It's stormy in the North but karma in the South.

  Seems to be thawing out here in Enon Holler. We had a cold snap last night, but it got up into the high 40s during the day. I sort of hate to see the snow go as that stark white is a nice change from constant green and brown. Still, to everything turn, turn, turn.

 Otis is getting stir crazy. We haven't taken a walk all week apart from a quick trot down to the mailbox. He didn't like the snow, though. He's just heavy enough to fall through the ice/snow crust every few steps but not all the time. Confused the hell out of him and he didn't care for the cold. Plus, I don't have any footwear that'd be good for such weather. Hopefully, it'll all dry out soon.

 Anyhow. Naturally, Winter Storm Uri dominated the news this week so it was the main topic of conversation in The News. There were some other things. Monday looked at the suggestion for a 9/11-style commission on the January 6 riots at the Capitol, and how screwed up that "9/11" is an adjective. Still can't get used to that. Wednesday was a quick look at just why Texas, in particular, suffered so spectacularly and Friday offered some good news on the COVID-19 front.

 In all honesty, this wasn't a good writing week. Something about the weather made me a bigger slug than usual. Perhaps I am part bear. I dread trying to put together tomorrow's News weekend wrap-up. I also haven't done much fiction writing, either, though I did start putting the pieces together for another idea/world/waste of time. Long story short, it'll be a low-fantasy detective novel. Sort of like The Witcher where monsters and magic and elves and all that exist, but they're not as ubiquitous as you'd find in Dungeons & Dragons.

 I'm also considering giving the magic a sinister bent, like good magic exists but bad magic is much, much easier to do. I think we'll have multiple deity-like characters but more along the lines of The Elder Scrolls in that they exist, can be prayed to, and occasionally intervene, but for the most part, they're interested in their own higher-plane shenanigans and don't care about the mortal world.

 This one has closer to a plot than the Weird Western or the Space Opera, but that's because a whodunnit is a plot almost in and of itself. I've gotten some good advice from friends and fellow writers on figuring out a story or narrative or what have you, but I really haven't had the drive to make 'em work. Again, worldbuilding is way too much fun.

 And that's about it, really. The news this week just didn't move me, I'm still looking for a new book to read (I have plenty, don't suggest anything), and I did get pretty deep into Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. It's an older game but fun if you're into real-time strategies and harder-than-usual science fiction. There's a Battlestar Galactica that it's supposed to be like. I have that but so far haven't been able to crack that nut.

 I managed to completely erase every song in the Rock genre I had on iTunes, so that's getting all my attention. I really need to get this computer looked at, these slowdowns are getting up my nose. I've decided to just take advantage of Apple Music I pay ten bucks for every month rather than download and reinstall everything. Some stuff I have isn't on Apple Music, so there's that, and my own peculiar kinks mean that losing all the organization I did being gone is the worst part.

 Hey, kids, I know it's not all that interesting but I have no desire to berate anyone or anything right now. That's how it is sometimes. Catch me next week.