Four: It's the story

I'm at the beginning of what will be a long and hopefully fruitful and relaxing time off. After booking my vacation for the four days following Family Day (coming up on Monday) we were gifted with an unplug day today. (Imagine still working in an office and being told "You know what, just don't come in." Seems unlikely!) And all of that is on top of having a Dentist Appt yesterday afternoon that permitted me to take the afternoon off and go to the city. I am on the hook for some replen checking and HVG Returns and other tasks today but it will be a relaxing pace. It's now 10:30 and I've not accessed my remote desktop.

There's a part of me that is concerned I'm setting myself up for disappointment. I want this week to be relaxing and fn and yet I also have like a million things I want to get done. This is including but perhaps not limited to writing (X-Cerpts, other blog stuff, LS stuff), keeping the house relatively clean, tidying the basement, helping Brandon switch the cable account over to his name after 4 years, playing video games (whether that be Mario or like, TEW, or something else) watching TV (AEW??), and I guess I'll also feed myself.

It will be somewhat easier to set the agenda because, as a weird co-incidence, Mel has to go into the city all four days after Family Day to do training. She has to start at 10:30 (to accommodate the west) so I think that means she'll have to catch the train at 9, which seems fine.

Is this all too much? It seemingly has to be. I recently revived scottowilliams dot com (the Better Late Than Never blog) for random thoughts whenever I think I can get away with it, but with the premise that every post might be my last. I am trying not to put pressure on myself to produce things because I know it will not grow into some kind of internet sensation, I'm really just doing it to have a venue to get things out of my head. In the meantime, I'm on the hook for a few X-Cerpts but I'm far enough ahead that that doesn't seem too onerous. I also have plans to launch X-Cerpts Unlimited, taking the same tact as BLTN where I am not obliged to follow any particular update schedule, but when I want to write about something that is comics but not X-Cerpts, I have a place to do it. Previously the Patreon filled this niche but that was not a successful endeavor and required me to keep a relatively disciplined update schedule to satisfy my patrons. Also I didn't push it very hard because I felt silly putting effort into this thing that only had 3 patrons. This will be a lot more casual, like BLTN. As long as X-Cerpts remains the top priority, everything else is a side-dish.

That includes LS, which has actually been going well. After putting up a new story in January that was slow to start I now see a fairly consistent sales pattern and while it's not a blockbuster by any means, between three works (mostly just the two big ones) I'm usually seeing a sale every day. It's nothing to retire on but one a day means about $100 every month in my pocket. It's the kind of reward that definitely motivates me to continue where in the past I may have walked away unfulfilled. I have another story lined up hopefully for early March -- assuming I can devote a certain amount of my free time this coming week to it. I don't expect it to be big. Hell I don't even expect it to be as big as my last comparatively-slow-moving-release -- but it was an idea I wanted to try, and the next one may be bigger. (I do have to get comfortable with the idea that a lot of my ideas are a bit too outre and personal to be blockbusters. I'm shooting for another Kristi's Mom at some point in the year but who knows? Still, finding the balance between writing what I want to write and reaping a small benefit is exactly what I want.)

I can just imagine someone reading this blog after I've come and gone, even someone who's known me, and thinking "What is he on about?" And then if they find out they might wish they didn't.

Anyway. I've got big hopes but I'm trying to keep my expectations manageable. At this point I know what's basically possible with the time I have and I also know when I'm kind of pushing it, which I am here. So knowing what to expect... still doesn't make me want to back off. I get in these manic phases from time to time and it's best just to play it out.

Things have been good, if in a qualified sense. Last weekend was a busy one. Saturday we had a lot planned and shockingly we got most of it done -- Mel wanted to go to a yarn store in Oakville to get some yarn to do a sweater she is making. We went and ended up parking shockingly far from the store (actually at our friend Manders' old place) and walked around a bit. Then we came home and, after decompressing from that, spent the evening finally taking down the Christmas tree. It went well, although there's now a big empty space that used to have a shelf/credenza/TV stand in it but Mel doesn't want to put it back because we already have two other shelves that are well decorated (I don't disagree.) So we think we might put the green chair and the newly-assembled side-table there, but haven't moved it yet. We also found time to eat and watch Love is Blind, and then watch the Amazon Prime movie I Want You Back, which was really good.

Sunday began the saga of Mel having to work super hard to catch up on something for work so I was largely left to my own devices. I think did a lot of housework (laundry, groceries, vacuuming) and a little bit of writing -- but it all blurs together. It was "big game day" (which ordinaries are legally required to call the Super Bowl) and Mel wanted that game day feel so we ordered some DIY Nachos from the Black Bull pub, which were a big hit, even though we didn't watch the game and instead watched Nailed It and some pretty brutal "thrillers" that were absolutely not "thrilling.". We also ate some wings that were... eh.

Monday was to be Valentine's Day. I skirted work early to go get a 2-4 person ice cream cake from DQ, which ended up being a debacle as I had to take a roundabout route to the DQ on Appleby when that street ended up being closed at the intersection, as well as flowers and a balloon. We decided we weren't going to Do It Big this year because again Mel had to work late, even returning to her project after dinner. Dinner was the Keg, but while we usually order from the Burlington location for big occasions, they were all booked up for Valentine's Day until 8 PM -- even though we tried to get in there two days beforehand, which was the earliest one could book. Instead we opted to order from the Oakville location, which was less tied up. A bit of a schlep to get there (and I was not in much of a mood after my misadventure at DQ*) but worked out in the end.

*My original plan was to get the DQ at the same time as the Keg, as there are several DQs between here and there, but, as I was going out early to get the flowers -- I didn't want to last-minute those (instead I next-to-last-minuted them... they're flowers, you can't buy them a week early!) I was worried about scrambling for the cake, which Mel had her heart set on, so I decided to venture out for it. I probably needn't have worried and just gotten the flowers but hindsight is 20/20.

So on paper our Valentine's Day was not the most exciting and romantic, and we didn't really join the host of oversharers on social media but we had a nice night for us.

We ended up ordering Pizza the next night, which is always justifiable because it's so economical (I'm doing this thing where I track our groceries and how much we spend on food.) Wednesday I worked out solo (until Kelly arrived) while Mel was stuck working, per usze, but she did say she wanted to do the circuit when she had time. Yesterday was the dentist and I let Mel twist my arm into getting sushi. The original plan was to pick it up on the way home but I had to wait 4 hours after my fluoride treatment to have "sticky rice" so we ended up ordering later. It was rainy and gloomy all day and then the rain turned to hellish snow just in time for me to go pick up dinner. Worst of all, despite having put the car in the garage they have not as yet cleared my driveway as they sometimes do. Miffed, because it means I'm going to have to spend some of my afternoon doing that.

Anyway. It's now nearly noon and this all has taken up a good portion of my free day so I should probably cut it there, do the two things I'm supposed to do for work, have lunch and maaaaaybe chip away at my "hope to do" list. Should be good. Tomorrow we're doing Family Fun Day at Mel's parents. Maybe we'll look in on my mom at some point in the coming weeks.

And break.

Keep on rockin'

-Scotto