This was definitely a big work week because the humidity caused me to have little energy for more.  I spent time with my son, which included a zoo trip last Sunday.  They reopened the ‘World of Darkness’ at the Bronx Zoo, which doesn’t allow flash photography.  I remembered later that you could do videos, so we went back before leaving to get these:

I really hope those work when the post goes live.  I’ll put a slideshow of pictures below too.

Anyway, being out in the sun all day didn’t help me with my work week.  It meant that I started off tired and things rolled out of control until I simply passed out on my bed at 9 PM on Wednesday.  This was beneficial since Thursday was our trip to an amusement park, so I needed the rest.  I don’t go on rides and it was the hottest day of the week, so I got drained even with water to drink.  Probably why I barely made it through writing this post last night.  Hey, I made it though.

I did manage to type in the edits for a big chapter of Darwin & the Beast Collector before the weekend.  Mustered up enjoy energy and focus to do it over the course of two nights and an hour in the afternoon.  Helped that I needed to get out of the sun for a bit before going back outside.  This leaves me with about 5 chapters and I hope to get another one done this weekend.  I won’t say I’ll do it for sure, but I’m going to try to make some progress.

One of the reasons why I might not get much done is the weather isn’t as bad as it was during the week.  This means, I can get some fresh air and Pokemon time in to make up for not doing much before.  I have this challenge where I have to walk 25 kilometers a week for 8 weeks straight, so I need to make sure I reach the goal.  They also have a special 4 day event where music from the long time game composer will play during the hours of 5-8 PM.  There are special Pokemon showing up during that time, but I want to get out for 1-2 hours of that each night just to listen to the music.  I should still be able to get an hour of editing in after that as well as time in the morning and early afternoon.  It really depends on my energy levels.

There are other stressors hitting me too, but I can’t go into those.  Combined with the weather and exhaustion, I haven’t had the best mental defenses against my anxiety.  It’s hitting after I go to sleep too.  So, I’ll jolt awake and not know why because I’ll be highly disoriented.  Not enough to forget I have my CPAP mask on, but enough to not really know why I’m awake.  This results in me feeling overheated and gaining a wheeze, so I check my vitals in fear of being sick.  My brain just won’t let me believe that it’s anxiety and I can’t stop myself from a little medical doom scrolling on my phone.  Eventually, I try to fall asleep again, which doesn’t work out well when I have to wake up in 2-3 hours.  I toss and turn, look at the clock, let my mind wander, and suffer until I might vaguely pass out.  This is why I tend to collapse Wednesday or Thursday night instead of softly going to bed.  I think walking helps me get some of the tension out, but I always run into various stressors before bed.

Going back to the writing world, I have been mentally tinkering with an idea that gives me some trouble.  It was originally about two groups of thieves who are members of the same guild.  They are rivals because of various slights and are racing each other to find the Cataclysm Hoard.  I was basing characters (both heroes and villains) off newer people in my life, but I keep losing contact with some and making new connections.  So, I keep adding and removing concepts.  It’s reached a point where I don’t know if I want it to be rival thieves or just a whole guild with everyone working towards the same goal.  That or make two guilds instead of one.  Some character concepts:

• My cannibalistic gnome who is completely adorable.
• Intelligent ogre who acts as the gnome’s keeper and translator.
• Divorced couple who are forced to work together with the guy being an assassin type and the woman being a caster thief.  Many barbs are thrown at each other, which paints their ridiculous past.
• Princess turned thief.
• Halfling assassin turned thief and her female orc bestie.
• Leads of both groups were going to be thieves with summoning powers.  I wonder if I could have them use the same spirits, so they can’t use the same ones at the same time or something.

This is definitely developing a comical vibe to it, but I’m creating a pretty large cast for both sides.  I really should sit down and think more about this one as well as make a character list.  Right now, I have 9 thieves on each side with a bunch of others within the guild.  That sounds like a lot per side, especially since this was going to be a trilogy.  I could do it like I plan with the superhero stuff and make each of the books a collection of short stories that run along the same main plot.  Really hard to figure this whole thing out, especially with me being so tired.

Anyway, goals of the week?

1. Type in 2 chapters worth of edits for Darwin & the Beast Collector.
2. Get extra sleep.
3. Plan son’s birthday party for next weekend.
4. Enjoy being outside before the heat returns.
5. Hydrate.
6. Work on puzzle when need quiet.
7. Tinker with thoughts.