Thursday, October 28, 2021

Getting back on track...

It's time for me to utilize the chart / sticker method again.

As you can see, I have a bit of work to do. There is a task listed for each of those rows, even the one without any stickers in it. Some of these tasks are a bit of a cheat. I'd accomplish them even without the reward of a sticker, but it's helpful to have a show of success in some areas to encourage success in others. It's also a challenge to myself to strive for a better and better percentage.

I knew it would take a week or two. (More likely three. lol) Some things are easier to integrate into the routine than others. Not to mention, I had quite a few carb-laden food stuffs left over from my trip that I'm working to consume. So getting back to better eating habits is taking longer. Of course, the canned goods will last a while, so there's no real rush to eat them. And I could give them away in a canned food drive if one comes along. But the leftover Hershey's Kisses (they were sprinkled across my display tables at the con) have got to get eaten.

I'm trying to get into the daily habit of chores at the office. A few do happen and they're on the list, but adding a few more to get rewarded and solidify the habit.

I haven't instituted a reward yet, but the accomplishments are partly their own reward, but we'll see how it goes.

One of those line items is getting back on the food plan. My weight is back where it should be, but now it's a matter of trimming off the inches I gained. Meaning a KETO intensive for a week or two. :0)

Hope you're all well. Have a super weekend.

Monday, October 25, 2021

What a Home Opener!!

You know what that means...

Dallas Stars Hockey is back and the Stars pulled off a win.

It was super game and the boys did us proud.

Being back at the AAC with a full-capacity crowd was mostly awesome. :0) Awesome because, of course, the crowd yelling "Stars" as one during the National Anthem is amazing. The sound of the goal horn and the cheering of the fans is music to our ears. Just feeling the excitement of the crowd and the all-encompassing reverberation of the whole crowd yelling "Dallas" "Stars" "Dallas" "Stars" after a goal is a unique experience.

It lacked a bit of awesome because we lost the elbow room from when social distancing was in place. But it's time to re-build normalcy. And this was a super start.

They added a new thing, at least for the home opener, but I'm hoping it sticks around--three long sheets of fabric acting as a projection screen:

Of course, we're sat on the wrong side of this one... For most images, it doesn't matter, but it does for the logo!

For opening night they handed out battery powered glow bracelets:

Mostly they glowed green or white, but during the National Anthem, they glowed red and blue.


Normally, I'm all in on just enjoying an experience. I grew up before cell phones, and I don't take a lot of pictures...but...if you're so inclined to get an inkling of what it's like at the AAC, I perfectly-timed hitting record to catch the game winning goal and the resultant crowd response.


It looks as though we have a new group of fellow season ticket holders on our little area and one guy is going to get really annoying really fast. But we'll see how often our paths cross. Not often I hope.

Anyway...

Be Loud. Wear Green. and..

 GO STARS!!!

Monday, October 18, 2021

GRL 2021...

My first author lounge setup...

The author signing setup...

Aaaand...GRL is now in the rear-view mirror.

Overall, the experience was a good one. Between my two author lounges and the book signing, I talked to a lot of people and was able to get a good dozen people to download book one of the Ten Rigs series which is always free.

My roommate and I are friends outside of the conference through fandom/fanfic for the BBC's Robin Hood. She did invite me to attend the con in the first place, back in 2017. It was in Denver that year.

As I've mentioned numerous times, I was reassigned from a storyteller panel to a general author Q&A panel due to life circumstances of two of our original panel members....

The Q&A in and of itself was fine. I never had to go first, so I could contemplate my answers for some of the more thought provoking questions, and I kept from putting my foot in my mouth. On the other hand, only a handful, and by a handful, I mean maybe 10, people were in attendance. Needless to say, I was terribly disappointed. That's not to say it was anyone's fault. I don't lay blame anywhere but on crappy societal circumstances.

GRL will not be on my radar for at least two years. Now that it's off my plate and off my mind for this year, I can devote brain power to planning 2022.

