Tuesday 30 July 2019

Now Parenting: July 2019

Week 54
-Realized quickly we need shifts with Alexandra, such as when she won't sleep after 5am.
-Seem to have lost one of our five bottles after Canada Day? (A small one.)
-Tidying of her room, new bookcase installed and reading chair made accessible.
-I went to walk on Wed, group on Thurs, yoga on Fri (tried out new mat).
-July 4th, mixed in homogenized milk; also, first major nap fail with me.
-I manage to get my room a bit organized and Figmas dealt with.
-Shopped for tiny nails/screws and got both pictures hung. Also new shoes.
-Mom picked up on "Ba" being little one saying "bird". (Outside & on my shirt.)
-I get two more Steins;Gate reviews written.
-I get two more sets of screen caps for reviews (asynchronous).
-I do some writing in my random nonsense file.
-Little one then caught a cold, nose always running.
-Lotus Prince Penumbra (Overture and Plague to 4)

Item counts to Saturday (July 6):
Step Count 2016: About 52,900
-Put up “Nanoha” merchandise, prepared for Twitter Math Camp

Step Count 2017: About 61,600 (21 stars)
-Felt like the writing during my year off was a failure

Step Count 2018: Over 77,700 (17 stars)
-Alexandra likes movement to sleep, dislikes bassinet, changes and baths.

STEP COUNT 2019: Over 60,300. 11 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2019: 7 New (0 sent)

RH Stress Level: 5 (ACS Stand by)

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Week 55
-Tooth 6 erupted during a rough Sat/Sun night, then shoe shopping (size 3 is AWOL).
-Original Soother was found in a lesser used pocket of the diaper bag.
-Made a birthday video for Alexandra, she seemed to like it.
-Odd dream of hero and villain teams, but they only eavesdrop on each other, mostly they're dealing with internal problems.
-Financial meeting for second week in a row (Tues Morn).
-Caught screen caps up with Steins;Gate reviews.
-Finished the series set with #25 and screen caps.
-Last evening on porch ended up being Tues (Wed was doc, Thurs was rain, stopped)
-Family outing to Toy Story IV (Wed) before little one's one-year shots.
-Thurs: Second morning snooze an hour after first. Shots affected the poor girl.
-Another Daycare visit (Thurs) and then Yoga (Fri morn).
-Printing of pictures and assembly into Alexandra's one year photo montage.
-Brunch with friends (Sat). Anime North 2019 Recap/Review completed.
-She often knocks her head into the crib bars and migrates to the top by 1am.
-Lotus Prince Penumbra (Plague end & Requiem)

Item counts to Saturday (July 13):
Step Count 2016: About 70,500
-In Minnesota for TMC, cubic song.

Step Count 2017: About 65,500 (20 stars)
-Cleaning house/deck, feeling better about plans.

Step Count 2018: Over 109,600 (20 stars)
-Walking with Alexandra who gets daily hiccups, hip bothering me.

STEP COUNT 2019: Over 54,550. 12 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2019: 7 New (2 sent)

RH Stress Level: 5 (ACS Stand by)

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Week 56
-Sunday was good. Trip to airport morn, park aft & no-white-noise snooze.
-Wrote an 850 word polynomial story.
-She slept from 8:30pm to 3:30am... then night terrors. I slept very little.
-Crazy Tuesday, from morn to group to fever to mowing to snooze to daycare contract.
-My daughter decided walking and stair climbs (assisted) is best mid-fever?
-TeleHealth does have a call-back wait list which takes longer than they thing.
-Medical appointment Wed morn, and off to airport. A/C is broken again??
-Made spider motions during song, slept most of flight. Then stroller fiasco.
-Then Thurs night I'm sick, as is Alexandra, we curl up outside. I get worse.
-Friday to doctor. Only 3550 steps, part of that merely for a star.
-That night, dreams of a school at gates of hell and Mulder trying to track drug smugglers using a kid who saw a horse get shot. (okay then)
-Thunderstorm overnight did not phase little one at all. (I couldn't sleep again.)
-Saturday snoozes with little one coincided with guests. She was then VERY good during long anniversary dinner, home (early) after 11pm.
-Lotus Prince RE2 Board Game finished (by Wed).

