Personal Digest Saturday: March 23 – March 29

Life news this week:

• Saturday I did some much-needed resting, completed my blogging, finished writing a short story and did some editing on it, reread some old comics, and paid my taxes. Also cleaned out some inbox stuff and paid bills.
  
  
• Sunday I had a decent day editing, doing laundry, singing karaoke, and putting new spring decorations up. Went through some suggestions for music my dad and I can play together and sent him some suggestions of my own.
  
  
• Monday I spent the whole work day updating statuses, updating data entry, and coding credit card charges. Went to the carpet store after work and connected with a manager who made a date to meet up with me at Mom's house to arrange for carpets. Walked to Michael's craft store and spent gift certificates. Sent out a query, did some editing, and processed an eBay sale. Did laundry, grilled and ate zucchini, and didn't get much done otherwise.
  
  
• Tuesday I worked on a proposal, teaming arrangements, crash statistics, and timesheet data at work. Dropped off the eBay package at lunchtime. Friends came over after work and we got Vallarta's food and watched the last chunk of Season 1 of Steven Universe. (My friends were surprised by the big reveal at the end. I love when people don't figure it out ahead of time!) My boss asked me to get up super early and work on a proposal with him the next morning so I had to go to bed early.
  
  
• Wednesday I got up early to complete the proposal with my boss. We turned it in. Then I wrangled teams and entered credit card data. I took a nap before Jeaux came. We ate at Four Rivers and went to see Mom's house after a professional cleaning. It looks amazing! Just need carpets and we can list the house. We grocery shopped and watched two more episodes of Extraordinary.
  
  
• Thursday work involved researching project data and following up with teaming partners. Made a video for my asexuality channel and edited some of it. Wrote my Negative One storyboard. Played games with my friends (minus Meg who was driving and Fred and Kathy who had Easter commitments), including Ben and his roommate Danny. Ate a baked potato and finished my walking and went to bed early.
  
  
• Friday I was pretty lazy. I finished my project reports in the early afternoon. Later I worked on my comic, which I finished relatively late, and had to rush through my walking at the end. (I just walked around while listening to music.) Not an eventful day.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• The Trevor Project included my book in a factsheet about understanding asexuality.

New Reviews:

• Linh gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.
• Kj gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Had a high reading this week that I wasn't expecting! Just happens if I have a big dinner late and visit the scale at the wrong time, I guess. I've been saying "things are the same!" in this category for a while. I am not sure how I feel about doing anything else to see any changes. We'll see. High weight: 123.6. Low weight: 121.3.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Good balance this week except a couple days I had lower protein. This tends to happen if I have a restaurant meal because those are high in carbs and fat and much harder for me to find protein I can eat. I have continued taking vitamins as usual.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Saturday at 10,025 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 11,541 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm on page 116.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Make You Feel My Love" by Adele.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 
#0985: dax #145: time alone.

Videos Made:

Letters to an Asexual #112 ("'Asexual' is being APPROPRIATED from SCIENCE") is out. In this video, I share an old comment from someone who seems confused and angry (confangry? angrused?) that the asexual community is HURTING SCIENCE as an institution by using that word when it already has a meaning referring to reproduction in biology. But as we all know, words never have more than one meaning!

New photos:

None.

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,434 for swankivy (lost 8), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 845 for swankivy (no change), 3,850 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,441 (no change). Instagram followers: 273 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: March 16 – March 22

Life news this week:

• Saturday I spent some time on book reviews and photo sorting so I could do my blogging. Got that done and got walking done while making and listening to Polos. Got a wild hair and sent some queries, updated some writing materials, etc.
  
  
• Sunday I did some editing, laundry, reading, and putting record albums in new covers. Had some zucchini and gave away some DVDs (finally). Incorporated some of Mom's stuff into my collections.
  
  
• Monday I edited a letter for work and dealt with utility coordination issues. Did some stuff on a proposal too. Put the last of my dishes and cookware from Mom's house into my cabinets after cleaning. Did some more editing. Sorted a bunch of pictures.
  
