Saturday 27 January 2018

Now Teaching: Week 21

Wondering if I should track “Phantom” hours, which amounted to about nine in total. After 19 straight days of school though, I didn’t go in today, I went to Hawkesbury instead. In other news, chipped away at driveway ice today, after Tuesday, and had a timing fail on Monday. Also Monday, Geography lunch, where I pretended to want to open a bicycle rental shop. Good times.
Previous INDEX Next

*
Item counts run Sunday (Jan 21) to Saturday (Jan 27).

Step Count 2017: About 60,300.
STEP COUNT 2018: Over 67,500. 14 stars.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR:
-Suddenly felt like all major projects were done, routine was possible.

SchoolMail 2017: 48 (0 sent)
SCHOOL EMAIL 2018: 87 New (14 sent)
Up to Day 93, I have taken 26.833 of 11 days of sick leave so far.



TEACHING RELATED ITEMS:
 -Finished grading set of 3U tests
 -Graded set of 3U finance tasks
 -Graded set of 3U Desmos summatives
 -“Phantom” rehearsals, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thurs
 -Extra help for exams

WRITING + ART RELATED ITEMS:
 -Drew, inked, coloured comic for Jan 22
 -Thursday stArt Faire Comic Chat
 -Drew comic for Jan 29
 -Wrote comics for Feb 5 & 12

OTHER ITEMS:
 -Food delivery.
 -Medical appointment Friday.
 -Visit with aunt on weekend.
 -Lotus Prince, “Homecoming” and “Shattered Memories”.

UPCOMING FOR SURE:
 -Marks. Tetanus shot.

STUFF TO SCHEDULE FOR 2018:
 -Recap for ConBravo 2017
 -Recap for CanCon 2017
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk


RH Stress Level: 3 (Divine Buster, extension)

Sunday 21 January 2018

Now Teaching: Week 20

This was a week of meetings and appointments, only Thursday was really devoid of those. Nearly missed the fact that post #400 was next on my blog (caught it thanks to last year). Failed to start creating a buffer anywhere. Succeeded in finally starting to take down holiday decorations. I feel like I should not be this mellow.
Previous INDEX Next

*
Item counts run Sunday (Jan 14) to Saturday (Jan 20).

Step Count 2017: About 53,400.
STEP COUNT 2018: Over 62,500. 14 stars.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR:
-Hit Post #300, did DITLife roundup, tried to fix posture issues.

SchoolMail 2017: 78 (3 sent)
SCHOOL EMAIL 2018: 150 New (22 sent)
Up to Day 88, I have taken 25.5 of 11 days of sick leave so far.



TEACHING RELATED ITEMS:
 -Finished with Probability Projects
 -Organized summative submissions
 -“Phantom” rehearsals after school
 -Teachers’ Council meeting
 -Finished grading set of 4U tests
 -Started grading set of 3U tests
 -“Phantom” on Sunday & Saturday

WRITING + ART RELATED ITEMS:
 -Drew, inked, coloured comic for Jan 15
 -Edits on Virga Mysteries Case 1, posts queued
 -Thursday stArt Faire Comic Chat

OTHER ITEMS:
 -Math meeting Monday and Minutes.
 -OAME meeting Tuesday, but brief.
 -Ultra Medical appointment Friday.
 -Back to Lotus Prince, “Downpour”.

UPCOMING FOR SURE:
 -Medical appointment. Exams.

STUFF TO SCHEDULE FOR 2018:
 -Recap for ConBravo 2017
 -Recap for CanCon 2017
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk


RH Stress Level: 4 (Accel Shooter)

Saturday 20 January 2018

400: Relative Change

Post #100 of this blog was "Time for a Superheroine" (Oct 2013). Post #200 of this blog was "No Reason" (Aug 2015). My continued efforts to write short fiction continued in #246 "Suppression" and #261 "In The Dark", based on prompts from "Web Fiction Guide". Post #300 of this blog was "A Bunny's Tale" (Jan 2017). Now here we are at Post #400 exactly one year later. These milestones creep up fast when you make weekly entries; I almost missed it.

