Sunday, June 1, 2025

May 2025 Goals Update

We are on to June 2025! What a great time to review May. Goal check-in!

1. Health Goals: I resolved to continue drinking an appropriate amount of water (around 4 glasses a day), eat 3 servings of fruits and veggies a day and keep my nutrition balanced, and walk at least 10,000 steps a day plus add in an aerobic activity every other day.

2. Personal Project Goals: I resolved to keep working on getting photos sorted as the first stop on a website rebuild; resolved to work on writing three days a week and submissions when I can; resolved to relearn ukulele songs I've forgotten and learn new ones, keep creating my regular webcomic and video content, and get some small voice acting gigs.

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: Get rid of some things in my garage, paint the pillar, keep the house clean, watch some backed up TV shows, and avoid biting my nails.

Progress Update:

HEALTH GOALS:
Summary: I'm pretty impressed that I've been able to do my aerobic dancing (aka DDR) or aerobics videos (aka walking in place while lifting tiny weights) every other day for the entirety of this year, EVEN WHEN I WAS ON VACATION. I feel good, haven't been ill at all, and am eating with a very good balance. I'm disappointed that I haven't gotten the number on the scale to where I want it, but I'm also not doing much to expect to see a change. I get very snacky at night and am trying to find a good solution for it. Right now I have Sun Chips. :) Here is my Health calendar of progress:

(Click these calendars and they will expand so you can actually read them!)




PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary: I took a nice break on the writing while I was on vacation toward the beginning of May, and after I caught up when I returned, I jumped headfirst into editing the book I finished writing in April. Once a week each, I'm working on an agent search to get my older work to a new representative and sending short stories to new markets. I do hope to get something published and make some headway with agents this year, but I also really want to pretty up the new novel and get it short enough to be a contender, then connect with a test audience for it. Sometime after I get there, I'd really like to start my other novel later this year, but we'll see how it goes.

Writing Progress:


Photo album scanning is going okay but I slowed down on it after vacation. I have two boxes of photos left to scan and I'm almost done with the first box. As I've been saying, once I get them scanned and sorted, I'll file the physical copies in albums or appropriate boxes, and then I'll try to get them processed onto my site. I've done a LOT less practice this month and I still have 11 songs left to learn to meet my goal. And for voice acting, I got one new role this month (just a bit part add-on in a project I'm already doing), recorded lines for two projects, and went to one exploratory meeting with coached performances to figure out the voices. I'll owe lines on that sometime soon. Here's the Projects Calendar:


READING GOALS: 

Summary: I did a little more consistent reading this month but this is still a little lighter than I expected. It's okay! I'm enjoying reading and reviewing the books I'm listing.

Progress:


RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: Nothing too out of the ordinary except for my California trip, where I spent a week in San Francisco hanging out with my sister. I'm very happy with the social balance in my life. I have no outstanding e-mails (and even managed to process two mails that have been in my box since 2014 and 2017; stuff I e-mailed myself to deal with and never did). The documentation goals have gone unaddressed. It's just not how I process life anymore, I guess, but I'd like to go back to it because it was satisfying. We'll see.

Progress:


OTHER GOALS:

Summary: I still need to sand and paint the plaster pillar that is sitting outside and need to sell some garage items. I still have a TV show I want to watch. I need to catch up on photographing the updated Steven Universe collection. I hope I can dive into the documentation goals soon. Looking forward to seeing how everything lines up this year.

Saturday, May 31, 2025

Personal Digest Saturday: May 24 – May 30

Life news this week:

  • Saturday I slept late! Got up and spent a bunch of the day recording my lines for Episode 3 of the Dracula drama. It was hard work! I got through it, and then I did my walking while Poloing my friend Ben to get my steps. I knocked out my blogging and then finally did dishes and went to bed.

  • Sunday I was up late again. Got laundry started and worked on some webcomic updates. I've been lax lately about updating the comic's character pages and character images, so I did a bunch of that. Did some editing on my newly complete book. Played DDR. Filmed a video for my ace channel. Did a little reading. Got through three loads of laundry. I saw the season's first gardenia on my bush! I didn't think it would flower this year but it finally did. Seems to be getting later every year. Haggled with a buyer on eBay.

  • Monday I had the day off because of Memorial Day. I wasn't too productive but I did get more webcomic updates done and more editing on my novel. I processed the video and put it up on my channel. Did some walking while reading, replanted some plants that needed it, and put away my laundry. Wasted some time with a game. Dang it!

  • Tuesday I went to work while dog tired. The meeting I'd gotten up for was canceled. Did some aerobics, sent some teaming invitations to consultants, updated some data entries, and used my lunch break to walk to the post office to deliver another one of Meg's sales. (It was super hot!) In the afternoon I attended a debrief meeting, but I was stuck not being able to log into my computer for a while because the server was offline, so I made Jeaux's birthday cake instead. (A pumpkin roll.) After I was able to get back into my work computer, I wrapped up some research. Took a nap. Edited my book some more. Started subtitling some old videos, which is a task that's been on my to-do list since 2017. (They were all originally subtitled, and then YouTube OVERWROTE them with their shitty automatic transcripts! I've been meaning to update them since.) Now that the list of those videos which I'd e-mailed to myself is gone, I have a completely empty e-mail box and it looks weird.

