Me vs Sucky Reality

In the first corner, at a hundred and fifty pounds and seventy-five pence, we have Me (aka Mighty Heidi, aka Hey You).  Dressed in dreams and other grandiose ideas, she is destined for great things... if only she had the time (and a really lovely smooch from Richard Armitage).

In the other corner we have Sucky Reality, as heavy as a wet blanket, as dour as an old maid schoolmarm from 1887, and armed with a big, thick Reality Clue Stick.

Long-story-short, my blows lead with:

• Having a novella out in the end of 2014.
• Plans to go to grad school in 2015.
• Win over one of the twenty Dream Agents I've been researching.
• Convince the "You're publishable, Heidi" editors to move from from Tell to Show.
• Pass Grade 6 Piano.
• Get a good night's sleep.

Sucky Reality counters with:

• Stomach flu.  An entire weekend gone down the loo.
• Temporary full-time promotion. Talk about a time-suck. I have time for nothing that truly matters, like writing, and piano, and keeping the loinfruit clean and fed. This complex move came with a most excellent feint called "increased income", but don't be fooled, because the one-two punch includes...
• Medical bills. Whilst Australian Medicare is vastly superior to anything the US currently has on offer, it doesn't cover all possible medical bills. Sometimes one has to fork out. Bye-bye extra income. Thanks to...
• Injuries. Curse you, body, for getting too old to go for a jog. How will I keep up my cardiovascular fitness?  After all...
• Diet and exercise is a Lie (just like the cake)!  Especially when plagued with PCOS.
• Grad school entrance quals change. Forget the fact that I've budgeted my time to include Grad School for 2015. If I don't apply by Semester 2 of 2014, I don't get in at all. (Really, a musician can study astronomy. Really. They're quite closely related.) One cannot work full-time, study part-time and still have any time for writing. Sorry.

Lest you think Sucky Reality has completely knocked Me for ten, thanks to the double-blow of Full-time and Medical bills, a fall to the mat has put me in an excellent position to lash out with my (uninjured) leg and deliver a crushing blow to Sucky reality's knee.

And she's back in the game, with a Good Night's Sleep!  That move alone means that at this point, it could be anyone's game.

Who will win: Me, or Sucky Reality?

Stay tuned...


___________________________
Her Grace has learned many valuable things over the course of the past few months:
1. She does not want to work full-time. Unless it's to be a full-time author. That would be okay.
2. She definitely wants to be an author and dedicate her life to that pursuit.
3. Grad school is really hard when one doesn't have enough study time.
4. Playing the piano is like riding a bike--not as bad for your joints as you would think.
5. How's your math:  T>$ when $>X when X=financial needs.