Checking in 31: 04.22.21

(You’ll get a double dose today…I meant to publish this before the madness started, but I didn’t get around to it… so, today you are getting this one and the my current one for 5.18.21. Enjoy.)

Hi everybody! How’s it going?

Today is Thursday, and that means tomorrow is my last day of work at my current company. Ahhh! I am both ecstatic and terrified by this. It is the oddest sensation.

New Steps

Nothing new to report… the move has been sucking most of my time lately. I don’t even know if I’m going to make the Cryptids Emerging open call deadline. I was editing the story yesterday and I am just not happy with how my characters are written. They have no soul. I also had great ambitions to write an article for Medium this week. That is seeming less and less likely.

I may or may not be posting anything in the next couple weeks. I am going to be pre-occupied with packing and loading the POD, the drive to Tennessee, finding a place to live… you know, all that stuff that comes with moving more than halfway across the country. I will try, but I make no promises.

The Breakdown

I am surprised to report that between my normal productivity, bullet journal, and self-improvement channels, I have also been watching a YouTuber by the name of Randy “Atlas” Santel. Randy is a professional competitive eater. I don’t know how I ended up seeing one of his videos. The subject is way outside my regular watching habits. But it has happened, and I am now a little obsessed.

Randy doesn’t enter eating competitions (at least not in any of the videos I have watched), which is the first thing that comes to mind when I think professional competitive eater. He prefers to focus on local, family-owned restaurant challenges. The kind where if you eat the 72oz steak and all the sides within an hour, you get the meal for free plus a t-shirt. That’s his specialty. Randy travels all over the world taking on these challenges. He always comments on the taste of the food and tries to promote the small business as much as possible when he plans a trip. Whenever I watch one of his videos, I am at turns fascinated and appalled. The sheer volume of food this man puts away in very short periods of time is mesmerizing. If you’d like to check him out head to www.foodchallenges.com.

Living Life

My parents are in town… well, technically they are a couple towns over, but they are close. I hadn’t seen them in over 18 months, so I have been visiting most days after work. Another reason my writing is going to be a bit light this week. I knew they were coming, which is one reason I got my COVID vaccine as soon as I was able. My mom wanted hugs from her girls. My parents RV full time and if you’d like to check out the shenanigans they get up to, they have a YouTube channel: RV Ashs in April. They’ve been posting videos for a few years now and have over a thousand subscribers. I remember last year my mom calling and telling me that someone had recognized them. Pretty cool.

That’s it for this week.

As always, thanks for checking out the site and I hope everyone is doing well. If you feel so inclined, check out my social media and head over to my Medium page for exclusive content.