Item counts to Saturday (July 20):
Step Count 2016: About 63,300
-Recaps for TMC, broken A/C

Step Count 2017: About 61,600 (25 stars)
-Shoulder issues, tried to finish up “To Do” list

Step Count 2018: Over 75,500 (14 stars)
-Toaster fire, new vibrating chair, less crying

STEP COUNT 2019: Over 62,325. 17 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2019: 3 New (0 sent)

RH Stress Level: 3 (Divine Buster, Extension)

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Week 57
-Actual sleep (oversleep?) Sunday, then packing. Including crib for hotel.
-Long trip, long dinner, Alexandra's generally amazing. Late run outside.
-First trip on a boat for little one; she wasn't too thrilled.
-Able to do some Virga work on the long trip and next day in hotel.
-Tuesday trip to Sark, she drank straight milk with no formula.
-Over 20k steps, got to small Henge when carriage rides weren't possible.
-Managed to carry her sleeping a bit after trip back, later than expected.
-Wednesday in Guernsey she enjoyed church books and fish in aquarium.
-She climbed up castle steps. I have it on video. (K'tan snooze not a success.)
-She then climbed hotel steps both ways after Mom's yoga.
-Evening she was stellar, had much at dinner including fries, strawberry.
-I near lost my mind because I couldn't locate giraffe soother (for 24 hrs).
-Beaches on Herm was of slight interest to her? Light rain before arrival.
-Carried her all the way from boat to bus to room - she always resumed sleep!
-Some writing work in the evenings after she's in bed (post 10pm).
-Friday pool time, then more boat time. Parted ways, got to St Gregoire.
-Managed to cut nails on third snooze (hotel, boat, car).
-Kid's play area on boat a bit fun, more fun in hotel with Spanish kids there.
-Final visit Saturday 11am. Finished Virga Act Five by end of day.
-Almost first thing when arriving home was going up and down the stairs.

Item counts to Saturday (July 27):
Step Count 2016: About 63,660
-Air Conditioner repaired, then ConBravo

Step Count 2017: About 77,000 (24 stars)
-On vacation in Stratford/Hamilton with Anne-Lise

Step Count 2018: Over 69,900 (12 stars)
-Knee pain, shift to warmed milk, "Time Police" audio work

STEP COUNT 2019: Over 75,600. 13 stars.
SCHOOL EMAIL 2019: 3 New (0 sent)

RH Stress Level: 3 (Divine Buster, Extension)

*****
CONSTANT TO-DO LIST:
 -Recap for CanCon 2018
 -Recap for OAME 2019
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials/comics (from ~May 2018)
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk

Monday 15 July 2019

Anime North 2019

I've found time to write a recap post this year, shocking.

For those who don't know me, I blogged about my Anime North experiences from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. I did not attend in 2018, in part because of my wife's pregnancy, in part because our school had been nominated for Best Musical at the Cappies which conflicted (they were earlier than usual). So why the return in 2019?

This is largely thanks to Ashley Hakker, who had invited me to be on a panel about "Fandom Thru The Ages" along with Dave Merrill. (I think the last time I was on a panel was 2005.) I didn't give a definitive answer until mid-April, when it looked like co-ordinating things would work out with my daughter, my wife, and our relatives.

Even so, you'll see I wasn't very active, in part because it's an 8+ hour drive when you have to stop to let the little one out of her carseat every so often. Friday was out. (Left after work, reached the hotel about 11pm after being on the go since about 5am despite under five hours sleep, wheee.) Saturday morning was with my parents.


SATURDAY


I reached the TCC around 11:30am to find there was a registration line. Apparently it had cleared earlier, but was now back in force (possibly due to the early morning rain). Still, had my badge before noon, and took the time to plan the day (hadn't brought grading). Checked out the art area for commissions, checked out dealers, ran into Ashley there.

Went back to actually get a couple commissions, Trixie which was done in 20-30 minutes (really clever, do it while you shop) and Heather which was done online and mailed out weeks after. Then on to a 2pm panel, "Lessons Learned Making Webcomics".

