The plus side is that I met all of my goals, including working on ‘Phi Beta Files’ and getting Burger King.  So, it wasn’t a wasted week even though I had at least one appointment every day and became tired easily.  Looks like next week is going to be the same, but I hope to add more walking in if schedule and weather permit.

Let me go a little more into detail about my recovery.  So, I still have a deep wound, which requires daily measuring and packing.  This means that I’ve gone to wound care or had a nurse come over every day.  I used to take Oxycontin for the pain, but I had a bad reaction to it and stopped.  Ibuprofen is doing the job as best as it can. As you can guess, it’s always a rough patch and requires some rest afterwards.  It’s worth it though because I’m healing correctly and steadily.  I will admit that seeing pictures of the wound was kind of disturbing, but at least I saw progress.

The hope is that I will at least be at the point where I can do the maintenance myself at home by the time I go back to work.  It’s entirely possible given how much I healed in one week, so another one can get me to that point.  There isn’t much pain most days and I can drive myself around.  Was getting a ride to my appointments before, but I’m going to do it myself starting this week.  Just need to remember where to go.  This also means I can hit the mall on the way home for a walk before it opens, which is optimal.  Gives me the rest of the day to relax.

I was able to make some progress with Darwin & the Joy Path this week.  I finished chapter 8 and started chapter 9.  With appointments and energy, I’m only able to do one section a day.  The snowstorm tomorrow might allow me to do two though, which means I could finish chapter 9 before Monday.  Hard to tell since it’s also the first night of Hannukah, so I get my son for a few hours.  Can’t stay up late either since I have a morning appointment.  Hey, I’ll take what I can get.  Maybe I can start a section tonight like I’ve done a few times before, which will increase my chances.

Making progress on ‘Phi Beta Files’ outlines is good too.  The challenge here is that I thought up some great ideas for the last two books while I was in the hospital.  I was also medicated and repeatedly dozing off, so I only have brain flickers of what I cam up with at the time.  Oops.  I think I’ll still be able to put something good together.  After that, I need to figure out the next ‘organization’ series that I want to start outlining.  I have a list with 7 other ideas with one being a mystery.  Seems I have them mostly marked as short story style books, but that might change for a few.  Can’t even remember what the overall plot for a few are such as the witches and whatever the mystery one is.

One idea that I’m still wondering about is this ‘Lords of Hyperscape’ one.  It was originally a science-fiction idea revolving around a video game system that people enter.  The heroes were a new team entering the competition league.  Moving it to Windemere, turned it into a fantasy concept, which worked for a bit.  I switched out computers for illusions and mind magic, but it still has issues.  Not sure if the name still fits or if such a competition would be interesting.  All I know is that I wanted to do a series that depicts a type of sport or competition in Windemere. I considered it being magic battles, but that didn’t seem very creative.  Guess I’ll have to sit on this a bit longer and consider what would be a fun, popular sport in a fantasy world.

Well, I seem to be rambling about ideas, which hasn’t happened in a while.  That should be a good sign.  This is the last full week of school before the break, so my son has some events that I’m determined to attend.  Daily appointments mean waking up early and going to bed early, but that’s good.  It means I’m still on my work schedule, so I won’t be thrown off when I go back.  Silver linings abound!

Goals of the week?

1. Continue healing.
2. Spend time with son.
3. Write more Darwin & the Joy Path.
4. Work on ‘Phi Beta Files’.
5. Try to get a daily walk in at the mall every day.
6. Puzzle time when I need quiet.
7. Make vodka sauce for lasagna recipe.  (I’m hoping to return to work just in time for a pot luck, so I’m showing up strong.  Figure it’ll be a thank you for everything my coworkers have done for me.)
8. Finish some February blog posts if I can’t do anything else.
9. Get Taco Bell at some point.