I’ve been consistently inconsistent when it comes to my daily blog post length! Oh well.

It’s not a big deal. I’ve been writing something every day and that’s a good thing.

I’m going to eat breakfast today. Feelin’ pretty tired today. I’m not feeling like writing today. I feel like eating and sleeping.

Actually, I’m feelin’ a strong urge to eat, so I’m going to do that now.

Instant oats and fresh blueberries. Such a simple combination but it makes for a really tasty meal!

I haven’t felt much hunger lately. I think the vitamins I’ve been taking are having a substantial effect on my appetite.

I made a $117 sale today. Repeat customer. They bought a bunch of sealed product using my 30% off promotion. Hellz yeah!

I’ve almost broke even on the sealed product lot I bought in May. I have plenty of product left over from that lot, so I’m definitely on track to make a profit.

I might have overextended with the product acquisitions again. I spent around $200 in the past two days on cards. Assorted singles and signed cards, sealed booster boxed and starter decks.

I found some incredible deals on some starter decks. I spent something like $8 on a few of them, which I can re-sell for $25. There are going to be a bunch of fees and shipping prices tacked atop that $8, but I’m confident I’ll still make a profit. If not, I could always just hold onto the product for longer and it’s only going to go up in price. I can sell it in a few years and it’s sure to age nicely.

That’s unnecessary though. The starter deck in question is going to sell like a hotcake, I’m sure of it.

I found a Cardcaptor Sakura starter deck. I got it for like $9. I’m seeing dollar signs in my eyes when I got that. I haven’t seen any Cardcaptor Sakura cards in the US market. That’s a guaranteed sale right there.

Heck, I sold an Okami-san And Her Seven Companions booster box. I didn’t think that would sell, but the same customer that spent over $100 today was the same customer who bought that booster box.

I get a little fearful that my customer is going to become my competitor. They could be planning on opening that sealed product and pulling signed cards! The might make back their money and then some! I could be the one to be doing that, but instead I’m letting this product go at a low price!

I can’t think like that, it’s not a good idea. I have to approach this card market as one of bounty. I have easy access to new product, and that’s a fact. Series will go out of print and go up in price, but I will always be able to get the latest and greatest to restock my store.

Just look at today’s example of product acquisitions. I spent $247.05 on new cards. Holy shit, I really over extended!

This is why I need a business budget. Hmm…

Well, I think I have a budget day marked on my calendar. Yeah, every Wednesday. I think it would be good for me to use that day to budget my funds.

I don’t have access to YNAB anymore, so I’d just use a text document and take last month’s average income to define what money will be used for what purpose. If I assume that my income is going to grow every month, then I’ll be left with a nice extra bit of cash every month which can go into savings.

Savings are going to be really important. There are going to be bad months. Heck, with the way the world is right now, I might be weeks or days away from a bad month.

I’m so surprised that the economy hasn’t collapsed already. Maybe everybody, not just me, is working really hard right now. Maybe there’s this survival instinct which has kicked in for a lot of people. Work hard, make money, keep the way of life we enjoy.

I realized yesterday that I’m making decent money. $1500 in a month is fucking fantastic for my standards. Of course, that’s the businesses money, not mine. I’m still bringing home pittance, but I intend to scale up my personal income as the business scales it’s own.

I’m excited to go to the grocery store today. I’m out of apples and peanut butter… I’m restocking those items ASAP!

I realized that my favorite dessert, So Delicious dairy free ice cream is almost matched by peeled & sliced fuji apples with all natural crunchy peanut butter.

I made a meal out of apples and peanut butter yesterday. It was filling yet I didn’t feel bloated, and it gave me energy for hours. I want that feeling more often!

Granted, I didn’t do much working out yesterday. I walked a bit, and rode my bike maybe half a mile, and that was about it. Because of that, I think my body didn’t request much food, so a couple apples and peanut butter made for a good meal.

I doubt such a meal would satiate me on a day with a long ride.

Ehh, I might not be giving the food enough credit. I think my body has made adjustments and has become more efficient at absorbing nutrients from meals. In addition, I think my daily vitamins play a big part in how much food my body needs.

I keep saying it, the vitamins are really affecting me positively. I was so hesitant to buy the vitamins because they’re expensive, but when I factor in how well I feel, and the complete absence of junk food cravings… These vitamins were the best purchase I’ve made this year.

When I walked to the mailbox this morning, I felt pretty cold. We had a really warm day yesterday, but today it’s windy, wet, and feeling chilly. It rained last night and a thunderstorm blew through, but I don’t think it’s going to rain today. I don’t think I’ll have any problem getting to and from the grocery store.

