sigelphoenix

The latest news on our apartment is that it's less full of noisy fans (about half of them were removed), but the ones that remain will be there for another week. :| I don't much like the idea of staying in this holding pattern, but as long as the forward progress continues, I'll take it even if it's slow.

To keep my mood up, here are some happy things ...

1. I went to the gym yesterday after work. Part of me didn't want to go, because it was another obligation on top of everything I'm dealing with. But really, my weariness is both mental and physical, so getting in a workout where I just concentrated on healthy physical movement did me good.

2. I wrote a fic last night, my first one in over a month. Considering how mentally wiped I've been since before the whole mess with the flood, I'm especially happy I managed some creative output under these circumstances. It was a really quick, spit-it-out-and-post-the-first-draft fic, but strangely enough I'm happy about that. It means I could write something imperfect and post it without agonizing over it.

3. The process of writing was also quite fun ... The only piece of furniture we took to the vacant apartment was our mattress, so I sat at the foot of the bed with my laptop in my lap. ratzeo, who was already asleep, was within easy reach, and Kershach chose to curl up right next to where I sat, so I could pet him as I typed. It was totally quiet, no fans going or street noise, just me and my boys. ♥

4. It's sunny today! It actually is starting to feel like the beginning of spring.

5. I don't remember everything I dreamed about last night, but I do know it included a super-slashy Batman/Nightwing sequence. Great mood booster, first thing in the morning. XD

I'm trying to figure out how to get back into my New Year's goals, and, well, I've decided to try making more goals. Last year (prior to the new job), I got pretty comfortable making daily or weekly to-do lists, and that generally kept me on track with what I wanted to do.

Because I'm still feeling my way around regarding the levels of time, energy, and skill I can call upon, I don't want to make the goals to constricting, so I'm organizing them by category. Each category is something I want to engage in on a (nearly) daily basis, though the exact activity can vary. So I figure if I just set the goal of "one from each category" every day, that should guide me toward spending my time the way I want to, without bringing in an excessive level of obligation.

It's also a way of keeping track of how I spend my time. That's why I'm including activities like spending time with ratzeo - these aren't "tasks" that I need to have "done," but they're worthwhile things I am happy to spend my time on, so I want to acknowledge that.

( More details below, probably tl;dr )

Welcome to 2009! Here's hoping that, however well or poorly 2008 treated you, your 2009 will be better.

I'm going to use the New Year as a time to formalize the goals I've been developing over the past few months (and post them here in order to make myself accountable), so here we go:

( This gets long )

Here's to a good year.

I've totally dropped the ball on my daily happy lists, though that's because ... er ... well, riding the emotional wave of the end of Warmakers has kept me consistently happy (if wooby) and distracted from most other things. <--loser

So anyway! Today's list of happiness! Which is ... only mostly about Warmakers!

1. Various time-sensitive things at work that were mostly out of my hands (and thus I was uncertain whether or not they would get done on time) have been resolved. That was a relatively minor stress, but I'm glad to have gotten it off my back.

2. Because of the rush of taking care of those work things, the morning has passed by quite quickly, and it's almost lunchtime.

3. shadawyn has tempted me (yet again) with new shinies. :3 I'm dipping my toe into symphonic metal music because of songs she's shared, and have ordered Within Temptation's The Heart of Everything, Nightwish's Dark Passion Play, and Krypteria's Bloodangel's Cry. All of which have songs that were used for Warmakers fic and FSTs. XD;;;

4. I have been writing and drawing for Warmakers every day since the campaign ended. Okay, yes, that's horribly dorky, but - I'm writing and drawing every day! This has been helped by the fact that other people (mostly shadawyn, but also the other players and GM) have been willing to keep talking with me about the game and develop a broad outline of the future plot developments, which keeps the characters alive in my head.

5. Tonight I get to go to jfrog78's house and hang with almost all of the Warmakers crew!

Maybe I'll even get back to setting goals soon ...

Warmakers is ending this weekend, and I am unabashedly shelving all my other goals for the duration of this week. 8D

To be completed by Saturday morning
[ ] level 18 Khag
[ ] level 19 Khag
[ ] character sheet for Khag's mount
[ ] 4-koma (at least the ones in progress ... perhaps more?)
[ ] one final (yeah right) fanart: catgirl!Sae
[ ] one final (yeah right) fic or RP?

Constantly-being-updated schedule
Monday
-gym
-grocery run for myself
-finish coloring 4-koma

Tuesday
-grocery run for Warmakers
-ratzeo's for leveling

Wednesday
-gym

Thursday
-cook dinner
-finish character sheets

Friday
-gym

Shoved to the side; must return to these next week
-Aer'inbar character
-NWSA outline
-Patricia Hill Collins book (either Black Feminist Thought or Black Sexual Politics)
-check NWSA schedule and decide what events to attend

Making a happy list for today felt like a burden, because there are a bunch of little stressors that I wanted to think about instead. But that's exactly the time I should make a happy list, right?

1. I see the sun from my front desk - looks like it just came out a few minutes ago. And yeah, that will make my workout this evening a little blech (I tried to get all my weekly gym trips in before the heat arrived, but working out three days in a row is not a good idea). But for the rest of the week, I will wear cool clothes and drink cool liquids and enjoy the sunshine and warmth. ETA: I went outside for a quick walk at the end of my lunch break, and it was lovely. ♥

2. Just found out some relieving family news ... no thanks to kyonkun. ;D

3. I'm running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out how to manage the plans I have for this weekend - but hey! It's all good stuff that I want to do, so there's really no way that I'm losing out, right? I have to run from one fun thing to the next!

