Daily Update, November 8, 2023

    I called out financial adviser today when I found one of our banks needs some stuff straightened out. It was nice talking to her. She will work on it. {Smile}

   Then I found that Auntie Barbara had texted me a while back, asking me to call. I did but got her answering machine. I left a message. She called back. She'd been in town earlier, but she was already on the way home when I called her, and not in good cell phone reception just then. We hope to get together on Saturday, instead. {Smile}

   I got a quick call from our former nurse after dinner, and another a while later int the evening. both were short because he was tired, but we hope to talk longer soon. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. She kept her eyes open the whole time, which she often doesn't. I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2021. Next, I read some more from _1960's Fashion in Pictures_. Mom was definitely looking at the pictures today, as I read each caption. After that I read two stories from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with the 8th of November's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime_, "Goldie." Goldie was a marmalade cat with a white front and green eyes. He'd been born int eh spring, and this was his first autumn. He couldn't understand why the trees were losing their leaves. All summer he'd spent many hours hiding in the willow tree behind the leaves, watching the birds he never caught. The tall grasses where he'd stalked field mice had died down or been cut and tidied away. He was lazy and didn't have to hunt for his food. He just ran inside for his usual bowl of cat food when his mistress, Kathy, called. {Smile}

   After we finished teaming, I did my head exercises, arm swinging exercises, walking exercises, leg exercises, and my arm resistance exercises. Then I did my salsa dancing warmup. Then, after a break, I did my less structured salsa dancing set. After a shorter break, I did my sitting arm weight training exercises and my standing arm weight training exercises. That's all of them, I believe, so I actually got them all done today. {SMILE}

   I read articles and comics in the morning and over lunch, and I came to a realization. I have been reading a book I got, _How to Write Light Novels and Web Novels_. It takes the stance that writers should write as much as they can to fulfill a particular audience's already expressed desires in reading material.  I can see advantages to writing this way when you are specifically money and/or popularity. Unfortunately, I find it a bit stifling to my creativity. I think, for me personally, I'd be better off writing the stories that come to me, then figuring out what audience would like them, and how to get it to them. {smile}

   After lunch, I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming in time to join the early long, large group event, along with Pierogies and Paradox. We ran it, and it went pretty nicely. I hoped to team up with them afterwards, but Pierogies felt like lying down instead of playing more, and Paradox had other things to do for a few hours. I considered joining a public group, but didn't spot one, and got thoroughly caught up in paperwork, including a project I've been putting off because it's more than a little time consuming. I got into it so much, I missed the start of the later short, large group event, so I just continued the paperwork until it was time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I started writing this up. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming, and quickly checked a little of the paperwork I'd done earlier before teaming up with Paradox. We started teaming. I got concerned about how difficult it was for them, but then TheCyberChill said hi, and I invited them to join us. The mission we were in was still tough for us; they were both struggling. TheCyberChill suggested inviting someone else. I checked my friends first and discovered that Azurette was on. She finished what she was doing, and joined us, and it went a lot better after that. We ran several missions, with Paradox dropping out after a few more missions. I also chatted with nox on the chat server for a while, off and on. Azurette and TheCyberChill stayed up until I wanted to start my exercises. Then I remembered that TheCyberChill had invited me to tour a base a while back. I know Azurette enjoys touring bases, whether it's seeing what others did, or showing them what she's done, so I asked, and we ended up touring it, with me going in and out for exercises. They left while I was salsa dancing which was a longer break. I wrote this up and watched a few videos between and after the salsa dancing and the last couple of exercises. I'll have to share this tomorrow, though. It's too late now. {Smile}