I don’t feel like I was successful this week, but I was.  Only goals that I failed to accomplish were finishing the April blog posts and tinkering with ‘Phi Beta Files’.  To be fair, I’m only 1 away from that first goal and I tried started at the second one.  No idea what happened there beyond I had gone out to a bar with a friend beforehand.  The bartender had some experimental drinks that she wanted to try and I agreed to be a guinea pig.  Wasn’t drunk, but was buzzed to the point of mellowness.  Anyway . . .

All of that means I finished writing Darwin & the Joy Path.  It got pretty hairy at a few points due to some unexpected appointments.  Managed to slip in some writing between those to not fall too far behind.  Then, I used Wednesday to write an entire chapter, which I haven’t done in about 2 years.  Guess it wasn’t that hard because it was the final one and the final section was the 1.5 page foreshadowing for the next book.  I might have to go back to Darwin & the Fate Bracelet for some continuity questions, but I think having this item on a returning character could just be something they picked up over time.

The weather was decent enough that I had fun going out for a few Pokemon events last weekend.  I ended up being in the park longer than expected, but only because I ended up socializing.  Seems it had been weeks since most players hit the area due to the frigid temps and lingering piles of snow.  So, there was a lot catching up and discussing how things might work not weekend.  It’s the big end of season event, which spans the entire weekend with a lot of fun stuff to do.  This another reason why I was determined to finish Darwin & the Joy Path during this break.  Means I don’t have to go 3 weeks with only the closing chapter to do.

All writing basically stopped once my son came home for my half of the break.  We went to the zoo on Thursday, but it wasn’t a picture heavy outing.  Not that it wasn’t fun, but things are low key there during the winter.  My son was observing animals to see if any inspired him to make monsters for a future video game.  I’m trying to teach him my tricks for creature creation, which depends a lot on having animal knowledge.  It kept him off his phone for most of the trip too, which was interesting.  Think he figured out over 30 critters, but he isn’t sharing.

We aren’t having the a lazy break either.  Family visited yesterday and he has his own plans today.  Tomorrow is supposed to be when we get hit by another blizzard, which goes into Monday.  We bought food to make for when we’re stuck inside.  You can tell we are working around ‘big events’ to do our own things.  I still plan on preparing blog posts and outlining while he is designing monsters and trying to teach himself some basic computer coding.  There’s us watching shows together and video games.

Speaking of video games, I did buy the ‘Castlevania’ bundle only to be reminded how brutal the first game from the 80’s could be.  No cheats, easy way to farm lives, easy to find health, or enemies who stay dead.  I feel like the game is set to hard mode too because I don’t remember taking this much damage from one hit back in the day.  I think I can still reach the same place I usually failed.  My son got destroyed by the first level and decided he wasn’t into old games.  It’s going to be rough when I make an honest attempt.

Next week is going to be fairly crazy.  I’m scared to make any goals because of how things are looking.  It starts with a possible blizzard, which could give us a snow day.  Then, we go back to school/work while there are piles of snow around. Driving will be messy and all the kids are going to be thrown off.  Leading up to the Pokemon Go season finale will be nightly events, but the weather and roads might not allow for me to easily get to them.  It’s going to all end with the big event next weekend.  Last time I did one of those was in November and I ended up getting the bacterial infection over the course of that.  Needless to say, I’m a little nervous.

There’s a lot of other things going on too, which I can’t get into.  My son is doing better, but the Disney trip debacle still comes up with him asking why the person did it.  I have no answer and neither does the person.  Feels like much of my parenting time lately has been playing damage control for other people.  Tired of trying to explain the actions of others towards my son when I don’t even agree with them.  He knows I’m doing my best and trying to be the bigger person, especially since I can’t hide my exhaustion at having to do this over and over and over again.  Hopefully, I get a day off from this mess when we’re just hanging out between shovel outings.

Goals of the week?

1. Spend time with son.
2. Finish April blog posts.
3. Shovel if blizzard hits.
4. Work on ‘Phi Beta Files’ outlines.
5. Play Pokemon Go as best I can with the weather.
6. Stay warm.
7. Get extra sleep.
8. Puzzle time to relax.
9. Go back to work.