It feels weird to write this on Saturday instead of Friday night before bed.  Then again, it’s no surprise given what was going on this week.

Last night, my son performed as a member of what is called All County Choir.  This is one of 4 groups in a county wide festival.  This division was for the 9th and 10th graders.  He was apparently one of four students picked from his school for this group.  This was a big night and we didn’t get home until extremely late.  This is on top of having rehearsals from 3:30PM-8PM on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  He had to do his homework and have dinner when he got home too.  Tuesday was the only day without a rehearsal, so I had to use that to get as much homework done as possible.  Still, we made it and he got everything done including 2 quizzes and a NY State lab. Kid earned his 3-day weekend . . . He’s going to be upset when I pull out the math work due Monday night though.

On top of the All County stuff, I had a lot to deal with in regards to the ‘life event’.  In fact, this weekend is going to see a big step in that arena.  Not sure which direction that will be and I’m already feeling queasy.  Other encounters in the week have made the whole thing more confusing.  By the way, this is NOT something that everyone goes through.  If it was, I’d be able to say what it is in public.  This is messy and painful and can result in the next couple of years being agony.  It’s stressed me out to the point where I’ve barely slept and even had to take my anxiety meds more than once.  My body eventually hit a breaking point on Wednesday night where I needed to take a day off, but the ‘life event’ decided to rear its head even when I tried to rest.  It’s like it knows when I’m at the edge and decides to strike.  Getting myself too worked up for the meeting today.

Editing Darwin & the Fate Bracelet didn’t go as well as I had hoped.  I printed out the wrong version and wasted Saturday working on it then printing out the correct one.  By the time Sunday hit, I was tired, distracted, and struggling to focus.  I didn’t get to work on in during school more than once.  I thought I could do it while waiting for my son to finish rehearsals since I didn’t have to get him from school.  Monday had too many errands and biking, so I was too tired to get more than a section done.  The ‘life event’ stuff that happened Tuesday night pretty much killed my imagination.  I can’t get my mind to stray far from this mess because stuff keeps happening.  It’s like I can’t drop my guard because then I get sucker-punched.  I’m hoping February is different, but it really depends on how things go.

That’s really the theme of this coming week too.  It’s a short week of work with two possible snowstorms, but nothing else.  After Monday, the current level of the ‘life event’ will be over and I’ll be awaiting the next one at the end of the month.  Man, I hate trying to subtly talk about this mess.  This past week and the next two really are focused primarily on this and helping my son with his midterms.  Work is going to be my escape from stuff since it’s relaxing even when crazy.  Will I get to do more editing?  I don’t know if I’ll get to it before next weekend, but we’ll see.

You know, I’m thinking of making the first half of this year editing the first 5 Darwin books that I’ve written.  Clean those up and make sure everything works.  This should help me out more with Darwin & the Joy Path since an old friend returns.  I’m also starting to worry that I’m making Darwin too much like a standard hero and his quirks are being phased out too much.  He was bound to get a handle on his anxiety, meltdowns, and impulsiveness, but those probably shouldn’t vanish completely.  Then again, he’s been traveling and adventuring for a while now.  He might retain his innocence and some of his naivety, but he still jumps to conclusions and sees the world as black and white.  This is why months of editing might be what I need before diving into the last 4 books.  Darwin & the Joy Path is kind of the last of the wandering ones too.  After that, he gets into the final act of his story.  Not that Darwin will realize that.  Editing might be best since I’m so stressed as well.  2024 is fairly rough.

Goals of the week:

1. Enjoy 3-day weekend with my son.
2. Edit Darwin & the Fate Bracelet
3. Try to get something out of the ‘life event’.
4. Bike when I can.
5. Read more ‘Fairy Tail’.
6. Puzzles when I’m tired.  Moving slow on the current one.
7. Get better sleep.
8. Make a more interesting goal list next Saturday
9. Work on March blog posts.