The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette (Patreon)

Volume 5, Issue 6 - Wednesday, February 19th, 2020

Howdy, patrons!

February has not been a strong month so far, writing-wise. The day job has taken a lot more of my attention for a number of reasons. One, we went into annual reviews at the beginning of the year and that carried its own ball of stress. Two, (mostly due to the results of reason one), I've been trying to pick up my workload in my position and with a few extracurricular activities. Three, there have been a new round of upheavals personnel-wise and while it's mostly been good there's still a lot of...settling to do. 

I've spent a good deal of the month in deliberate practice, trying to answer tickets faster and more efficiently; attacking my quarterly project with a sense of urgency; and doing my best to foster a spirit of equanimity and compassion. I'm the oldest employee in my group, and I also work at the slowest pace. There are a lot of possible reasons for that, but to me I think it's mostly due to trying to do everything at once. I need to be a lot more organized and deliberate with my time, so I'm trying to work smarter instead of harder. It's amazing what you can get done in a short time if you have the right level of focus, after all. 

I think one of the things setting me back at my day job is my tendency to give in to my temper; even though I try not to react from an emotional place, it feels like people still sense it. I've gotten angrier as I've gotten older, no question. I've spent so much of my life bottling up my feelings when I've felt slighted that I just don't have the energy to do it anymore. But I'm also kind of a big guy, which feels weird to say, and I think I have a bit of an outsized presence that...comes across as threatening with surprising ease. That's never happened before, and I'm not sure how to handle that. 

Anyway, things are progressing all right. There are good days and bad days, but overall there's a positive trend. I'm organizing a Diversity and Inclusion Book Club at work, and helping to put on this year's Black History Month event. That latter event is a bit more slapdash than I would like, but it's been a good experience overall.

I've also joined a DietBet! This is a neat little exercise where you put a bit of money in and pledge to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain time. If you do, you and every other "winner" gets to split the pot. If you don't, well -- you've made someone else a tiny bit richer. This particular event is an epic six-month challenge: lose 10% of my bodyweight by July, or forfeit a tidy sum. There are smaller, monthly goals along the way for a portion of the kitty, so the ultimate goal isn't some far-off dream. If I can lose 3% by the middle of March, I get a neat little bit of money. 5% by the middle of April, I get a little more...and so on.

It's made me go in on building better eating habits, and pushing myself to exercise regularly. I'm learning that my conditioning isn't really where it needs to be for what I had been trying to do -- running three miles (at least) three times a week, and I've janked up a tendon in my right leg for my hubris. For now, I have to start a little smaller -- 30 minutes on the elliptical, 15 minutes of stretching, as often as I can make it happen. I'm hoping that once I'm a bit stronger, leaner, and more limber, I can start hitting the pavement next month. 

Even though I haven't posted as often as I'd like, I have been writing. I'm trying to work on three different tabletop role-playing game campaigns, which is probably not the best idea. I'm also outlining two other serials as we speak and trying to wrap my head around the characters and setting. And I'm trying to think of "single-serving" short stories to post here and possibly submit for publication in furry anthologies. But it's all horribly disorganized. I'm hoping that if I hit on a decent bit of organization at work, I can port that over to my writer's life.

At any rate, episode 5 of Crushing The Competition will be up by tomorrow or Friday -- I know you've heard that one before, but really, it's true this time! I'll do my best to catch up to the release schedule I had in my head by this month or next, which means a couple of "free" episodes between now and the end of March. I only want to charge for four episodes a month at most; the plan is to give a couple for free before the end of the year, so by the time episode 50 (the end) rolls around it feels like a fair exchange. That's the dream, anyway.

I'll see you lovely folks Thursday or Friday; until then, take it sleazy.

-Jakebe