TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE August/16 - Is it called a Snap Lockdown because all my plans just halved?
If you don't like that bad Thanos "joke," well, the newsletter doesn't really get any better. Sorry.
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Lockdown.
It’s strange that when lockdown occurs, and I don’t have to go to work, all of a sudden there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.
We recorded one case in our Territory and instantly entered a 7 day snap lockdown. That 1 has turned into 9 total, so far, and I’m hoping that it helps us get on top of us, instead of 3 hours north where they’re getting 400+ cases a day added now, woof. I feel for them.
So, lockdown means no schooling - which, in turn, means the kids stay home here, but I also need to teach my class from home. Except, not quite yet - because my union are brawlers, they earned us a 5 day planning period where we aren’t expected to teach and we use the time to plan to completely flip our whole job upside down in case the lockdown goes longer. I have my bets on needing to remote teach for the final 4 weeks of the term, but that’s me being more pessimistic than pragmatic, and doing so in the hopes that I may plan enough to not need it all, rather than not plan enough and have to scramble.
It’s a daunting task, to take a face-to-face job and make it digital. Thankfully, we did this well last year, and I have every hope we [myself and the school] will only improve this time around. But it does mean some jobs disappear while others materialise out of thin air and dance wildly to gain my attention.
I no longer need to do playground duty, huzzah. I no longer need to tend to the cleanliness of my class, nor the visual displays that abound [I’m usually rubbish at this anyway, whatever]. I no longer need to do a lot of those incidental things that seem to add up to about 37 hours each day - collect books, walk to the staff room, look for lost pencils, etc.
But I will need to create a timetable, and resources, for my class to learn effectively each day. I’m thankful to have an awesome teaching team to help with this, and so far we’ve planned out some pretty cool stuff. I’ve also spent years honing skills in integrating technology into the classroom, so this isn’t any shock to my system.
But then there’s the other stuff while I’m at home. I want to go for a long walk each day. I tried baking some bread the other day [a coffee milk loaf that was my own design from a different recipe] - yes, it only took 2 days in to become that cliche.
I let the dough prove in the top of my greenhouse because it was warm up there. I’ll now eat it with peanut butter, and with Vegemite, and it shall sustain me.
I want to go out and exercise with my kids each day on our monkey bars.
I want to sit around the firepit and just enjoy the warmth. Especially after having tended to my beloved compost towers, or the prepping for new spring crops, or my little seeds finally coming to flower [shout out to the pansy for dropping a little yellow fella into this world].
I also want to read some books, and play some board games, and continue to refurb that table, and play some D&D with my kids!
This is all alongside hoping to create my D&D zine in time for next year’s ZineQuest on Kickstarter, and pitch these next two series, and continue to lift EVERFROST and BLACK BEACON into the spotlight of the world. I’m also about to drop my 50th 300 Flash Fic and that feels really special to me; it’s over 30,000 words, so I’d love to stitch them all up and offer them digitally, or something.
All these thoughts swirl through my head - sand the table, design the zine, spruik the comic - and then alongside them is stuff about school - design new hyperdoc projects, make videos for staff to learn from and be supported by, give the students feedback and my time.
It’s a lot, and no single day could ever take it all on board. Not even if I chunk it up. But I’m hoping to just make do with what I can get done, and enjoy myself in little ways along the way. I’m going to be busy, but also with purpose. Last year’s lockdown saw me escalate from a 50 hour teaching week to about 80 hours, no word of a lie. It was a wild ride teaching my class *and* trying to offer all of the ICT support I could - all while getting 4 different comic project ready to burst into the world behind the scenes - but I managed it, with support from my wife, mostly, and some very good friends.
I’m also totally prepared to mix cereals, if that’s what’s needed. Everyone has their own self-help mechanisms :]
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Still making comics, or slowly, slowly dying trying.
EVERFROST #3 comes out next Wednesday. So does BLACK BEACON #2 - it’s a wild time to be alive. I love both issues so much.
With EVERFROST #3, Sami draws one of the greatest locations we’ve ever built, and then we do some wild things in it. This issue has some big moments, and some very big small moments. One quiet moment has been my desktop image for a while now, so beautiful.
With BLACK BEACON #2, Seb continues to crush it with the world building and the innovation and the beauty on display. We take Niko, now at home on this sphere and completely unsure what to do next, and we throw some strange things in front of her.
Both of these stories mean the world to me, and the response from so many people has warmed my long dehydrated heart.
Behind all of this, I’m pitching [THE SHARP INK PROJECT] and [THE 36 HOUR PROJECT] and hoping for the best. I believe in both of these stories a lot.
I’ve actually just finished mapping out the first issue plan for [THE SHARP INK PROJECT] and I’ve consciously tried to include longer scenes and slow things down a little. There’s still a bunch of world building and character mapping to do on the page, but also time for just some locations and fights and I think it has clicked together well.
I, initially, wanted to end on a huge reveal, but it felt rushed, way too rushed, and that’s often my problem, so I tinkered, pushed some stuff back, and now we end on a really cool beat that sets up the bigger beat in the second issue. Making stories will always be watchmaking to me.
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ASD&D.
If this lockdown lasts, I should figure out a way to do my school D&D club online. Hrmm.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
THE LONELY GIANT on Kickstarter - Jana Hoffman’s comic is gorgeous and thoughtful and I cannot wait to see it get across the line as it’s going to be something you’ll remember and share.
Sebastian Piriz draws a Flash Gordon Strip - my co-creator on BLACK BEACON had the chance to write and draw a short Flash Gordon newspaper-style strip to be put up online. It’s pretty gorgeous.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
Have made a list of stuff to watch with the kids while in lockdown. The new MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE and WHAT IF…? Cartoons are on the list. A rewatch of LUCA, and maybe an intro to LABYRINTH.
I’ve started rereading THE GUNSLINGER, the first book of THE DARK TOWER series by Stephen King. I want to see if it’s something I could teach to older students, and so far I’m loving how poetic King gets in certain parts. Guy knows how to draw you in completely. I haven’t read this since I first read it over twenty years ago, and it’s nice to revisit. Am thinking of reading FRANKENSTEIN next.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
Feel like I laugh a lot, and I’m thankful for it. My kids make me bellow with laughter, my workmates give me the giggles constantly.
I want to keep seeing the funny side of things, and keep giving people a reason to laugh.
So, here’s something:
Sitting at the dinner table the other night, and my kid said something innocuous, so I countered with a truly terrible pun, so bad I’ve genuinely forgotten what it was, but I just remember my wife’s reaction, as she sat directly beside me.
What a newsletter! I'm excited for EVERFROST 3, and I still haven't made it to BLACK BEACON but it is on the list for a double binge when the second one drops this week. Enjoy the lockdown. Make the most of it. And don't overwork yourself. Life is too precious to toil away! 🙌🍻🔥