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I’m alive and happy and trying to figure out the plan for today. I’ve come up with a more regular schedule that is, of course, based around academic workload. I need to checkin three times a week at least on the work and that will align with the day after work is due. Likewise there are responsibilities as a student that I have and that can be up to three times a week, also aligning with the due dates. This makes it so I have a few days in which the morning routine is becoming more and more set. I have a good idea that the mornings ought to be the time I get things done, because I don’t have a lot in me once evening rolls around.

What I haven’t gotten is that writing routine. The sprints are helping, but those are not the end all of the writing process. They merely get me moving forward. I gotta keep moving though. I must find myself a better way to be, because I am in a place where I need to get the writing done and fast.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Packers running back Josh Jacobs arrested on charges related to domestic abuse” Bonkers or not? More and more we are seeing these charges spring up in regards to football players and other professionals who live that life of violence. When you do violence it appears that stopping or controlling yourself is a lot harder than it seems. Still to (possibly) throw away a career and that kind of generational wealth? Men, we gotta have more self control. We also need to get negative people out of our lives.
2. Not gonna talk about the Knicks yet… Soon.

I’ve convinced myself that in order to be a good writer you need to sit in a chair for hours and write, write, write. What if I’m wrong? Yesterday was the first time I used the ten minute method on any of my active writing projects and it went absurdly well. Writing nonstop for ten minutes about the stuff that is all jammed up in your brain is a surefire way to combat writers block. See, you wind up having those tough conversations and dealing with all of those issues and concerns on the paper or on the screen where it can actually be seen and considered. I have 5 drafts due and spent ten minutes dealing with each in turn and that turned into a wonderful opportunity to get things down that I’d been worried about and sort out the unknowns.

It worked and I am thinking that this is going to be a core part of what I do.

So, is this the only part? No. I do need butt in chair but I cn do it in various doses of time. I can fit my writing in the way I fit a puzzle together and instead of it being an obstacle it becomes an opportunity to take advantage of the time that I have. I always have some kind of time that I can devote to the craft and the more I realize it, the more writing happens…

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “South Korean Starbucks boss apologizes for ad campaign that evoked massacre” Bruh, get some better PR people. To quote, “The campaign compounded outrage by using the slogan “Thwack it on the table!,” which many read as a reference to a notorious 1987 police statement that attempted to cover up the torture death of student activist Park Jong-chol. Police claimed that Park died suddenly after investigators “hit the desk with a thwack.””
2. I need to wait till Wednesday (that waiver day, nes pa?) to post about the high school diss track that is the top 150 of 2027, because dude did not drop the update on time… again.

I Think…

I like this format. It is like Some Thoughts but in a slightly more formalized way that makes it feel different enough that I don’t feel lazy. I am lazy, which is a longstanding thing. Lately social media has been pushing this narrative that high intelligence men are not actually lazy but are instead in need of this one wierd trick. Which is to say, money grab. I’m not buying it. I am buying the fact that I am a systems guy. I was planning to be an engineer throughout my early life (as a fall back in case pro athlete fell through). Now I am all about systems that make me feel like I can operate within the structure, and occasionally break said rules. This is what drew me to RPG writing. I’ve continued to refine my systems. I’ve even added a ten minute timer to my watch face to make sure I am operating within the parameters of this particular system of expectation.

I Think…

I am more creative than I think, but I am trapped at the bottom of an ecosystem that only develops creativity higher in the system. I recognize this contrast each time I consider the work I do at the grad level vs. the work at the RPG level. I am beginning to feel confined by the systems therein. I don’t know that I can grow there.

I Think…

I am looking forward to the fall as the final HS football season (for a long long time). It will be great to see my kid close it out and for this to be the last HS graduation for some time. What does life look like without the responsibility of having non-adult kids at home?

I think…

I had another major thought I wanted to push out in this space before the clock got low. I totally forgot what it was as I was writing–wait! It was about using a ten minute timer as a break during writing sessions. More on that after I try it.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Holy deception: Rome’s ‘sexy priest’ calendar star never set foot in a seminary” So much came out in this article. First of all, the Lady Talis and I bought this calendar a few years back. I believe we gave it to her mom as a gag gift of sorts. Moreover, the fact that this is not actually affiliated with the Vatican should be obvious but it was not. It was being sold outside of the Vatican and near many many churches, so I kinda just thought it was good.

Somewhere, basketball is being played. I am supposed to care, but I don’t. So long as the Knicks win (tomorrow?) all is right in the sprawl. This post isn’t about that. It is about the shift I am undergoing and how it is impacting my body, mind, and spirit. While it has yet to be a full week, I truly believe in the power of Sunday. I’m calling it the start of the second week. Each week I expect to return to this space and blog about growth and change and how to become the person you want to be in 90 days.