The minor inconvenience caused by today’s weather is that I gotta wear pants.

I played Squad last night. There were a few situations that I handled poorly. The first one was when I was acting as our team’s helicopter squad. I was resupplying FOBs and helping other SLs set up radios. Eventually, my heli’s tale rotor got shot out but I managed to land safely. I wasn’t able to take off again, and my heli got destroyed.

I survived, and I knew I had 6 minutes to wait until my heli respawned. I ran through the city and shot an enemy. I heard an enemy sniper on a roof so I snuck towards him. As I climbed the roof, I had a wall to jump over to get to the sniper. I jumped over the wall, and fell to my death after I realized that there was a gap in the floor where I had jumped.

I spawned back at main where I was to wait for the helo. It was then that I realized that there was another team member who was waiting on the helipad for my heli…

I approached him, ready to fight over the rights to the heli. I was stressed out from working all day, so I was short with him. I explained that my Squad was the only one named, “HELI” which pretty much gives me full rights to the heli for that match.

He ended up flying around with me for the remainder of the match, taking a door gun and shooting at various targets.

I was aggressive, but I don’t think I needed to be. He backed down almost immediately after I explained that I was in the heli squad. I feel bad because I immediately went straight to aggressive and combative when I saw him on the helipad. I escalated when there wasn’t even a hostile intent from him.

There was another time when I felt that I did poorly as SL. I didn’t sign up to SL, our SL just ended up giving up and disconnecting. I volunteered to take SL when the squadmate automatically assigned as SL said they didn’t want it.

I actually wanted SL. I wish I could have been calling out orders that game, so becoming SL was exactly what I wanted. Earlier in the game, I was seeing things that our SL was missing. We were on the second to last point, defending. We defended the first wave, and immediately the SL wanted to go on the offensive, leaving the point undefended.

I was hesitant to leave the point when ordered, but I did so when the SL ordered me by name to get in the chopper.

It was a mistake. The enemy had already gone behind our lines and set up a FOB on the last point. As we left via helo, the enemy walked in to an undefended FOB and capped the last two points. I became SL after the second to last point was taken, at which point I had an impossible task of getting troops on the ground to defend the last point where the enemy already had a foothold.

I was overwhelmed and I was short with our heli pilot who was being a real champ and shuttling as many troops as possible to the last point.

I was distracted and coordinating with the helo when I should have had my full focus on working with my Squad to advance on the enemy HAB and destroying it.

In hindsight, I think I should have waited for more troops before I even tried to push. We had maybe 5 guys as we pushed up to the enemy HAB with virtually limitless respawn capability.

It’s a learning experience, and I’m grateful that I had it. I feel guilty because I made mistakes, but I am not a mistake.

In the future, I’d like to approach combat situations as follows.

• INTEL: What are we up against? Unit types? Unit counts?
• COMPARE: What units and numbers do we have?
• DOMINATE: Overwhelm the enemy with superior firepower.

This reminds me of how Ravenfield handles combat in campaign mode. In campaign mode, Ravenfield displays the battalions each team has on the map. When attacking, between one and three battalions can make their strike. The defending side is similar– there can be between one and three battalions making their stand.

It is not wise to attack with two battalions against a team that is defending with three. It’s not impossible to win that battle, but it’s very difficult.

It’s gotta be played the same way in Squad. In the case where my 5 squad members had the chance to attack an enemy Squad of 9, that was a bad decision on my part. It could have worked, had we played smart and placed our shots perfectly, but that’s not what happened. What happened is that we charged in there, completely unorganized and without any plan of action. We were picked off one by one.

Battles like this can be a lot like chess. When faced with a battle as Squad Leader, I have to think ahead and tally the value of the involved pieces.

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I’m grateful for WordPress. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s a quality piece of software and has a vibrant community of developers and writers. WordPress has enabled me to keep a blog and the monumental process of maintaining it has been pain free.

I’m grateful for grid paper. It’s got so many uses! From mapping out dungeons to drawing spaceships to simply writing notes.

I’m grateful for Squad. I’m grateful that I can have rich and trying social interactions and apply the things I learn to my every day life.

Last night I played a round of Fibbage enough about you with my friend J. and a Twitch streamer who’s name evades me.

I was asked the question, “My attitude toward the future can be summarized in the word, _____”

I put, “cautiously optimistic” which isn’t a word at all, but a phrase!

I should have put, “EXCELSIOR!”