2023 - The Good and The Bad

 -Bad

-Boomer Landlord going psychoargble and being a predatory creep

-Breaking my wrist running from a bee while mowing the lawn

-Nearly losing vision in my write eye 

-Having to spend 10 days looking down because of the emergency Victrectomy

-Pulling my knee dancing and having to take it easy for 7 weeks

-Having to replace the roof

-The Ew Basement (the less said the better)

-The Neutral Zone on the property

-Being Flooded in NY when we went to go get our passports fixed

-Good

-Finally going to the Edwardian Ball

-Christmas in Floriduh w awesome warm weather

-Buying a house 

-All the neat things ewe did with the house

-Time w faimily(Inlaws, Visiting Mom and Skip, Julia’s Aunt and Uncle)

-Trip to NY 

-Trip to Upper State NY

-Awesome visit by the Carlsons

-Finishing Army of Fire

-Figuring out the Sixth Life (Quests)

-Finishing my First Quest (Seventy Days to Live Again)

-Retiring for the Second Life

-Finishing Songs of the Islands Poetry book on Poetizer

-Starting the Queen In Blue writing project

-Finding the Squid Bookends for my Self Published book shelf

-Reconnecting w Bernie and running (finally) the damn Old Gods of Appelecia Game

-Finding the weekly 1rst edition DnD Game

-Paying off the damn Miami Loan

-Paying off the Damn Blue Card

-Pantheoragnarock

-The Elevation of Kryon

-

2023 Plan

 Its introspection day, time to apply plans for my goals

First

Strangecon - Apr 23

(*)Maine May 23

(*)Whale Watching June 23

Origins/Valley Forge June 23

(*)Montreal July 23

(*)Austria Aug 23

(*)Atlanta/National StoryTeller Sept 23

(*)Vampire New Orleans October 23

Greg and Randy Houston Nov 23

(*) NYE Keys Dec 23

(*)Charmed Jan 24

SSW TX March 24

(*) Alaska OR Yellowstone/Dad July 24

Grand Canyon-Jenny and Julie August 24

(*) Dragoncon Sept 24

Alchemy Oct 24

(*) Salem Halloween Oct 24

(*) HA or NYE Dec 24

Second: Go to the gym twice a week and measure, start a food log March 1 w one free day per seven, measured here

Third: Storyboard Act 1 and 2 by April 1, Obtain steam deck and do one scene every two weeks (will not finish 2023 but make a good dent)

Fourth: Preliminary designs for Timmy by April 1, Finish Timmy by October 1

Fifth: Decide 1rst sixth and have plan by Mar 1

Microbucket List 2022-2023

 

1. Visit Alaska

2. Visit Maine

3. Go to the Fourth Quarter Festival or Vampire Ball in New Orleans

4. Go to Dragoncon

5. Go to Gencon or Origins

6. Go to Strangecon

7. Go to Yellowstone and stay at the big hotel there

8. Visit all family members at least once

9. Go to Montreal

10. Visit the Grand Canyon

11. Go to the National Storyteller’s Convention

12. Go to the fancy Salem halloween ball

13. Go to Alchemy (or a Burning Man Shard)

14. New Years in HA

15. New Years in Times Square OR the Keys

16. Visit Chicago

17. Visit Valley Forge Park in PA

18. South by Southwest

19. Charmed or Fro Con

20. Whale Watching Tour

2023 Goals

 Tom

1. Complete first pass of film The Sins of Silicon Valley

2. Get to 250 and stay there.

3. Draw the pictures for Timmy and the Whale

4. Create the Microbucket List for 750 days by Introspection Day

5. Define missions for 6th live and start at least one

Julia

1. Achieve Crow in Yoga

2. Achieve Wheelbarrow in Yoga

3. Continue Library Juice Classes

4. Remember to Practice Self Care

Couples

1. Go to Europe

2. Take Dance Lessons

3. Do Edwardian Ball

4. Go to Montreal

5. Resume F/K activities

Minigames:

1: Complete minor powers, side effects and major in ludicrous

2: Finish first draft of Army and GMZ N2 first draft

4: Find a project

5: 2 Knights and 2 Pieces

Palms

The Queen in Blue

Master Teacher

3 Cons in Prep of later circuit

5 Therapy sessions

Steamdeck

2 MC tales

Songs of the Islands

Maine or Alaska

2022 Report Card

  It has been a while since we published in this but methinks I will restart it, covid disrupted the best laid plans

Tom

1. Finish Army of Fire (Alpha) B+ -Got to 109000 out of likely 117000, and this in spite of some major writers block

2. Research and Start Eternally East (Outline complete)-B+ -Major change of direction (for the better) outline finies and around 40 pages of a draft that will never be done

3. Complete the script and production plan for Sins of Silicon Valley-A- -Production Plan is pretty light but the script is done despite major blocks and I do have a plan I hope to improve on

