![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I've begun to feel a bit unmoored from, idk, life, in a way that I recognize is from a lack of general structure. When I was in grad school, I had classes, teaching, homework, grading, and other parts of my life to keep track of and make sure I had time for and keep generally organized. When I had a job, I had a place to be from 8:30-5 five days a week, and then I had friends and stuff to do things with.
Now, with the only structure to my day or week being what I impose on it, I don't know what's going on, and if asked what I did any given day, the answer is, "uhhh..." Everything feels vague, and I don't like that. So I want to start writing things down (like I said in my previous post).
I've been managing my planning with a regular spiral notebook that I write daily tasks on, but Leuchtturm has a BOGO promo on their planners and calendars right now, so I ordered a daily calendar (with hourly slots) in A5 and a weekly calendar in A6. I'm hoping to use the weekly one to do menu planning and keep track of what food I have, because twice a week I have to get groceries, and I hate figuring out what to cook. I'm getting 2 of each because of the promo, so I've offered the extras to roller derby people. I ordered them today, so I won't have them until the middle of next week.
Thus far in 2024, I have written another 800 or so words in my nonfiction book (which somehow has almost 30000 words in it, but I don't understand how that's possible), started 3 microfiction stories for an anthology call that opens the 15th, done a lot of laundry, and played a lot of video games. I've decided which of the 3 pieces I want to work on to make submittable; one of the rejected ones might go to my newsletter subscribers for fun.
I also signed a contract for a part-time freelance copyediting job that I got via a writing friend, and the money I earn from that will cover my rent and insurance, at least, so that will stop the massive drain on my savings. Will it be enough to get my visa renewed in November? I sure hope so. I also hope, once I finish my book, that people buy it off Amazon or wherever, and I get income from that occasionally.
Strange Horticulture was a fun puzzle game, and I've played it 3 or 4 times already. After the first run, once you know the answers to the puzzles, it goes a lot faster. I want to get all the endings (there are 8, I think), and I only have 1 achievement left on steam. You play as the proprietor of a plant shop who collects new and unusual plants. Your neighbors come in and ask for particular plants for various reasons (mostly relating to medicine, but also magic). There's a monster on the loose, and you have to stop it. (Or you don't stop it, if you want to get those endings.)
Bear and Breakfast is like Stardew Valley but more stressful in some ways and less stressful in others. It also has a lot more story/background than SV: there was some sort of authoritarian government? and there was a big fire in the valley, and people stopped visiting. You play as a young bear, Hank, and you befriend other woodland creatures who help you out. A raccoon operates the decoration store, and you pay them with "valuables" (trash); a beaver renovates the derelict cabins that you rebuild into your hotels.
More stress: you're not just managing your farm; you have 5 resorts to manage and match guests to rooms that meet their requirements (which include hygiene, food, and heat). You can get staff (eventually) to manage these things for you, but they cost money per day, and it's sometimes more than you earn from your properties. Less stress: there's no combat. All your crafting items are gatherable in the world, so you don't have to go fight vampires in the mines to get your minerals to craft with.
Now, with the only structure to my day or week being what I impose on it, I don't know what's going on, and if asked what I did any given day, the answer is, "uhhh..." Everything feels vague, and I don't like that. So I want to start writing things down (like I said in my previous post).
I've been managing my planning with a regular spiral notebook that I write daily tasks on, but Leuchtturm has a BOGO promo on their planners and calendars right now, so I ordered a daily calendar (with hourly slots) in A5 and a weekly calendar in A6. I'm hoping to use the weekly one to do menu planning and keep track of what food I have, because twice a week I have to get groceries, and I hate figuring out what to cook. I'm getting 2 of each because of the promo, so I've offered the extras to roller derby people. I ordered them today, so I won't have them until the middle of next week.
Thus far in 2024, I have written another 800 or so words in my nonfiction book (which somehow has almost 30000 words in it, but I don't understand how that's possible), started 3 microfiction stories for an anthology call that opens the 15th, done a lot of laundry, and played a lot of video games. I've decided which of the 3 pieces I want to work on to make submittable; one of the rejected ones might go to my newsletter subscribers for fun.
I also signed a contract for a part-time freelance copyediting job that I got via a writing friend, and the money I earn from that will cover my rent and insurance, at least, so that will stop the massive drain on my savings. Will it be enough to get my visa renewed in November? I sure hope so. I also hope, once I finish my book, that people buy it off Amazon or wherever, and I get income from that occasionally.
Strange Horticulture was a fun puzzle game, and I've played it 3 or 4 times already. After the first run, once you know the answers to the puzzles, it goes a lot faster. I want to get all the endings (there are 8, I think), and I only have 1 achievement left on steam. You play as the proprietor of a plant shop who collects new and unusual plants. Your neighbors come in and ask for particular plants for various reasons (mostly relating to medicine, but also magic). There's a monster on the loose, and you have to stop it. (Or you don't stop it, if you want to get those endings.)
Bear and Breakfast is like Stardew Valley but more stressful in some ways and less stressful in others. It also has a lot more story/background than SV: there was some sort of authoritarian government? and there was a big fire in the valley, and people stopped visiting. You play as a young bear, Hank, and you befriend other woodland creatures who help you out. A raccoon operates the decoration store, and you pay them with "valuables" (trash); a beaver renovates the derelict cabins that you rebuild into your hotels.
More stress: you're not just managing your farm; you have 5 resorts to manage and match guests to rooms that meet their requirements (which include hygiene, food, and heat). You can get staff (eventually) to manage these things for you, but they cost money per day, and it's sometimes more than you earn from your properties. Less stress: there's no combat. All your crafting items are gatherable in the world, so you don't have to go fight vampires in the mines to get your minerals to craft with.
