Oh man . . . This week definitely felt like I got strapped into a roller coaster with duct tape and it went haywire.  Can’t even say I hit the ground running.  I definitely hit the ground, but more of a faceplant followed by having to drag myself along.  So, what exactly happened?

People might remember that I worked last Saturday.  This required getting up at 5:30 in the morning and spending the day at a Robotics competition.  Don’t get me wrong.  It was a lot of fun and our team did a great job.  Of course, this went until 6 PM, which was longer than I expected.  All I had to eat was a cookie dough protein bar since the food there was too expensive for being basic fare.  This meant gorging on pizza when I got home and that was the end of me for the evening.  Once I laid down, I felt every ache and pain from a day of standing or sitting on uncomfortable seats.  Again, watching the competition and seeing the students at their best was great.  It just took a lot out of me and that set the stage for the rest of the week.

This put me in a tough position too.  Do I spend Sunday resting up for the last full week before Spring Break or do I write?  Well, I tried to do the latter as well as 30 minutes of biking in the morning.  Fought through the soreness and mild exhaustion to write 2/3’s of chapter 11.  My hope was to write the last bit during the week, but that never happened due to events.  So, Darwin & the Demon Game hasn’t made much in the way of progress.  Not as much as I had hoped, but I probably kept my expectations high.  What did I expect from a week like this?

For one thing, there was the usual drama that I can’t get into.  Really wish I could because I need some venting.  Sadly, it isn’t in the cards.  Anyway, the rest of the week did a number on me.  There was a Parent Orientation for incoming 9th graders on Monday, so I spent an evening at that.  I knew a lot of the curriculum information since I work in a high school and I knew the layout of the school since I went there back in the 90’s.  Still, I got hear about the clubs a bit and get a feel for the scheduling.  My ex-wife showed up with my son too, so I got to give him a tour of the school.  I can’t remember every room that I had classes in, but I think I got most of them.

Things get a lot chaotic after that Monday event.  My son had a lot of reading assignments, which are always a challenge.  Tuesday was really rough since he started reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’.  I came home from a meeting to find him on the verge of a meltdown after struggling with the first 2 pages.  Thankfully, he blurted out that he preferred the previous book with bigger letters.  Tossed my shoes and jacket back on to rush to the library to get a large print version.  Made things so much easier and started a week long discussion about this being an official accommodation.  I’ve seen plenty of kids have a ‘large print’ accommodation for tests and books, so this isn’t anything new.  Really glad I figured this out before we went for too long because it would have been a rough week if this battle lasted.

Wednesday had most of the ‘drama that cannot be named’ due to people who think the rules are there for them to change at their whim.  Thursday was . . . All I remember is getting ramen with my son after a rough reading period.  We had an evening appointment too, so the schedule was thrown off entirely.  By the time Friday hit, I felt like everything else was a distant dream and just marched to the end.  Heck, I almost forgot to write this blog post because I didn’t even realize the day of the week.  Still have to do 20 minutes of biking for the week too, but I’ll do that today while my son does some reading.

This coming week should be easier.  Only three days of school/work and then we’re on Spring Break.  Of course, this starts with Passover, which means I start with there being no more bread in the house.  Goodbye sausage, egg, and bagel sandwiches for 8 days.  On the plus side, I’ll get to sleep in and I get my son for the first 5.5 days of the break.  This includes my birthday.  We have some fun plans, which include a few movies, video games, and Lego sets.  That’s a reason why I’m pushing to get a little extra schoolwork done this weekend.  At least today since we’ll be visiting family tomorrow.  Been a while since I saw my niece and even longer for my son to have spent time with her.  Actually, I think it was February for both of us due to the craziness.  Good times will be had.

Darwin & the Demon Game will get some attention if possible.  I’ll be happy if I can write that final section of chapter 11.  That will leave me with 21 sections to go, which I can get pretty far into during Spring Break.  I’m almost done setting up the June posts to help promote Do I Need to Use a Dragon? too.  Those are really just excerpts with each week covering one of the four sections.  Figure that’s a better idea while leading to a July 3rd book release.  I’m trying to think up some more topic, thoughtful posts about ‘how to’ books and giving advice for July.

I do have a quick question though:  Does it make sense to price the eBook at 99 cents for the month of July and boost it to $3.99 at the start of August?  I keep thinking of doing this, but it seems tough to pull off without actual promos.  Maybe I’ll just put a reminder on every July post that it’s 99 cents for the month.  I’m still not sure if I want to go $3.99, $2.99, or maybe $4.99.  A nobody giving advice doesn’t seem like it would go for a high price.

Well, this post is getting longer than expected.  I need to get on with the list and dig into the day.

Goals of the week:

1. Help son with schoolwork.
2. Work for 3 days.  Should be fun.
3. Finish the June posts, which might happen today.
4. Start July posts.
5. Finish chapter 11 of Darwin & the Demon Game.
6. Biking!
7. Passover . . . Matzah as far as the eye can see.
8. Get tickets for ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ to see with my son.  Already got April 9th tickets for ‘Super Mario Brothers’ since it’s my birthday movie.
9. Continue watching ‘Leverage: Redemption’ Season 2.
10. Start a new puzzle.
11. Family time.
12. Emotionally prepare for turning 43 next Sunday.
13. Deal with drama because I know it’s coming.