Everything Is Too Short

Everything is too short. That's what the problem is, if you ask me. Obviously you didn't, but here I am to give my opinions on random stuff nobody else cares about anyway.

What brought this thought on?

I replayed Saints Row 3 (one of the greatest and most absurd video games ever made) and I finished the game in like three days. It's the fifth or sixth time I've finished it--I remember playing it back in eighth grade in 2012 when my brother was away for school in another province. He left his xBox and I'd stay up every night after school playing it and listening to Kimbra while I drove around Steelport causing trouble. So it's not just nostalgic, it's comforting.

But the game is also too short. I was thinking how much better it would be if the first act was expanded; more missions exploring being a fish out of water in a new city and taking down the syndicate, since it feels like you move on to the other gangs too quickly. I'd also love an expanded third act with more of a battle against STAG, maybe with The Boss and Killbane teaming up.

Honestly, they could have made it a two-disk game and have disk two take place in an entirely different city.

I guess I just want another great Saints Row game, just not as abstract like 4 was.

But then the Star Wars trailer dropped and I got thinking the current trilogy would work better as a six volume story, since Rey's rise to power seems so rushed and there's still so much to explore with her past, and her and Kylo's chemistry, plus I want Stormpilot to happen, but obviously it won't. Maybe in a dream world audiences are enjoying a six movie epic (and I mean, Star Wars as a whole is nine movies plus Rogue One and Solo, which is great, but as a Reylo shipper, I want an entire movie of them running around as an odd couple, solving mysteries or some shit) but this is not that universe. I was hoping for a ballroom scene, an undercover mission, some romance....just more glamour from number three, but it looked kind of bland compared to The Last Jedi.

I have this problem with my books too; I was supposed to write a four chapter short story but somehow it got bumped to six chapters, but the scenes I'm adding are necessary and make everything better. Even then I'd love to add more to explore a certain character and a cool location a little more, but then it wouldn't be a short story anymore. I can't help it, I love big plots and I can not lie. I also want readers to feel like they got their money's worth out of a story.

Today I got too stoned and ate a lot of pizza and tried to record but didn't like anything I was doing, and then my mic started acting up. I really want to put out an EP soon and even drop an album this year, but I need a new laptop to make music on and write in a more comfortable position. I do have some cool potential album art and concepts lined up though.

That said, tonight and tomorrow are devoted to drafting this short story! It's called Glimpse and it's about a pixie and that's all I can really say until it's done.

Bath & Body Works, Acoustic Guitar, and Misadventures in Exercise

So, my seasonal finally ended, and I'm back to being a full-time slug. At least, until the next semester of school starts. Of course, I'll still be working all day every day; I'll just be doing it at home, in my pajamas. I'm still editing SOSAS, and drafting The Indigo Horde (fun!) but I also have school work, and a new diet, and a new instrument and language to learn. So, yeah. I'm learning French at the moment, and I got an acoustic guitar for Christmas - which I asked for, and am over the moon to get - that I now have to learn.

As far as the new diet? I'm cutting out all junk food, all red meat, and adding thirty minutes of exercise a day. In the past I've only been exercising a couple times a week, and then I got my job and stopped altogether, because I figured that was exercise enough - and I was mostly right, since I lost like 8 pounds while working at that store. I started eating a lot as Christmas got closer, especially Chinese takeout and pizza, along with Christmas dinner and all the chocolate I got in my stocking. So, yeah. Not good. I also binged on soda while drinking (because as much as I love shots, I wasn't drinking an entire pint of vodka straight) along with vodka coolers and lemonades that I'm sure are calorie killers.

So, yeah, cutting alcohol out of the new diet, too. I'll probably drink again in the future, but most likely not until we're well into summer. I like to keep drinking a once-in-a-while kind of thing anyway, because I've had problems with self-medicating with it in the past. It's not a problem now, but I still try to stay mindful when it comes to casual drinking, as well.

So, yeah, that's what I have to look forward to over the next few weeks: a lot of work. I mean, it's fun work, but still.

Since my seasonal is over, I guess I can talk more openly about it now? I was working the Christmas rush at Bath and Body Works, and I honestly have no desire to ever step into a mall again. Shoppers are annoying. I'm sure I'm annoying to employees at stores too, though.

I basically went around un-boxing and shelving stuff, though I ended up working the floor and helping customers a lot, too, since I was out there so much. I don't really know what to say about it. It was fun. And exhausting. Really exhausting.

Half of that, was commute time, but the other half was just me. I'm not generally used to being around people all day, anymore, and it drained me. At the same time, the work was hard and I often didn't bring a lunch (I don't like carrying shit around, so that's on me) so I was constantly tired and hungry and in a mild state of anxiety. It only got really bad once, I think my second to last week - I had an anxiety attack and ended up leaving. I told my boss I had to go because I just didn't feel good, but I was honestly about to burst into tears. I have no idea why I freaked out like that, so I guess I was just overwhelmed that day. I think it was a valid learning experience, and I did gain some confidence just from being around people that often, but I'm glad it's over and I get a short break for a while.

Well, a break from going out every day. Not a break from working.

I've also done a lot of shopping lately. I bought myself one of those adult coloring books, and a few actual novels, along with a sketchbook. I grabbed a new hat and some candles. I think I'm going to buy some new incense the next time I go out, because those stick are cheap and I haven't had any in a while.

I also bought some video games. I got Saints Row 3 (we used to have it for xbox, and I missed it, so I grabbed one for the ps3 and I'm just as addicted as I was before) and Enslaved, Odyssey to the West. I would probably be playing those now, honestly, but my brother and his girlfriend are watching some mafia show on the big screen, and my cousin Amelia is passed out on my bed behind me (she had the bright idea to pull an all-nighter and then ditched me before it was even eleven o'clock!) and I really want to spend the next three hours just listening to 8tracks.

But I'm going to force myself to write more of the indigo horde while I do it, because priorities.