2023 Week XII: "Spring Towers"

 Hello Internet,

A few weeks ago, I talked about using Towers as a way of shoring up my mental health and keeping focused with my ADHD.  As a reminder, Towers are long-term goals that I establish at the beginning of each new season and plan toward completing by the end of that season.  Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, which means that I am taking a look at last season’s towers and assessing how well I finished them as well as preparing for the next season’s towers.  That is what this post is going to be about.

For the sake of brevity, I will avoid providing my Winter Towers and will focus primarily on the Spring Towers for this year.  Before I list my planned towers and what I’ve done differently to aid in my success this time around, I will tell you that eight out of twelve towers for winter, giving me an approximate 67% success rate.  So, I got a D+.  Now, without further ado, my 2023 Spring Towers:

-Career-

-Work: Sign up for Freelance Writing Websites 0% (1—12)

I have a list of free lance writing websites I need to sign up for.  As I am waiting for more Education jobs to post, I am going to try and supplement our income with freelance writing.  This can be just as tiring as conventional interviews largely because freelance writing is such a crapshoot.  There are so many jobs that are scams, and even those that aren’t make their money through exploitation of workers.  It’s difficult to find fair compensation starting off.

-RWS: Camp NaNoWriMo/New Rangers: Mighty Morphin’ Part 1 (April, 25k) 0% (0—25,000 Words)

Camp NaNoWriMo takes place in April and June, I believe.  So, I will have spring and summer camps to write for.  I’d like to get to doing a full 50k or more for each camp and for the actual NaNo each year.  For this time around, I am doing just 25k to get on the horse, and I will be putting 25k into a story I am already partway through.

-Financed: Requested Story Rough 11% (2—9)

I make a little money writing already, and I have a requested story that I am trying to finish.  I am trying to finish the rough draft.  Currently, I am on chapter two of nine.

-Hobbies-

-Books: Read My Hero Academia: Vigilantes 4 Volumes+ 0% (1—5) Approx. 54 Chapters

I read some form of manga most days because it is easy, and I enjoy it, and I save bigger, more complex things for Saturdays or relaxation before bed.  My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is an offshoot of the very popular My Hero Academia, and it has also finished its run while the latter is still going.  My goal for spring is to finish Vigilantes and maybe summer will see a novel or the like instead.

-Games: Beat Dragon Age: Origins Kallian Tabris 0% (1—5)

I am knee-deep in my current DA: O playthrough.  I think it is playthrough number six.  Either way, I have four story arcs to complete and then a DLC that I’ve never played before.  Kallian and Alistair just consummated their romance.  I will not be doing an Awakening run because I fully expect Kallian to die.

-Shows: Watch Fullmetal Alchemist 12% (4—26)

I am doing a rewatch of FMA with Noodle, and I am about 4 episodes in.  I will focus on that.  For those of you who are curious, FMA has over 50 episodes.  I am splitting it into two seasons like it was done for its Adult Swim run on Cartoon Network.

-Health & Wellness-

-Mental: Take Meds for 30 Days/One Month 0% (1—30)

I have not been doing a very good job of taking my medication consistently.  I have to take it twice a day.  It supposedly takes 45 days to develop a habit, but I’ll give myself thirty because it’s easier to track with my habit tracker.

-Physical: Katy Trail Research & Exercise Plan 0% (1—3)

I have long wanted to hike the entirety of the Katy Trail, but I am nowhere near in shape enough for that nonsense.  So, I want to research how far it is and build it into my (meager) exercise routine to prepare for the trek.

-Social: Social Media Detox 0% (1—30)

I trend toward using social media when I am bored, and I spend too much time on Instagram, Reddit, and Facebook.  It isn’t necessarily to my detriment, but it is difficult for me to redirect once I start, especially because of my ADHD.  Next please!

-Home & Hearth-

-Chores: Sweep Garage 

The garage is still dirty from when we had Jet in there last year.  I have been meaning to convert it into a space for the BKs to stretch their legs a bit, but I haven’t had the energy since Kangaroo was born to sweep it out.  Now that the weather may be warmer, I want to make that a priority, and I am sure that Ratatoskr would love to help.

-Family: Easter, Spring Break, & Glasses 0% (1—3)

I am already doing these things, but I plan to plan for them.  Easter and Spring Break SHOULD be reversed, but who cares.  I’ll fix it on my own personal file.  Also, Ratatoskr is getting glasses.