  • Wednesday I cleaned up around the house, did a little work on my office stuff, and cleaned up more transcripts for old videos. I sent in a query letter. Jeaux came and we ate at Vallarta's, shopped for groceries, came home and took a walk, watched the next Murderbot episode (it's too short!), and then when he left I stayed up browsing more agent listings but didn't find anyone I wanted to query.

  • Thursday I did some updating and maintaining at work, as well as getting some templates started for a proposal. I wrote Negative One, played DDR, dealt with my plants, and ate pumpkin cake. Then I had a live-coached voice-over session for one of the projects I'm on. It was just me and one other actor with the creator, and we got coaching on how the voices should work. (My take on it was already what they wanted for the most part.) We got our scripts and loose plans for how to submit recordings. Then I went to Game Night with my friends and had a lovely time, and got some drawing done even. Then I sent out some short stories--including one to a book publisher because it's long enough to be a novella and I decided to try something new. Here's hoping it works.

  • Friday was BUSY. I had a lot to do at work--timesheets, reports, preparing for a proposal, a meeting--and preparing documents for this proposal kept me at work until after 7 PM. Then I had to hurry to finish my webcomic and get all my steps in (while reading). I barely made it. Then I chatted with one of my good friends on Facebook and worked on the drawings for So You Write. Relaxed playing games and watching a cartoon reaction.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:



New Reviews:


Health Plan Update:

  • Weight stuff: Same old, same old. I've been focusing way more on nutritional balance than I have on changing this number, but to tell you the truth I haven't given up on the idea that I'd feel more comfortable if I was about 5 to 7 pounds down. So I'll just keep plugging away at it. High weight was 115.9. Low weight was 114.7.

  • Nutrition stuff: Got all my fruits and veggies every day. I'm really into yogurt with fruit. I'm getting most of my protein from that and fake meat. I am still regularly taking vitamins.

  • Activity stuff: I'm continuing to play my dance game or do an aerobics video every other day. I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,022 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 11,642 steps.
Books Read: 

    New singing performances:




    Stuff drawn:

     My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


    #1046: ivy #329: be honest.


    Videos Made: 

    Letters to an Asexual #126 (Why argue publicly?) is out! In this video, I discuss why it's important--or at least not damaging--to counter negative messages in pursuit of asexuality awareness and education.




    New photos:

    First gardenia flower of the season!

    More flowers!

    Social media counts:

    YouTube subscribers: 5,472 for swankivy (2 new), 682 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (1 new), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 772 for swankivy (no change), 3,505 for JulieSondra (lost 3). Facebook: 292 friends for swankivy (no change), 635 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 249 followers for So You Write (lost 1), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,420 (no change). Instagram followers: 283 (no change). Threads followers: 75 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 366 (2 new).



    Saturday, May 24, 2025

    Personal Digest Saturday: May 17 – May 23

    Life news this week:

    • Saturday I cleaned the house up and had a quick breakfast, and read through the second episode of the Dracula radio drama I'm in (but I didn't have any lines, so I didn't have any voice-over work to send!). Then Jeaux came over to watch Murderbot. We got pizza as well. (He was annoyed that it was cut in squares instead of slices.) We liked Murderbot. After we hung out a little, he went home and I worked on my photo album for San Francisco and my blogging. I updated some documents and recorded some voice-over lines for auditions. Played my ukulele, did some reading, and played DDR.

    • Sunday I slept late. Recorded my lines for the next Sleepy Hollow episode but I only had like four lines. Did my laundry and trash chores, recorded an audition, read a book, practiced ukulele, and updated my calendars and documents. Also did karaoke.

    • Monday I went back to work. Cobbled together the package we had to turn in for our big interview. Also attended a couple practices for the interview and proofread a letter. After work, I listened to a Polo, played DDR, and did some chores. Listened to the next episode of the Dracula episode (but I'm not in that one). Wrote my next storyboard and drew a frame. Packed my bag for the interview.

    • Tuesday I got up early for the interview. Boss picked me up at 5:30 AM. We chatted a little on the way to Lake City and met the rest of the team there. Had a good interview and I hope we win. Then when I got home I did some paperwork at the office and took a nice nap. Got up and walked while sending Steve a Polo. Practiced ukulele and read over my lines for Dracula episode 3--yikes, my part is huge in that one. Fell asleep early for some reason. Today, my webcomic Negative One hit TWENTY YEARS.

    • Wednesday I had to work on a transcript for our next interview, coming right up. We also had a marketing meeting. After work I played DDR and wasted time on a silly game. Jeaux came over and we ate at Saki and shopped, then did our usual sharing of silly online things. After he left I wrote out some graduation cards and prepped a couple packages (one for a birthday, one for an eBay sale for Meg).

