  They could be a little difficult to follow at times, but I only noticed that after the fact.

Next week should be calmer, but its the holiday season.  Thanksgiving in 2 weeks and Hanukkah 3 days after that.  Then, we’re in December and I’m releasing a new book, which might be my last one for a while.  Think I want to get art for Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) and let that one out before I do more than write Darwin stories.  Leaving both alone until 2022 though.  I’ve got too much going on to tackle anything more than outlining. Next weekend is the release of the live action ‘Cowboy Bebop’, so I won’t be doing much then.

Don’t have anything interesting as far as TV shows this week.  I was falling asleep too easily, so I just tossed on the news and old sitcoms that I dozed off with.  I tried to start a new anime, but no luck.  I need to restart it because I feel asleep around episode 2 and woke up around episode 14.  It’s called ‘Plunderer’ and it has an interesting concept, but the tone is weird even at the start.  Might just be something I say I watched and I can garner a few blog post ideas from it.

Goals of the week:

1. Working as usual
2. Homework fun with the kid
3. Puzzles if I’m tired
4. Notebook work if I can muster it
5. January blog post writing
6. Maybe tinker with the second Slumberlord outline
7. In the mood for tacos
8. Wrap Hanukkah presents when my son isn’t around
9. Prepare to watch ‘Cowboy Bebop’
10. Sleep
11. Remember the thing I know I’m forgetting