Panel was by Achiru Wong, who created "The House Party". I arrived a bit late, later confirmed there were ten lessons:
Image is of character being erased by themselves
10 - Know Your Why.
 9 - Just Make It Exist.
 8 - Good Enough, Moving On.
 7 - Brick By Brick.
 6 - Just Go Outside.
 5 - Expect the Unexpected.
 4 - Partner with Reality.
 3 - Choose Gratitude.
 2 - Invest in Yourself.
 1 - Ask For Opportunities.

She expanded on these with some anecdotes. For #7 she showed she has drawn characters who are holding up the first artwork drawn of them. For #6, going outside is partly about fresh air, but also going outside your comfort zone and outside your discipline. (Writing, drawing, speaking, doing martial arts for choreographing.) For #3, Achiru mentioned how after she strained her arm, and couldn't draw, she blamed the world. Stop yourself going down that spiral, look for what there is to be grateful for, and start building that up.

For #2, if your path doesn't match with where you are, your vibration tends to be "I don't have it" rather than seeing the things you've already done. Move to create the reality you want for yourself, once you believe it to be possible. And for #1, you need to ask for what you want... others can't read your mind. If you want a higher rating, ask fans. She's speaking here at this panel because of asking (from Calgary) if they needed a guest.

At 2:30pm, Achiru took questions, which I've mostly transcribed here. (Any errors, as usual, are mine.)

Q: Do you use primarily Patreon, or other sources of income?
A: At this time, it's still part time work. Because I actively chose a career where I can spend "x" amount of time on my art; I didn't take up a full time job. I was a Grade 1 teacher for a full year. Part of my identity was tied to my salary (being "worth this much" is a dangerous assumption to make, because a bank account fluctuates and has nothing connected to self worth), but I felt like a zombie and I wasn't fulfilling my soul's purpose, which was more damaging than having money. ... How much flexibility do you want in your life? If it scares you more to not have a stable income, like with a family, you're in a position that works for you, while you do creative work on your side. It's based on circumstances. Lucy Bellwood had an entire panel on how artists and writers make an income; everyone's story is a bit different and changes over time as needs change.

Q: Resources for people learning to draw?
A: I haven't been on skillshare but I've heard it's a great resource. My fiancé is also a comic artist, so he knows more about YouTube videos than I do. (Achiru adds she didn't have to go through that path.) Know it's not about me wanting to be a better artist, it's always the art piece itself. What do I want this piece to evoke or have? And know you're combining it with story. I would never want to draw a hospital, but that's where the story took me, so I had to learn how to draw them and office buildings. Expanding my comfort zone.

Q: Regarding the Unexpected - when characters take control?
A: Look up John Truby. The Hollywood story doctor, who fixes stories for a living. One distinction he made is the difference between "mechanical storytelling" and "organic storytelling". When the character dictates things, that's an organic process, different from "I want this element in my story and then this happens based on that", a more mechanical process. Organic is more complex, you need to understand how personalities develop in a subconscious way. The same process that makes you human, and creates diversity in our population.

Q: Advice for getting over fear of failure?
A: Different affirmations. Recognize "that's my ego talking", concerned with "do I look good", "do I look good in front of other people". Contrast in how am I going to serve the world, it's not about me any more. Difference between committed versus attached... if I'm committed to getting ice cream, I could look up location of DQ and take transit, or I could (fumbling for analogy) or I pass by a Creamery instead of DQ, go there. I'm achieving the same goal but not the way I originally planned. Still committed, but not attached to how, there's flexibility. In launching a kickstarter, just because I failed, doesn't mean I failed forever, remember all failure is temporary. Allow yourself to fail in a safe way. Those are the bricks. "How can I fail faster?"

Q: (I asked:) How to be seen amongst all the noise out there?
A: Back to Knowing your Why. Finding out what message is core that moves you to action. For me that's Queer issues, it's not for everyone. Who are the top 3 people in the industry that you admire? (I admit that "I just personify math".) Do you want it to be a way for people to get math concepts, then that's what distinguishes you.

