DaveTheAnalyzer

I wrote double the usual amount 3 days in a row last week. I couldn’t do one of my “once a week, make up a skipped fanfic writing day” sessions earlier this month, so I did it on a Tuesday and Wednesday. Since I also missed an original story day, I tackled that on Thursday. I wasn’t always able to concentrate but it wasn’t a bad experience. I got a lot done. I’m wondering if I should try it more often. I can only do it when I have no other appointments or tasks like shopping or therapy and on weekends I watch science videos in the morning that can take a lot of time to understand. I might do this every other week, especially since I missed some original fiction days and if I plan to publish one day, I probably have to increase my writing time to get drafts out faster, so this might be good practice.

I finished Dragon Quest The Adventures of Dai some weeks ago and it was pretty darn good story. Not without its weaknesses since the original mangaka has issues writing female characters and the usual shonen pervert humor. Still, I loved the characters and the depth many had, and the drama of the battles. No wonder it became a classic. I like how a lot of the villains had depth and even developed but there were some who were still monstrous and had to be taken down.( Vague spoilers about ending )

I decided to read the Dragon Ball manga. I was just going to watch the anime but the person in the discord I’m part of suggested the manga instead and so I subscribed to Shonen Jump to read it. At the moment, I’m still at the gag phase, where much of the bawdy humor hasn’t aged well but I know it’ll evolve and it’s been awhile since I watched the anime. With it being such a long manga, I’ll probably alternate with watching the first Teenage Mutant Turtles cartoon, a franchise I heard a lot about but never really got into. Would be interesting to see it without nostalgia and only vague second hand pop culture osmosis to work with.

That’s all for now. An annoying insurance thing came up with my therapy but hopefully it’s a misunderstanding and can be resolved by the end of next week. Until the day before Halloween, see you!

That’s all for now. It’s quiet now a family member’s staying in another state for vacation. Edited and posted this later in the day than usual but I had a busy morning helping with shopping and doing my daily writing. Until July’s end, see you!

I’m wondering if I should find a new writing group. The monthly one for my local library has bled attendees and this month there were literally none. Maybe it’ll pick back up but who knows. I’ve checked other libraries in my area and they either don’t have a writer group or it’s in-person only. I haven’t done a thorough search yet, so there might be some library writer groups I can join but I wonder if I might need to find an online-only group. Maybe I won’t actually go through with it for whatever reason, but it’s something to consider if I want to talk to other writers.

Speaking of writing, I posted the next 2 chapters of We Will Hold On Forever this month. I’m already working on the opening chapters for the final arc. Next month, I’ll start making up days I missed with writing. I don’t know the exact details but at least I’ll be making up one fanfic day a week for the next 5 months. I might try to do the same for original fiction but there I would need at least 2 open days in the week to do this. I might make up missed original fic days once every other weekend when I’m not vacuuming but I don’t want to add too much work to what are supposed to be rest days or burn myself out. I might wait until I’m done making up missed fanfic days before doing the same with original fiction but that would lead to 10 months of this work. I’ll guess I’ll decide and adjust as I go.

That’s all for now. Went to the monthly Orthodontist appointment and the doctor determined I needed to use the chew sticks more to help push the Invisalign back onto my teeth and extended the use of each Invisalign set by 4 days. Also implemented my earlier writing plans due to sleep schedule issues today test them out and it seemed to go alright. Until June’s end, see you!

After a delay due to my persistent cough, I finally got my Invisalign. It feels weird to have around your teeth but it isn’t painful. The only issue was taking off the bottom ones when needing to eat. With my short fingernails and small mouth, the bottom Invisalign was hard to pull out, so I went back to the orthodontists to get a aligner pick to help with that. I ended up breaking the aligner pick but fortunately I already ordered more online, which arrived later that day. Also I found it easiest to lift the bottom Invisalign from the front, which means I can still use the broken aligner pick. I can only take it off for 2 collective hours a day, so I had to rearrange my eating and teeth brushing schedule, though the orthodontist said I can have some wiggle room with an extra hour or so. I’m settling down with its presence now, so hopefully I can get back to my hobbies and passions. 

I had to pause writing during that week because learning how to take on and off the Invisalign took a lot of time. It’s annoying to have more missed writing days but I’ll get around to making them up eventually. I’ve been going at a good pace with the second draft of the latest We Will Hold On Forever chapters, so hopefully I can resume that on Monday. With my adaptation to the Invisalign, I might resume writing sooner than I thought by restarting writing original fiction this weekend. I’ve lately been going back to writing Tales-style skits of my original characters interacting, to get a feel for their personalities and how they might interact. I experiment in that style when I have spare time but I like it and will continue doing it when I can.

That’s all for now. I’m glad to finally be over the persistent cough that had been dogging me since mid-January. Needed one larger dose of a med I usually take for it, though it had to be on the third try. Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with that again for a while. Until April’s end, see you!

But messing with those systems had some unforeseen consequences. With virtual therapy meetings, first the sound wasn’t working and then the video wouldn’t turn on. At a loss, I did more solution searching and I discovered hitting the f8 key caused the video issue. Hitting it again fixed the video issue. Moreover, I realized I never changed back some sound settings during my New Years Eve tech panic and so changed them back. Knock on wood, I hope that’s the last of my tech difficulties. At least I was able to track down the solutions.

