The Daily Report

Well, back in the saddle. Last week (being on vacation but still posting a thing each work day) was an interesting experience. It went well enough, but I feel like if I ever do something like that again I’m going to want to bring my laptop or be so far ahead that I literally have nothing to do except make a draft go live. Putting together a chapter or story from sprint segments written in ILYS is a lot trickier on a tiny mobile screen.

Last work week, I made the late-night decision to push forward with my plans for creating a venue for publishing poetry and fiction. At the time, I was thinking I’d formally announce it on my first day back. I’m now realizing that I could only pull that off if I basically spent this entire day getting things in order for that, and I don’t really want to do that. There are a lot of other things I need to work on right now. So, I’m going to set that for Friday instead.

I really wanted to have at least the mechanism and guidelines for submissions up today so people could start thinking about what they have they might want to send in and/or crafting and/or polishing a piece for it, but the more I think about it, the more I feel like submissions guidelines for a new venue that has no statement of principles or identity is putting the cart before the horse.

Financial Status

Well, we went a bit over budget on the vacation thing. Mostly due to the circumstances I mentioned in my previous post, there were a few fewer family dinners and a bit more eating out than we’d expected. I don’t really have regrets, though? I mean, I don’t know which of our experiences I’d give up for a bit more financial stability right now.

The one thing I’d change is I’d have been more assertive in telling the person who repeatedly swiped my debit card when it didn’t go through the first time that we’d just pay cash if their system was acting up. I currently have $90 in duplicate pending authorizations on my account. I’ve worked enough customer service to know that no matter who you talk to about those, the answer is that it’s someone else’s responsibility and they’ll just expire. Luckily this account does not charge overdraft fees, but I have $75 in actual otherwise spendable money that’s tied up with this nonsense.

Despite this—which Jack points out is yet another week of being affected by financial institutions and their peculiarities—I still feel like overall we’re in a better place and still getting better. I mean, we came into this month with a lot more breathing room. If next month were just going to be the same but without the vacation, we’d be in great shape. But it actually stands to be better, due to continued growth on both my personal and Tales of MU patreons, and while I do have that little “world-con” thing going on, that’s been independently funded.

The State of the Me

Since this recent trip wound up being so similar to our first family trip to Nebraska two years ago, it served as a good benchmark of how my health and fitness have generally improved. We did a lot of the same things but I’m a lot less drained. I was super tired every night when we got back to the hotel room, but not exhausted or fatigued in a long term sense, and here I am the first day of the work week after, right back in the thick of things.

Since I wasn’t working, I took the opportunity to skip most of my mood/braining supplements for a week to try to wipe out accumulated tolerance. I currently cycle between a few different combinations for that reason, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to wipe the slate clean. There were some side effects early on, but I think it was the right move.

Plans For Today

So, I’ve got three basic things on the docket for today. One is some miscellaneous administrivia/correspondence that I’ve been sitting on. Two is doing a Monday monster. Three is writing the draft for the next Tales of MU chapter.

If the money thing shakes itself loose (or I get enough in odd tips that the holds don’t matter), I will also be ducking out for a quick grocery shopping trip.