Crunchy Chocobo

It seems that I can’t have anything calm. I’ve pushed myself really hard this week to prove that I can work on my novel, put in 15 hours with my job, fulfill my duties as Content Manager for Kombo, crank out content for my other two gaming websites, write my novel, and work on a game review. The answer is, I can’t. Notice I mentioned nothing of Gabe? Yeah, he’s been a bit neglected this week while I try to be super-writer. It hasn’t been fair to him, and my health has actually been suffering for the last couple of months because of this constant drive. Something has got to give, and the final decision was made last night.

I officially stepped down as Content Manager at a Team Leader meeting last night. I started to tally up how many hours I spend working on the site this past week, and it totaled to 4-6 hours A DAY. As much as I love the site and what I do with it, I can’t devote that much time with everything else I need to do and be a decent mother at the same time. I’m staying with Kombo as an editorialist, copy editor, and reviewer, but I’m no longer in charge of publishing and maintaining the website’s content. The EIC and I have delegated out that role between the Reviews and Editorials Directors, and with our new site in place with an easier to use CMS, it makes sense for us to move in that direction. I’m also leaving the database management position and asked a good friend of mine at Kombo to take it over along with my pay. So I won’t be getting that paycheck every month anymore, but I should be able to consistently work 15 hours a week with my professional writing job and make up for that missing salary. I’ll also be signing a writer contract with Kombo, so I’ll get paid peanuts for each article I write. My EIC assures me they’re delicious. But of course, I’m not leaving a leadership role. The EIC has asked me to stay on as Assistant Editorials Director, which involves no pay, but I’ll have more input in who we hire, who we keep, and how we train our features writers.

Anyone want a game writing gig? I can make sure your peanuts are honey roasted if you like.

Hopefully this will be the start of the somewhat calm for my stress levels, but knowing me, I’ll fill the time with something else. It doesn’t seem like I can function without going full throttle every hour I’m awake.

Reading Pretty Little Liars has made me realize two things: 1) I could never write young adult chick-lit because I am definitely not up on the fashion designer lingo; and 2) I am so happy I don’t have a daughter, because if this is really what teenage girls do and talk about, I’m not sure I’d be able to sleep at night.

I’ve been saying since I had Gabe that I would start to seriously work on my novel once he turned two. Then that became after E3. Then I had to make myself actually work. I’ve been setting aside Sundays for novel work, and so far, it’s worked out splendidly. I gathered all of my notes that vie been jotting down for the last five years (not lying about the time frame) and worked out an idea of what I wanted and where I wanted my story to go. I’ve never liked how I had the plot go; I’ve always felt like I was reaching too much to connect the plot. Thanks to my wolf pack tattoo I got in Galveston (not lying about that either), it suddenly dawned on me how the plot should flow. I wrote out the background history a few weeks ago, and I just finished writing my plot summary and character outlines.

Next up is the plot outline, I know the plot summary, but I have no idea 1) what the best the way to start it is and 2) how I even want to start.

I still have such a long way to go, but it’s finally coming together in a way I’m happy with. I’m actually getting excited about writing it.

Now I just mean more hours in the day….

So. District 9. Wow. Definitely not what I was expecting, and I’m so glad I NetFlixed it.

This month has been nonstop craziness, I swear. I don’t think I’ve stopped running since I got back from Galveston.

But yes, Christi and I did go down to Houston to see the Distant Worlds concert and then we spent a few days in Galveston enjoying being away from reality. If you want specifics, you’re going to have to ask us in person or you can look at all the spiffy photos I just uploaded to my photo gallery. Sorry for being so lazy, but I’m about to fall asleep at my computer as I type this.

Know that we had a great time at both the concert and the beach, and we really didn’t want to come back to reality. Too bad being a beach bum doesn’t pay very well.

After I get a few hours of sleep, I may write something more meaningful.