Q: How to be seeking inspiration?
A: A lot of times, when in your art, you can be on autopilot. You come up with a blank. But actively seeking a new experience, when you step outside in any capacity, that's when inspiration will come back.

Q: I have an idea, character, but when I start I can't do it. Advice?
A: Meaning whenever you start, you pass judgement on yourself, and that prevents progress? That comes back to the "Good Enough" lesson. I restarted at least 20 times before I lost count, tried a different way, eventually decided I'd have to commit to one version, so I had to figure out my Good Enough bar. Even if line art isn't clean (scanner picked up everything, lots of time erasing), I needed to move on, that is more important to me. I made that choice.

Audience adds: Webcomic 19 pages and I got better, forced to draw cars and scenes with many people. Same with a story I've been writing, it's not going to be perfect. Even the fans wonder what happened. But you can't edit something that doesn't exist.
A: Exactly. Two key phrases, "Discomfort equals growth". While growing, the process isn't comfortable. Tell yourself that, and it's okay, it means you're making progress. Second thing, "The money is in the reprint". If I think about my favourite mangas, the first series that they did, they ran with it, made up their own ending. Then we have a reprise like FMA "Brotherhood". Even the industry people are making it up as they go, like "Game of Thrones". You're lucky you don't have to lose billions of dollars.

Q: Comment about the eraser timesaving. Any other ways? I'm doing full time teaching, if I draw, I don't eat?
A: Timesaving tips? Stop using a pencil, or anything that you can erase. Start using a pen, the first stroke is your final stroke. Do it with a boldness, trains your mind to move on, let's keep going. Works even for digital artists, don't use a sketch layer. Page is done, move on.

Q: How long is spent developing characters in your head before writing? To avoid retcon?
A: Goes back to the Giant Puzzle (brick by brick) metaphor. Collect the pieces, I don't know the whole story, I can branch out to find the next piece adjacent. If I know they don't believe in marriage, I look at why they have that belief, and family circumstances come out. ("My parents were divorced".) And all of a sudden I've got a backstory. Or for personality traits, like why is this person outgoing... because they're trying to present something to the world "notice me, I'm neglected at home" or another underlying reason.

Q: Status of your comic called Raven?
A: Been on hiatus. Changed it to Unspoken, updated a bit on Tapastic but on hiatus again. Recursive plan. I think of it like a sandwich, within that universe I have the things which are spinoffs (including Eros/Psyche, and the gender bend version) and once those are done, I go back. As the characters develop, I see I don't have the ability to achieve the desired ending yet.

Where can we find your work? Achiru.com and a merchandise booth outside.

After that panel, at 3pm I went to "Yuri Recommendations". Kat was presenting, and had some posters, which I helped to put up (so that I could get a look before needing to leave early). She noted that she leans more to a mature theme (being in her 30s), meaning about adults. Yuri itself used to be only manga (girls writing for other girls), less so anime.


My interests may differ from yours
"Bloom Into You" came up as a recent example, as it did (apparently) in Yuri 101, but Kat remarked it doesn't seem to understand boundaries. Contrast "Devil House", a lesbian moving in with another girl, will likely never be translated. That author did another story with a respectful approach to transgender.

More accessible: Works by Milk Morinaga, like "GirlFriends". For old school anime, Utena - watch the OVA, not the anime. (The anime is weird. Surrealistic Yuri.) Relationship there is like Xena, strongly hinted, not said. Also, Yurikama Arashi, and then Citrus comes up.

Kat couldn't finish Citrus, "Stop sexually abusing your family members and playing it off as nothing." The abuse wasn't sexy, could be her. An audience member adds, if it could be resolved so easily (at the end), why wasn't it done sooner.

There's also "Our Journey into Lesbian Motherhood", another manga not translated into English, an autobiographical story about the author. Topics like in a civil partnership, you can't be officially married in Japan. And there's the complications of having a child, how society will view it, and father in a relationship... it's two volumes. Very good, nicely drawn.

Two guys join Kat on panel now, bringing up the anime "Yuru Yuri". The first season's a lot of gag comedy, but third season tones that down. Then "Kase-San", which is now an OVA, and the author came to Toronto and gave a good Q&A. (The difficulties they face when publishing this kind of manga, and when it comes over to the North American side. I'll second that series, it's one of my favourites.) Perhaps "the Golden Age has started" and we want to keep this going.