The following is a short story I submitted to a publication last June. It did not win, but we might as well get it off the hard drive. It's definitely short - it needed to be 628 words, max. (6-28, June 28). We're back to time travel here. Enjoy!

=====

RELATIVE CHANGE

Lilium was used to hearing her younger brother talk to himself on occasion. The walls of their house were thin. But something about this time felt different. It took a moment before she realized that Luke’s voice was overlapping with itself.

Lilium sighed. She couldn’t very well grow up to be a member of the Chrono Patrol one day if she ignored an unauthorized temporal incursion inside her own house, could she?

She raked her fingers back through her frizzy hair, adjusted the straps of her green dress and stalked out of her own room, throwing open the door of Luke’s bedroom without so much as a knock.

Her fifteen year old brother, sitting on the bed, turned to look at her with wide eyes. So did the early twenty something version of her brother standing in the middle of the room. Yeah, had to be an older version of him, only Luke would wear such a tacky Hawaiian shirt.

“You’re both audible and visible to your prior self?” Lilium shrieked. “Are you trying to get one or both of yourselves arrested?”

“Bus-ted,” YoungLuke muttered. He shook his head. “But I’m glad you’re here, Lily. You know how I’m buying a new watch tomorrow?”

Lilium peered at her brother(s). “Yeah.”

OlderLuke broke in. “I keep telling myself that I’m here to change that event. But I’m so stubborn! Luke, why won’t you listen to me?”

Lilium put her hands on her hips. “Both of you, stop. Future Luke, have you even studied temporal theory? Did you run the quantum scenarios here?”

OlderLuke nodded. “Of course I did. That’s how I pinpointed this event.”

“And then did you run the scenarios on everyone else?” Lilium challenged. “I mean this is, what, a six year entanglement, minimum? What happens to me? To the person who sells you the watch on commission? To the lady who asks you for the time three years from now? To YOU, a week in the future?”

“Oh, uhh..."

“THINK, Luke.” She stepped forwards and flicked her fingers at OlderLuke’s forehead. Of course, her fingers passed right through the hologram, but it was more about making the point. “Rule one. History must be free to make its own decisions. If we made mistakes, well, that’s how we learn, how we grow. Change can be good, change can be bad... change cannot be taken lightly. That’s why we enter the past only to observe.”

OlderLuke glared back. “Times change too. As do regulations.”

Lilium felt a chill run up her back. Only then did she wonder why she hadn’t stopped Luke from doing this in their future. Was she even there? Was she in on it? Or was this some sort of test, by a future superior, to see if she was Patrol material? There was no way to know.

Still, she wasn’t about to change her own beliefs. It didn’t matter that this version of Luke was now older than her.

She shook her head. “Luke, you know how much your past self wants to buy that watch. Even if you could change that event, and benefit from it, you don’t truly know what that will do to the timeline around you. Do you?”

OlderLuke stared at her. Then he slumped, shaking his head. “No. You’re right.” He gave her a sad smile. “Thank you, Lily. As usual, you’re the only one able to change my mind.”

Moments later, he had faded from view. Lilium let out a sigh of relief.

“Lily!” her brother gasped. “What are you doing in my room? What... what’s been going on for the last ten minutes?”

Lilium blinked. “I’m not sure. But I wouldn’t worry about it,” she said, turning to leave. “I don’t think anything’s changed.”



***



  What do you think, was I able to capture enough in such a short word count? Is there anything I should be working on with my writing?

  Note that I've also been contributing columns to the Time Travel Nexus about the "Back to the Future" comic book series, if you want to read more. I also went though some of my favourite time travel TV shows as an Author Aside on my serial site. Virga Mysteries will begin there tomorrow.

  Thanks for your interest!