4. One more week until Warmakers super-epic-mind-blowing-endgame-extravaganza! XD On top of running around like a headless chicken in terms of my social plans, I'm also a headless chicken who wants to squeeze in time to work on fanfic/art before the campaign ends. But that enthusiasm is a lot of fun, even if it makes me feel stretched a little thin.

5. Speaking of Warmakers, I'm still really happy with my last fic - not only did I really want to write it, but it was really easy to write (two things which do not always coincide!). And it represents, at least to me, so much fun and cool character growth that I've gotten to explore over the course of the campaign. Mind you, the end result of Sae's character is much different from what I envisioned at the beginning, and even from what I envisioned two months ago - but that's part of the fun. I've gotten to play around and figure out how story events, level progression, inter-character RP, and my own character's personality all fit together and worked towards a narrative conclusion. Some things went according to plan, some things came together in happy coincidences, and some things were challenges I had to figure out how to deal with. Now that's fun creative work.

1. My tax return arrived yesterday, woo! I'm not planning to splurge on anything - but not because I'm responsible. It's because I've already bought pricey things (or know of pricey things I will soon purchase) and I know I'll need that money in the bank. XD;;

2. The weather is supposed to turn gorgeous this week, and be warm and sunny for the weekend. (This is despite the fact that it is cool and drizzly today. Oh, Seattle. ♥)

3. Fic-writing continues apace. This one is coming much more easily than the last one, happily. I'm also working on an RP with shadawyn, which makes me extra happy because it's been a while since the twins have really talked.

4. Last night I finished reading Batgirl: Year One, a trade that I picked up at the book sale. Awesome fun. The more I read of Barbara, the more I like her.

5. Wearing Pele today, and it's absolutely lovely.

This week should be a little less busy and structured, in terms of my to-do list. I want to maintain my productivity, though, so I'm still laying out my goals.

Fun goals (work on one of these every day)
-write fic(s) for Warmakers episode 24
-draw at least one 4-koma
-make Sae's new character design (hopefully to result in some substantial drawing, though that may have to wait until next week)

Less-fun goals (also work on one of these every day)
-gym x 3
-revise resume
-read NWSA write-up
-write my own NWSA write-up
-grocery shopping for weekend events

Tentative schedule

Monday
[x] gym
[x] revise resume
[x] finish(?) another thousand words on fic #1

Tuesday
[x] gym
[x] cook dinner for the week
[x] level 21 character sheet for Sae
[x] finish fic #1

Wednesday
[x] read NWSA write-up
[x] sketch out (or more) the two 4-koma that popped into my brain

Thursday
[x] gym
[x] meet ratzeo for dinner ♥

Friday
[x] grocery run
[x] ink 4-koma

Saturday
[x] NWSA meeting
[x] birthday party

Sunday
[x] U-District Street Fair
[x] level Sae to 23
[x] levelstart building Khag

(I say that because I need to hear it. XD;;)

Here are the good things from the weekend that are keeping me going today:

1. Awesome Warmakers game yesterday! Admittedly, I am self-centered and excited that some shiny stuff happened to my character and she got to do cool things. But it was a fun adventure all around, with our GM letting us go to town on a tarrasque and then dangling plot teasers in our faces.

2. I have already started writing fic for the game - about 1000 words of tarrasque butt-kicking written in a burst last night. Part of my eagerness is because this is all part of the final milestone in Sae's character development and maturation. Part of it is just because, well, ZOMG tarrasque! 8D

3. shadawyn's and my BPAL order arrived last week, and I got to pick up my part of the order on Sunday. Several of the frimps from the package were also to my liking, so I have quite a bit of shininess on the perfume front right now.

4. On Saturday, I went shopping with kyonkun - didn't buy much, but it was fun. We also met up with ratzeo for dinner (at Mandarin Chef, my favorite Ave restaurant).

5. Last week I completed every single one of my goals. I needed to rearrange my Saturday goals a bit in order to accomodate deadlines and my own lack of energy over the weekend (woo PMS), but I was quite productive in exactly the ways I'd hoped/planned for the weekdays. (Which reminds me, I need to make a new goals for this week's to-do list ...)

Goal list for this week!

Daily to-do list

Monday
[x] gym
[x] The Cult of True Victimhood ch. 2
[x] pencil sketch for one 4-koma

Tuesday
[x] grocery store
[x] make curry
[x] The Cult of True Victimhood ch. 3
[x] couple hundred words in Warmakers fic (it's actually starting to look like a story now ...)

Wednesday
[x] banquet (whee!)
[x] The Cult of True Victimhood ch. 4
[x]no other goals this day because the banquet will run late inked one 4-koma ha ha!

Thursday
[x] gym
[x] The Cult of True Victimhood ch. 5
[x] colored 4-koma

Friday
[x] gym
[x] The Cult of True Victimhood ch. 6 and Epilogue
[x] couple hundred words of fic

Saturday
[x] shopping with kyonkun
[x] level Sae
[x] finish fic

Free-floating goals
(i.e., do at least one of these every day, but I'm not dictating which one)
-write fic (at least 100 words)
-draw 4-koma (entirety of pencil sketching, inking, or coloring for 1 strip)
-draw non-stupid fanart XD (at least 30 minutes, however much progress that results in)