School started after Labor Day where I lived in America. And in 1999, that meant Tuesday, September 7.
Today, it was Tuesday, August 31.
Dad left for work early at 6 AM as usual.
I was already up by then, doing push ups, sit ups, and squats in my room.
But he didn't hear me at all, still half-awake as he finished getting ready for the day and out the door.
Mom got up late, around 10 AM.
That pretty much confirmed my thoughts on what happened last night.
Especially since she took a long shower and still seemed flushed when she came to get me up for the day.
"G-Good morning, Sweetie- Oh. You're... already up?"
When Mom saw me awake, she started to panic a bit. Probably thinking that I overheard what was happening last night.
I played innocent and said, "Daddy woke me up when he left. I was just reading."
Reading the room, of course. Not a lie. Technically.
Mom let out a relieved sigh and smiled. "Alright. Then let's do some cooking-"
A soft beep echoed. Mom's digital watch. She was confused and then gasped when she saw the time. "It's already ten?!"
I nodded. "Mommy woke up late today."
Mom hugged me and said, "I'm sorry, Sweetie. Mommy was tired... you must be starving."
I smiled and said, "It's okay!"
And it really was. I was trying to lower my calorie intake, Mom...
Mom pursed her lips. Then she sighed and said, "...Okay. Mommy can't make too much food right now... if you're hungry later, call Auntie Yue. Promise?"
"Promise!"
I wouldn't. But if it made her feel better, that was fine.
School was starting in a few days anyway. Just had to make it through today and we'd be back on track.
After that, Mom went off in a hurry to start cooking. Stirfry, sandwiches, a meal for herself and meal prep for dinner later...
I let her do her thing while I sat down in my room and started drawing.
I'd done some thinking while I was swinging my sword- I mean, stick, around the other day.
Really, if I wanted to make the most of this new game plus of life, there were only a few evergreen skills I could train at this time.
The first was my physique. I was ABSOLUTELY not going to waste these years this time around. No way in hell about that. I was going to see the absolute limits of the human body and what steady accumulation of exercise and adaptations could do.
To that end, I'd be training early in the morning and in the evening. Swordsmanship was a given along with basic calisthenics.
My father was also an avid fan of the Shaw Brothers martial arts films, so I had an excuse to copy that and punch some trees. It would just make him amused, probably.
Anyway, priority one: physique training.
Priority two: creative skills. Art, music, writing... Content creation was THE future. Nobody could see it now, but I knew with an absolute clarity how far that went in the future.
If I reached world class level before social media took off... man, I was going to take the world by storm.
Not only that, but considering that was over ten years away... and since I knew EXACTLY how to train those skills... mainly by just bruteforce grinding it with sheer hours.
But anyway, since I knew how to train those, it would be simple. Also, it was super useful because of priority three.
As for what priority three was: learning the school subject matter PROPERLY.
My one regret when I was older was not taking advantage of the fact that we had GENUINE textbooks as kids. Like, there was so much information there that I could have learned if I realized it was faster to teach myself than to listen to the incompetent teachers.
And now I definitely KNEW I was better at teaching than my teachers.
So school was going to be simple. I would have PLENTY of free time. Especially since recess was a thing.
...Oh my god, RECESS. I almost forgot about that.
Note to self: flex on the kids with calisthenics during recess.
It was only a day, but structured training had made me fully aware of my capabilities.
I couldn't do anything crazy since I was still overweight and relatively weak... but rolls I could do. Somersaults and cartwheels too.
I was also slowly building up my cardio. After a month or two, I'd be a monster.
Gotta love the benefits of youth.
But anyway, first things first: drawing.
Ideally, I'd have preferred getting ahead in school material, but I had to be IN school first to check out those textbooks. So futureproofing disguised as harmless kid activity first.
I pulled out my notebook and a pencil and started drawing the scene around me.
I didn't take my time with it. Instead, I moved quickly, sketching as much as I could in around thirty seconds before flipping the page and trying again.
Mom noticed and stopped in the middle of assembling some sandwiches for me. "...Sweetie? What are you doing?"
I flipped the page and started another drawing from scratch. "Drawing."
"Drawing?" Mom tilted her head and looked over. Then she looked shocked. "...You drew that?"
I paused. "Did I do something wrong?"
I looked down at my drawing.
It was just quick lines. You could tell it vaguely resembled the kitchen from the linework, but it was definitely incomplete and messy.
"No. Just..." Mom looked at the notebook and said, "...You're talented, Sweetie."
They were sincere words. Impressed words.
I tilted my head again, confused on why it'd be so impressive.
And then I realized it.
I was judging my art skills based on the standard of being an adult. This was pretty trash for someone over 30 years old.
But if I looked at it from the perspective of being just a few days past five years old...
...Huh. Yeah, this would be pretty impressive.
If *I* saw a five year old whip out a drawing like this in thirty seconds, I'd be imagining what they could do a few years later. And what I'd be imagining was world class level masterpieces.
Mom looked at me and said, "Do you like drawing, Sweetie?"
I flipped the page and kept drawing. "Not really. But I'm good at it!"
A truth mixed with an incomplete true. Not a lie in any sense.
I didn't like traditional drawing. And GOD, I craved the digital art medium SO MUCH. I missed my drawing tablet. But I also was good at it, so I couldn't hate traditional drawing either.
The art skills seemed to transfer properly. Just... no undo. Or infinite canvas.
...I missed my infinite canvas.
Mom's had a mixed expression on her face. Then she said, "Well... if you ever want to practice more or need anything, Sweetie. Tell Mommy, okay?"
"Of course!" I gave her a bright smile.
With that, Mom relaxed and went back to preparing her food.
Since she had work at 12, and since it was already 10, she didn't have much time to spend with me after cooking. So after a hug, a reminder to be good, and to stay at home, she caught the bus to work.
Which meant I had another six hours of unsupervised activity.
"Hm..." I rubbed my chin in thought. "...These are the late 90s. It's still pretty common for kids to be wandering around alone, right?"