Lacking motivation

So.... it's October now. I've been so busy the last month and a half, that now ... I just don't want to do anything. Not that there aren't things to do ... I can make all the lists I want, but I just can't bring myself to care anymore. I miss the days when I can just take a mental health day and not have to plan more lessons as a result. As it stands, it actually takes more effort to take a day off than to just go in to work, because I have to first find people to sub for me, then write explicit lesson plans for the subs, and then deal with catchup work when I get back.

Even if a part of me knows that I need to prep for tomorrow, it just doesn't seem to matter.

This heat wave isn't helping.

My body deciding that ovulation is for losers and that all the related work in the last year doesn't count is also not helping with my mood.

Okay, a bit better now

Well, that was some much-needed stress relief. I'm glad Jono is out at the game store -- stress relief is a very private affair for me.

So now I'm feeling good enough to start making lists and repositioning myself mentally for October! I think part of it is that the last 6 weeks have been such do-or-die nose to the grindstone stuff that my brain couldn't quite fathom having a few hours to spare in the evening. In other words, this is the "getting sick" that happens after a tense period.

So instead of thinking in terms of stuff that I *have* to do, I need re-sort everything into things that I need to do as "maintenance", as well "might be nice if..." and actual creative projects.

Maintenance
- Keep working on Asian Studies and Mandarin 1 lesson planning. I have a meeting tomorrow afterschool to hammer out some Mandarin 1 stuff, and then I can sketch out the year and plug more things into my homebrew Mandarin 1 textbook. I need to spend some time tonight hammering out the outline for the rest of the quarter, and maybe the rest of the year.

- Keep grading. I'm in a grading lull for the time being (having 3 classes that are really small really helps!), but the key is that I need to stay on top of it, and not be lulled into a false sense of security.

- Keep World Religions on Low Priority. Right now, with my 2 new classes to prep for, I don't really have the brain space to do major improvements. So I just need to remind myself that now is not the time to take on a complete re-vamp of my teaching of the trickster figure.

- Keep doing payroll and processing checks for Chinese School. The big Chinese school things are done for September. And thankfully, mom has taken over my class, so I have an extra 5 hours free on Sundays (not to mention the extra 2 hours it take to wind up and wind down from it). My goal is to spend about 2 hours every Sunday working on Chinese School related stuff.

- Keep being mindful of my health. The last few days I've been in this funk, and as a result, have been willfully eating horribly unhealthy things. I think here moderation is the key. I usually overindulge as a result of strong emotions -- extreme joy, excitement, sadness, ennui, guilt, etc. Of course, the paradox here is that overindulgence causes guilt which causes more overindulgence.

Might be nice if I can...
- Do some final website tidying for Chinese School
- Do some prep work for APE (make signs, find some rack thingies to hold my comics, create some sort of vertical banner or display area)
- Fix up some of the problems in the China Comics print that dad found.
- Do some reading and research for my next comic idea
- Do some small sewing projects: make kanga dresses for me and Joanne, etc. (I think I can push that to November, though, since Jono will be gone for half of that time, which means I will probably spend every evening in front of the sewing machine marathoning some tv show.)

Major Creative Projects
- I want to do some more preliminary work for my next comic project -- at least get it to a point where I can ask people to read it and tell me what to fix, or whether I should just give up.
- I want to make a Halloween costume. I'll have to talk with MJ about maybe doing something together.
- I want to make a version 2.0 of my handbag -- Having used it for a year, there are lots of changes that I'd like to make to the design.

Halloween Costume ideas?

What can I be for Halloween?

Ideally it should be:
- historical
- comfortable and practical
- Halloween appropriate (Halloween tends to have more "types" like devils and maids, and the types of "famous people" that are acceptable are rather limited)
- able to match with both the Chinese teacher at work (MJ), and Jono at the inevitable home gathering

Past examples:
- Colonial dude
- Courtly Toph / Tang Dynasty courtesan
- Okita Souji of the Shinsengumi

Some possibilities:
- I can be a Communist soldier and MJ can be a KMT soldier, and Jono can be Stillwell. (Con: very military. Not sure I want to support that.)

- Or, alternatively, me and MJ can each pick a Song sister and Jono can be Sun Yatsen. I guess that would make me Song Qingling... (Con: not very distinctive outfits .. just generic period clothing... might not even make it)

- I can be a Wokou, Jono can be a Western pirate, and MJ can be.... I dunno... someone who fights pirates? (Con: Wokou don't have really distinctive outfits...)