April 3, 2022

 Hello Internet,

I had big plans for today, intending to write up something different, something with focus and without much speculation.  Then, the day happened, and I didn't quite get to it.

Sundays, for me, are about posting stories and going grocery shopping.  Everything else tends to take a backseat.  Most days, I wake up at 530a, but with Spring Break coming to a close, I find my anxiety distracting me and keeping me awake.  Yesterday, I woke up around 2:30a, and last night I took some ibuprofen pm to make sure I slept through the night.  When my alarm sounded at 530 for me to get up, I turned it off and drifted back into sleep until about 7, which put me a little behind.

Today has been a struggle to stay focused, but the evening has seen me more productive.  I don't have a clean plan of what I am going to do tomorrow, but I have the morning to figure it out.  It will be the first day since the SL have moved in together that they will come home to sharing a room.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm nervous, but it's what we have to do.

Only eight more weeks.  I'll be counting down the days.

Sincerely,

RWS

P.S.

-Short Rest-

Books

0. Main: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

1. Sun: (Manga) One Piece Vol. 76, Ch. 770: “The Spear of Elbaph”—775 50%  (7—12)

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

Zombie Power 100%

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 2: Battle Tendency Vol. 4, Ch. 63: “The Final Hamon part 1”—69 65% (14—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 75% (270—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. 62% (32—50)

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

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

Games

-:The Season of Square:-

0. Main: Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending

1. Sun1: Final Fantasy VIII 58% (32/55hrs)

Sun2: Final Fantasy IX 39% (21/54hrs)

Mon: Backlog

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory 100%

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days 0% (0/34hrs)

Kingdom Hearts: RE:Coded 0% (0/26hrs)

3. Tue: DnD5e/Movie

4. Wed: Multiples

Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending 100%

Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition

5. Thu: Hell Night

6. Fri: Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster 0% (0/52hrs)

Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission International HD 0/22hrs

7. Sat1: Main

Sat2: Xenogears 9% (6/66hrs)

-:Season of Square:- 

March 20–September 23

0. Main: Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending

1. Sun1: (Free Play) Final Fantasy IX 32% (17/54hrs)

Sun2: (JRPG) Final Fantasy VIII 58% (32/55hrs)

2. Mon: (Backlog) Breath of Fire 0% (0/30hrs)

3. Tue: DnD5e/Movie

4. Wed: (Multiples) Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending 100% (5/27hrs)

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

5. Thu: Hell Night

6. Fri: (Series) .hack//MUTATION 22% (23/50hrs(5/23hrs))

7. Sat: (Replay) Xenogears 6% (4/66hrs)

Shows

0. Main: Voltron: Legendary Defender

1. Critical Role: “The Final Chapter” 41% (132—141)

2. Funimation: Dragon Ball The General Blue Saga 42% 51—57 (6—12)

3. Owned: Firefly 14% (3—14)

4. Netflix: Moving Pictures Season 3 0% (1—6)

5. Online: Batman 36% (12—31)

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

7. Critical Role 8—17

Hawkeye 50% (4—6)

Movies: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Godzilla: Edge of the Battlefield

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Stargazers Codex #007: "The Olympic Republic"

::: The Olympic Republic :::

            It all started with the Olympic Republic.  Historically speaking, Ark Olympus was the first to open, and it was the first to establish a civilization around it.  As a result, Olympus was the first planet to achieve space travel and, after years of exploration and tracking, was the first to find another Ark and begin the process of settling the stars.

            Olympus’ capitol city, Rhea, is the foundation of civilization.  Considering itself something of a cradle, it was home to the Republic Senate and the state houses from where it was run.  A city of ambassadors and politicians, it is still quite large and thoroughly settled.  The citizenry are baroque but well-educated, having a firm grasp on not only their history but on their place in the world.  The historically significant and chronologically recent failure of the Centurion Project is something fresh to the public mind and shapes much of the discourse and politics within the city.  Patriotism within the city is high but waning, as the secession of the Asgardian Federation is seen both as a blow to the governing powers that be and a natural consequence of government overreach.

            Founded by the president Ahmad Al Saud, the Republic is made up of many planets.  Following the Asgardian succession, the government has been made smaller and more centralized.  The Republic’s parliament exercises control of these planets, wrapping their autonomy in a bureaucratic nightmare that they present as a red-taped bow.  They mask this control as the necessity of a functioning civilization, though recent history has proven this wrong.

            With the far fringes of the Republic removed, however, there has been an improvement in the quality of life across the planets.  There is, however, a darker undercurrent as the cheap costs of production exported to other planets are rising on account of such sudden and dramatic governmental changes.  The current regime paints themselves in Al Saud’s image and use his popularity to maintain their control.  Even then, their hold and their reach is absolute on the planets that have remained within the fold.

