General Eric Update (Nothing crucial) (Patreon)

Since I know I am an endless fount of mystery to you guys, I figured I'd let you in on what kinds of things I've been up to recently. Today, at the grocery store, I bought sweet potatoes so I can try oven roasting them. Why? Well, apparently roasted sweet potatoes are a thing in Korea, and I saw it on Korean TV show I was watching...well, I say watching. It was more like reading but whatever. Anyways, I saw it and decided to try it for myself. This is an experiment that I attempted to make happen before, but I got distracted, forgot I bought the sweet potatoes, and they were no good by the time I remembered.

In other news, I am now one step closer to venturing to Europe and other points abroad. Abroad being a relative term based on where one is situated globally. There are vast oceans between me and most of the places I'd like to visit so pretty much everything is abroad for my purposes. For anyone dreaming of visiting America, one star, do not recommend. Unless you mean to visit the Grand Canyon or Yellowstone, in which case you should totally do that. They're amazing places.

Anyhoo, I submitted my passport application. It's been on my to-do list since last summer, and I finally got my act together. I filled out the application form, gathered the necessary documents, made copies of the necessary documents, found my checkbook (because the US State Department apparently doesn't accept newfangled things like debit cards), wrote a check, visited a passport application acceptance facility, got a terrible picture taken, and now the package is off to be processed. So, in somewhere between 3 and 8 weeks, I will have a passport book in my grubby little paws. Yes..my very own...my preciouuss.

My very, very vague plan is to, sometime next year or maybe the year after, do a little trip to Europe. My highly detailed checklist of things to do include Visit Germany because my brother said it was beautiful, and Visit France because people I'm related to came from there a long time ago...and also it's supposed to be a beautiful place. Also, Visit Wales because there's a little town there has lots and lots of bookstores and how can any writer possibly resist tourist bait like that? As you can see, I obviously have a master strategist's flair for planning.

Also, as part of that trip, I figured I would try to migrate to some central-ish location and do an unofficial little event where people can meet me, and I can sign books. Denmark, maybe? Is that in the Schengen Area? Honestly, I'm not sure what would be reasonable for people or what would qualify as central. I also know that, as an American, I have a distorted sense of distance. There are states in this country that where you can drive for 8 straight hours and still be in the same state. Driving across the country takes like five or six days if you're being very intentional and motivated about it. I'm given to understand that kind of scale doesn't generally apply in Europe.

Clearly this master plan of mine needs a lot of fine tuning before it'll be ready to go. But, having a passport will make it feasible and pressure me to actually make it happen, rather than being a pipe dream I think about every so often. However, if anyone has a super awesome do-not-miss European location that is not also a massive tourist trap filled with other Americans, let me know. I'll be making a list and seeing how reasonable it is to go to places like that once the time is a bit closer.

In other news, I got a gym membership because sitting at desk all the time helps to make you fat. I'm not quite beyond hope on that front, but I'm definitely heftier than I would like to be. I've been eating better, but I simply need more structured physical activity in my life than I've been getting. So, Planet Fitness is going to loan me one of their treadmills or ellipticals several times a week. Once I boost my core strength a bit, I'll start thinking about doing some resistance training. All of which should also improve my ice skating performance. Hurray!

Okay, I think that's probably enough boredom inducement for everyone. Fresh Isekai Terry chapters will be forthcoming later.