I’m having a great day. And although I am fortunate enough to have a life I enjoy most days, usually I’d say my days are good but not great. But if there’s one thing that really makes me happy, it’s doing creative work for a purpose beyond my own enjoyment. One way this happens is if the purpose is to make me money — as a freelancer, by far my favorite jobs are the ones where I can make use of my very particular set of skills.* I am seeking new clients so if you need anything written or edited please do let me know, but I am always happiest when I am being paid to write funny.

But the other thing that really amps up the value of creative writing for me is doing it with another artistically talented friend. This month has now brought me two collaborations in the works, the second of which involved someone I hadn’t spoken to in six years contacting me this week to suggest a collaboration, and today I sketched out a possibility for a first verse and chorus. And it has put me in an excellent mood.
And hopefully sometime in the next few months I will have a rap song to share with you.

I needed the mood boost because the Sammus concert I had been looking forward to attending got postponed by snowstorm.** Hopefully it will be rescheduled for next month. Meanwhilst, this coming weekend will certainly boost my mood, because the High Mud Comedy Festival is back in town, this year starring Mike Birbiglia, who I had the pleasure of seeing perform at the DC Improv back in 2001.***

On the gaming front I just finished Mass Effect 3, and have recently returned to Path of Exile after a 3-4 year hiatus. Boardgamewise Codenames continues to be our evening-starter of choice, and I continue to enjoy games like St. Petersburg and Great Western Trail. And I saw Black Panther in theatres, and it was good, and I wrote about it the day before I saw it because I knew you’d want to read about Black Panther (without spoilers)

* “Skills I have acquired over a very long career…”

** At this point we’ve had so many that in my mind it’s basically just one continuous snowstorm dropping 4 feet of snow, which takes a day off every few days so you have time to shovel out the driveway a bit for the next one.

*** Also, I made him a minor character in my novel.