State of the Bugsydor (Not Great, but Still Existent) · 7:23am Nov 28th, 2016
Please forgive me for my long silence. I still love ponies, I still love my readers, and I still love my horse word projects. I have yet to abandon anything, though I have made far less progress than I would have liked.
There have been a few reasons for this lack of progress. Some laziness did factor in, as well as trying to interact with friends or catch up on school work. The big, huge, terribly inconvenient roadblock to my progress, however, has been migraines. I'd dealt with migraines on occasion since I was in high school, but nothing on the scale of what I've had to deal with this semester. It started out with biweekly migraines that lasted for 2-3 days, then it moved on to weekly ones, and eventually there was a month+ stretch where I had a single, continuous migraine that only ended this past Saturday after I'd been away from my apartment (visiting family) for a week. (And yes, a migraine was all this was. The MRI came back normal.) Needless to say, this has been rather non-conducive to making progress on writing horse words. Or for getting any sort of school work done, especially in math or programming.
Basically, I just came off of a significant stretch of time where my cutie mark has been switched off. Seeing what I can salvage in the remaining three weeks of this semester is going to be interesting, to say the least, but I am quite hopeful for the future beyond this semester.
As for what's been causing the migraines and what I can do about it, it seems to be environmental. Said environment is my recently "renovated" apartment. Among other things done to it while I was away this past summer (and by away, I mean in the next apartment complex over), they replaced the carpeting. With cheap, fume-laden carpet. Yeah. Over the next few days, I'm going to be trying to get them to let me swap over to one of the apartments in the same complex that hadn't been renovated recently, and hope that that room doesn't give me a migraine itself. I'll also be on my doctor-prescribed regimen of 400mg vitamin B-2 each day, and switching over to some more interesting pills (a blood pressure medication called Propranolol with fun side-effects) if that fails to keep me from getting migraines. I'll also be checking to see if I can get an apartment in a different complex for next semester, just to be safe(r).
And while I do not currently have a migraine (
), I did manage to get sick while traveling. In a day or so, my voice will likely sound like either a khajiit or Duke Nukem. That makes it loads of fun to say lines of dialogue, even if it is kinda painful. Think I'll be staying home from classes for a little bit longer, though, if only so I don't give anyone else a cold or whatever I've got.
On a happier, less health-related note, I have finally found some gainful employment on my own merits! I'm getting paid above minimum wage to tutor some mid-level math in the school's math lab, and the one hour each week I've managed to secure so far has become the highlight of my week, despite the migraines. My favorite part is when I finally get a student to realize that they already have all the tools they need to solve their problems. It's one of those things that just fills my heart with unironic joy.
Now, what does my current status mean for my horse word projects, such as Monster Hunter: Equestria? Well, I'm currently a good chunk of the way through the chapter I'm working on. I think I have the beginning and end down pretty well, and just need to add in a few hundred words to fill out a couple of scenes around the middle. The chapter ends after the orientation, not the training (which will be its own chapter). Since these next few weeks are going to be a mad scramble to salvage at least one class this semester (pretty much trying to do entire courses in 3 weeks will be no cake walk), I am unlikely to make much progress on MH:E during that time. However, I'm hoping to get a new chapter out before my winter break is over, since I'll have much more time available then. After I post the next chapter of MH:E, it'll be time to do the next chapter of the fic that y'all have actually been wanting this whole time: Desert Spice. Yes, I'm excited too. It'll be the first chapter of what I'm calling part 2.
And speaking of Desert Spice, I'm considering going through all of it and changing things from present- to past-tense. It won't be a terribly convenient or fun process, but I think it'll be easier on me to write in past-tense for future bits of it. What do you guys think? Should I bite the bullet and change the tense, or should I keep Desert Spice as-is? Place your vote in the comments, if you feel inclined to weigh in on the issue.
Life has been particularly interesting for me these past few months. It certainly hasn't been boring. I've even gotten to learn some important lessons and work through some long-standing neuroses, and those just would not have been resolved if I hadn't been having this crap happen to me. I might not understand why stuff happens to me, and it certainly hasn't been happening as I would choose, but I get the feeling that someone upstairs is looking out for me. 
Have a good day, night, or whatever you're having, people. Peace.
Ow. Sorry that you've been having so much trouble. Glad things are getting better, though, and that there was apparently some good even in the midst of it; good luck.
re the tense change:
Well, either could work, I think. I suppose it depends on which would ultimately be easier for you, making the changes now or continuing to write in present tense.
Ouch. Here's hoping you can get away from those carpet fumes. Definitely play up how they've hurt you academically. (And on that note, I hope you can salvage that situation.)
As for horsewords, good to get some news on the matter. I look forward to both. As for Desert Spice's tense issue, it could really go either way. The present tense does lend a sense of immediacy, but if it's easier to go past tense, by all means, do so.
Thanks for the support, guys. It really does help.
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As much as I love complaining about my current circumstances in any case, I'm truly an optimist at heart. My life, academic or literal, isn't about to end due to a semester of illness. Stuff's going to be better in a few weeks, one way or another.
And thanks for the luck!
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Dangit, I just realized I missed an opportunity by not naming this blogpost "Fatal Fumes".
I'll be sure to adhere to that advice, by the way. Their recklessness (or would it be a further step down on the Mens Rea meter at "negligence"?) has caused me some legitimate harm, effectively costing me thousands of dollars and months of time. Heh. This might be one of the few times getting into an indignant huff could actually help me out, somehow.
Even so, this isn't the end of the world. Even if it has been darned inconvenient.
As for the tense discussion, I hadn't really considered what present tense might actually be bringing to the table. I've still got plenty of time to make a decision on that, but keeping it as-is is definitely still on the table.
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Ah, good. And you're welcome. :)