It’s occurred to me that I haven’t really gone over how or what I’m doing lately. Mostly for the “Me” posts I’ve been talking about my personality and my philosophies. So let me give you some general updates of what’s been happening lately.

First off, school is stressful! Luckily, though, it’s calmed down quite a bit. No longer are my weekends consumed entirely by homework (a.k.a. reading a book). For both of my English classes we’ve been discussing short stories (some of them even being examined in both classes), so it’s lightened a huge load. Especially with overlap, I don’t have to stress about the classes. Regarding my other two, Human Sexuality and Intro to Behavioral Neuroscience, I’ve been pretty stressed. They both have the same professor, and I’m not a big fan of her. She’s a fun person, but she’s also the strict teacher that puts questions regarding the syllabus on the exams. I’ve never heard of anything like that, but on the plus side she drills her syllabus into our brains so those questions are freebies. But when an off-handed, random assignment requires you to print four pages with strict guidelines, there are some problems. Every time I walk into either class I’m nervous I’ve already messed up somehow.

My improv troupe is also stressful, but it’s a different kind of stress. I love the kids (many of whom I still consider personal friends), and they are all awesome in their own rights, but I as the coach must do three different things. First, I must learn the optimal way to be playing each and every game. Second, I must learn how to coach/ref these games to the best of my ability, learning how to explain games and how to provide critiques. Third, I must do those two while teaching. On top of all this, for a lot of it I’m the head honcho now. There’s nobody I can lean on anymore. Sure, my coach is still there and always available to talk, but in the end its still me handling everything, he is just there to help me handle everything.

Next, I think my writing has taken a hit because of the prior two. By now I would have liked to be wrapping up Aluvalia’s story in the anthology, but I just can’t handle a project of even that size at the moment. It’s too big to chew on top of everything else. I’m not beating myself up over it, though. I’m in no rush to write it! I just need to take time to relax and write Saturday stories that I don’t have to do research for (even if the thing I’m researching is stuff I myself wrote). I do hope to start writing it next month, though!

Lastly, it looks like my two Dungeons and Dragons campaigns have been green-lit. What started as an almost careless idea that this could be fun but wouldn’t see a third session has turned into a campaign that is taking hours of research and planning on my part. I ended up setting this world as an alternate universe to Nacre Then. It has the same “gods”, geography, and some political backgrounds, but it is still very different. The best part is that I’ve found a main plot I’m actually really interested in telling. I can hardly contain my excitement, because pieces are falling into place that are almost too good to be true! I mean, some of my players are practically writing their backstories into my main plot without even realizing it! That’s about as good as it gets!

So yes, I have no free time on my hands. I’m still pretty stressed, but I no longer feel like I’m being pulled underwater by all the weight of everything I’ve been carrying. I think honestly devoting time to enjoying myself will do me a lot of good. Restrictive? Maybe. But somehow I’m happier for the freedom that restriction has given me.