Back with manga, for those who like monster girls, "Beauty and the Beast Girl". (A blind girl and a monster.) There's also a webtoon "Monsters Don't Blush" (another one happening in high school). Or a webtoon from a recommended list was "It would be great if you didn't exist". Back on anime, something very old school, "Maria-Sama ga Miteru (Maria Watches)", where there's barely a plot there. Daily lives.

At this point it was 3:30pm, I had to leave to get back to the other hotel for MY panel. I jotted down the "Fresh from Japan" listing en route.


FANDOM AND BEYOND


The basic plan had been for Dave to cover Fandom up to the 90s, me to handle the 90s, and Ashley to continue on from there. With some topic discussion in between (like "proselytizing", a word I constantly have to look up). They had run something similar last year with someone else, but in less time. I'd scaffolded together a bunch of things, and scanned in old posters I had (like from Club Anime or CTRL-A) to look at. I think things went reasonably well? I spoke for maybe half an hour until 5:20pm.


Karl still had the original poster for one of my slides.
At the end, a guy on staff came up and said he'd been touring CBC (or something) back in the mid-90s, and someone had said they were looking for someone into anime, but he wasn't "obsessive" enough (there were other interests as well). Also someone from CTRL-A back in the day spoke to me, and I ran into Karl.

I headed out a little after 6pm, to return to the hotel, since we were getting close to little one's bedtime. But with a phone call it was determined I'd have time for quick dinner en route. I stayed in that evening because my daughter had been restless the previous night, and I had the rather smart idea of putting the playpen/crib into the closet, since the curtains didn't block out the light all that well. (Curse the longer days of the summer.)

On Sunday I was up by 7am, but I didn't head out until after 9:30am due to breakfast and packing things up. Incidentally, parked at Sheraton again, where there seemed to be a reasonable rate for ANorth. Manga Library first, to check out some of the Yuri recommendations from the previous day. "The Last Uniform" was okay (girls in a dorm, not sure about the art style), "Gakuen Polizi" was already funny partway in (surprise, another Milk Morinaga) so I then went to the Dealers Room to try and purchase.

One place ("The Beguiling", maybe?) had a whole table just for yuri. So I had to make decisions. I also jotted down a few titles so partly for my own future reference: "Whispered Words" (Takashi Ikeda), "Sweet Blue Flowers" (Takako Shimura), "Secret of the Princess" (Morinaga), "Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn", "Kindred Spirits on the Roof" (also a game?), "NTR Netsuzou Trap" (also an anime?).

I also stopped in to see the Gallery Momiji, which had some huge, impressive Pokemon figures.


TRIXIE
Commission from Sen Yomi
The only panel I got to on Sunday was the "Abridged Panel 10th Anniversary!" at noon. Apparently the panel has been running the last ten years. The panelists were Zeromaster, who has done Megaman Abridged among other projects, and SCXCR who claimed "I take abridging and say 'why don't we do this instead' and then disaster happens".

They started with a parody video of what you shouldn't do. This included: (1) Pick a series, something with only 1-2 episodes so you can stay current. (2) Production, make sure to never have silent background audio in any scene. (3) Voice Acting, cast people who own extremely expensive microphones. (4) Length, stretch it out as much as you can so one real episode means four abridged episodes. (5) Plagiarism, I mean creative writing, make things sound like mad libs. (6) Fame and Fortune, and if people complain, just say your own rights are being violated.

The panelists often paused for questions, and someone asked about the "Length" aspect - can you call it abridging if a video's twenty minutes long? Zeromaster wondered about that himself, he once asked someone to send him something under 8 minutes only to be told they didn't have anything like that. Maybe "I'm old man yelling at cloud" but he's figured longer videos should be something like a Finale or LittleKuribo condensing 20 episodes down into 40 minutes.

SCXCR then showed a video he called a "closet abridged series", meaning he put it together with whatever audio he had on his computer at the time. (Like "closet cosplay".) In part this was because their panel here was only approved a little over a month before the convention, and abridging does require a process: Script writing, getting voice actor footage, editing it all together. It was for "Demon City Shinjuku".

