The title says it all.  I did manager to write chapter 2 of Darwin & the Joy Path.  A secret didn’t last long because I realized how honest some characters are.  Still, I got the action going and kind of got back into the swing of things.  Being able to write two sections a day while still doing Pokemon, shopping, and resting was an accomplishment.  Don’t know how often I can repeat that, but it was nice for a bit.  Next chance to do so will be next weekend where there isn’t a lot of Pokemon Go happening.  Anyway, I’ll take this small victory.

I did hope to write more during the week, but I would have only had Wednesday evening to get anything done.  Monday and Thursday had evening school meetings for my son while he was with me on Tuesday.  Been doing the cooking as well, which is taxing because I keep picking time-consuming dishes.  Sloppy Joe, Chicken Lo Mein, and Asian burgers are on the list.  Pizza muffins tomorrow are the easiest, but I have to prep for other dishes as well.  I’ll learn to balance things one day.

This was a full week of work too, which meant a full week of school for our kids.  Each day had rough patches, which we made it through.  It’s still exhausting and having to go from that to interacting with my ex-wife wasn’t doing me any favors.  My anxiety was running high and my sleep was suffering.  I bought some ashwagandha chews, but I think they messed up my stomach.  To be fair, it was already having trouble due to a diet change with more yogurt and fiber.  I’m surprised I made it to the end with my innards intact considering I kept have gut spasms. Muscled through them until I could lie down and rest enough for things to settle.

My son told me what he wants to be for Halloween too.  So, we’re going to see if we can gather the pieces.  This won’t be a sewing challenge like last year.  Instead, I’m going to have to figure out how to use this cosplay foam stuff to craft a special pirate hat.  The other props should be easy compared to that.  Might have to use a hot glue gun this time, which makes me nervous.  Mostly because I worry about it looking like a mess.  My son suggested I paint the original pirate hat, but I know that will look terrible.  Trying not to say who it is, but it’s what one call a gender-bend.  The real character is female and he wants me to make him a male version.  Kid can’t give me an easy project.

I’m still mentally tinkering with the thief guild rivalry story when I’m driving.  At least when I’m not stressing over my life.  I’m still liking the overall quest being that the groups want to find a long-lost vault.  The teams are still on the same scale as the ‘Ocean Eleven’ movies, which I’m not sure is a good or bad thing.  I considered having the rival team really be one person whose teammates are all summons.  Maybe have the leader be a soul thief?  That sounds too evil since I’m not sure if I want them or another entity to be the main villain.  I’m torn here because I do the ‘surprise villain’ in a series at least twice from what I remember.   I could make it clear that the main villain is this other person or have it be various bad guys.  If only I had the time to sit down and really give this some thought or find a person I could talk to about this.  Another option is having it be a new guild made from those the bigger one screwed over instead of them be two groups under the same roof.  Put them in Gaia, which is difficult for any guild to survive in, and I could have a decent plan.  Maybe a political leader lets this new guild be made because they have issues with the other one?  That could be fun.

This week isn’t going to give me much quiet time to figure any of this out.  There’s an event at my school on Wednesday that I have to go to.  Thursdays are going to be exhausting, so I’ll be getting home with the energy of a snail.  I can probably get another chapter done over the weekend though.  There’s a small chance that I can get to work early and tinker with other ideas.  Lately, I’ve been taking my time going on and reading between conversations.  Funny thing is that all of my son’s days off from school are on my days or are Jewish holidays.  Think the first time we have days off and he’s not with me is around Thanksgiving.  Not going to complain at all.  Maybe I’ll do some notebook work during the times he’s reading, drawing, or hanging with friends.

Guess this was a mild week as far as what I could share on the blog.  I did come up with topics for December, which I’ll start preparing.  Let’s dive into the goals:

1. Spend time with son.
2. Cook dinners.
3. Prepare blog posts when possible.
4. Get extra sleep.
5. Notebook work if possible.
6. Darwin & the Joy Path chapter 3 work next weekend.
7. School event.
8. Start work on son’s Halloween costume.
9. Lego building when I need a screen break.
10. Drink water to stave off the IBS attacks.