(Math was off in original title.)

This was the last full week of school, which means homestretch.  Can’t say with certainty that I’m going to make it in one piece.  Not only work is beating me down, but the personal life and heat are doing some damage.  I thought it wasn’t much until I hit Wednesday, which was a day off.  So, what happened?

Now, I woke up early feeling sinus issues, but I had to get my son to an appointment then to his mom.  Just thought it was a cold even though I couldn’t shake the fatigue, congestion, and general gross feeling.  Resting in the air conditioning helped me recharge enough to have lunch with a friend and feel normal.  Did some Pokemon Go when I had energy and edited a chapter of Darwin & the Avenging Elf.  Yet, I couldn’t shake all of the internal horrors.  Once night fell and I tried to go to bed early, my body just went haywire.  You can imagine how much I was freaking out since it wasn’t long ago that I had my third bout with Covid.

Well, the Covid test said negative and I had no fever.  Managed to sleep enough that I woke up feeling only mildly fatigued.  This went away as I got more into my day and it never reached the same levels as Wednesday.  Left me scratching my head and wondering if I was out of it last weekend.  I wasn’t, but I had a Father’s Day event on Saturday and my son on Sunday.  So, I didn’t have time to succumb to whatever has been battering my insides.  Not that any test showed anything.  This is when I realized what my body has been running on for a bit too long:

Survival Mode!

Basically, I think I’ve been running on adrenaline and stress because I simply can’t collapse.  If I’m not taking care of my son or interacting with the ex-wife, I’m busy at work.  Once I can relax and drop my guard, my body decides to let the health red flags fly as if sending an invite to the Grim Reaper.  A big clue was that the night I struggled to sleep had my Blood Oxygen levels at 92 for a few seconds and then it dropped to 86 an hour later.  All of this was a flicker of time, but it showed that something was going on internally that none of the tests showed.  It didn’t happen again when I got some rest and then got back into the fray.  This doesn’t bode well for getting things done in the future, so I might not get a lot done between regular school and summer school.

Speaking of writing, Darwin & the Avenging Elf  is almost halfway done.  I’m on chapter 7 of 16.  Not a lot of the meat is being changed.  At most, I’m adding sentences to clear things up and mending consistency issues.  This worries me at times, but I remember that I went back A LOT when I did the initial writing.  Any blip that made me questioning stuff switched me from writing to editing.  I would read over paragraphs and pages a few times before moving on.  Not sure if this tightened up my writing and thoughts earlier in the process than normal.  Has anyone else edited their first draft while writing it or done anything like this?  I’m confused on where this habit came from and why, but it also explains why Darwin & the Halfling Hunt wasn’t as messy as Darwin & the Fate Bracelet.

The rest of the week was filled with appointments, work, and doing stuff with my son when we had time.  I didn’t get a lot of downtime even though I managed to finish the last of the current puzzle pile.  I’ll be tackling the summer Lego pile once school is done and I have time to relax.  That’s becoming the extent of my ambitions this year since so much has happened.  Need to take some time to mentally, physically, and emotionally recover from all of the body blows.  Pokemon Go gives me a chance for fresh air and focus, so that’s going to keep me going even on the days I go out solo for an hour or so.  Maybe it’s just getting a sense of accomplishment too.

With writing, I’m going to be happy to get to writing a new book by the end of the year, but I might even get to it by September.  Not sure if that’s a good thing since the 2 week December break would be a better starting point.  I’m toying with the idea of stopping between editing Darwin & the Beast Collector and beginning Darwin & the Joy Path.  That might defeat the purpose of editing to make sure continuity works, but I might need a month off to get used to the new school schedule.  That could allow me to work on ‘Phi Beta Files’, which I haven’t touched in a while.  Heck, notebook work could be what I do when/if I go up to Oswego for a few days.  Still trying to decide on if I can do a 6 hour drive on my own.

Guess I’m a little scattered for now.  End of the school year and the heat seem to be aggravating my residual brain fog.  It’s weird that even after 2 years, the debilitating part of Covid returns when I’m stressed or the weather is hot.  This is mostly me having trouble remembering words when talking or writing.  Things just don’t come to the surface as well as they used to ever since my first bout of Covid.  Sucks, but I guess that’s how I have to live from now on.

Goals of the week?

1. Enjoy the weekend with my son.
2. Finish the school year.
3. Edit more Darwin & the Avenging Elf.  (9 chapters to go.)
4. Get out for Pokemon Go and fresh air.
5. Sleep better.
6. Make Pineapple Chicken Tenders for lunches.
7. Tinker with the feuding thieves group idea that is coming to my mind.
8. Vacuum at some point.
9. Stay cool.
10. Hydrate.