I have not touched a scale since I started this journey. I know I was 238 when my feet left the ground. I am going to work hard towards change without specifically monitoring weight, because the key to a lot of what I am trying to do is about being active and being able to feel good about movement. On the mental side it is about being able to feel like I can do the things I need to do without feeling like an imposter. That has plagued me a bit recently, and there were setbacks as a result. Now I see the projects of the summer directly in front of me and, as previously noted, I know the hours.

I also know what kind of time I am devoting to moving around. I’ve gone from maybe 2 miles of total movement in an average day to 6 minimum. It is hard to flip that switch, but the Lady Talis has me moving and the rust is starting to flake away. It is going to take more time, but I am working hard at finding a new baseline for activity. From there I will start to grow into more active days. The same holds true with the writing. I am working back towards a baseline. from there I will work towards more productive days. All of this is much like the early days of the Ten Minute Rule where I set a baseline and made sure I did this blog–I did at least this much each and every day. When I can get there mentally and physically, I can start to heal my spirit and push towards who I want to be for every tomorrow.

The best is yet to come.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Young men storm a Congo hospital treating Ebola patients to demand bodies of their kin” There is more to this headline. Some clinics are being burned to the ground. The fear and confusion being sown throughout the Congo is maddening. We are too far advanced as a species for this nonsense to be tolerated. Yet, we treat Africa as beneath our human regard and respect, so it does happen and we are never going to grow as a species until it stops happening.

Still fumbling towards a routine that works for the writing and trying to get up to speed towards building the body back better. I didn’t realize the damage I’ve done across the last 10 months. It’s genuinely bad. +15 pounds at least and a ton of negative mental energy. That sort of thing is harder to get rid of later in life; especially when you’re wondering about how many good years you have left. So, I am here to get good and get to a place where I can maintain that good. I haven’t touched a weight or a workout plan yet, but it has only been a few days since we touched down here on Rebirth Island. I haven’t even settled in. I will though. Once we figure it all out, I will have a long time to get after it and make myself into the person I want to be moving forward.

Always forward.

I spend too much energy looking back at who I was and missing that idea of me. I gotta become who I can become now. It is a hard thing to do, but it is a thing I am capable of doing.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Abdul Carter calls out Jaxson Dart for introducing Trump at rally: ‘What we doing?’” What are we doing indeed? I mean I want to love this Giants team but I’m on the edge already. Don’t mess this up.
2. Skattebo might already have by promising more than he can deliver along with bad math. All signs point to him and Nabers not being available early season.
3. Since we are talking football, I want to go on record as saying the AZ press done messed up. You shaded my kid. He’s coming to prove you wrong. So, I guess a thanks is in order because by putting mediocre talent ahead of him (he hasn’t even made the list of 150 yet despite back to back all conference mentions) you’re getting the chance to fire him up. Thing of it is, he doesn’t need posterboard material. He doesn’t feed off that. He’s above it. I like that. Doesn’t change the fact that I’m gonna get to say I told you so.
4. Yep, I’m that dad. I will, however, keep it to a brief mention in some thoughts. Four words… when it happens, four words. Wait for it.
5. Random realization about having step kids. I’ve been in their lives for a while now. The Lady Talis and I have been in each others kids lives for half those kids lives at minimum. Most in some cases. What that tells me is that though we haven’t been there from the start or for the initial formative years, we’ve been a family for long enough that we ought to be a family long after we, the parents, are gone.

I’m spending a bit of time today on the planning side of life. What I am doing is dividing required work into hours and seeing how I can filter those hours into the course of a day. Presently I have three writing projects and three courses to develop, which amounts to 115 hours of total work. Now I don’t actually have that much time in a week that I am willing to devote to the effort. This means some of the work will drag out for weeks. The real question is how many hours a week do I have/want to devote to these endeavors?

Realistically, I recognize the work side of life tapers off more int he summer. I am always in a new location and dedicated to hanging with the Lady Talis, exploration, and bodily self-improvement through walking. As such, finding 5 hours in a single day feels like a lot. 4 feels liek a maximum. I’m thinking that I want to start building the day around a morning hour to cover some of the basic work (class stuff, mostly) and if I can stay ahead of that business I can really lock in on a 2-3 hour block of writing at some point in the day. This has not been discussed beyond the writing of this blog, so I need to work some more of this out with my partner. Still, the belief is that I can find the time during the day in a way that does not limit how much we can enjoy our lives and the space we are in. 15 of the 24 hours of a day are spent awake at minimum. If I can take smaller chunks of that time between activities to really settle into a work vibe, I’ll be back to being a productive person. Likewise, as I continue to be productive, the words should come faster. This present schedule estimates 250 words per hour. I can usually spit that much out in a ten minute blog.

I miss the times where that level of stream of consciousness writing is how I put together stories and other writing. Heck, this is already 360 words give or take. So if I can get back there, then I can be a much stronger writer. I need that.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Trump says he’s skipping his son’s weekend wedding” He blamed circumstances and responsibilities of the government. Yet, he has a scheduled tee time…
2. Since this wordpress format doesn’t have a wordcount, I fed the earlier text into an wordcounter to get the 360 number. That isn’t remarkable. What is remarkable is the allegation that it assumed 65% of what I wrote was AI generated. An additional 12% was considered ai paraphrased. Come on, now. I don’t sound that much like a bot… do I?