-Finances: Soda Detox 30 Days (1—30)

Ugh.  I need to cut down on soda and sugars in general.  I am still allowing energy drinks because my insomnia has been particularly bad this week, and I am going to drink brisk lemonades (8oz. a day at most, which dramatically cuts down on sugar consumption).  Hopefully, I will drink more water as a result, too.

One of the things I am trying to do differently this time is to quantify every task.  This helps me with my ADHD because it means I have to break each task down into smaller, more easily achievable tasks, which has been proven to ease task initiation, and it also allows me to personally focus on what I have completed (look at the percentages) instead of what I still have to do.  You’ll notice that I do this with a lot of my posts.

Also on that note, I have been feeling burned out lately.  I’ve been pushing myself to write too much and on things that are not paying off, and it has sapped some of my joy of writing.  This week I’ve tried out a modified schedule that felt much, much better, and I am glad for it.  So, moving forward I will reduce blogging content and fold it into my conventional RWS content.  This won’t mean much of anything for anyone who stumbles onto this blog, but it can and will change my entire life.

Thanks for reading,

RWS

P.S.

-Short Rest-

Schedule

1. Fullmetal Alchemist/Persona 5 Royal+/Critical Role: Campaign 3

2. One-Punch Man/Crisis Core: Reunion—Final Fantasy VII—/Outlaw Star

3. My Hero Academia/DnD5e (Dragon Age: Origins)/The Legend of Vox Machina

4. The Emperor and I/Replay/Seven Deadly Sins Season 1

5. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes/Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Storm 2/X-Men

6. Boruto: The Next Generation/Movie (Fullmetal Alchemist)/Young Justice

7. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat/Persona 3 Portable/Dimension 20: Tiny Heist

Books

Tower: Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru

0. One Piece 100% New Chapters Every…

1. Sun: Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 5, Ch. 18: “The Value of Sincerity”—21 20% (2—5)

2. Mon: One-Punch Man Vol. 16, Punch 84: “Hideout”—84 83% (6—6)

3. Tue: My Hero Academia Vol. 14, No. 125: “Overhaul”—128 60% (7—10)

4. Wed: The Emperor and I Vol. 2, Ch. 14.5: “Feather’s and Appearances”—18 56% (10—16)

5. Thu: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Vol. 10, Ep. 73: “The Queen is Born”—81 0% (1—9)

6. Fri: Boruto: The Next Generation Vol.9, No. 33: “Exceeding the Limits!!”—35 25% (2—4)

7. Sat: Books

-Fiction: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

-Library: Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender by Stef M. Shuster

-YA: The Giver by Lois Lowry

-Fan Fiction: Final Fantasy: Fated to Ch. 50 by tinygaia Ch. 50—50, 100% 

-Nonfiction: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat 12% (54—440)

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

-DnD5e: Player’s Handbook by Wizards of the Coast 0% (?—??)

-Reread

Games

Tower: Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster

1. Stardew Valley

Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition+

Kingdom Hearts Trophy Run

Persona 5 Royal+

2. Short/Crisis Core—Final Fantasy VII—Reunion 126% ((24/19hrs)10-11 Chapters 100%)

.hack//OUTBREAK 0% ((0/22hrs)56/78hrs)*

3. DnD5e/Dragon Age: Origins Kallian Tabris 60% (44/73)

Mass Effect 2 Jean Shepard Replay ??% (?/52hrs)

4. Replay/ Persona 5 Royal+

5. Long/Persona 3 Portable 27% (22/83hrs)

Shows

Tower: Dimension 20: Unsleeping City

1. Critical Role: Campaign 3 Part I Ep. 2 “Trial by Firelight”—11 (Level Up to 5) 9% (2—11)

2. Anime: Outlaw Star 15% (5—26)

3. Online/Owned: The Legend of Vox Machina Season 1 25% (4—12)

Fulletal Alchemist 12% (4—26)

4. Netflix: Seven Deadly Sins Season 1 83% (21—24)

5. Disney+: Gargoyles Season 1 39% (6—13)

6. HBO: Young Justice Season 1 42% (12—26)

7. Dimension 20: Tiny Heist Ep. 6: “The Great Chase”—6 83% (6—6)

8. Movies: Firefly 29% Disc 2 (5—14)

MCU Series/Movie: Ms. Marvel 1—6

Disney/Bambi

HBOMax/My Neighbor Totoro

Star Wars/Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Owned/Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Marvel/X2: X-Men United

Anime/.hack//LIMINALITY: “The Case of Yuki Aihara”

DCAU/Batman: Mask of the Phantasm