Not much dream work done this week cause some stuff came up I gotta deal with, but that’s life, it goes as it goes.
Sunday:
Definitely an A++ day! Did some good work as a moderator handling some small issues in my Bloodstained discord, and then FINALLY managed to help a friend of mine solve a big problem that was bedeviling both of us for ages. Didn’t get any work done but solving that issue was definitely the most important thing, it was weighing on us for MONTHS.
Monday:
Solid A day, not any dream work done but fixed up the last lingering hanging threads for my friend’s issue.
Tuesday:
A- day, didnt get any dream work done cause I had to go to work to fix some things. There may be a little problem with my work work project I wasn’t expecting beforehand, but thats just why I gotta fix it quickly 😀
Wednesday:
A- day. On the one hand, I learned I made a BIG fuckup last week by sending a package to the wrong place, which really inconvenienced a client. On the other hand, looking over what I did, it seems I didn’t make a really stupid mistake, rather I sent the package to a return address mentioned in the clients correspondence, but they actually wanted it sent to a different address. So I was paying attention to what the client wrote, but focused on the wrong thing–it wasn’t like I was just totally out there. So at least that was good and it evened out. I DEFINITELY learned my lesson though, I am gonna try and confirm the address whenever I can just to make 100% sure next time.
Thursday:
A- day, spent Thanxgiving chilling at home~ Also made another Thanxgiving entry as usual~
Friday:
A- day. Relaxed some more at Creekview, but when I got home I got a letter announcing I have some paperwork to do. It’ll give me more stuff to do next week at work work, so I gotta deal with it over the weekend…
Saturday:
A-, same as above. Dealing with that missive I got and doing some chores about the house….
GENERAL WEEK RANK:
A strong start sends this up to an A, IMO.
THINGS I HAD TO FINISH THIS WEEK:
Work stuff, muh dream work
THINGS I HAVE TO DO NEXT WEEK:
Same
EATAN:
WATCHAN:
Nothin
PLAYAN:
Nothin much
BOOK READAN:
Nothin really.
MANGA READAN:
I don’t seem to have mentioned this before, but one of my favorite manga is Old Frontier Knight, Bard Loen. It’s kind of in the same vein as “An Old Man from the Countryside becomes a Sword Saint:” It features an old guy who, despite his age, is absolutely the best swordsman in the country if not the world, wandering around fighting monsters and villains, righting wrongs, protecting women and children, etc. despite his advanced age and how he’s not nearly as strong as he was when he was young. It starts off with him deciding to retire after a long and illustrious career, his black hair having turned to grey, hoping to find, in his words, “a place to die.” In the process he wanders around the medieval fantasy world, fighting both fantasy monsters (no orcs or goblins, but giant wolves, bears, and toads mainly), helping out people in need (including friendly fantasy races like treants and lizardmen), and solving political issues. The first one he deals with involves his (unrequited) lady love, the literal lady he served, Lady Aidra Coendra of his kingdom. Being a noble she got married off to some other noble guy from a rival kingdom, but the other guy wasn’t happy with her and sent her home with their son, and in the course of his wandering Bard has to solve the mystery of whether or not Aidra’s son was the rival noble’s kid or if there was infidelity on Aidra’s part. Then, after solving that successfully, thanks to the help of a comic relief kid thief and a friendly priest, he continues wandering around after Aidra passes away from an illness–it’s very bittersweet, but inspired by his lady’s life, he decides he doesn’t want to die yet but is determined to live, and enjoy all the world has to offer, including the best food and sights. Later on he picks up a couple other party members, specifically a tanky warrior guy (Our hero is very strong but more of an ‘all rounder’ than a tank specifically) and just recently a beautiful female knight.
That’s really how the series goes, it’s episodic, though not exactly “problem of the day”–rather, there are short arcs consisting of a few chapters where our hero and his party (thief, tank, and lady knight) solve various problems like dealing with corrupt nobles, but every chapter does have a specific meal featured by Bard as he and his party live off the land, featuring mouthwatering illustrations of cooked game, fish, or shellfish (these tend to be fantasy creatures but obviously inspired by real game you could find IRL). Why do I like it so much? Because, more or less, it captures perfectly the way my life seems to be going now–or at least, I suppose, the way I wish it’d be going.
I’m not THAT old, so I suppose it seems morbid to dwell so much on death. but I do feel the years catching up to me. But as you can tell from most of my entries, I don’t regard the end of my life with much fear. In fact, as I’ve explicitly said before, I’m extremely fortunate in the sense that after the kind of crazy life I’ve lived, especially how badly I misspent its beginning in angry, obnoxious hatefulness and trolling, I’ve made up for the mistakes of my youth, become a respected, contributing member of many communities on and offline, and as a reward for my repentance, am now enjoying what can only be described as a blessed, honeyed twilight of life: Working at a job I actually like under bosses who like me and who are willing to cut me a good deal of slack even when I mess up, like with the address I mentioned above, then going home to enjoy good books, good anime and manga, good videogames, and of course, above all, good times with friends.
Old Frontier Knight seems to capture that feeling perfectly. Although Bard was always a great hero, rather than trying to make up for past sins like I am, the theme of his story–An old man who knows his time is coming up, so he’s searching for a good, peaceful place to die, and enjoying as much fine food, good times with friends (his party), and of course helping out people along the way when he can. Now, like I said above, right after he solves the issue with the true parentage of his former lady’s son (turns out to be the prince of a powerful kingdom, which means even though she cucked her fiance, who was a nasty piece of work anyways, the son is going to be the next great king), Bard becomes determined not to die but to live for as long as he can. That’s obviously a more positive spin on things for a manga like this. But even in that sense, given that I most likely have at least twenty more years ahead of me, I can take some inspiration from that as well. I’ve lived a full, good life and I’m not afraid of death, but I also don’t seek it either. Might as well take a page from Bard’s book and enjoy all that life has to offer for however long I have left. And that includes reading his manga 😀
Aside from that, this week I also read some more chappies of the cute manwha I’ve been reading, I just tagged ’em hua hai mei kai because the scanlators always drop a chapter of both at around the same time, and it’s always just cute slice of life romance stuff~ A bit of Nick and Lever too (and I’ve been supporting the creator on fanbox, or more accurately fantia, as well), always fun!
WRITAN:
Nothin much :<
Yup, still busy busy, and next week will be the same. Maybe I’ll have to wait till December for things to really pick up, we’ll see.
Gunlord500 