Without shopping, I’m not sure how often I would get out of the house! I keep finding excuses to go look at shoes, books, games, etc. because I’m subconsciously desperate for a reason to leave the house for a few minutes. Unfortunately for me, though, I’m not really a shopper as much as I am a buyer. If I had to desire to just go look at things and not for things, my wallet would be happier. Or would it not be happier, because I’d be more enticed to buy things and bleed it dry?

Basically, I’m really missing Mother’s Day Out and I’m starting to see the appeal of daycare. I haven’t had a real break from working and parenting for two weeks, and I’m mentally exhausted. It’s getting to the point that I feel like I would appreciate and devote more attention to Gabe if he wasn’t here all the time, as horrible as that sounds. So you can imagine how much I’m looking forward to the little beach getaway this weekend. August is about to pick up for me work-wise with both Content Solutions and Kombo, so I need to take this while I can. Come onnnn, Friday!

At least my friends have been quite entertaining this last week. Check out the Quote Wall for the latest hilarity from my weird, weird friends. And Dragonball Z (of which I finally finished yesterday and my God, it had the worst ending ever in anime).

I thought I would need to set aside a whole day to upload all of these photos, but thanks to the gallery upgrade, it didn’t take much time at all. Well, the E3 pics did due to the massive quantity of them.

If you’re interested, just click on the Photos link at the top menu and register. Sorry, but due to people sucking, I have to individually grant access to people to see the pictures. I promise you will not receive spam from this registration.

Both albums are on the first page so you won’t have to roam too far. Enjoy!

I went to Houston this past weekend to celebrate my sister’s birthday, which happens to fall on the Fourth. We didn’t see any fireworks (boo) but I got to eat a lot of good food and drink some fabulous wine (yay). I was also pleased to see that Lisa is finally showing a little, although I’m still irritated that she’s only gained ten pounds and is 20 weeks along. It’s so not fair when God and genetics play favorites. I also came home with two bags full of clothes. Lisa is preparing for the baby’s room, so she needed to clean out her closets. End result, I got to go through two giant trash bags full of clothes and ended up with some dresses, dress shirts, and skirts. My fall shopping is already done.

This weekend we are heading down to Austin to visit with one of my Dad’s college friends. I haven’t seen them (or at least don’t remember seeing them) since I was ten or twelve. We used to visit them or have them visit us once a year for many years. Dad still talks to Larry on a regular basis, and recently they started meeting every year to watch UT/Tech games. Lisa went to college with their son, Walker, so she’s had far more recent contact with them than I. It should be an interesting experience for me and for Gabe.

I then have one weekend to rest and do nothing at home (which is exactly what is on the agenda), and then I’m off to Houston yet again. Christi and I are going down there to see the Distant Worlds Final Fantasy concert. I really wanted to see it when it came to Dallas, but poor me, I was in the Bahamas the one night it was here. Coincidentally, the concert is on the night of my birthday, so it will be a fun birthday gift to myself. The weird part is that neither my parents nor my sister will be in town, so Christi and I will just be hanging out at my parents’ empty house. Gabe won’t be going either, so it will be one of the most peaceful weekends in Houston I’ll possibly ever have. We won’t be there for long, though. On Sunday we’re heading down to Galveston for a couple of days. I love the beach, so it wasn’t very hard for Christi to twist my arm when she proposed taking a beach trip. Sure it’s nothing special, but a beach is a beach.

I hope August will be a little more peaceful. I have too much going on these days to keep up this amount of travel. Plus, driving all over the place with a toddler in tow isn’t the most fun either.

Some series don’t know when to quit, and the Ranger’s Apprentice series has made that readily apparent with its last two books.

Yes, the photos are back. I’ve updated the gallery software and I’ve installed password protection. So if you want to see the photos, yes, you will have to register with my site, I’ll approve your registration, and then you can look at the photos as you please. I hope this will prevent hotlinking. If it doesn’t, then I guess certain albums will have to come down permanently.

So yes, very soon, I will have pictures from A-kon and E3 up.

After this plague leaves my digestive system.