D. Paul Harrison - Experienced Points - 6/18/2021
Hello!
Diving deep into some technical security things as a distraction, but getting a lot of work done, otherwise. Next week I am going to spend some time seeing if it is even actually POSSIBLE for me to do freelance work in the industry I am in (you know, besides writing), so wish me luck.
I’d love to have a more diverse portfolio of freelance stuff, but working in game production and project management isn’t something that has a lot of opportunity for individual contractors, and pretty much every contracting company hires fulltime people.
A weird place to be, and I do not mind creating a new category, but on the other hand, it makes it extremely difficult. This is the life I’ve chosen, though.
I don’t feel a large amount of emotions around Father’s Day, this being the third year without him being alive (and the… 11th year of him being disabled to the point of not being alive), but I always wonder: If I respond to every Father’s Day promotional email with “I would love to take advantage of this deal, but my DAD is DEAD”, would I get a bigger discount?
I’ve seen something in the past couple years, around Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, where companies send an email before those campaigns saying “Hey! Do you want to opt out of these holidays?”, which is good! I like that! I wish they did that for more things.
What I’m writing
Metal Eggs - 1500 word flash fiction (900/1500 words done)
Starting to reconsider the way I am keeping track of these, considering this is definitely going to wind up being 4500 words, and then edited down to the actual things I want to happen.
I have half on idea about maybe making THIS one the 10,000 word story, and taking my other idea and making it the 1500 word one, but we’ll see where I wind up with this over the weekend.
What I’m reading
Son of the Storm by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
So far, I’m really enjoying this book. With his first book (that I read, anyway) David Mogo Godhunter, Okungbowa created an incredibly compelling urban fantasy setting with excellent characters, and this is him doing the same for epic fantasy. Easy archetypes, presented in a new way, some high-quality political maneuvering, along with some incredibly cool magic stuff.
I’ve been, generally, reading more fantasy than I have before, these past couple years, and epic fantasy still bugs me, sometimes. But reading through some of the older stuff, it feels like it starting deconstructing itself, and playing with tropes, pretty immediately after. This continues this fine tradition, while being something completely new and good.
What I’m playing
Chicory: A Colorful Tale
Gonna finish this off this weekend, still loving it. It uh, hits on themes that I needed to hear, right now.
Cities: Skylines
A friend recommend City Planner Plays City Builders, and it gave me the itch. I’m playing through a very intentionally planned city, now. This is definitely a game I play compulsively, rather than for fun, but that doesn’t necessarily make it any less fun. I hope a new one comes out at some point, and then I can feel like something fresh is occurring, and I am experiencing it. Rather than just sitting here and being finicky about tram lines for the 300th time.
Trams are so cool though, and I love them.
Goodbye
See you next time!