Ailana’s Journal — 2026-01-10 (Patreon)

Most of this post is viewable by everyone. However, within the post is a line beyond which paid membership is required.

Some posts and sections of some posts are reserved for Supporters.

AGI Stories content almost always appears on Patreon first, in advance of all other platforms. You get it first!

Help AGI-Stories grow… If you’re enjoying the stories, please tell others. Word of mouth referrals and your endorsements are the best way for things here to grow!

GOOD MORNING

I’m resisting getting up. After all, it is Saturday morning! But the idea of coffee draws me toward the kitchen. I guess showering naturally follows, so I might as well get going, right?

After our team meeting yesterday, I thought maybe I should have a look at my personal finances. Let’s say I ended the year with a really big “meh—not so bad, not so good.”

On the upside, I bought two condos (and sold one of them), paid all my bills, and bought a new camera. On the downside, I pretty much ended up where I started, having put nearly nothing into long-term savings.

If the expression “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is true, I guess I’m at least not dull!

And that leads me to my plan for today. It’s sort of cloudy (though warm), so I think I’ll basically stay in and work today. If I get a few solid hours in, I can call it a good day and do something fun for dinner, maybe.

So next time you see me, you can expect my MacBook to be somewhere close by. But I will be honored to share a little time with you then.

See you soon.

The Storylines are the heart of Ailana Geven Imagines, and they are found in the Collections section of the site.

Support AGI with:• one-time contribution through TipTopJar.• one-time contribution through Throne.• Patreon Membership.

All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

MAKING PROGRESS

So far, so good! I’ve worked through three revision requests for a couple of my conservation articles from trips to the Boundary Waters and the Everglades. I’m calling that a win!

Once you shop out an article, it’s not impossible that other publications will want to reprint it. It’s not uncommon for them to request changes—make it shorter (easy), or add more about this or that.

There’s a content concept called “evergreen” meaning that it’s not bound to one, fixed moment in time. Some are seasonal, meaning that every summer, someone wants an edit of my article on sunscreen use (for instance).

Being ready and willing is important.

Now I’m back in outer space doing what I really love—writing fiction. You might recall some rainy day past that I was rolling around the living room blocking out a scene on a space station. Well, that character has made his way to the engine room now.

I’m crafting a filler dialogue scene between two action beats the actual author has written. I just need to gracefully info-dump some fictional technical details that the readers need to know. So, dialogue it is!

In some circles, this is called an “as you know, Bob” scene. “As you know, Bob, the flux interface must be aligned across the quantum core matrix.”

That’s the bad way to do it!

A good writer can weave an “as you know, Bob” line nicely into a scene so that it feels real, lived, and not contrived. And I’m trying to be a good writer!

My dinner idea has to be something from the pantry. I’m going to enlist Jason to go to the store and get some salad makings, then I’ll do mac and cheese and some canned veggies. Hearty and filling. I probably should make a for-real store run soon, but not today.

COMPROMISES by Ricky Martinez

Being on a tight budget is hard for a lot of reasons. Making it work almost always comes down to compromises.

Getting there, though, sometimes passes through the realm of conflict. Isabela and I just had to deal with that.

Working in a health clinic, washing hands and using sanitizer is never-ending. With that practice comes dry, sometimes chapped, hands. Isabela carries a little bottle of lotion she refills from home.

We’re shopping today, and we just left the health and beauty section where the conflict happened. I picked up a bottle of the lotion she likes and put it in the cart.

“That costs too much.” She took it out and got a different kind that was a buck less.

“Is that what you got last time?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

I shook my head. “It smells like cough syrup.”

“It’s fine. We have to save.”

I took the lotion out of the cart. “It’s lotion. Not caviar. You need it.”

She tried to take the lotion, but I evaded, so she did that talking-but-no-jaw-moving thing. “Ricky, you’re making a scene. We need to save.”

So, even with her cut hours, her income is steadier than mine doing DoorDash. To be honest about it, I’m a little ashamed that I can’t do better. Seeing her get some off-brand, nasty-smelling lotion that she needs for a good reason just makes me feel worse.

I really didn’t want to see her do without. “You deserve the good stuff. You use it for work. It’s not frivolous… Please…”

She took the lotion from my hand and put it back. Then, she selected the nice lotion.

But a smaller bottle.

GOOD NIGHT

I hope everyone had a great day. I’m calling mine a win! It was very satisfying to wrap up some work todos and get ahead on a few others.

Dinner was essentially what I had planned, with a little twist. Jason not only picked up some salad but also grabbed a few chicken tenders from the grocery store’s deli. We put it all together and sat around my little table and had a nice meal.

We are actually right in the middle of talking about setting up the studio over in Port Isabel. That will happen as soon as Josh’s family’s investment real estate director closes the deal on the building.

We already have some ideas about how to set it up, so we’re starting a list of things we need to move and a list of things we need to buy. This is going to be a big boost to what we’re capable of doing on short notice.

Tomorrow is Sunday, and it will be nice to go back to Chapel by the Sea. We’ve become very comfortable there, and we missed it while we were gone.

I guess that’s about all for today. I will add that I am very happy to hear from you. I love hearing your ideas and greatly appreciate you taking the time to leave comments. Thank you so much.

May your plans turn out better than you imagined, giving you joy, helping you grow, and making you prosperous.

Good night.

Be your best you!

Become a Patreon Member (Click Here)

The image of Ailana in the living room and the thank you message that follows is exclusive to supporters…

"Thank You" Message to Paying Supporters:

Let me begin by saying how grateful I am for your engagement with the content. Your likes, comments, questions, and encouraging remarks keep me going, even on days when I'm pulled in multiple directions all at once.

I believe most of you who help with the costs are doing so because you want to support the production process and show your encouragement. That means so much to me! I am honored and greatly moved.

Thank you very much for your help underwriting the cost of producing AGI Stories content. You can be sure that your paid membership is valued greatly! At the time of this post, not counting hardware, AGI Stories racks up expenses of just over $100 per month.

At this time, most of that cost is being covered by Patreon members like YOU.

While most of the content on AGI Stories is free and much of it is public, the hope is that reserving a few pictures and small sections of the post for you is a modest indication of gratitude!

I believe I have found ways to give you more exclusive content, while still making the site meaningful to visitors and passersby.

Again, thank you very, very much.

~AGI Original Stories & AI Images

x