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COVID-19 is upon us. New York State is in the midst of a lockdown for all but the most critical employees. I don’t know that I am counted among them; I’ll find out after a manager’s meeting on Monday. It would be nice stay home, although I am certainly privileged enough to have job security and unused paid-time-off hours. I’ve taken this rare opportunity to sit at the computer for several days and make the most of an uncertain situation.

Continue reading “Pandemic Productivity”

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Tom, Kai and I (The Outfit) had our first meeting concerning our Untitled Visual Novel Project. I’m enjoying this chance to plan something collaborative. I’d like to treat this with all the gravity I treat projects in my professional life. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, and accounting for all factors that usually derail creative endeavors involves a lot of deep thinking. Continue reading “Nuts and Bolts”

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As my undergrad years came to a close, I found myself increasingly anxious about what life after college would entail. I knew few college educated people, and didn’t have the wherewithal to follow a career trajectory, although I resolved at some point to not pursue a Masters in Art History. The things I did have–a Bachelor of Arts, a senior thesis, and an anime blog–I didn’t know how to use beyond academia. I knew that I liked to learn, and I liked to write both creatively and scholastically. Where did that leave me? Continue reading “Project Otaku”

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Despite what the title of this post suggests, I’ve been rather productive this year. Right now I’m writing a sequel to Saudade, the story published in FIYAH fall 2018. I’ll be the first person to tell you sequels are usually unnecessary, but as a writer, it’s sometimes easier to dive back into a world you know than one you don’t. The characters can grow, usually for the better but sometimes for worse. I can pick up on threads I touched on in the original novelette, but didn’t take time to flesh out. And maybe I just want to write something for the hell of it, a story I can enjoy. That’s good enough reason for me. Continue reading “Climbing out of the doldrums”

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I’m not dead yet!

I’ve started watching The Mandalorean on Disney+, which my wife somehow managed to get for free through her Verizon account. Very inspiring stuff. The show features a protagonist with a mask on, which I didn’t think would be engaging but it works so well. It’s recharged my writing batteries! I know I can crank out stories again. Continue reading “2020”

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Last weekend I moved to another apartment. While my old neighborhood wasn’t terrible, there were things about my former apartment my wife and I had grown tired of over the past two years. We were on the third floor with no elevator, and the rooms were ungodly hot during the summer months. The laundry machine downstairs never seemed to work. Snow plows would trap our car in during winter, and the groundskeepers rarely shoveled. The garbage truck would wake me up at 6AM. We had a package stolen. These are all “first-world problems,” of course, but now that I’m in much better financial straits, we decided to move. Continue reading “Merrily”