This is what it looks like when you haven’t been to a comic shop in 3 months. It was the boys’ first time. They cried. This worries me.

Fortunately, I think it was because they hadn’t napped all day and literally anything short of sleep was upsetting.

Consider this a sequel post of sorts.

A week after the new year began I said to myself, “Time to get back to work.” Fortunately, I had baby boys be a constant reminder that even the best laid plans can have mounds of poopy diapers piled on top of them.

15 minutes with a computer. 15 minutes with a notebook and pen.

That was the intent.

For the most part, I’ve done that. I set aside a brand new Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Ruled (Amazon) as my Bullet Journal. This year I’m keeping it simple. No over the top charts or diagrams like you might see when you Google the words “Bullet” and “Journal” and “Ideas.” Simple. To the point. A spot in the front for the monthly planning. A spot just after that for project listings and individual tasks to complete. Then, the daily to-do lists after that with space for ideas and reminders.

The other day, I threw this chart up onto my Instagram detailing how I plan to use the mountains of notebooks I have stashed away in my desk.

Because that’s what a sane person does, right? Detail in a notebook how they plan to use all their other notebooks.

What’s that John Mulaney joke?

As for the computer, well, I finally started up my side-gig as a freelance writer for George Takei’s “Oh Myyy” properties. Typically, an article can take anywhere between 45 minutes (if the information is readily available) to an hour and 30 minutes (if it requires a little more tracking down). Since I occasionally do articles on back to back days, I figured that counted for the 15 minute benchmark I set myself on those other days when I needed to hold a half-Mexican/Filipino baby for 6 hours.

Speaking of, here’s my new author photo, fresh off a driver side seat diaper change:

Twin Dad

I got a lot to accomplish this year, same as every year, but these guys being born brings about one small difference: The value of change.

NBC’s “The Good Place” is wrapping up it’s last season next week and, before it leaves us with perhaps the best network television show of the last 5 years, protagonist Eleanor Shellstrop leaves us with this bleak, but bright, message:

“Every human is a little bit sad all the time, because you know you’re gonna die, but that knowledge is what gives life meaning.”

My boys are two months and a day old. They’ve already outgrown all their preemie stuff and are on their way to being too big for their newborn clothes. Time is not stopping and we have no way to make it stop. All we can do is grab on with both hands and enjoy the rails it rides. The boys smile when they hear me and like to play games when they’re awake. Soon, they’re gonna know me as a father that gave it his all to try what he loved the most.

Telling stories.

Thanks for reading,

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Contact: robertmichaelacosta@gmail