Update February 27, 2022

 Hello Internet,

I am still trying to determine the shape of this thing.  I have a vague image of it, a silhouette of what I want from it, of what I need from it.  The words are there, unrefined, taking on the appearance of the thing without being the thing, like the roughest draft I've ever written.  Through repeated, careful effort, I will pare it down, a layer at a time, sculpting it until its true self makes its appearance.

This month marks the first update I have missed in, well, a long time as I prepared and adapt.  My wife is pregnant and will be giving birth just before the next school year begins.  She will take the time she needs to heal and then scamper off back to work, not because she is being forced (well, not because she is being forced by me...) but because she has found a building that she wishes to call her home.  I, meanwhile, will be between work.

You see, I have two children--daughters--S and M.  At the very beginning of the pandemic, after the initial stay-at-home order in my state, Wife took S with her to school.  It was S' First Grade year, and we were all virtual.  Wife was teaching virtually, too, and was feeling overwhelmed balancing the needs of her students, the needs of her child, and her own needs in her second year of teaching.  I was preparing to do my semester of student teaching and had a final class to finish before I was ready, and we agreed that I would stay home and take care of S while this was happening.  M was, of course, still too young for public school and was at a daycare (a daycare I worked at, actually).

S didn't like it.  She wanted to be at school with her friends, and she has always loved school.  I loved it.  That was the second year I completed a NaNoWriMo challenge, and looking back on it, that time could have been used differently or with better proficiency.  When little baby H comes into the world, that is the plan, for me to stay home as a House Hubby and take care of the baby and the home while building up a writing portfolio.

I have been organizing that and looking into what I need for a portfolio.  That is also why I am posting this candid blog.  So far, it is a real mess, but I am slowly making progress.  I am still working until the end of the school year, so I am being patient with myself and setting up a schedule for when the school year ends and the summer begins.  I have a little bit more paperwork to turn in to finish my licensure process, and I have the vague outline of a schedule ready for when I am writing fulltime at home.  It will start with the girls at home with me over summer break, but everyone should be doing summer school shortly after that, giving me time to do work my home schedule.

This blog is a new thing.  It is not the type of writing I usually do, but I'll be honest--this felt good.

Thanks,

RWS

P.S. 

-Short Rest-

Books

0. Main: How to be Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi 100% (241—241)

1. Sun: (Manga) One Piece Vol. 73, Ch. 739: “Captain”—742 64%  (8—11)

Ruroni Kenshin Vol. 5, Act 39—39 100% (9—9)

Zombie Power 100%

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency Vol. 4, Ch. 53: “The Wind, the Chariot and Wamuu part 2”—69 30% (4—20)

My Hero Academia Vol. 8, No. 63: “Yaoyorzu Rising”—71 0% (1—9)

Boruto Vol. 3, Ch. 8: “You’ll Need To Do It”—11 0% (1—4)

One-Punch Man Vol. 9, Punch 40: “The Man Who Wanted to be a Villain”—46.1 0% (1—11)

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Vol. 4, Ch. 19: “Family”—26 0% (1—8)

2. Mon: (Fiction) Pyramids by Terry Pratchett 54% (194—358)

3. Tue: (YA) The Giver by Lois Lowry 0% (0—0)

4. Wed: (Non-Fiction) Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat (1—??)

5. Thu: (Reread) American Gods by Neil Gaiman

6. Fri: (DnD5e) Player’s Handbook by Wizards of the Coast (0–X)

7. Sat: (Fan Fiction) Final Fantasy: Fated bytinygaia Ch. 54% (28—50)

8. Squirrel: One Piece Vol. 17 Ch. 148—155

-View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman 26% (130—502)

Games

0. Main:

1. Sun1: Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending 19% (5/27hrs)

Sun2: Dissidia: Final Fantasy (Duodecim+Dissidia) 12% (8/69(138)) HH

2. Mon: Final Fantasy VIII 29% (16/55hrs)

3. Tue: DnD5e/YT

4. Wed: Breath of Fire 0% (0/30hrs)

5. Thu: DnD5e Prep & Critical Role

6. Fri: Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition 0% (0/70hrs)

7. Sat: .hack//MUTATION 22% (23/50hrs(5/23hrs))

8. Noodle: Final Fantasy IX 22% (12/54hrs)

-Dragon Age: Origins Kallian Tabris 14% (10/74hrs)

-Xenogears 6% (4/66hrs)

Shows

0. Main: The Legend of Korra 100% (14)

1. Critical Role: “The Final Chapter” 29% (130—141)

2. Funimation: Dragon Ball The General Blue Saga 25% 50—57 (5—12)

3. Owned: Firefly 0% (1—14)

4. Netflix: Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6 14% (2—7)

5. Online: Batman 36% (12—31)

6. Disney+: Marvel’s Agent Carter Season 1 0% (1—8)

7. Critical Role 6—17

Hawkeye 50% (4—6)

Movies: Akira

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

King’s Glaive: Final Fantasy XV

Godzilla: Edge of the Battlefield

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Fantasia

-Going to try watching shows on my lunch break, I think.