  
• Tuesday I worked on crash data all day. Did some Polos and walking. Ben came over and we ate at Ahi and chattered about life and relationships. I sent my friends a bunch of photos of Steven Universe food.
  
  
• Wednesday there were a bunch of meetings at work. Got some walking and Polos done and then Jeaux came. We ate at Burger 21 and shopped, walked, watched Colbert and the next season of Extraordinary, and read silly stuff to each other. He had baked blondies to share! They were good.
  
  
• Thursday I handled meetings, team invitations, and more crash data. Wrote my comic and played games with my friends while drawing. Submitted a short story.
  
  
• Friday was more meetings and a proposal, timesheets, and reports. Ben came over and provided a ride and company so I could go to my mom's house and look at the paint job. Amazing! It's weird going in my mom's house and it doesn't smell like smoke. (After a steam cleaning, two ozone treatments, a duct cleaning, and a full paint job.) Paid the painter. Back at my place we had veggie burgers and hung out until he needed to leave to go to a birthday party. I finished my reports, finished my comic, took a walk, read, and started writing a new short story.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Nothin' to see here really! I guess I haven't actively been trying to reduce anything this week so it isn't surprising that nothing's different. High weight: 122.9. Low weight: 121.5.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Better balance this week, though a couple times I have gone to bed without having another serving of fruit or something. I've been having breakfast really late these days and it's almost always fruit with yogurt OR a smoothie--seems like a good time to get that produce in and I haven't had cereal for a long time. I want to switch it up but it just seems to work out that way. I have continued taking vitamins as usual.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,108 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 11,982 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm on page 88.

New singing performances:

None.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 
#0984: ivy #305: that's not me.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

None.

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,442 for swankivy (lost 2), 677 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (lost 1). Twitter followers: 845 for swankivy (no change), 3,852 for JulieSondra (lost 1). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 likes for So You Write (lost 1), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,441 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 274 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: March 9 – March 15

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had a huge to-do list and I tackled a giant chunk of it! Operation organize-lots-of-stuff begins. I started with the hardest stuff which involved organizing old and current technology (mostly in the garage), hanging up cables and organizing computer stuff in my desk. I rehomed some of my filed paperwork so it's easier to get to and file stuff I actually need. I organized DVDs and transported some music books into a new home. And I did my blogging. Fun times involved chatting with Amber and Meg on Marco Polo and eating my box of Japanese snacks.
  
  
• Sunday, operation organize-lots-of-stuff continues. I moved books, cleaned more stuff out of the garage, incorporated some music and videos into my collection from the stuff saved from Mom's house and arranged to give away or pitch the rest, put some tools and things in my utility closet, organized books in the garage and some games and a table, and finally got to sorting through all the old vinyl records. In addition, I did my laundry, made more Polos with Amber and Meg, and made plans with Scott and Ben.
  
  
• Monday I went to a marketing meeting and proofread and submitted three letters. After work, I put away laundry, moved books, and did an epic rearranging of my CD collection.
  
  
• Tuesday I went to an internal meeting, outlined a proposal we ended up dropping, and invited team members to an upcoming project that we also ended up dropping. Also did data entry and debrief invites. Jeaux came over and took me to Señor Tequila, then we shopped, and then we watched Colbert and finished watching Avatar.
  
  
• Wednesday I worked on debriefs and data entry. Scott came over first in the afternoon and later Ben showed up. We watched some episodes of Steven Universe together and then later Jeaux came by with cupcakes and picked up Chinese food from Panda Express, and we continued watching up through episode 40 ("On the Run"). Scott had to go so we couldn't hang out to talk about it or anything. Boo! After they left I took my walks and a nap.
  
