Sanity, Exit Stage Left

Done. Today, I finally rounded off a long and tough second year of university. Well, not exactly ‘rounded it off’, I still have one re-try to go and need to hand in a revised report, but those are for the near future.
The problem is, barely six hours have passed since I said ‘okay guys, I’m going home!’ and, quite frankly, I’m restless. The last week alone has been spent in so much stress and hard work that I even decided against writing blog posts, for they would take up valuable time that I needed to write two reports, a reflection and a portfolio. I also made the stupid mistake of not writing down the ideas I had, of which I’m sure they were there, but couldn’t recall for the life of me at the moment.
Okay, so, my priorities were somewhere else than my writing for the past week and a half or so. That is done for, now, I had two presentations and four hand-in moments in the past two days, so I have some time for myself. Well, not completely for myself, I still have a job, a paper round, scouting, AAAARGH.

To prevent myself from going slightly insane, I’ve got to make a list, a to-do, things I need to do, so I have something to work to. I’m in this terrible mindset of having to work, thanks a lot, university!
So, here we go, in points:

1. I have a crate radio I need to complete.
1a. Wood needs to be ordered (money is on my desk).
1b. The wood has to be prepared (need the wood for this).
1c. Everything has to be assembled (both soldering and fitting).

2. I have a book to write.
2a. 5000 words (one chapter) a day (+/- 2,5 hours).
2b. Flying Light, the last book in my HELMET trilogy, so I need to keep the background in mind.

3. I have a D&D campaign to keep running and prepared.
3a. Surprises from my players have to be anticipated and/or prepared for.
3b. Unexpected decisions need rewards, make sure inventiveness is met with rewarding action, not punishments and walls.
3c. Make sure I have enough things prepared for the options I have set out so far.

4. Prepare the Savage Worlds introduction session.
4a. Almost done, just the final touches.
4b. Try to run it in the near future.
4c. If they like it, 5 becomes active as well.

5. Prepare the Savage Worlds Declipse campaign.
5a. Prepare the first session, in which the options are laid out.
5b. Prepare ALL THE OPTIONS.

6. Don’t forget, you’ve got a backlog of games.

7. Oh, and a girlfriend.

8. And that secondary exam and revised report, don’t forget those.

9. And you should find time for your friends and the already running D&D/nWoD/oWoD games they surely want you to participate in.

10. And you absolutely shouldn’t forget to re-apply for university, so you can actually complete your education.

… Whew, that’s better. Believe it or not, but having this stupid to do list actually helps me keep an overview of what I’ve got to do and, quite frankly, it’s quite a bit. Certainly something that’ll keep me running for the next three/four weeks, and hopefully for the rest of the vacation I’m looking at, all the way up to September, when university starts again and I’ll have my hands all filled up with the work for that. It also helps that I’ve got three weeks filled up, of which 12 days are set for a scouting camp in Switzerland and the remaining days are to be spent with amazing buddies who want to travel around. It’s going to be great.

Now, to go into a little detail on the more interesting things:

The crate radio was actually planned to be made and completed in January, but this was prevented by my supplier failing to send me the battery until April, despite the fact that I ordered it at the end of November. It’ll be sweet to actually complete it in time for the scouting camp… Even though it’ll be pretty big and heavy.

Bright Dawn was the first book in my HELMET trilogy and, quite frankly, it was pretty horrible when I look back at it. The second book, Death’s Messengers, was leaps better than that. Flying Light, which will be the last book, already has the first chapter and a good part of the second chapter completed, but that was back in February, before I acknowledged my ongoing writer’s block. I’m going to use it to force myself through it, for I’m tired of it, and hope that something decent will come out of it. Maybe I won’t publish it, though my proofreaders will probably be a deciding factor in that.

My players continue to be fascinating me with their choices and decisions in my D&D campaign. I’ve managed to keep them going over the e-mail and had a pretty clear view of what was to be done with them, but they’re throwing wrenches in the cogs left and right. It’s really interesting to try and improvise my way around them, though I’ve already acknowledged the fact that it’s good I’m doing this over e-mail and I’ve got the chance to think out my reactions before actually having to send them out.

That’s about the long and the short of what has started to work in my mind, right now. It’s a pretty damn mess, if you ask me!