Tiffany Crystal's Forecast for the day:

Even if it is only the 1st…

In May 2000, I graduated high school in – I believe – the bottom quarter of my class (I believe my GPA was in the 2.0s, if even that high – I hated my school). It’s now May 2020, and I am a college graduate with a 3.98 GPA. If you all will excuse me, I need a minute to sit down and process this. 

Seriously though, this is a very weird time for me. For the past four years, aside from a week-long break here and there, every day has been filled with research and/or homework. Now…I don’t even know what to do with my time. I mean, the state finally bit the bullet and shut down the schools for the rest of the school year, so the kids are still doing online schooling, and I do have the new job, so my planner isn’t going to be completely empty, but it’s weird not penciling in my own assignments and whatnots. Once everything calms down, and the kids are done with school, I plan on penciling in some “me” time. Nothing special, but maybe I’ll Uber over to an IHOP or something, where I can sit back and read or write in peace. Maybe I’ll find the local library, instead. I miss libraries…

Anyway, it’s May 1st, and I had planned on getting straight back to writing, but I got called into work later today, and I also work all this weekend. I wanted another day to myself, but ah well. I’ll just have to wait til Monday to get back to writing. I don’t have a chapter of “Don’t Feed the Trolls” to release for this month yet, and I’d like to change that. It’s already halfway done, but I need to look back at where I left off, and get back up to speed.

I’ve set aside looking for an agent using “Say ‘No!’ to Zombies,” simply because, at the moment, I’m thinking it might be a bit wrongfooted, if you know what I mean. I do plan on looking into self-publishing it though. Might have to skip on the editor for now, which kinda sucks, cause I found one I like, but it is what it is. Maybe next year I’ll be able to have her look it over, but I’m also planning on moving sometime next year, so…we’ll see. As far as I’m aware, Amazon allows ebooks to be updated by the author, so if I am able to afford her services, I can just update the file.

I hope you all are staying safe and sane. It’s crazy right now, but we’re all in this together. ♥

Kinda doubting it, though.

So. A lot has changed in the past month. I actually had to go look up last month’s update post to see what I had planned for March, and oof. March definitely has not lived up to my expectations. I mean, we had rain and flowers are starting to pop up, and there were tornadoes not too far from us, but the biggest source of concern (and cussing….lots of cussing) wasn’t Mother Nature, for once. 

I’ve mentioned before that I was looking for a job, and if any of you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know that this virus crap was putting a major damper on that hunt (as well as just about everything else, let’s be real, here). Well, the good news is, I was able to find a new job. The bad news is, it’s considered “essential” so I’ll be out there every work day, just the same as one of the roommates. I plan on being extra extra careful, cause I know a lot of people out there aren’t, but it’s also at a pharmacy, so…yeah. This is going to be an interesting time. 

The kids’ school have extended their distance learning for another almost two weeks. Personally, I’m just waiting for them to close til the end of the school year. It only makes sense at this point. The school district has ran out of “bad weather make up” days. If they switch to online learning for the rest of the year, they don’t have to worry about extending the year any further to make up the difference (course, then again, I don’t know how the school year works, so I could be wrong).

At any rate, the kids aren’t quite as miserable as they thought they would be. The eldest finished their homework with days to spare and was permitted to treat the rest of the week like a long weekend. The youngest and I worked together to schedule his school days to give him time to talk to his friends in the school chatroom, so he’s much happier with the set up. He also really likes not having to get up at six a.m.. We haven’t been able to factor in Phys. Ed yet, but we’re working on it. If the rain can hold off this week, he can start running around outside and getting some exercise that way (any parents out there with suggestions?). All of my plans for the kids’ April Fool’s Day are shot, so today is going to be rather boring for us. 

I know a lot of people are starting to get strained with the Shelter In Place order, and to you all, I would suggest reaching out online. There are so many group chats and Facebook groups popping up; just because we’re social distancing doesn’t mean you can’t socialize at all. I’ve joined a group of ladies on Facebook, and we’re all helping each other plan projects to keep us distracted. I already have plenty of projects I want to work on, but the encouragement is nice to have, especially from a bunch of strangers. It feels like the coming together of a mini-community, and I definitely recommend it for anyone feeling the walls starting to press on them.

For those of you who don’t know, April is Military Awareness Month and Child Abuse Awareness month (anyone who suggests a correlation will be given the mother of all stink eyes). Given that the National Guard is out there helping in places like New York, where the virus is rampant, I figured they (and the rest of our service men and women) could use some love. I also wanted to bring attention to child abuse, since so many children are being forced to stay at home in unsafe conditions. For many of them, school is their only safe place, and it’s been taken away from them. This pandemic needs to end soon, and not just for the people who are at risk of the illness.

For all you out there, stay safe, sane(ish), and healthy. The next few months are going to be bumpy. Hang in there.