The title really says it all.  This was a week of just making it to the break.  I didn’t get to work on Darwin & the Demon Game because I was too tired.  Work was crazy since we have a week off.  My son had a bunch of schoolwork, so we didn’t get to relax as much as I would have liked.  By Friday, I was just dragging myself to the laptop to write this post and then go work on a new puzzle.

That isn’t to say nothing interesting happened. I did finish this LEGO set:

The Mighty Bowser Lego Set

I’m waiting for the LEGO Rivendell to become available, which is going to be a summer build for me.  This one was fun and challenging though.  I’m surprised it came out as big as it did.  Made space in my son’s room for it since he wanted it there.  Rivendell will be my treat in the end.

The other big event was last Sunday:

Wicked

We went to see ‘Wicked’ on Broadway.  I’m not much of a play person, but I like the ones that connect to things I already know.  This one had more singing than I expected, which wasn’t bad.  The effects were good and there was a decent amount of humor.  Sassy humor at some points too, which appealed to me.  I liked how the story carried into ‘Wizard of Oz’ and brought an extra dimension to that story.  Overall, I can see why this show is so popular and lasted this long.  Not sure what the next one we’ll try is going to be.  Really depends on what my son wants to try and what’s available.

I wish I had more to talk about with this week, but it was lowkey out of necessity.  Most nights, I took my Ashwagandha and Zzzquil around 9:30.  I was out around 10/10:15 and slept about 6-7 hours.  This is a great step forward since I only had one panic attack at night, which was triggered by a specific event.  I’ve got a doctor appointment in 30 minutes to talk about this and explain why I’m not comfortable taking certain medications too.  I mean, most of the issue has passed and I’m getting it under control.  I’d like to at least wait and see if the trend continues.  Oh yeah, I have an eye exam too, which I realized I haven’t had done since 2019.  Guess this is appointment day.

Now, I know I should be making goals in regards to writing.  I’m nervous to do this because I always fall short.  I’ve got my son during the week, so I only have the weekends to work with.  I’d like to think I could finish Chapter 7 and 8 of Darwin & the Demon Game this weekend.  Part of it depends on if my eyes get dilated and how long it takes to recover from that.  My hope is 2 sections today and 3 tomorrow.  If I pull that off, I might be able to do chapters 9 and 10 the following weekend.  My son wants to work on some of his own projects, so I might even write during the week if that happens. No matter what, I’m expecting to come up 1 chapter shy of the 2/3 mark.  It really does appear that I can only write one book per school year.  At least until I regain some of my author stamina, which might be a winter issue.

The only other plans for the week is to spend time with my son.  We’ve mostly done schoolwork, so we want to have fun.  Zoo trip is definitely going to happen.  A local museum is setting up classic arcade games that you can play, so that’s going to be on the list too.  The cold weather means a lot of indoor stuff.  Going to do some cooking, which hasn’t happened that often.  Even going to try making baked ziti, but with vodka sauce instead of chunky marinara.  My son seems to prefer that type of sauce over the regular stuff.  Sounds like a scattershot of stuff, but the Winter Break is always flexible because of the weather.  Never know when it will get freezing or snow around here.

As far as television goes, I’ve just been watching anime.  Finished one last night and I haven’t decided on what I want to tackle next.  There aren’t any live-action shows that appeal to me right now.  Kind of going through the motions on most things these days, but we’ll see what I can find.  Maybe I’ll just put old sitcoms on as background noise while I tinker with a puzzle or a notebook.

Really need to give a thorough examination to the Phi Beta Files information because my brain is trying to rethink the whole thing.  I’ve already got 95% of the rival teams, all of the heroes, and all of the recurring villains set up.  I don’t know want to tear pages out of a notebook and can’t figure out where this thought process is going.  Part of it might be that I’m feeling old and limited in time, so I’m trying to junk as much a possible in an attempt to believe that I can write all my stories before I eventually die.  This is what my brain does when I start thinking about my own mortality.  Eh, I’ll have a 4 hour span on Monday where I can read and write . . . Unless certain people prove to be more of a headache than I expected.  If I can finish the last of the rival groups, I can do the allies and then dive into the 6 books with their short story explanations.

Anyway, what are the goals of the week?

1. Write at least 2 chapters of Darwin & the Demon Game.
2. Appointments!
3. Make some progress on Phi Beta Files
4. Read more Naruto since I promised a student I would do so.
5. Spend time with my son when he’s here . . . This really is a given.
6. Cooking.
7. Zoo trip.
8. ARCADE!
9. Stay warm.
10. Continue improving sleeping habits.