Zeromaster added that it brings up another good point, just use what you've got at the start, to get the ball rolling. "I don't even want to think about my old stuff". Personally, I thought it was clever using a number of music files instead of voices (like "built this city on rock and roll").

An audience member asked about voice actors, and how long it can take for them to get back to you. It was mentioned the VAA, a forum/website where people could audition, unfortunately closed down. The big thing now seems to be Discords, including an audition page. Zeromaster added the voice acting is good practice for people who are new, though he wouldn't call it professional. He added a lot of people who used to do voices for him either still freelance, or are now professional voice actors (one with Funimation).

Zeromaster showed a compilation of some of his Megaman abridged, which uses sprite animations. He used frames in Photoshop, "I tried in Flash but realized I'm trash at Flash".

I asked them how far ahead they work, like in incorporating previous material, was it always a plan or just organic. Zeromaster said he's written all the episodes ahead of time, and also reincorporation was part of the Megaman franchise.

Zeromaster added that he taught himself to animate in 7th or 8th grade, meaning 14-15 years ago, and things have evolved. But it's the same fundamentals, and it's easier to learn now, because you can search on tutorials. "Very rarely do I not find what I want, unless I don't search correctly."

They next showed "Dumb Piece" by Eagle8burger. Although really long videos now seem to be the norm, this condenses 100 episodes of OnePiece down into 2 minutes. "An example of hyper-abridging", you just make it really, really fast and people have to slow the video down or watch it again. Then something from Australia, "One Poke Bloke" for "One Punch Man". The remark there was how, if you can come up with an idea for one scene, that's a solid minute to use, and shorts are still fairly popular.

With about 10 minutes left, there was a question about PurpleEyesWTF, who has done "One Punch Stan" and also popularized the hyper-abridging style. ("He wasn't the first but he got massively popular.") There's also Runawayturist who did "Infinite Stratos" abridged, trying to go as fast as possible... these days "there's less rules or guidelines" but Zeromaster still prefers videos under 8 minutes in length.

Someone asked if lowering video quality helps avoid copyright flags, or whether it just means people won't watch. Zeromaster admits he's tried every trick in the book: Mirrored footage, zoomed out, a wallpaper... and even if nobody likes it something that's what you've got to do. Because a lot of abridged stuff is animated, companies who don't know or care about the use just want to take it down. Currently the power is all in the rights holder, and if they decide they don't want it on the internet, they can take it down, fair use be damned.

That is changing. People are looking at penalties for those who abuse the system. "I don't want to discourage you, there are ways to get around it." More DumbPiece was shown to finish the panel.


HEATHER BRIGHT
Commission from Mouds_art
At 1pm I went to the AMV Replay, getting there in time to see some of the SailorStars dub. (I'd forgotten it started with Saturn's return.) Some good videos I saw (in my opinion, that I could track down later) were: "Chances" (Sailor Moon), "Dear Life" (Tokyo Ghoul), "The First Cut" (Your Name), "Science & Magic" (Certain Magical Index) and "High Hopes" (Various). Also good after the fact, the Judges Choice award that went to "Happy Little Clouds". Oh, and there's more at this playlist (including "Rewrite the Stars").

I left before 2:30pm to meet up with my wife and brother-in-law. (Poking my head into "Land of the Lustrous" en route, where apparently gems are people?) Got on the road before 3pm to return to Ottawa. Somehow managed only one stop (in Belleville, for gas) but spent over an hour at the Chapters there so Alexandra could read a new book and do some exploring. As a bonus though, found Shakespearean "Back to the Future".

And that concludes the quick spin by Anime North 2019. I got some material I could use with the school anime club, at least. For the perspective of someone who had this as their first Anime North, I'll recommend "Zannen, Canada". Episode 57 ("The Enigmatic Ecology of Anime North") has Jesse Betteridge talking with Ashley Hakker.

Thanks for reading, feel free to comment if there's something you're wondering about, or just enjoyed out of this whole recap post.

