Month: October 2024

10/23/2024 Being Political without the Platform

Here’s something they don’t tell you about Union leadership: you become a politician when you sign on.

I’m not much of a public speaker (I know, what a surprise), and in fact I hate public speaking. But I’ve taken classes on the subject and have learned how to give speeches and sound convincing.

We’re going to ignore the fact that I wax exposition every RPG session. That doesn’t count.

Today was a full day of being Chief Steward. After setting up my mail route to be carried by others, I went into my little office, set up my desk, and spent the next several hours on the phone, writing emails, and holding 1-4 people meetings, including talking to staff members for State Representatives.

I have, basically, been a politician all day.

Ain’t a fan, but it’s what’s needed for this area.

I’m more exhausted from today than I’ve been from being out on the mail route. I think I’ll take it easy for the evening and try to write a little before I pass out at this desk.

Narrator: He will, in fact, be asleep in his chair maybe 20 minutes after putting his children in their beds.

Here’s hoping! Stay safe out there, folks!

-JB Swift

The Uphill Battle of Responsibilities (Old and New!)

Never let it be said that I will shirk my responsibilities, but I keep getting told to not forget my responsibilities to myself and my own well-being.

That well-being is best handled by letting myself have time to write, but the moment I sit down and think about it, there’s a moment of pure terror as I start to get overwhelmed by everything in my head.

Is there a hill I can run screaming towards?

…oof. I need a secretary, or a program that’ll function as one and whack me with a stick when I start to wander off.

It doesn’t help that more ideas keep cropping up and crowding my attention span, but that’s what you get when you pare down your writing/creative work to the minimum for several weeks. But I have a morning to get at least three or four things done.

That list doesn’t include checking in with players in my campaigns and setting up the next Side Arcs or finishing out Solo Arcs for other players. They’ve been so patient with me and I’m stupidly grateful.

So, what do I do when I am confronted with the Sticky Note Secretary?

Why, ponder a different and completely unnecessary project, of course! Specifically: taking the knowledge I’ve gained about lightsaber fighting (I’ve been teaching Basics and Shii-Cho with a few likeminded local nerds) and trying to put it into a new style that is based on my Kung Fu education.

Soon to be filled with notes that’ll never see the light of day!

Not that this will take over my free-time, but I will occasionally jot down notes after practice and having figured out a possible form.

Now, to use an hour for writing sprints before I feel guilty for using my time for myself!

Stay safe out there, folks. Take care of yourselves.

-JB Swift

Three Months Later…

I’ve finally had a quiet moment to remember that I have a website!

Holy hell, it’s been a whirlwind of a time over the last three months, folks.

I’ve been fired from the Post Office, enrolled in a Cybersecurity course, made Interim President of my local union, got my job back, and then I had to scramble to keep the new plates spinning along with all of my other ones.

I’ll be honest, folks. I’ve been exhausted for weeks, and I keep finding things to look into. Somehow, I still write, though it’s been sporadic (at least one paragraph a day) and it has to compete with both an upcoming newsletter for the local and some eight grievances a week (which are 25-30 pages each) and my own physical exhaustion from the day-job work.

I went from having absolutely nothing to do to having to plan out every half-hour on some days.

But I’m still here! I’ll have to set up a reminder to make a daily post (and pencil it into my calendar), but the practice and daily life-writing will do me good. At least the daily writing prompts have gotten more interesting!

Stay safe out there, folks.

-JB Swift