I can't stop watching these videos, things that stress you out, and the true essence of connection

It’s been a rather wild first week of school.

And it’s not because of the seasonal schedule shift that comes like the equivalent Daylight Savings Time that parents experience at either end of the education calendar.

Suffice it to say that financial emergencies that periodically come up for me are part of the reason why I need to diversify my income streams far beyond my engineering career.

Here’s what I’ve dug up this week:

BlueSky Bit - just needed this (and I’m on a binge this week for some reason)

Medium Moment - every single thing in this list contributes to mine…

Substack Sampling - this powerful story is why art is essential and why I’m here

Prismatic Progress:

Finding the rhythm of riding the horse that is the school year is changing.

The more visible you become, the more attention you garner, and you’re never quite ready when the curtain comes up and the lights focus on you. That’s what I know with every performance that I’ve given throughout my life.

It feels like it’s happening again, but with very different potential consequences.

What I do and how I accomplish it will directly impact my family, and I’m terrified of overlooking any angle. Maybe that’s why I feel paralyzed at the moment. Being inundated with schedules, rubrics, reminders of orientation and invitations to parent-teacher associations across the board hit me like a tidal wave this week.

On top of that, my wife is about to start her own journey as a student, and that is bound to have its own basket of challenges that I’ll have to stay on top of for her as well. Suddenly, I went from being part of a team to being…the sole supporter of the family resort.

I’m also beginning to realize that I haven’t directly addressed the real problem that I’m facing right now: my writing income has vastly diminished this year compared to the previous one despite all the progress I’ve personally made in the craft.

Ebbs and flows…this one is incredibly low-tide, though.