I don't really celebrate holidays, and especially not American Thanksgiving, but it's still a four-day weekend and this year I really needed that. Enough so that I started leaning into it on Wednesday. Went to the store, bought cranberries and such because the traditional dinner nostalgia is harmless on its own. And that evening, on a random whim, finally sat down to port a base class I made for Pathfinder 1e into D&D 5e.
It's the first game design project of any significance that I've done since my job relocated me to San Francisco at the end of 2017. I've put two full days into it and probably have one more before I'm done with the first full draft, but I've shown the WIP to a few people and they're all hype for it. This is work that flows naturally from me, that brings me joy in the act of creation, that excites others and makes me feel like I've brought something good into the world. It's satisfying. It's compelling. I love doing this and I want to see it through.
And that's why I haven't done any of it in five damn years. Why it could only start in advance of a very long weekend when I specifically knew I wouldn't be doing anything socially. It inevitably eats days, see, and I can't afford that. I need all my time and energy to slog through my day job.