The Mandalorian and Grogu is not high cinema. I never expected it to be. I never went into it hoping to move the larger Star Wars story forward or learn tiny bits of special lore or even see easter eggs (However, the Dejarik does make an appearance). What I wanted was fun with Grogu. I got what I wanted. I also think Favreau got to make a film he enjoyed. This is a fun picture. It feels like a season compressed into a few hours with no filler. I’m good with that the way I was pretty good with the original Harry Potter movie. We got enough story without needing what was removed.

I want to be able to take something away from everything I imbibe. I want a movie to leave me something worth remembering and this one did. I remember the joy of Grogu and the relationship between him and Mando. This chapter of the story is truly enjoyable and is built in a timeframe that has a ton of room to tell stories that do not have to be about major moments. The show dipped its toe in that time and again, and it was okay. Still, this way is better.

This is the way.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Knicks move 2 wins from the NBA Finals with a 109-93 victory over the Cavs” 1999.. that is the last time the Knicks made it to the finals. Maybe three players on the roster were out of diapers when that happened.

The people who live longest do this:

No, I’m kidding. I have no idea what fuels longevity. I know that my plan is to drop weight, eat better food, and lower my stress levels. That, for me, represents a higher quality of life. I think it follows that if you love life, you’ll hopefully live longer. So, that is what I’ve come up with in that respect. In all respects I am trying to accept what the universe offers. That means enjoying my days and nights. It means not holding on to guilt about what makes me happy. It means not letting the opinions of others impact what I find joy in.

Yes, that includes the Mandalorian movie.

It also includes spending more time outside and making my body work. I wish 10 K steps a day were enough, because I am inherently a lazy person. It isn’t and I will do more. I will get in the lab and devote time to it instead of gaming or whatever. I will put hours to the writing craft and make it a solid chunk of my day. It hasn’t been since the last novelette was finished. Time to get back to the grind.

Time to get back to a beautiful and flourishing mind and body.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Tennessee man jailed over Charlie Kirk post wins $835,000 settlement” Not the settlement part. No, the crazy is the fact that he was jailed for 37 days for saying negative stuff about Kirk. For what it is worth, he’s a retired ex cop. So all this stuff about protect the police was forgotten in pursuit of an idea of who they wanted Kirk to be and how they wanted to remember him and protect that story. He was arrested after posting a meme about Kirk’s death and refusing to take it down. “The meme Bushart posted that prompted his arrest read: “This seems relevant today…” and featured President Donald Trump and the words, “We have to get over it.” That quote, the meme explained, was said by Trump in 2024 after a school shooting at Iowa’s Perry High School.”
2. I think we’ve lost our way quite a bit. I don’t have a solution.
3. These posts have been short again. I don’t know where my mind wanders off to.
4. Actually, I do. Sports. And Video Games.

I’m on my Batman arc. Disappear for 90 days and come back different. How that change happens is still under construction. I have to get healthy. I have to reset my mind to a point where ideas are coming and they are good. I need that clean slate approach. It starts with a daily routine that gives me space to grow. It means less in the way of video games and more in the way of butt in chair–and even walking to a place where the but can be placed in a chair of my liking in a space of my liking.

In general, the entire enterprise is focused on walking and movement. I come from NYC, a place where people are constantly on the move. I live in a space where people are not moving. We sit all the time here and we prize that lack of movement above all else. We consider it freedom here, and when we do move it is viewed as a luxury. That does not work for me anymore.

So, I’m out. Full reset. Learn who I am. Learn who I intend to be.

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Tuesday wouldn’t rule out the possibility that violent rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, will be considered for payouts from a new $1.776 billion fund to compensate individuals who believe they were targeted politically.” They think we’re stupid because we are. 1776? Come on, man. The signaling is crazy.

Life is good and surprising. I feel that more and more each day as I move through it and into my own future. Not a lot to say today. Locking back in on teaching with writing to follow soon after. Until then…

Some Thoughts:

1. Absolutely Bonkers Headline of the Day: “Trump moves to dismiss $10B suit against the Internal Revenue Service over leak of tax returns” And in doing so, set up a 1.7 billion dollar fund to pay his allies who felt wronged by the fed. I mean, if this isn’t fleecing I don’t understand the definition.
2. Also… Check in on your loved ones. Emotional strain can really get at you.
3. Watching the freshman highlights from the my son’s QB this year is a reminder that my kid cooked at WR as a freshman. That highlight reel is basically his highlight reel as a WR. He gets the opportunity to make another reel allegedly this season as he expects to go both ways in his senior year. If he does, that is a great sign for this team.
4. Caitlin Clark leads the league in assists… and is #2 in turnovers. It isn’t that I dislike her. I actually like her. I find how they use her both on court and in media to be a very big lie. It bugs. I write about things that bug.