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2024 - Week 45

Arts & Crafts

I did do a little cross-stiching, but not enough to make a lot of progress. It's been hard to do anything this week.

Decluttering & Minimalism

I wish I could say I was surprised at the results of the US election. To get through the aftermath, I finally did my bookshelf reorganization. Well, I got through all but the handful of illustrated books I own. I decided I would move them with my drawing and art history books since I don't have room for either on my main bookshelves. My body was tired and couldn't quite get it all done.

Gaming & Streaming

Saturday's Starfinder session was a lot of fun. We didn't get a lot done, but it was a good time. We added a 4th player and did maintenance from the previous session. Then we cleared a lady's restaurant basement, disarmed a junk tornado, and killed a ferrous ooze. All in a day's work.

The Pathfinder session went well, but it was a fake boss that we fought. We also had to kill a previous ally who turned on us. It was totally in his nature to do so, but that doesn't make it any less sad. I tried to give him one last chance, but it was a bad time to do so as I forgot he was still choking a friend. RIP Skurge, you weird little creature. We left the dungeon and went back to town then had to deal with a bunch of undead in the cemetary. It didn't look good, but the living prevailed.


I also cleared out an area below the candy themed castle I'm building in Minecraft. It will be a dungeon and an area for animals. 

Goal Setting & Tracking 

Arts & Crafts: Royal Blue on Fairy Cross-Stitch (61%)
Decluttering & Minimalism: Bookshelf Reorganization (90%)
Gaming & Streaming: Starfinder & Pathfinder (100%)
Lifestyle & Sports: Curling (0%) and Massage (100%)
Music & Songwriting: All Voices Choir (100%)
Reading & Writing: Coverfly Career Lab (100%)

Lifestyle & Sports

Tuesday was back to work and I wished I had another day off to focus on other things. I skipped curling because I was still recovering from the weekend and I have so much to do at home that I felt overwhelmed. I also skipped it because these constant weather changes are physically painful.

On Friday, I had an osteopath appointment. It's like the massages I've been getting. Anyway, the arm & shoulder are around 95% there. I'm still trying to get a little bit of range back. She also gave me things to do for my shins. They are feeling a little like they have been overworked from all the running at softball. Trigger point releases on them are so incredibly painful, but there's nothing else I can do but endure it and then not let it get like this next season. Gentle walking and qi gong are recommended.

Movies & Television

I caught up on Grey's Anatomy this week. We need more doctors like Meredith Grey. Maybe then the health system wouldn't be so entirely screwed up.

Music & Songwriting

All Voices Choir was on Thursday evening. I was nervous about it as it had been several decades since I was last in a choir. It was such a wonderful thing to be doing, especially given recent world events.

Reading & Writing

Because I'm silly, I signed up for another day of writing panels. Coverfly had an entire day of screenwriting panels for $15 that I could attend from home. It was on Monday and I had the day off. I've found it really good to take the day after a convention off. The panels were:

- Writing Short Scripts that Stand Out with Kimberely Browning, Julia Morizawa, and Sam Baron
-  What Acclaimed Producers Are Looking for in a Feature Screenplay with Dan Jinks and Sophie Lovell Anderson
- Navigating the World of Managers and Agents with Robert L. McCullough and Suzanne Herrera-McCullough
- Marketing & Pitching Your Script with Cody Smart
- Turning Your Screenplay Into a Novel with Jeanne Veillette Bowerman, Ciara Duggan, and Matt Joseph Misetich
- Receiving Notes: Fuck You, Fuck Me, What's Next? with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna

After the first panel, where I learned it's practically unlikely to get a short made without being more involved in making it than just writing it, I considered not bothering with the rest of the panels, but one never knows where life will lead them. I know I vastly prefer just writing. I've been on movie sets and it's not something I want to be doing. In some ways, it's freeing to know this. I can just focus on fiction writing. I can put the stories out in formats I know better and feel more confident in. Having IP out that can be turned into a film or TV later isn't a bad thing at all. And, at this stage in my life, I'm not likely to want to sacrifice almost half of my wage to join a writer's room anyway.

This isn't to say that I'm not going to write screenplays anymore, but I think writing the novel, novella, or short story first is the answer for me. I can take it later and reformat it into a screenplay. This change in direction has been very helpful in focusing my effort. Now I can focus on my novel and one short story anthology. 
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