My wife is a teacher and my teen is of course a student, which means that come the end of every school year, they’re suddenly around home a lot more and we do a lot more together. And that’s sincerely great.
But…
It also makes for a couple of months of busyness above and beyond my normal busyness the other ten months of the year. Suddenly I’m not just working, but also hanging out more socially, and making/informed of plans for us, or at least some of us, to do more things in more places with more people.
This summer in particular has been a whirlwind of working at finally clearing out my mother’s storage lockers while visiting family in that area as we can, while also trying to cobble together some plan to see other family and/or friends either in Canada or abroad (none of which happened, sadly).
September ends all the freeform fun and distraction the summer affords us, which is disappointing. It does, however, also bring a bit more routine back into the mix, which can be a welcome change.
I’m not one who leans heavily on routines, but do find it a bit more comfortable knowing who’s going to be where when, and being able to plan around that accordingly, rather than having plans of all stripes have to be at least somewhat fluid because of last-minute changes that may crop up, and my need to adjust to all of that on the fly, which isn’t my strong suit. I think I handled them pretty well this year, overall. But that can be a few more plates to keep spinning than I’m used to, which can be tricky to manage.
The end of summer, especially in recent years of wonky shifts and working times at the liquor store, means I’ll also have a bit more time to myself again, which I have zero problem with. And I already have some ideas for how I’d like to start using that time.
I’d like to give voiceover work a push past the Still Kinda Getting The Demo Together But Changing Computers In The Process And Then Distracting Myself Elsewhere stage, and actually get some samples and self-promotion out into the wild.
I’d mentioned that I wanted to wipe my old laptop and install Linux as a summer project. Given how this summer played out, I literally didn’t even touch that computer since I posted that, much less ensure I got everything I need copied from it and then dive into the nitty-gritty of Linux installation to then play around with a bit.
Months ago I was struck with an idea for a new writing project that I’m pretty jazzed about and want to try to focus on getting work done to that end, as well. I suppose I could’ve worked toward that rather than trying out Blaugust for the first time, but this was more of a pressing deadline to act on, so… priorities. I’ve enjoyed Blaugust on the whole, but it’ll be nice to actually dedicate some time to the new project starting in about a week. (One big perk that has come out of Blaugust is my discovering that if I inform my family that I need X amount of time a day to write, they’ll actually let me have it. Often, at least. So it’ll be great applying that same focused time toward other writing.)
I’m proud of how much we all accomplished this summer, and will forever be grateful to J for pushing hard for us to finally get it done, to the kiddo for enduring all that road tripping to get to it, to my aunts for their help and accommodation and generosity with their time and space and encouragement, and to my cousin who took a full day out of his life to help me get the last of the (literal) heavy lifting done. Not something either of us should be doing at our age (he says, feeling even older just in saying that), but he didn’t hesitate to hop onboard for the proverbial, and literal, ride.
The summer also had plenty of frustrations and fears and a few revelations for us and for me personally. Perks and highlights and joys aside, it’s been a mentally, emotionally and physically exhausting couple of months, and I’m very glad that at least those negatives area finally in the past.
So yes, professionally, personally, and creatively, I’m really looking forward to what September will bring.
Onward!