Monday 1 July 2019

Now Parenting: Week 54

Sunday: Awake by 6:30am, so maybe 4 hours sleep. Visit upstairs after 7am, little one was in crib until I awoke, so that's something. After an hour of grading, lie down, goes nowhere, more grading. Breakfast with everyone from 9am, grading, then out for a weighing before 11:30pm. Home for lunch (trying tofu), then an hour of play, then before 2pm I crash for 90 minutes. Back to work after 3:30pm. Before 5pm, phoned home and then 45 minutes with little one until her dinner at 6pm. Then grading! Only needed before 11pm, but it's for 45 minutes, with followup a half hour later. Downstairs before 1am, set of 3U exams done.
Previous INDEX END?
or To July

Monday: Awake just before 7am, so over 5 hours sleep, then with Alexandra for half an hour. Breakfast, to school, last exam day. Yearbook that I left outside the class was stolen by a student, so that was a distress cleared up with surveillance cameras. Finished through to half of summatives and started new exam, home from 5:45pm. With Alexandra for over half an hour, dinner at 6:30pm and routine. Some grading, called in before 8pm for nearly half an hour, then grading. Break for dinner 9:15pm, back into it, Mom handles little one. Downstairs 11:30pm, tired.

Tuesday: Awake hearing little one at 4:30am, back into grading within an hour. With Alexandra for half an hour from after 7am when she woke up, left a bit later than usual, exams dealt with before 10am and into summatives. Got that managed before 3pm and into failure forms. Home by 5pm and as soon as little one awakens, out to another Daycare visit. Home before 6:30pm, half hour of play, dinner and routine starts 7pm. At 8pm I crash hard. Then dinner, and into report cards from 9:30pm. Then little one needs me 10:30pm, and after half an hour I break down. Mom takes over, but at 11:30pm I'm back in to help with a change and Tylenol. (Apparently teething can cause diaper rash too.) Back to reports after midnight. Downstairs after 2:15am.

Wednesday: And, awake before 6am, hearing little one. Stumble about a bit, then with her for an hour from 6:30am, including doing dishes so she can have breakfast. Then personal grooming and said breakfast, so I leave a bit late for work, but it's just discussion with dept head about fails, figuring out dropped students and submitting everything. Followed by text inventory (I always volunteer), some desk tidying, and dept meeting. Calls before I leave, home after 4:30pm. With Alexandra for 1.5 hours back and forth in the house; daycare visit was cancelled so then I crash for half an hour. Dinner and routine from 7pm. Needed at 8:30pm but then all quiet, downstairs after 10pm.

Thursday: SCREAMS after less than 5 hours sleep (I had dreamt about needing to turn valves?), upstairs 3:30am to rock little one, Tylenol, change. Asleep 4:45am, return downstairs, manage to fall asleep again. Dream about Linkara talking anime, then me and A-L at an airport, my Mom picks us up? Awake to 7am alarm (!!). With Alexandra for half an hour, including setting up breakfast. Arrive with everyone at school before 9am. Family fun in office, then math office, then Robin's there with her baby but Alexandra's keen on crawling around the rotunda and looking up (understandable). Back to math via music, I'm not much help with cupcakes, other head off before 11am. I get math contest files organized, deal with e-files over lunch, help with grape cutting for fruit after, then try to tidy above desk. Home after 5pm, family time with everyone once Alexandra's awake before 5:30pm. After dinner, outside for a bit to give air to her diaper rash, bath after 7pm; I'm needed after 8pm for final soothing. Then dishes, and trying to update school binders. To action after 10:30pm, then back to finish sorting a binder before midnight.

Friday: Dreamt about secret negotiations on political party lines about aliens? Awake by 5:30am. With Alexandra before 6:30am, with help to apply cream, then a half hour solo. Breakfast, to school by 8:30am, work on finishing binder organization of 4U (will reorg the course another day). 9:30am, check in grad room for pronunciation, 10am commencement, noon reception. Get copies of files, complete text inventory, hand in keys from 2pm. Pick up shirts, figure out picture framing, home after 4pm, unexpectedly collapse for an hour. Wake up same time as little one, then 1.5 hours with her including on her toy car. Dinner at 7pm (is she a leftie? two days straight), 10 minutes outside, regular routine. Half hour with me is needed after 8pm to settle, but then she sleeps. I finish listening to the reviewer audio drama, put together another figma from AN, head downstairs after 11pm.

