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The Gauntlet That Was October

I had a lot of things happen in October. I watched Frankenstein in the cemetery with friends. I had tea with a friend. I started a new sport: curling. This is really fun and I'm enjoying the level of activity it provides and all the strategic elements. I'll do a separate post on it soon. Unfortunately, soon after my first game, I came down with Covid and so did the friend who I had tea with, so I think we both caught it at the place we went to. That wasn't fun. I already posted about that. I was fortunate to be free of it in time to attend Can-Con where I took in lots of panels, saw some of the wonderful writer community, bought many new books, and volunteered to help out in the rooms.

The following weekend, I went to the livestream for Danielle Allard's new album release, followed by the in person release. As part of this, she has a 6 video series that releases every Sunday on her YouTube at 1:15 PM EDT. Video number 2, Falling Into Place, is one that I feel fortunate to have been part of. I am wearing turquoise plaid in the bar scenes: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs7Dk_Fz4gg&ab_channel=DanielleAllard

I had a lovely spooky night with friends in between this, where we hung out, listened to music, and attempted Haunted Walk's:  A Haunting At Home.

The weekend after that, I was part of a streaming festival called Dinosaur Streamfest on Twitch. It was the 13th edition. This helped me get the last thing I needed to apply for Twitch Affiliate status, which was successful! Here is the link to the stream. The chaos really starts 10 minutes in: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1638726242

There were so many awesome streamers that were part of it. I particularly enjoyed the synth ones and Thateflatguy, who dressed up as Mr. Rogers and acted as him. It was adorable and wholesome.

The same night, I went to a Hallowe'en party with my screenwriting friends and for the first bit I was high on adrenaline from the raid experience.

After this came another Hallowe'en party with my martial arts friends. Once the young one left, we played, "That's What She Said." I won. I don't win at games often, so it was a highlight for me.

Then it was Hallowe'en where I went out with close friends and their kiddos for trick or treating. I dressed up as Cubone and the kids immediately knew I was a pokemon.

Somehow with all of that I was also able to watch:

- Frankenstein (1931): One of the greatest sci-fi horrors of all time.

- The Haunting of Bly Manor

- Slaughterhouse Rulez: A Harry Potter horror comedy parody.

- Ratched: A TV show based on a character from One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

- Trick or Treats: A kid torments his babysitter while a killer is on the loose.

- The Girl in the Mirror: An interesting twist on a ghost story.

- The Midnight Club: Terminally ill teens tell each other ghost stories.

- Hocus Pocus: A goofy horror about three witch sisters running amok.

- Hocus Pocus 2: The sequel was a nice bit of nostalgia and an introduction to a new generation.

- Practical Magic: A witch tale featuring Sandra Bullock.

- Fear Street 1994: A teen scream film about a curse affecting a town called Shadyside.

- Fear Street 1978: In the "sequel", we learn more about how long the curse has been going on.

- Fear Street 1666: The final installment is a discovery of when it all began and who is responsible.


OCTOBER GOAL REVIEW

Finances

- My new plan is just to work on paying as much as possible down before March, which is when the remainder of my bathroom reno costs will hit my line of credit. Some good news is that with the new Scene+ option of redeeming for cash, I was able to pay off one credit card faster. I was also given the option of a limit increase on that one, so I've taken that in order to cancel one I don't like using.

Fitness*

- Rowing 2x weekly: I plan to ease myself back into activity tomorrow. (This didn't end up happening as decluttering took up my time instead.)

- Moving (walking/dancing/curling/cleaning) 4x weekly: Post Covid, walking at the convention made my right calf muscle quite angry.

Home

- Sell items*: This was halted during Covid and I may take the rest of October just for spooky things. (To be continued in November)

- Set up reading nook*: The base is in place and so is the mattress. I need a sheet to cover it. (More to come on this)

- Set up daybed in the living room: This has been accomplished. Because of my Scene+ redemption, I was able to order the mattress and its coverings much sooner! (I'm loving the daybed!)

- Clean condo: In progress. I'm catching up on everything after having Covid and a busy month.

Music

- Practise

- Learn at least one song*: I've chosen a song to focus on. I'm not sure I'll be able to sing. I'm still having some drainage and occasional coughing after Covid.

Twitch Update

- Continue working towards Affiliate: DONE! Thanks to Danielle Allard and the Dinos, I'm now a Twitch Affiliate and people can subscribe to my channel!

Writing

- edit Chapter 14 (Sparker) (I need to restart after all the ideas I got during Can-Con because I've figured out where a lot of problem areas are. I couldn't put my finger on many of those before though I knew somethings were bugging me about my novel.)

- edit Chapter 15 (Sparker)

- continue working on Popcorn Girl


Please check out my digital to-do list: https://trello.com/b/RM8yD3eq/rae-roy-general

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Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

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