  
• Thursday I had three meetings--two marketing meetings and one meeting to arrange teamings with another consultant. I also got the Blue Screen of Death twice, which somehow led to a coworker saying I wouldn't remember the original Blue Screen of Death because I'm probably only about 25. (I don't know how surprised he was when I told him I'm 46 and definitely remember the BSoD eating my work in college.) I updated a bunch of data and tried to take a nap but bad dreams woke me up for some reason. I went to game night with my friends and after it was over I found out my dad was playing a show with his other band and Jeaux was willing to take me there after work so I scrambled to get my webcomic done (yep, I started drawing AFTER ONE O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING and got it done! wow!).
  
  
• Friday I did my reports and some utility coordination stuff. Then I took an Uber to Jeaux's house and he drove me to Osprey to watch my dad play at a Tiki Bar. We had some good food and enjoyed the show--we were able to catch two of the four sets of the 60s band No Bad Days. It was fun to surprise him by showing up! I read terrible stories to Jeaux while we drove there and back. Then when I got home we got our steps in and I recorded a song and went to bed early.

New Reviews:

• Carl gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I saw a really gradual decline here but it jumped back up the day after a heavy meal. Hmph. High weight: 122.8. Low weight: 121.5.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I have continued prioritizing fruits and veggies but to be honest haven't paid that much attention to whether the balance for protein, fat, and carbs was appropriate. Looks like I had a lot of higher fat days at the expense of either protein or carbs. I had a couple days that had weirdly high protein days. I usually do some tracking to try to balance this out but this week I mostly just recorded it and didn't use it to make decisions. So I guess that's what happens when I do that! Now I know. I have continued taking vitamins as usual.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Wednesday at 10,094 steps, and my high day was Monday at 14,378 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. Five-star review.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm just starting it.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Crazy For You" by Madonna.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 
#0983: weaver #153: my thing.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

A dove on the feeder! That's so unusual.

Jeaux was excited to find the soda he was hoping Publix would start carrying.

Jeaux's homemade Gem-themed cupcakes.

My dad's other band No Bad Days playing at the Tiki Bar!

Food with Jeaux while watching the show.

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,444 for swankivy (4 new), 676 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 69 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 845 for swankivy (no change), 3,853 for JulieSondra (lost 1). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 248 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,442 (1 new). Instagram followers: 274 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: March 2 – March 8

Life news this week:

• Saturday I woke up to the doorbell and it was a proselytizing stranger inviting me to an Easter event. Sigh, I needed to get up anyway. I did some relaxing, did my blogging, and sorted my Victrola records. One of my favorite ones turned out to be broken!
  
  
• Sunday I did laundry, tried to get the smoke smell out of one of my mom's decorative pillars (and did not succeed, so I left it outside--maybe eventually it will air out?), went through a memory box, and got some of the stuff in another box incorporated into the house. Made some social arrangements. Made grilled zucchini and recorded a karaoke song.
  
  
• Monday I did data entry and harassed people to give me writeups. Sorted and scanned some memory box stuff and made a mess. Ate an artichoke. Negotiated with a painter to paint the interior of my mom's house.
  
  
• Tuesday I finished the memory boxes (for now). I worked on data entry again and wrangled a software program that won't let me in. Facebook had a glitch and made a bunch of people think they were hacked. Did some reading and watered my plants and had a potato.
  
  
• Wednesday I talked to Tony before going to work and having a meeting. I learned how to enter credit card charges into our books to help the bookkeeper. Went to a debrief meeting by myself. Did more data entry. Jeaux came and we ate at IHOP, shopped at Office Depot, and grocery shopped. We watched Colbert and watched three episodes of the new Avatar.
  
  
• Thursday I went to two more meetings and did more data entry. Wrote my comic. Played games with friends and had to get my steps while reading after. Hired a contractor for my mom's house.
  
  
• Friday I did my reports while listening to music and got some more credit card data entered. Finished my comic and did reading while getting steps again. Opened my February snack box from Patricia and made her an unboxing video. And ate some Japanese snacks!