4. Get to 250lbs and stay that way until the end of the year.-D -Gained weight but did exercise 2-3 times a week

5. Sketch 2-3 minor projects-D -Started out well but got psychological block midway though due to very stupid assignment, finished part of one project

Overall: B- Not the best year, not the worst

Julia

1. Keep food journal -D -Started but meh

2. Research and get outline done for own story-F

3. Do Crow position in Yoga-B -Worked on and in progress

4. Do Wheelbarrow position in Yoga- B

5. Practice piano- C -Did while had access to ine

Over Grade: C+ -May not have accomplished specific goals but has accomplished a lot in terms of professional growth and took care of myself and stress levels much better than before

Couple

1. Go to Europe -A+ -Trip to Paris w Wayne and Helen and their daughter was fabulous and memorable

2. Go to New Orleans- A -We FINALLY got to see the jazz festival, great food and great memories

3. Get involved in the local Fet/K community. -B -Progress was made but we both tabled it for a while and will pick up next year

4. Keep working on Fruitloop  -B -Still going strong not as strong as it could have been

5. Discover Interesting passionate literature -B- -Julia gets and a+ I get a C+ here

6. Investigate rp-F - We did not do this together at all

Overall: Tom rates: B+ Julia rates: B+ So B+ We had challenges but overcame them

Other noteworthy items:

Did a major move including Uhaul, finding a place via airbnb across a thousand miles and brought an aminal in a great town we both love

Julia got a FANTASTIC job at UMass

Created a chapbook of epic poems and weird stories

Explored some of Massachusets and went to Salem on a great trip

Julia got to go to an epic Anne Rice Vampire ball

Tom got Pericuolo Narr out of Orlando (Roleplaying game)

Attended a family reunion in Utah w the Ricks clan and we made an epic and hilarious music video w my niece 

Goals Are My Religion

 Check out Emmit Other's poem!

https://poetizer.com/poem/360448835

When I left the LDS Celestial Pyramid Scheme

October 26, 2007 at 8am

(a date I celebrate every year)

I thought I had left Religion behind

I was and am still very Spiritual

But that path as an animist

Is complex and sundry

But in hindsight

I did retain a religion

Even if it isnt spiritual

But there are rituals

And self covenants

Every year I make goals

But unlike most

By and large I kept them

Year by Year

Though 2020 was rough

I didnt even set them in 2021

And I got out of the habit

But in 2022 

I found that ole time religion

And 2023 will be even better.

https://tinyurl.com/3c6mxeyr

Seven Lives For Living

 Check out Emmit Other's poem!

https://poetizer.com/poem/1928285193

Thirty was when my life started

Thirty was the age

Like Logan's Run 

That the Satanic Verses

That is/was LDS policy

Moved a man from the Singles Congregation

To the General Population

If you dont marry in LDS theology

You dont go to the highest level

Of the Celestial Pyramid Scheme

And while five years before I got out

I realized then and there

Defining my life

By who I married (if anyone)

Or how I worked

In one meaningless technical writing contract

After another

Was a recipe for regret and failure

So while I still dated 

And still worked

I came up with something more than a bucket list

And less than a lifetime commitment

Seven lives I could live

With all the time I had left

The first was roleplaying games

I made and sold seven supplements

Peaking in the Fate of Inglemia

The things I have done amd seen

I was and am a player of games

And my Pinnacle

Was gaining the respect of my peers 

The Second Life was Writing

Seven Novels would I write

Seven now almost done

Nine thousand words away

The final novel in Inglemia itself

A lifetime worth for certain sure

Emmit is a side bet

A lifetime ironically greater

Than Rhombus himself

And here I sought to prove my worth

Also by the respect of my peers

Until SFWA proved it had no worth in my eyes

By hiring two sociopaths to judge my work

Unjustly

And no one one is my peer but me

As it should be

As it should be

In this life I retire like Stephen King

(Not that I am that good mind)

But rather my retirement

Is 'retirement'

But I still write five to 12 more books

At my own pace

Just because I can

The third life is movies and producing

I have done three worthy ones

Next year after a ten year hiatus

After healing from my Ex

I am doing the documentary 

The Sins of Silicon Valley

And will then do three more

Maybe seven plays as well

Who knows what Tom Drake will do

The fourth live is Project Management

A feather in my cap at the start

By completing my masters in the same

After being drummed out

Of (for me) a nigh impossible masters 

In Molecular Biology

Three projects have I done

Worthy of a Master Accomplishment

Mentoring, Biographers  (donish) and Inspiring

I do not know if four more await

Of this life

I am most unsure

For I will know a great work

When I see it

I am two thirds of the way there

Maybe more happen

Maybe they dont

The fifth life is my spiritual path

Seven roles in time

My path is my own

My path is my own

Five of Seven roles fulfilled

Two to go in time

Two to go in time

The Sixth is Servant Leadership

I am just getting started

A quest for each shard

We will see what we will see

The seventh is undefined

And may never be lived

For a man should always aspire to more

One that they can do before their last breat

Never settling always moving

We will see what we will see

We will see what we will see