Saturday 13 January 2018

Now Teaching: Week 19

Decided not to sign back up for yoga. Snow shovelling seems to get my days over 10k for steps, plus I’m feeling like I’m in a state of almost being perpetually caught up. Crazy thaw and snow led to another postponing of seeing my aunt, along with a “no bus” day for reworking my January schedule. (Also took down outdoor XMas lights.) I am having comic motivation issues, trying to see a path forwards.
Previous INDEX Next

*
Item counts run Sunday (Jan 7) to Saturday (Jan 13).

Step Count 2017: About 53,000.
STEP COUNT 2018: Over 70,400. 14 stars.
Seriously, only Wed and Sat weren’t over 10k.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR:
-My physical health was questionable (arm tingles). I walked more.

SchoolMail 2017: 50 (0 sent)
SCHOOL EMAIL 2018: 107 New (16 sent)
Up to Day 83, I have taken 24.833 of 11 days of sick leave so far.



TEACHING RELATED ITEMS:
 -“Phantom” rehearsals on Monday & Thursday
 -Feedback on rough draft summatives
 -Staff meeting, though that was brief
 -Set exam for both math courses
 -Plugging away again at Probability Projects
 -Saturday “Phantom” rehearsal after brunch

WRITING + ART RELATED ITEMS:
 -Scans and final edits on “Untold Tales” TTNexus post
 -Thursday stArt Faire Comic Chat

OTHER ITEMS:
 -Sunday “Star Wars: Last Jedi” with family
 -Sunday dinner with relatives
 -Friday NAC Play “887”
 -Saturday brunch with friends
 -Contrasting Lotus Prince with Eric van Wilderman.

UPCOMING FOR SURE:
 -Math meeting. Teachers Council. Doctor’s Apt.

STUFF TO SCHEDULE FOR 2018:
 -Recap for ConBravo 2017
 -Recap for CanCon 2017
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk


RH Stress Level: 3 (Divine Buster Extension)

Saturday 6 January 2018

Now Teaching: Week 18

How do I even describe this week? Flurry of activity Sunday and Monday, Tuesday evening through Wednesday I was mostly sick (again!), and Anne-Lise was getting there too, including pink eye, to the point we went for an appointment. The outside temperatures were insane (today’s high was -21 C) though maybe on the plus side, no snow shovelling while I was away (and only minimal since). Then Thursday and Friday I was mostly moping about my creative stuff, only to return to flurry of activity by Saturday. So yeah.
Previous INDEX Next

*
Item counts run Sunday (Dec 31) to Saturday (Jan 6).

Step Count 2017: About 52,000.
STEP COUNT 2018: Over 56,300. 14 stars.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR:
-Roundup posts, finally started tackling item backlog post-writing.

SchoolMail 2017: 5 (0 sent)
SCHOOL EMAIL 2018: 17 New (2 sent)
Still at Day 78, I have taken 23.166 of 11 days of sick leave so far.



TEACHING RELATED ITEMS:
 -NOPE. (Unless starting to read a math book counts.)

WRITING + ART RELATED ITEMS:
 -Wrote “Epsilon” summary and statistics post
 -Drew, inked new 2018 banner for comic
 -Thursday stArt Faire Comic Chat
 -Wrote a post about various educational comics
 -Drew, inked comic for Jan 8

OTHER ITEMS:
 -Sunday new years’ eve with relatives
 -Monday afternoon with relatives
 -Long Drive Monday
 -Monday new years’ with relatives
 -Medical appointment Thursday
 -Bought drywall screws, put up spoon racks
 -Saturday dinner with relatives
 -More Lotus Prince (Fatal Frame 4 done).

UPCOMING FOR SURE:
 -I only just bought an agenda. x.x School. NAC Play. Visiting aunt.

STUFF TO SCHEDULE FOR 2018:
 -Recap for ConBravo 2017
 -Recap for CanCon 2017
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk


RH Stress Level: 3 (Divine Buster Extension)