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Seems pretty stable. Would like to see lower numbers next week but I am not stressed. High weight: 123.0. Low weight: 121.3.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Better balance this week but I ate a bunch of sweets. Was just into candy, so I had some! But I still got my veggies and fruits in. I started a fiber supplement in one of my glasses of water this week. I haven't noticed any effect.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Saturday at 10,068 steps, and my high day was Monday at 12,133 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. I'm on page 314.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "So Unsexy" by Alanis Morissette.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 
#0982: ivy #304: personal stuff.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

None. 

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,440 for swankivy (lost 4), 676 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 69 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 845 for swankivy (no change), 3,854 for JulieSondra (5 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 248 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,441 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 275 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: February 24 – March 1

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had to tackle two weeks' worth of blog posts (whee!), which also involved updating my photo gallery. I took a super long nap instead of doing any of the stuff on my to-do list. I got started with my walking a little too late and missed my 10,000-step goal by about 200 steps for the first time this year. Disappointing.
  
  
• Sunday was a much more productive day. I replanted some houseplants in their new pots, washed and cleaned several items from my mom's house (a pillar, two bookshelves, and a night table) and sorted through some memory boxes, and brought the cleaned items into my house. Made grilled zucchini for dinner. Did laundry.
  
  
• Monday I worked on research, updating teaming partners, downloading selections, and outlining a proposal. The plumbers came back and dug up the backyard to put in the new sewer system. While they were working I had to avoid using water for several hours. After the work day, I took a nap, did some Polos, made a potato, made a new video, put away my laundry, and read. We also found out my mom's house needs a new roof.
  
  
• Tuesday the plumbers came back to fill up the new sewer system with water and get an inspector to approve. So I couldn't use water again, which coincided with Jeaux being at my house since his place temporarily didn't have internet and he wanted to work from my house. By the time Jeaux left to go meet the internet repair person, I still didn't have an inspector. Eventually they came and the plumbers came back to get the sewer ready but the test ball fell in the pipe and got stuck and they couldn't get it out. So my water system was still not operational for the rest of the day and overnight into the whole next day. Ben came over after spending some time at my mom's house removing tile. We went out for pizza and talked, and I used the later evening to relax.
  
  
• Wednesday I had the day off to go see a show with Jeaux. The plumbers came and were trying to get the test ball out again. By the time I left for the show they still had not gotten it out. We saw Jagged Little Pill together and loved it. Then we ate at Yard House and drove home. I did some drawings for my comic in the car. We watched Colbert, took a walk, and watched the first two episodes of the new Avatar: The Last Airbender live action show (we like it).
  
  
• Thursday I spent the whole work day doing research for upcoming projects. Also did some vacuuming because the house got a lot of dirt in it from both plumbers coming in and me replanting plants. Did some walking, finished drawing So You Write, did some reading, played games with my friends, and screwed around until I got sleepy.
  
  
• Friday I did my reports and some research. Did my comic drawings, made some Polos, did some reading, and slept on the floor by accident for a while before going to bed.

Interviews/Articles/Mentions:

• My book The Invisible Orientation was mentioned with a little paragraph of review on a personal blog's monthly wrap-up by Ezra Finch.

New Reviews:

• DugFinn gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Audible.
  
• juno gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Meh! Happy with how things are at the moment! We'll see what happens. High weight: 123.4. Low weight: 121.3.
  
• Nutrition stuff: The emphasis on fruits and veggies has led to a slight underrepresentation of protein in my diet. I get a lot when I put fruit in my yogurt, but I'm opting for fewer sandwiches and veggie burgers and stuff than I am used to, so I need to figure out how to get my protein more consistently. My friend Ben gave me some microgreens and they're really good for you--I had some in soup and really enjoyed them!
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day except Saturday--but it was only short by 200 steps so I wouldn't consider this a big deal. My low day was Saturday at 9,806 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 12,010 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. I'm on page 198.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Piano Man" by Billy Joel.

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write:

#153: your genre.

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 
#0981: adele #241: i may be enough.

