2025-W31 EOW Report

Anti-Goal Cycling

• This whole week was a mess. Had Waitress: The Musical (2015) on Wednesday at the Stanley Industrial Alliance, The Mousetrap (1952) at Granville Island Stage on Saturday, and Garage Fiction Retreat the whole long weekend. What I ended up doing was reread Story Genius (2016) by Lisa Cron, taking extensive notes, and prepping for aforementioned weekend so I could work on prj:MINOS.
• By the time the weekend actually rolled around, I spent two and a half hours on finishing taking all the notes and organizing a system to write longer form. I think I have a strong handle on it now. And I did start doing development work on prj:MINOS. Went down several rabbit holes on character names. Solidify a few more things. Because it’s Sunday, still have one more full day of work tomorrow.

Four Thousand Weeks

• Had a great conversation with the new CEO at Client A. Week was mostly winding down stuff for the GFP retreat and also Japan. Also almost wrapped up another issue for Client B. I’m not “checked out” per se, but I am winding down with this retreat and Japan so close together. Didn’t help that it was so busy with theatre shows. Finding a restaurant last minute because kids were lackadaisical. And then Granville Island Stage on Saturday night in the middle of the retreat.
• Thursday night, dinner at Rogue, met LL for the first time, and Bryan I haven’t seen since 2009. It’s weird how we’ve connected and supported each other for almost a decade now and only finally met IRL this year. And only because LL was so overenthusiastic and acted so aggressively on it. When she wants to act she ACTS, and it was so fast and then it was done, and now it’s happening. Came home Thursday night, had to plan everything out for Friday, wanted to get a work out in, groceries as well, and final packing, then drive out to Holiday Inn on Broadway, then to Bryan’s, then to Gastown, Cafe Duello, Academie Duello to throw axes (I was actually kinda OK at it) with Ben Galley, then Steamworks, then groceries.
• Saturday was work day. At one point, they left to get facials with Bryan’s wife, and I had 3 hours to myself to really dig into prj:MINOS. I sat on the balcony listening to Solstifir and just took time to think through everything. It was peaceful and productive. I think these retreats with the right people are invaluable. I still don’t know about SIWC, actually, I’m mostly sure about NOT doing SIWC. Maybe after publishing a few things, it’ll make sense or could be an easier sell to my wife that I’m vanishing for a weekend in a cabin in the middle of nowhere to just write. I think she just needs to see that this is actually finally a viable option and actually brings in income or something. I dunno. Getting ahead of myself. Regardless, it was peaceful in a way that I haven’t known in a while. Just to work intensely in deep work for a long period.
• Sunday was social thing. After breakfast, Olivia and I went to the Pride Parade, my first ever. After I realized it was mostly corporations, associations, charities, government departments, and clubs… I couldn’t help but think of The Great Cat Massacre (1984) and that one essay on how parades served the purpose of reminding the populace of the power structure of an urban city. I looked up several of the sponsors and learned so much about my city. Some other random things from the parade: truly emotionally understanding how important these events are, for recognition, for seeing and being seen, for allow true expression… nobody clapped for Rogers when they passed by… parade was stopped for twenty minutes by a Gaza protest… park and ride from Marine to Roundhouse. And then dinner at Cactus Club, sunset at Sunset Beach.

Story Introspection

• Epic Sunday marathon binge on comics. Rainbow Rowell’s She-Hulk (2022) run. Finished today. Loved EVERY moment of it. This is the kind of pacing, energy, mood I really want in a closed comic run. It had romance, drama, and minimal fight scenes. More drama, less action, but still superheroes. Then I burned through SO MUCH JSA. From issue #7, through all the events (hated so much of Sins of Youth, love Hourman), and all the way through to #25 for the compendium. All the David S. Goyer and Geoff Johns stuff for the proper run is so, so, so good. The events are dumb.
• Two more episodes of Andor (2022). Middle thought the yin-yang symbol with the two rebels meeting in a cafe was too on the nose. I think I have to train my children to realize they’re a lot smarter/cleverer than the general population and most of them would not pick up on that symbolism. But then Cassian and Bix had to walk away from a building after blowing it up and yes, I had to agree with my daughter, that was silly.
• Waitress – Yeah, I choked up at the end but then got really angry at myself for having those feelings because we shouldn’t be selling the narrative that a rich person will give you stuff just because you’re good and do good. That’s not how the world works. I hate it.
• Mousetrap – At the intermission, we texted our family text on who we thought the murderer would be. Eldest, middle, and wife guessed someone that made a lot of sense but were wrong. Youngest went with someone else. I guessed right. And I think I got it purely because MRK explained to me how Agatha Christie writes these mysteries, and I figured which would be the “biggest twist” and that’s what I banked on.
• Both Ultimates titles were excellent. And I’m so happy there’s a clear end.

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