            The Republic is also known to hold the most Guide ruins.  In each secession, the Republic has negotiated at gunpoint to maintain material control over the Guide ruins, sharing only what is necessary with the other worlds out of necessity of the Three-Party Accord.  Much is publicly acknowledged as being kept back, and there is a deep public distrust for the government and the military when it comes to the Guides and to the technology that is shared.

            To maintain their image, the Republic outsources much of their work to private scientific and military organizations.  The result is that each of these private companies, while ostensibly Republic employees in practice are technically contracted.   Because of this, the government bodies leading the Republic can harvest the results of the work done by these private companies without being penalized for their dubious methods.

March 27, 2022

 Hello Internet,

I missed my update window yesterday.  I had the blog page open, and I found myself staring at it, unable to focus.

It is Spring Break this week, which means that we have nine days off from work including the weekends.  Return to work will be difficult and, following that return, we have no more scheduled holidays off for the rest of the school year.  With my anxiety high, I know this will be a struggle for me to finish, but I have two days scheduled to take off for medical reasons. One of them will be with Noodle to get an ultrasound of our little Kangaroo; the other is a mental health evaluation that I sorely need.

I have pretty severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and I say severe in that it is pervasive or affecting of my life.  I am always a little bit anxious, but I have certain triggers.  Recently, I've had a lot of social anxiety, which is strange because that was not one of my major triggers when I was younger.  These sorts of things change overtime.

A few years ago, I was diagnosed with Type II Bipolar Disorder.  After finishing my student teaching semseter last year and living two years without medication and uneven examples of symptoms, I've come to think it was a misdiagnosis based on other symptoms presenting in a way which my psychiatrist recognized as Bipolar.  That is to say, I think I have ADHD but went in asking about Bipolar, and so that is the rock we looked under.

ADHD is a strange mental health issue in that it's not necessarily mental health at all but neurodivergence.  From my understanding, it often exists with other comorbidities.  I wasn't diagnosed as a child.  My parents didn't look for it, and my school didn't ask about it because, when I was young at least, I was high performing enough, and when I got older, I simply dropped out.  Now as an adult, however, as I struggle to balance and keep track of things, I find it difficult to meet simple goals simply because I forget most of the goals that I have.  Student teaching and working in education as a whole are particularly difficult as organization is not my strong suit.

So far, the break has been long.  The weekend was exhausting, and today was a lot.  I will have a real break starting on Wednesday, which is something to look forward to.  Until then, I will coast.

RWS

P.S.

-Short Rest-

Books

0. Main: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

1. Sun: (Manga) One Piece Vol. 76, Ch. 763: “Declaration of Humanity”—763 91%  (11—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. 61: “The Bond that Binds Lisa Lisa and JoJo”—69 55% (12—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. 62% (32—50)

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

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

Games

-:The Season of Square:-

0. Main: Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending

1. Sun1: Final Fantasy VIII 44% (24/55hrs)

Sun2: Final Fantasy IX 32% (17/54hrs)

Mon: Backlog

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory 100%

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days 0% (0/34hrs)

Kingdom Hearts: RE:Coded 0% (0/26hrs)

3. Tue: DnD5e/Movie

4. Wed: Multiples

Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending 100%

Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition

5. Thu: Hell Night

6. Fri: Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster 0% (0/52hrs)

Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission International HD 0/22hrs

7. Sat1: Main

Sat2: Xenogears 6% (4/66hrs)

-:Season of Square:- 

March 20–September 23

0. Main: Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending

1. Sun1: (Free Play) Final Fantasy IX 32% (17/54hrs)

Sun2: (JRPG) Final Fantasy VIII 44% (24/55hrs)

2. Mon: (Backlog) Breath of Fire 0% (0/30hrs)

3. Tue: DnD5e/Movie

4. Wed: (Multiples) Chrono Trigger DS Reunion Ending 19% (5/27hrs)

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

5. Thu: Hell Night

6. Fri: (Series) .hack//MUTATION 22% (23/50hrs(5/23hrs))

7. Sat: (Replay) Xenogears 6% (4/66hrs)

Shows

0. Main: Voltron: Legendary Defender

1. Critical Role: “The Final Chapter” 35% (131—141)

2. Funimation: Dragon Ball The General Blue Saga 42% 51—57 (6—12)

3. Owned: Firefly 14% (3—14)

4. Netflix: Moving Pictures Season 3 0% (1—6)

5. Online: Batman 36% (12—31)

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

7. Critical Role 7—17

Hawkeye 50% (4—6)

Movies: 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