Videos Made:

Letters to an Asexual #111 ("A non-ace man would NEVER have an ace female partner!") is out. In this video, I read some comments from a Psychology Today commenter who believed ace women have two choices for male partners: either date an ace man, or "learn to like sex." Other options, according to him, are "insane." Welp! Very interesting how one option in his opinion is asexual people "learning to like sex" but he doesn't accept the option of "non-asexual people learning to be cool with not having sex," right? (Not to mention how much ignorance this demonstrates of the MANY other options people in this situation have to getting their needs met!)

New photos:

At Best NY Pizza with Ben!

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,444 for swankivy (lost 2), 676 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 69 for Tides of Time Band (lost 1). Twitter followers: 845 for swankivy (no change), 3,849 for JulieSondra (lost 4). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 248 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,442 (no change). Instagram followers: 276 (2 new).

February Goals Update

Now that we're into March, it's time for another goals update:

1. Health Goals: I resolved to drink more water, eat more fruits and veggies, and walk at least 10,000 steps a day.
2. Personal Project Goals: I resolved to get digital photos sorted by the end of February and collect memorable bits from Facebook for my essays; resolved to work on writing or editing at least one day a week; resolved to relearn ukulele songs I've forgotten and learn new ones, and keep creating my regular webcomic and video content.
3. Reading Goals: I resolved to read at least twice a week.
4. Relationship and Communication Goals: I resolved to document daily life stuff more, keep up with e-mails and online communication, and make time for friends and family.
5. Other Goals: I wanted to prepare and sell my mom's house, watch some TV shows I'd dropped, and not play time-wasting tames.

Progress Update (you can click to see the calendars better):

HEALTH GOALS:
Summary: Still doing very well maintaining this. I have managed to drink 4 to 5 glasses of water every day, usually eat at least three servings of fruit and vegetables every day (with one always being a green veggie), and walked at least 10,000 steps every day of February EXCEPT one day I was somehow about 200 steps short. Here is my calendar of progress:  

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:
Summary: This section is going to take some work and I've accepted that more pressing issues have necessitated that more time will be needed from my initial goals. I am trying to prepare my mother's house for sale and there's been a LOT of extra time I had to spend on that, including scheduling contractors, incorporating possessions from her house into what to keep and where I'm going to keep them, and having family houseguests helping me for a week. Photo sorting may take another couple months instead of being done by the end of this month and being incorporated into the gallery starting March--maybe I'll be ready in another month, maybe not. I have continued collecting Facebook clips almost every day. I haven't written any new content except on webcomics, but I am still catching up rereading/editing my in-progress novel. I had hoped to move faster than this but it just didn't happen. I hope to finish rereading what I have written and start writing new content soon. My ukulele practice isn't where I wanted it to be but I hope to do some review before the summer and to start learning the new songs soon.

READING GOALS:
Summary: I am doing okay with reading a couple times a week, but having my family here and playing catch-up after slowed the reading time down. That's okay.

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS:

Summary: I haven't documented as much as I need to but I'm working on it. My e-mail box is at 3 unanswered mails. I have spent a lot of time with friends and family--another very busy month socially!

OTHER GOALS:
Summary: I have sold all the furniture at my mom's house, got the donations out, and transported everything I'm keeping to my house. I got a new realtor. We got a junk pickup, got the carpet steam cleaned, pulled up all the carpets and we're almost done getting the damaged tile out of my mom's room, cleaned out the garage, got an air conditioning specialist to check the HVAC, got a plumber to look for potential leaks, got a home inspection, and have scheduled a duct cleaning and an ozone treatment. (Soon: Painting, cleaning, and flooring, plus other repairs, and we probably need a new roof.) At my house, I have brought my mom's Victrola into the house and am going to build a little shelf unit for housing the records, and have replanted some plants in planters that I'm putting around on some of the surfaces from Mom's house, and we cleaned out all the memory boxes to decide what to keep. In case you didn't guess, I have not picked up any of the TV shows I want to watch.

Will update again next month!