I realized last week around Thursday that I hadn’t written last week. I honestly was having trouble talking about anything so I decided to finish the week out with no entry. I do not want to be a trend though so I am back at it this week.

Monday the 21st our complex lockdown was lifted. So after work I went for a long walk. And before I knew it I was on a beer tour. I was a good kid the rest of the week as a result. I try not to have more then a beer occasionally during the work week and have a couple with a friend on the weekend. That didn’t happen and I was feeling stir crazy. So one turned into a couple, oh well.

The rest of the week was better overall because we were free to wander again. In addition, I was able to test every other day instead of daily and that was a relief. If I had tonsils still I’m sure they would have been worn off by all the swabs smashed into my throat the past 3 months.

Saturday was a grand old day. It started with my traditional Saturday morning role playing game with friends I met my first year living in China. Then, that evening, I was able to take part in a zoom webinar with street photographer Brian Lloyd Duckett with a few photography friends here in China. He rekindled the desire to get out there with the camera in hand and helped reframe my thinking on street photography so I hope to get out with the camera over spring break. I did take my disposable camera out for a few photos on Sunday. I am doing a 27 frame challenge where every frame of the roll in that camera has to meet a theme. It’s fun.

Sunday was also a birthday party for a friend’s daughter. The celebration took up a large chunk of the day but it was fun. We had dim sum and the kids got some play time at the park. The park is where I pulled out my camera and crossed off a few themes from the challenge list. At the end of the day, I did get to have a couple drinks with a writing friend of mine. We met at a nearby bar and chatted for a couple hours.

As far as school life goes, I have been drawing with all my classes every day. At the moment I am working with colored pencils too. I am not super skilled at them but it has been fun learning how to work with them. I plan to move into markers soon. I figure since I’m stuck teaching online I should learn about media I don’t use much. Maybe one will stick in my art making repertoire. I will share a few of these here. All the things I drew use a reference photo and some came out better then others.

I finally got a poetry book that was printed after completing a 14 day writing challenge with a few others. That was nice to read through. As far as new writing, I wrote a short story and a poem. The poem was written for a monthly contest that I entered. It was the third one I have written and entered since I found out about it. The other 2 did not win but can be read on my writing blog (along with the short story and the poems from the 14 day challenge, amongst others). The poem for the contest will be shared sometime next month. Hopefully with a win but who knows. Either way it was fun writing and one that I am darn proud of. My writing blog is https://crazedluntikdesigns.wordpress.com

I have a few other things I am mulling over talking about but I think I will sit on them a bit. Until next time, take care of each other.