Saturday: Dreamt of a writing challenge, anime characters survive in 2022, can only bring one item (devised by Nash, you have one hour?). Startled self awake with upside down room that had some insects, but managed to doze again; not quite six hours sleep. With Alexandra for 1.5 hours from 6:45am, then breakfast and off to Ikea to get her a bookshelf. Followed by brunch, and then home after 11:30am with little one asleep; awakens at noon (after I did some assembly), then Mom home before 2pm so I can doze. Up after over an hour, prep tomorrow's Virga post, then out to mow the lawn, pull some weeds and sweep the deck. Others came out to watch before 5pm - then Alexandra did NOT want to stay inside any more. First tantrum? I joined at 5:45pm, with her for half an hour, then dinner. Outside briefly as rain was starting, then longer bath as I did a quick run. After 7pm I'm into the next thing, finishing bookshelves and picture hanging. Done by 8:30pm with some help. Then in with Alexandra before 9pm. After half an hour... the power goes out. And the security system won't stop beeping. And then the smoke alarms get upset. I hate everything. Batteries are out of the alarms and the system is on bypass before 10pm, then I take over with the little one. She's asleep and in crib by 10:30pm. ETA for power is 1:30am, so I get ready for bed - and power returns 10:45pm, smoke alarms upset they have no backup battery. Deal with THAT, then finally try to get my screencaps for the latest review - and my DVD reader seems to be busted. YAY. To sleep upstairs from 11:30pm.

Fun note to go out on. Because after 52 weeks (not including the end of semester last year), I'm not going to be blogging weekly parental updates any more. See below.**

*
Item counts run Sunday (June 23) to Saturday (June 29).

Step Count 2017: About 64,350 (22 stars)
Step Count 2018: Over 66,600 (14 stars)
STEP COUNT 2019: Over 63,850. 12 stars.

FROM 2017:
-Tried to get all projects done, emailed for CompSci resources.
FROM 2018:
-Slept in basement (when I did sleep, versus mark), little one gets mail.

SchoolMail 2017: 52 (4 sent)
SchoolMail 2018: 72 (21 sent)
SCHOOL EMAIL 2019: 104 New (29 sent)
Now at DAY 194 -2(tornado,storm). (Includes 4 PD Days.)
 Five full absences, paid day off, and dentist emerg.
 Six "snow days" (+1 true).



TEACHING RELATED ITEMS:
 -Finished grading a 3U exam set
 -Grading of 3U summatives
 -Complete grading of other 3U exam set
 -Grading of other 3U summatives
 -Final spreadsheet mark calculations
 -Comments for all courses
 -Failure calls and email responses
 -Commencement, including fruit cutting
 -Reorganizing file folders and binders

WRITING + ART RELATED ITEMS:
 -NOPE. At times I hate my life.

OTHER ITEMS:
 -Daycare visit on Tues
 -Brunch on Saturday
 -Lawn mow and care Saturday
 -Picture repair and framing Fri/Sat
 -"A Voice from the Dark" audio crossover.

UPCOMING FOR SURE:
 -Fix life.

INCREASED TO-DO LIST:
 -Revamp office space and little one's room
 -Recap for Anime North 2019
 -Recap for CanCon 2018
 -Recap for OAME 2019
 -Write a TANDQ article on Polling and Bias
 -Write a post about types of praise/encouragement
 -Catching up with web serials/comics (from ~May 2018)
 -Read some of the books sitting at my desk


RH Stress Level: 8 (Starlight Breaker, Extension)



**So yes, I'm finishing here. It's not that these blogs take a lot of extra time (though they may take more than I think), it's that as Alexandra gains more of a sense of herself, I don't want to be putting that online. School is one thing, this is another. We'll see if I put up a summary post, and I'll likely still put out monthly flashes, as much for my own memory as anything.
If you read - thanks, I'm kind of impressed. All the best with you and yours.