* * * * *

So what's in the forecast for the next year...?

Good question!

I'll be pondering the action items for the following:

  • finishing the fifth hockey book
  • planning / writing the sixth hockey book
  • planning / writing the next Christmas book
  • pondering the planning / writing of two new three-book series that are little more than a few vague "what if" ideas
  • doubling down on learning some aspect of my craft--specifically plotting
  • coming up with some sort of advertising / marketing plan for my books that won't take a lot of time and won't break the bank
  • and more...

Hope you had a super weekend. Catch you later!

Thursday, October 14, 2021

A funny thing happened on the way to St. Louis...

Okay, it really happened before I left, but I didn't realize it until I was halfway there.

So I stopped for the night in Neosho, MO--roughly halfway between Fort Worth and St. Louis--and discovered when I went to take a shower, that I'd forgotten to pack underwear! What with all the duplicate lists I had, I missed this one key item of apparel. Luckily for me there was a WalMart across the highway from the hotel I stayed in, so the issue was easily rectified.

There's some very lovely countryside between here and St. Louis...the eastern part of Oklahoma is mostly cattle country as far as I could tell and I enjoyed the beauty of the Ozarks as well. The foliage had barely, and I mean barely from green to yellow, started turning, but it was so so lovely.

Here are a few images...

This was Tuesday morning..first day out. Gorgeous blue sky as you can see.

My first couple of hours on the road Wednesday morning was filled with low, low clouds and then some rain.

And then some beautiful canyon-like passages in the last couple hours before hitting the outer edges of the city.

My roommate was arriving via Amtrak and I timed my arrival to pick her up. Actually I arrived a little early because, as it happens, the Enterprise Center is right across from the Amtrak Station. :0) Despite not being a fan of the Blues by any stretch of the imagination, I am a hockey fan. I visited the fan store, because of course I did. They didn't have much that wasn't Blues specific, not even hockey pucks, which was a bit disappointing. I did end up buying a cat toy so that Karma could literally tear up the Blues.

They did have some lovely statues out front however...



And that's it for today...more about the actual conference on Monday. Have a great rest of your week.

Monday, October 11, 2021

Home Again, Home Again...

I'll be home again early this afternoon from the Gateway to the West aka St. Louis, Missouri. Had a wonderful time driving through Oklahoma and Missouri, in the city itself, and at my conference. More on all of that to come.

St. Louis is the home of the Arch (see above), the 2019 Stanley Cup Champions (who defeated my Dallas Stars on their way), toasted ravioli (see below), and boatload of history. Did you know that St. Louis was originally a French settlement?? I didn't, but I'm intrigued. I'll read up on that more later.

Had toasted ravioli at the Riverboat Cafe and it was good, fine. Tasty. Very much like a cheese stick, if you ask me, just in a different shape. :0)


 

Now that the conference is over, I can look ahead to the rest of the year and to next year in earnest. More on all of that as well.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Have a great week.

Craft Time

I'll be home sometime this afternoon and then it'll be a nice looong stretch of being home.

Thank goodness. I'm tired.

Of course, hockey season starts this week, but luckily our boys in Victory Green start the season on the road. DD and I are cutting way back on games this season. We've chosen the must-attend games (opening night (of course) favorite opposing teams, bobblehead nights, and the like) and the rest of the tickets will be listed on the secondary market. If they don't sell, we'll go.

Speaking of hockey--I'm sure you missed all my hockey talk, didn't you?--DD and I have some crafts planned.

From last year, wee have these lovely Nutcrackers...


And this year, we found gnomes(!!) while we were out and about trying to get ideas for our annual Stars ornament...

Ornament idea yet to be determined.

Recap and pictures of the conference to come. Hope you had a great week last week and here's to a good week this week.

Monday, October 4, 2021

Happy HOCKEY-tober!

 


I'm off to my con tomorrow and then after that--hockey season begins.

Happy fall everyone, it's finally starting to cool down. We've even had rain.

Hope you're all well. Have a great week.