It’s September and still hot as hell, let’s jump straight to this week’s numbers.
Tuesday 8/31
- Reading: 2% of El Señor del Caos, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Masters of the Universe Revelation, 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Wednesday 9/01
- Reading: 2% of El Señor del Caos, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Masters of the Universe Revelation, 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Thursday 9/02
- Reading: 2% of El Señor del Caos, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Masters of the Universe Revelation, 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Friday 9/03
- Reading: 2% of El Señor del Caos, ~90 minutes
- Watching/Listening: 2 episodes of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc, 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~60 minutes
- Speaking: reading out loud, ~30 minutes
Saturday 9/04
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~30 minutes
Sunday 9/05
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~30 minutes
Monday 9/06
- Watching/Listening: 1 episode of Kiwillius, ~30 minutes
- Total reading: 1/10 books read, 360 minutes
- Total watching/listening: 7 YouTube episodes and 7 television episodes watched, 330 minutes
- Total speaking: reading out loud, 120 minutes
Total Time: 11 hours 30 minutes
A pretty good week overall. Monday was funky thanks to it being a day off from work for Labor Day, so woo, long weekend, but otherwise it’s just been me keeping on with stuff. I started and finished Masters of the Universe Revelation since it’s a measly five episodes, and was frankly kinda surprised by it. After all the inarticulate manbaby screeching about the show, I was expecting something different than what I got, which was a rather competent, dark, and serious take on the original show, while remaining incredibly faithful.
Like, it feels in many ways to be the original, campy 80s cartoon after some shit went down and made everyone a bit more serious and desperate. It’s an oddly parallel modernization compared to the She-Ra I fell in love with, but where that took the respect and love for the original series and used it as the basis for something new, this one made a sequel. I’m interested to see more and will watch a second season if it’s forthcoming, though the tonal whiplash of the goofy core vs. serious tone might keep it from ever becoming a favorite.
After finishing the short season there, I then went on to start a rewatch of Scooby Doo Mystery Inc, which is a show I quite enjoyed in English when it came out and have been kinda wanting to rewatch, and … okay, number one, I’d made myself forget that the show starts with the frankly bizarre decision to have Shaggy and Velma dating, and also some of the voice choices in this dub sure are something. The former I can deal with, as I recall it’s short-lived and they eventually give Velma a we’re-not-saying-she’s-a-girlfriend-because-we-can’t-say-that-in-a-kid’s-show-yet-wait-for-Steven-Universe-to-come-out-in-the-future-but-come-on-she’s-totally-her-girlfriend as she rightfully deserves. The latter, however, makes watching the show kinda weird.
Fred, Daphne, and Velma have voices that are pretty easy to adapt to, but Shaggy sounds like the nerd that works at Krusty Burger in The Simpsons with the constantly cracking voice, and Scooby sounds like someone doing a dime store impression of Homer Simpson. Voices like that aren’t, like, a total dealbreaker, but when they’re main characters in the show, it gets kinda grating.
Reading progress, on the other hand, I have a lot less to blather about. I’m over ¾ through El Señor del Caos and am expecting to be done with it this month, and have Gideon la Novena all lined up for afterward. But that means getting through it first, and it continues to progress at its unhurried pace. I’m definitely liking this book, though.
As August wrapped up this week, let’s look at the month as a whole, too.
- Total Watching/Listening: 36 tv episodes and 36 youtube videos watched, 1,500 minutes
- Total Reading: 2/5 whole books read, 1,710 minutes
- Total Writing: 0 words written, 0 minutes
- Total Speaking: reading out loud, 540 minutes
- Total Time: 53 hours 30 minutes
And here’s the breakdown for money spent.
- Netflix Subscription Standard HD Plan, Television and Movie Streaming, $10.99 per month, $10.99
- Disney+ Subscription, Television and Movie Streaming, $6.99 per month, $6.99
- Amount Spent on Services: $17.98
- Total Spent: $17.98
A solid, respectable month. I’ve fallen into a pretty steady groove with everything and it’s easy to keep things going without a ton of variation, I have my plans for days that I’m working, and days that I’m not, and the latter are off days for me in a number of ways, this project included. I think this works pretty well, and while it might not be the most “efficient” use of my time on this project anymore, I’m not really looking for that at this point. It works for me.
Also in the monthly roundup, writing numbers look a bit on the wimpy side with only 8,198 words of fiction, it’s misleading, because after floundering in a not-really-getting-anything-done state for four or so weeks, I finished out the month at full speed, which has continued into September so far. I finished a short The Owl House story, spent a couple days doing some rewrites and edits, and have launched into the next story while that one cools off. Stuff still has plenty of chances to go wrong and I can fall off the writing wagon again, but I’m feeling pretty good and confident that I can keep this pace up for a while. I always feel better when I’m writing, always, so being able to maintain this sort of thing is something rather vital that I’m trying to assign a higher priority in my mind. If I need to write for my mental health, I need to put things into place so that I write as much as possible.
Anyway, that’ll do for this week’s rambling, here’s to a good month to come. TTFN.
Fumbling Toward Fluent 