The Marci Rating System

It is CROCHET WEEKEND, LET'S GO!

(Okay, there are actually a lot of other things I want to do too? I have a list. It's much too long, and I haven't really come to any conclusions about how to manage that. I'm pretty sure reading fanfic for the next hour won't help, but I may give it a try anyway! For science.)

*total goal word count: 25,000

*total current word count: honestly, who even knows at this point? certainly not me! I'm hoping to hit 20,000 by the end of the weekend

*last sentence written: That was true, at least.

*current writing strategy: TALK AMONGST YOURSELVES, NO PLOT JUST CHAT

*best thing about having a big writing goal: it makes all the other things I want to do seem WAY more fun -- holiday decorating? yes please! chores? sure!

I got my cat one of those little cozy cave/sacks, because it gets chilly, and she mostly ignored it for years. I only recently had a galaxy brain moment and put it ON TOP of her enormous cat bed, which already has two Very Cozy blankets on top of it. Now she loves it! Just needed it to be extra-extra comfy, I guess. Which is so smart! MAXIMIZE COZINESS.

Also: it's autumn craft fair day! I haven't been to an autumn craft fair in a long while, so this will be a novel experience.

A non-thorough check back through my dw posts indicates 1) I talk about sleep a lot, which makes sense, since I love sleep, and also 2) I (probably) haven't talked about my Best-Ever Falling Asleep Routine!

(I've been doing this for over a year and remain boggled by how well it works. For me. Mileage may vary, etc, etc. But if any future version of me is having trouble falling asleep: Here is your guide, future me!)

STEP 1: Get cozy, this process is for when you are literally In Bed and attempting to become asleep.

STEP 2: Count out three deep breaths, focusing on having the exhale be longer than the inhale.

STEP 3: Think of three things you're proud of doing that day.

[Usually I'm asleep after just one thing -- last night it was 'I wanted to go for a walk before work, and I did, and I even remembered to take a picture of the thing I wanted to take a picture of,' which is maybe two things?]

[But if you're still awake, there's more!]

STEP 4: Three more deep breaths

STEP 5: Think of three things you're physically feeling

[Sometimes I've reached this point and realized there is Something Keeping Me Awake, like I'm cold, or my head hurts, and I can Do Something About That.]

STEP 6: Three more deep breaths

STEP 7: Think of three things to add to a creative project (this helped me go to bed when I was doing noveling month last year, because I'd tell myself 'I can brainstorm some ideas once I get to that part of my falling asleep routine!' and somehow this worked even though I nearly always fell asleep before I got to that part, probably because my brain remains ever-overconfident that it is Not That Tired)

STEP 8: REPEAT FROM STEP 2

Back in June, I posted about how I didn't use a night guard. Since then, for a variety of reasons that don't really aren't interesting enough to explain, I actually have been using a night guard, and let me just say: I WAS A FOOL. SO WRONG. I love wearing a night guard so much I've genuinely considered using them during the day.

Here's the thing: each time the dentist has talked to me about night guards, they've said 'does your jaw hurt in the mornings?' (no, it does not) and also 'do you have a headache when you wake up?' (sure, but my body's first reaction to literally any kind of stress is a headache, so that's not exactly unusual).

What the dentist did NOT say to me was these magic words: MORE SLEEP

I've tried a couple different kinds of night guards, and used them consistently since around the start of July, and my flitbit sleep record has NOTABLY CHANGED. I used to average about an hour of 'awake' time, and now I'm down to more like half an hour. That's MORE SLEEP, HECK YEAH! ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!

In conclusion: I LOVE SLEEP

Last night I dreamed about a fox and a badger. In the way of dreams, they made only a brief appearance, but it was when I was close to waking up, so I was a little more aware of the dream nature of things.

Which is to say: the dream!badger came right up to the door, and I very distinctly thought 'that's very cute, but my brain doesn't know what a badger looks like.'

I finally got curious enough about the (to me) absolutely bizarre amount of hockey romance novels compared to other sports, and looked it up online. Reddit suggests racism (plausible), along with the popularity of hockey rpf (I didn't understand that either, but it does seem unlikely that they're completely unconnected), and the fact that US americans aren't as familiar with the rules of hockey, so authors don't have to do as much research (that last one makes me laugh, because yeah, I could see that -- I got at least a tiny bit of exposure to most common team sports in gym class, but not hockey).

I have now finished BOOK 3 of Freya Marske's 'The Last Binding' trilogy!

(Okay, I really feel like I'm missing something, but I have no idea why the trilogy is called The Last Binding, and not 'The Last Contract'?)

ANYWAY despite my clear and obvious confusion about the trilogy name, I found these books Extremely Fun to listen to! Book 3 especially, because it was pretty much all the things I like:

*basically a growing group of friends who all support each other
*sometimes in the 'friends who commit crimes together, stick together' sort of way
*the houses are magic
*BEES (genuinely was not expecting the bees, but A+ work there, bees!)
*what if ALL the characters gathered together at a house party and CHAOS ENSUED

Ah, the joy writing about magical kittens taking naps on a caturday! BEST DAY.

(Went through several options for 'heck yeah' for today's post... groceries was the final winner!)

Very important to get groceries today, because I'm out of delicious fruit cups and also protein shakes, and in these difficult days (aka summer) those have pretty much been my go-to 'this sounds like something I an eat' options. WHY ARE SEASONS SO CHALLENGING.

(I do understand that my body is doing its best, and I appreciate that! It's just that sometimes my best means thinking 'I'm hungry' and then blank-staring into space for a long while as I try to determine what will solve that problem.)