Not a single day went smoothly this week.  If this was a rollercoaster, it would be nothing more than spinning with random parts where the cart has to jump a ramp.  Pettiness, high emotions, health stuff, and the Verizon outage were all there.  Guess I’ll dive into this and try to find some positives.

I did manage to finish chapters 12 and 13 of Darwin & the Joy Path.  It didn’t happen last weekend though.  One of the sections took a lot of juggling as well as me waking up later than expected.  So, I only got one section done that day, which meant I didn’t have enough time to finish.  It wasn’t too bad since I needed some thinking time, but not as much as others.  With all of the scenes being walking and talking, I didn’t have to consider high action.  I’ll take it even though the result was creating a twist in one character’s purpose and shifting a few other things.  I may have inadvertently created foreshadowing for this . . .

(Okay, I’m apparently writing this post while my computer tries to update itself.  This has been going on for an hour and I want to get the post done.  My son has midterms to study for and we want to get some Pokemon in before the weather turns too much for driving to be a sane endeavor.  Why do things keep shifting and the window needs to be clicked again?)

. . . Well, the Verizon outage resulted in me not being able to do anything outside of the house.  That meant I couldn’t go to the Pokemon event much like nearly everyone else around here.  So, I managed to muster what little energy I had to write the end of chapter 13, which is where a bunch of changes happened.  I guess they’re changes.  They do give Darwin a bit more urgency and focus without altering the whole story.  Others involved were heading in this direction, but I kind of pushed them further along.  Guess I’ll see how it goes whenever I do an editing read down the road.

Work was really busy since we have (why did the screen go black for a minute?) midterms coming up.  This means a big change of schedule for a few days, which can cause a lot of tension.  Not only with the students, but us too.  I’m not sure what I’m going to do for parts of the day since I can’t bring my laptop along.  Pretty rude to be writing after the kids go home while my coworkers are around.  So, I might just relax and save chapter 14 for the evening or next weekend.  It’s another 3-parter, which means I have a decent shot at getting it done.

An added frustration with the outage was the timing.  The beginning of the week still had weather that allowed me to walk outside for a bit.  Only my son had a lot of work and Tuesday was a wreck. It was nearly dark by the time I got home, so my son and I had to do our Pokemon stuff and chatting at the mall.  At least on Wednesday I could go to a different park and get fresh air before the polar vortex returned Thursday morning . . . Only Verizon was out and my phone was basically useless.  I couldn’t even play music, which made the walking around difficult.  I like having music or a game to keep me focused a bit.  So, I just drove home and finished chapter 13.

There really wasn’t anything else of note this week because the rest was just ridiculous drama.  Stuff I can’t go into here even though I want to.  Some people are insanely petty and will go scorched earth at the slightest provocation.  I’m still dealing with the fallout from one of these people. Glad I have a 3-day weekend with my son to help take my mind off these things.

I started re-watching ‘Fallout’ on Amazon Prime too.  Season 2 came out, but I’m not able to watch the long episodes that quickly.  The final episode should be released around the same time I catch up.  If not, I’ll throw on a comedy or anime.  Hard to get the exact timing down since I can’t predict how chaotic things will be.  At least the show is entertaining enough that I don’t mind it being the second time through.

Let’s jump to the goals:

1. Help son study for midterms this weekend.
2. Work on March blog posts when he studies on his own.
3. Lego sets for screen break.
4. Pokemon outing before weather turns or at mall.
5. Biking on days I can’t go outside.
6. ‘Phi Beta Files’ tinkering.
7. Laundry and house cleaning because I’m an adult with responsibilities.
8. Sleep in if possible.

Finally finished a puzzle I started before my hospital stay and recovery.  Took a while because I couldn’t sit down for very long.  It was a challenge even recently because I’m still having days where I’m sore.  Here it is: