Arts & Crafts
My main crafty goal this week was about getting more decals onto my car before the weather was too cold to apply them successfully. I thought about leaving some until spring, but the likelihood that I'd misplace them was high. Besides, they were taking up space in Tiny Condo. I still have two I want to acquire, but they'll have to wait due to budget.
In the end, I decided to just do the driver's side as it was a lot more complicated than the smaller ones. This decal has helped me find my car many times already. There are too many black cars in Ottawa.
Decluttering & Minimalism
There were no serious goals here this week with everything else I needed to put energy towards like work and getting ready for Can-Con on the weekend.
Gaming & Streaming
No specific goals here for this week, though I have lights and a background mostly set up now for eventual crafting streams.
Goal Setting & Tracking
Arts & Crafts: Car decals (100%)
Decluttering & Minimalism: N/A
Gaming & Streaming: N/A
Lifestyle & Sports: Curling (100%)
Music & Songwriting: EVANESCENCE!!! and CANDLELIGHT HALLOWEEN!!! (100%)
Reading & Writing: CAN-CON!!! (100%)
Lifestyle & Sports
Monday was a day I had been looking forward to for a while. Evanescence was performing that night at the Sens arena. More on this in the Music & Songwriting section.
Curling on Tuesday was helpful. I've been trying to do all the motions a bit too fast in my delivery, so it wasn't allowing me to put my slider foot under myself fully in the best way and I'd lose stability. I seem to have less leg drive than I'd like, but we are working more on getting a good line of delivery rather than hitting hard. This is where aphantasia is really unhelpful though as I can't visualize a line going down the sheet. I didn't stay for the game playing portion as my tricep was unhappy, so I felt it best to let it rest.
Wednesday I had earmarked for adding the large decals to my car because the weather was forecasted to be +19C. Given how far into October we were, I figured it was unlikely to happen again. In the end, I decided just the driver's side would have the large wolf on it. Perhaps I'll do the second one another time, or I'll do something else on the passenger's side.
On Thursday, after work I was off to a Candlelight Halloween concert, followed by an event at a pub. My oldest friend was DJing and my friends had went to this particular event the year before.
Friday was the start of Can-Con. More on this in the Reading & Writing section. It was also the start of a new month so here is November's Music Oracle:
Movies & Television
This week, I finished Gilmore Girls including the miniseries that followed. I find myself wishing Stars Hollow was a real place I could move to. It's just so quaint.
The miniseries was mostly terrible. Almost no characters showed growth except for Emily. Many were stuck in a pattern for a decade and it was disappointing as a viewer and a writer. Having one or two characters stuck would have been more realistic.
Music & Songwriting
The week began with an Evanescence concert. The openers were The Warning and Halestorm. I still felt a bit rough on Monday, but I was thoroughly excited for the concert. The last time I saw them live was 21 years ago.
It was hard to focus on work the whole day leading up to the concert. The Warning was the first opener. They are a metal band composed of three sisters from Mexico. They rock hard and are excellent at it. They were using a bass drum that had cool visualizations in it.
Next up was Halestorm. The lead singer mentioned how this night was special because it's rare to see so many women on stage. I realized I need more Halestorm in my life.
Evanescence was phenomenal. Their sound has grown fuller. It's amplified and heavier. Amy Lee has always been an impressive vocalist, but her sound has aged like a fine wine. The band has leveled up and they were already top notch.
I love symphonic metal. It's this rhythmic dance of hard and soft elements that creates a balanced sound. Like goju ryu, but in music form instead of karate. A life is budo moment for my martial artist friends.
Recently, I realized I don't go to nearly enough concerts or live music events for someone who loves music as much as I do. I plan to change this in 2025.
Thursday's Fever Candelight Halloween concert was a lower key music night and I enjoyed it. It was a string quartet. I think it would be even better as an orchestra.
Reading & Writing
This week was all about Can-Con. Friday morning had me in a workshop for writing RPGs. The panelist was a writer friend who is quite accomplished in the area. It would be several hours after the panel before the convention actually started, so I would be finding something to do to kill time. I initially had signed up to tour the senate, but I cancelled because I was carrying far too much for all the walking involved. Instead, I tried out Smash Daddy and finished reading The Chatelaine. The panels I attended in the evening were:
- Fantastical Body Modification with Erin Rockfort, David Demchuk, Derek Newman-Stille, and Lynne Sargent. I was kicking myself for not bring my copy of The Bone Mother to get it signed.
- Living a More Relaxed Creative Life with Madona Skaff-Koren, E.L. Chen, Lydia M Hawke, and Vanessa Ricci-Thode. This panel was so therapeutic for me after a year full of life getting in the way between rotator cuff, work, tongue tie, car failure, etc.
- Worldbuilding Focus: Magic Systems with Julie E. Czerneda, Ed Greenwood, Gregory A. Wilson, and Kate Heartfield. This was one of the best panels as it really blew up the idea that a magic system needs to be highly complex to be good.
Saturday was a marathon of panels:
- Capitalist Horror with Nina Nesseth, Suzan Palumbo, an artist I didn't get the name of because I was late, and Andrew Sullivan. They talked about it being rather like a hydra.
- Acquisitions 101: The Editorial Perspective with Jennifer Brozek, Dave Ring, Diana M. Pho, and Jen Albert. It's often not following directions or submitting what they want.
- Advice for Aspiring Writers Live Q&A with C.S.E. Cooney, Mark Robinson, Lydia M. Hawke, and Carolyne Trodjan. Topics that came up included mentorship, cynicism, day jobs, fear, pen names, editing, hybrid contracts, choosing an editor, confidence, and the path to publication.
- Maintaining a Sustainable Creative Business with Tao Wong, Jennifer Brozek, J.F. Garrand, and Kerry C. Byrne. Burnout, self-care, scheduling, shifting mindsets after work, communication with your editor, putting your work first, and marketing were some of the topics.
I got some food and took a break while I caught up with an old friend who I hadn't seen in person since before the pandemic before going to one more panel that day.
- Deep Research with Suyi Davies Okungbowa, Ai Jiang, Pauline Barmby, and Donald Montgomery. Wikipedia is a good starting point as they often have sources listed that you can check out yourself.
After this, I had originally intended to go to another games panel, but I went to dinner with Toronto friends instead. I would be going to a gaming panel on the final day anyway.
Sunday held four panels for me.
- Cross-Pollination Between Writing Forms with Gregory A. Wilson, Michele Lafromboise, Sarah Gailey, and C.S.E. Cooney. Collaborative forms like Comics tend to result in better communication with editors on more solo projects.
- Managing a Big Games Project, From Step 1 to 1000 with Steven Kenson, Aysha U. Farah, Felice Kuan, and Jesse Scoble. This was a panel where I didn't feel like I got what I hoped to, but it was interesting anyway.
- Grappling with Monarchy in Fiction with Kate Heartfield, Safia Senhaji, Y.M. Pang, and Dave Ring. They talked about it being a governmental system and how despite things not being a monarchy in North America, we still see a lot of the same power dynamics in our governments and wealthy people.
- The Revenge of Mary Sue with Lynne Sargent, Madona Skaff-Koren, Cal Black, and S.M. Carriere. Women always have to be more. ie. Luke vs. Rey.
After this, I said goodbye to the Toronto friends I hadn't yet and some other friends before driving my exhausted self home to make chicken parm and have some wine.
Throughout the weekend, I got ideas for several of my projects and throughly enjoyed seeing all my writer friends.