Pokemon Go – A Rant

My family plays Pokemon Go. We have, thus far, really enjoyed it – even if I can’t find a Ponyta to save my life (Husband and oldest child both have one and I really want a Rapidash!). Some people don’t care for it – think it’s silly, useless, or even lazy (since apparently no one should need a game to encourage them to be active). Fine for them and all but I call BS on the useless and the lazy. I am a writer – I live a fairly sedentary life because there are no sports I like to play (and the ones I do enjoy, I can’t find anyone to play with or I prefer the position that requires the least movement but relies on skill – goalie, catcher, etc) or hobbies I enjoy that are physical. I am trying to lose a great deal of weight at the moment and if I have a game that’s encouraging me to walk a mile and a half to two miles every day, how is that bad?  I have a son who would rather play games on his computer or write or watch anime than go play outside – he’s too much like me for his own good – but he’s willing to ride his bike five miles to try and hit pokestops (and catch something bragworthy). How is that a bad thing?

I’m not saying you have to play it or even understand it but don’t trash something that is getting kids (and parents) out and about – even possibly doing this as a family! My family doesn’t have a lot of shared interests – half of us are hermits and the other half are social butterfly extroverts – so having this one thing we can do together is freaking awesome. Yes, I require a game to force myself to exercise some place not inside my home. Short of dancing around like a lunatic to 80’s and 90’s punk and goth music when no one is home, it’s probably the most active I’ve been since we used to play paintball every weekend (eight years ago or so). I don’t run, I don’t care to go for walks (too quiet and boring) but apparently, I’m more than willing to walk 85 km (so far) to hatch a bunch of pretend eggs – even if I do end up with 10K eevees sometimes (10K Magmar totally makes up for that sort of).

As of this moment, my pride and joys are a 1229 Magmar that I hatched and an 898 Ninetails that I evolved (Kitsune!) and my son has a big Snorlax and a Wartortle and my husband also has a good Snorlax and the Dragonaire that he evolved. What do you have in your Pokedex?

Passion Projects

Some projects have good sales potential and broad appeal, others, not so much. I’ve found it is most hit and miss with poetry. I’ve had a fairly decent number of poems published by various publications over the years and it’s something I write that I don’t necessarily share with everyone.

A few months ago, I got a bug under my skin about a particular project, a linked progression poetry chapbook mostly dealing with anxiety, depression, and letting go of the toxic stuff in life. I don’t know if there is much call for it but I feel like there might be, like maybe there are others who would find it interesting.

I’ve played around all day with formatting, binding options, cover options, and all that jazz. I’m probably going to offer the chapbook in a few formats but initially, it’ll be hand-stitched with a glossy cover. Release day will be soon but I want to make a fair number of copies to have on hand.

Progress

This is a non-writing related post for the most part. It does relate to writing in that I’m not getting as much done right now as I’d like but that will change with school coming back and my working to get this new routine down. I’ve blogged before over the years about my issues with my weight and, while I am trying to just be happy with my shape and myself, I am also trying really hard to get into a shape that isn’t this one.

I’m not looking for advice, just sharing my progress because I want to brag a little. I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made just using the myfitnesspal app and the Pokemon Go app. For me, being accountable for the calories (and getting on the stationary bike or going for a walk when I want to have cake not cutting out cake), is working incredibly well. As long as my final number is green I’m a happy girl. I know I’ll hit a plateau eventually but I’m trying to get this done before I hit the age where it becomes super difficult to take any weight off. When I went to my doctor, I was looking at a very daunting 80 pounds to lose.

I started 87 days ago (I know only because the app keeps track of this stuff for me) and, if my scale didn’t lie to me today, I’m down 26 pounds so far. It doesn’t hurt that we’re walking a mile and half every day (73km so far!) and that I’ve traded my regular chair for a stability ball but the biggest difference is just that I’m being smarter about my food choices – I don’t feel hungry or deprived at all. This is important as it keeps me going instead of frying myself up some beignets. The best part is that I’m not doing anything unusual – honestly, with the Pokemon Go app, I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t be doing anyway — gotta hatch those eggs, after all.

I’m not noticing any differences, nothing seems like it’s fitting differently or anything yet. But, if I keep going at the rate I’m going right now, I’ll be at my personal goal sometime in March (allowing some off time around christmas because I am an excellent baker). We’ll see. There will be no before pictures but I am looking forward to updating my author pic at some point.

Stubborn Projects

I’m one of those strange writer types who has several projects going at the same time and who can’t imagine doing it differently as there is not enough time in my life to get all the stories I have to tell out of my head.

I’ve got one ready to submit, two that are nearly so, two drafted, three partially drafted, and a short story that needs done by October.

One of my nearly so projects is irksome. I know how it ends, I like the ending but making the changes it needs is proving to be a more daunting task than I’d expected. It’s already taken a few months longer than I’d expected it to. I think part of that has been that this summer hasn’t really been conducive to creating much of anything worthwhile – it’s been a little rough all around. I know I’m mere days away from getting it all shaped up know but I just can’t seem to get the words to come out right.

Fortunately for me, school is less than 2 weeks from starting up again. I love my kids (and even like them most days!) but it’s so much easier to work when I’m not answering 5000 questions about weird stuff – oldest child likes to play “who would win” with matchups that are way too overpowered to have a proper answer, youngest child likes to regale me with the histories of the logos of his favorite movie making companies. Especially TriStar’s Pegasus. Yesterday was a weird day in that they pretty much just let me work but I’m not getting two days in a row. So, yeah, I’m really looking forward to school.

Upcoming Events

Hunter’s Crossing by Sarah Wagner from Boroughs Publishing Group

Next week, I’ll be participating in a Facebook party celebrating the release of awesome author Brooklyn Ann’s book, Unleashing Desire. I’ll be online from 10 – 10:30 PM EST so come along and ask me questions about my books, Hunter’s Crossing and Eldercynne Rising or anything else you’d like to chat about!

 

 

Aging

I have no problem at all with my aging – in fact, I look forward to most of it – but I struggle a great deal with my kids getting older. In a few short hours, my baby will hit the double digits. I no longer have an elementary school aged child! My older child is learning to drive and my baby is headed for middle school. So why on earth do I not have gray hair yet?!? I have a few, yes, but not enough to do anything fun with!

Time is weird and I don’t like it. Time needs to slow down before I get whiplash! It doesn’t feel like that long ago that my baby came into this world, all 10 pounds 6 of him and now he’s about to be 10. If you listened to him though, you’d think he was about to be 30. He has his whole life plotted out – I really hope he meets a girl who agrees to go along with it – two kids, a farm (in the middle of a city), and a pretty wife. Apparently, they’re all going to stay with my husband and I while he builds their house. He never fails to amuse me.

I love my kids but I am increasingly ready for school to be back in session. I know my teacher friends aren’t quite there yet but my boys do so much better with each other when they aren’t together all the time. That is the one downside of having such a big age gap.