About to start a major change tomorrow. After advice from a periodontist visit roughly a year and a half ago, I went to an orthodontist and am going to get Invisalign.  I remember the periodontist’s advice that three of my teeth would need adjustment soon but I thought it would involve some kind of surgery. Instead I was given the choice between braces and Invisalign. The former would have restricted me from eating certain sweets and we can’t have that. ;). So Invisalign it is! Tomorrow I’ll go back to the orthodontist to put on a mold for my teeth.

Once the Invisalign is made and arrives, I’ll need to wear it for the next 14 months. I can only take it off when I eat, drink, brush, and floss. Looking it up, the Invisalign's apparently uncomfortable the first week or two before you acclimate to its presence. I’ll have to be careful how I take it on and off and not break or dispose it by accident, since the whole procedure’s expensive. Fortunately, the orthodontist offered a good payment plan. This will be a long journey but hopefully it’ll be tolerable and have good long-term effects for my teeth.

I got sick this month not long after that first orthodontist appointment. It threw off my sleep schedule later and though I was able to claw it back, it’s now thrown off again. At the end of that week, I learned that my PA had left the practice. I worried if I would be prescribed the steroid and antibiotic necessary to deal with the inevitable chronic cough that follows, since doctors can be reluctant to give out steroids and antibiotics. I was pleasantly surprised when my new PA just gave me the two medicines without hesitation. I do worry if I asked for the meds too early before my cough turned chronic, since my cough lingered (albeit in a reduced state) over the weekend and threw off my sleep schedule. I’ll notify the new PA if I need him.

That’s all for now. I didn’t feel like watching and reviewing a film this month. Until the end of February, see you!

Still sticking to my sleep schedule. There were some near slip ups but knowing there’s an alarm to help me get up has kept me consistent. What also helps is that it’s getting colder and that means I can wear more layers. I’m weird that way in that I sort of prefer the cold. I once heard the joke that goes something like “with cold, you can always put on more layers but when it gets too hot, crawling out of your skin is rude.” (I can’t remember who made the joke, whether it was online or in-person. If anyone knows, feel free to tell me). Sometimes I feel tired when I get up but as the day goes on, that mostly slips away. If and when I get sick, this will be all upended but I hope I can get back on that schedule when I get better. A consistent sleep schedule leaves more time in the day.

That’s all for now. Still job searching but not in a hurry, wanting to find something just right for me. Already eying the Christmas presents I want to get. Until year’s end, see you!

Got my covid booster last week. As soon as I went to bed, I experienced drowsiness and chills, and my teeth chattered. I eventually was able to fall sleep but woke up with a headache and later drowsiness dragging in my eyes. Looking it up, apparently the current booster does have those side effects. Now I vaguely recall there were some side effects from previous covid vaccines too. Still, I experienced them over the last weekend, so no loss for me. I only have two missing fanfic writing days to make up for. I was tempted to finish them all up last week but I was tired that drowsiness issue made me to decide to stick with two a week. I probably won’t go back to writing four pages a day right away but I might pick it up again by year’s end. I’ll have to see if I’m up for it.  

That’s all for now. About to watch another episode of the latest Ultraman series, Decker. Until the day before Halloween, see you!

That’s all for now. Slept around the clock again so I can get to bed earlier and avoid snoring so I can get some uninterrupted sleep. I would prefer to go to bed later but until the snoring issue’s resolved, I’ll have to be the one to adjust. Until August’s end, see you!

I don’t feel like seeing any films this month. The few still on my list that are on streaming platforms haven’t grabbed me enough yet. I guess I just want to take a month off from film reviewing. Writing this paragraph inspired me to check and clean up my “film watch” list, to delete some that no longer interest me or add a couple others. I had vague ideas about having Mom see Turning Red with me but my cold threw a wrench in that. I’m still job searching. Nothing came up yet.

I had another library group meeting that was sparsely attended, which had some advantages. I got feedback and I admit, I pushed back a bit on some of it. Hopefully, I wasn’t rude or intransigent. It just seemed like some of the advice was that there’s too much fantasy elements at the beginning, which removing would kind of ruin some point of the story. I’ll implement a bit of that advice but I guess I’ll have to be prepared to encounter that kind of writing advice and when to consider it or when to push back. It’s part of the writing journey when you submit for feedback or get an editor. On a brighter note, I decided to write a fanfic summary for a Land Before Time idea I had for a while and even wrote a couple first draft pages, though I don’t know what I’ll do with it. I remember listening to an interview where Get Out Director Jordan Peele’s writing advice was to “follow the fun” and I’ve been finding that helpful in being creative or enjoying stories.

That’s all for now. I’ll be going to bed after I post this; yeah, my cold threw off my sleep schedule that much. Until the end of June, see you!

I’ve been not writing as much this month. Struggling to get on a better sleep schedule, still am. But I decided to cut down my writing time to an hour each day. There are many days I skipped and want to make up, which would extend my writing time to two hours again but it would only be a couple times a week. So far, it’s working. I have enough time in the day to write while also doing other tasks, like going to the chiropractor. Fortunately, I’ve got all the meetings and paperwork out of the way for that and am going twice a week to be treated. It’s safe and other than some brief uncomfortable pressure moments or neck cracks, not painful. I’ll try to follow their advice on posture but it’ll be challenging, especially for sleep position. 

Last Friday, I’ve done a phone interview for a job. I didn’t get the previous one and I haven’t gotten a response yet but getting to the phone interview stage at all is apparently impressive. Whether I get the job or not, I’ll take my life one day at a time without worrying too much about the outcome.

That’s all for now. Going to try to stay off fandom and news sites tomorrow because it’ll be April Fools, where prank positive news on that day has made it a least favorite holiday. Until the end of April, see you!