Sanity Projects, 'In' Prefix Optional

Humans will do literally anything rather than be bored. We have solid, scientific, documented evidence to back that statement up. They really did put people in a blank, featureless room with a button that would deliver an electric shock to the subject. The subjects were told this. And every single one of them would rather shock themselves that remain bored.

I also do strange things when outages of internet or power are in the offing. Once upon a time I did some severe damage to my wrists to the point where I had to use speech-to-text to write a book. Which was its own pain in the butt. In order to maintain some semblance of sanity, I built a flatpack dollhouse and painted the plywood with watercolours.

You see what I mean about the 'in' prefix, right?

The last one, during the Rona Lockdowns, was creating Kosh's diary. As the plague wound on and on and on, I started working on variations of the story that would eventually become A Devil's Tale. I also did the sourdough thing, but I was like a week ahead of everyone else.

Keeping my starters alive when everyone and their kid brother's dog was emptying the shelves of flour and TP was an anxiety of mine.

This time, when the power dropped out thanks to Cyclone Alfred turning into a Tropical Storm... My sanity project was impromptu bookbinding. I figured I'd find out if I could make a small zine by folding up one of my sheets of Butcher's Paper and binding it. I had zero idea where any of my staplers were, so I went really old school. Needle and thread.

Fun fact - it's easier to sew Butcher's Paper than you might think.

The difficult part was cutting all the folds accurately. I only had scissors. If I do this madness again, I'm using a paring knife and seeing how that works.

And yes, I will probably do another one, but only if I run out of space on this one. Yes, I will also be sewing them together. I might not go as far as hardcover binding for it though. Time will tell. Updates on my Patreon when available.

Now that I have access to internet and electricity, part of my morning routine now includes writing a snippet or two of the nursery tale I'm putting in this thing. And there's a story behind that story, too.

Once upon a Lockdown, the crew of Critical Role were doing Narrative Telephone. Passing stories between them to the hilarity of all. I wanted to play, too. So I made up a story (about Kosh, natch) and thrust it out on Tumblr to see what people would do with it.

I only had one other player and it went nowhere.

I still remember the main theme of the story, and I am literally rewriting it by hand. With a fresh fingerbone pen because I think they're cool. They're also surprisingly ergonomic.

I have no idea what I'm doing with this after I've finished it. It is, like all sanity projects, something to do.

It's better than being bored.