    • Thursday I had a marketing meeting and a planning meeting for our interview. At lunch I walked to the post office. After that I did the rest of the transcript for work. I played games with my friends at Game Night, did some walking and reading, played ukulele, drew the rest of my comic, and submitted some short stories.

    • Friday I mostly just worked on the upcoming project reports at the office. Then after work I played DDR, practiced ukulele, processed my webcomic and posted it, read a book while walking, and stayed up late screwing around.

    Health Plan Update:

    • Weight stuff: Looks like I'm about where I usually have been these days. High weight was 116.3. Low weight was 115.8.

    • Nutrition stuff: Got all my fruits and veggies every day except one--I fell asleep before a planned fruit snack. Happens! I've been mostly hitting the high protein/lower carb/lower fat goals but two days it didn't fall into that balance. Lately in the middle of the day I haven't wanted to eat fruits or veggies and end up eating Tofurky sandwiches or other meat substitutes, and my spinach went bad early this week so I didn't get to have smoothies as much as I wanted to. I am still regularly taking vitamins.

    • Activity stuff: I'm continuing to play my dance game every other day. I met my walking goal every day this week EXCEPT ONE DAY and I don't know how that happened becuase I CONSISTENTLY CHECK LONG BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY to see if I've met it, and I always had. Now several days later there's suddenly one day when I didn't. I'm not sure if I just spaced out FOR SEVERAL DAYS not noticing something highly unusual or if it was the weird update my health app did this week. The settings are all weird too. I'm gonna grumble about it and privately assume it was a glitch. But if it's right, my low day was Monday at 9,625 steps, and my high day was Tuesday at 10,712 steps.
    Books Read: 

      New singing performances:

      This week's song is "Chickenman" by Indigo Girls.



      Stuff drawn:

       My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


      #1045: adele #256: match her energy.


      Videos Made: 

      None this week.

      New photos:

      My interview outfit:





      Social media counts:

      YouTube subscribers: 5,470 for swankivy (lost 5), 682 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 214 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 772 for swankivy (no change), 3,508 for JulieSondra (lost 6). Facebook: 292 friends for swankivy (no change), 636 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 82 followers for Negative One (1 new), 250 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,420 (no change). Instagram followers: 283 (no change). Threads followers: 75 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 364 (6 new).



      Saturday, May 17, 2025

      Personal Digest Saturday: May 10 – May 16

      Life news this week:

      • Saturday vacation in San Francisco continued. I enjoyed coffee with my sister in the morning and listened to a little bit of Suzanne Vega's new album. I worked on my blog periodically through the day when we had down time. When we were ready to get moving, we took the dog to a park and looked at the ocean. Yusuke picked up some donuts and we ate them, and then he went out to hang out with a friend so Patricia and Ash and I played a silly game called Poetry for Neanderthals. For dinner we had spaghetti and then I took my one solo walk to get a little extra walking in. Lots of hills to deal with! After I finished my blogging we listened to a school project recording that I had a bit part in for voice acting. (I had not heard it yet so we listened to it with no expectations. Pretty good.) After she went to bed I hung out talking to Yusuke for a long time in the kitchen, just hanging out. It was a nice day.

      • Sunday we had coffee and breakfast together again and then did an aerobics video together. Patricia got Mother's Day gifts from her husband and son (flowers and chocolate!), and then we went to Golden Gate Park for a while with the doggie. He tried to get gophers. We hung out while Patricia got a PTA newsletter done and took the dog out again before dinner. Then I got to have a meatball sub with vegetarian meatballs that were great. We played the Poetry for Neanderthals game again and joined in a game of Gartic Phone. Another nice day.

      • Monday we had a slow morning with coffee just chatting and waiting for P's husband to get up. Then we went to the Castro where I got to see a bunch of gay businesses (excellent!). We saw a knickknacks store and a bookstore and then stopped for expensive sandwiches. A couple we ran into said Yoshi looked like their doggie that had just passed away and they were touched by getting to see him. Later we picked up Ash from school, took him to his coding class, hung out at a café for more lattes and a cake, and went home for laundry and dinner. We got some food from a Japanese restaurant where I had excellent food and then we painted our nails and hung out until bedtime. I converted my stuff over to my new suitcase.

      • Tuesday I got up early and did my aerobics video while my sister took her son to school. Then she took me to a dog park to enjoy some trees and pups. We ran into one of the ladies we'd seen in the Castro the day before who was especially baffled to see the dog that reminded her of her dog AGAIN. We didn't really get to talk much because there was a lot of dog activity and interacting with other dog owners, and Yoshi tried to hunt gophers again (hilariously). After lunch at my sister's house, we went out again and she left me at Cinderella Bakery to chill while she went to an appointment, and I got to relax and eat cake and write a storyboard. Then we walked around more with Yoshi, I found a four-leaf clover, and we hung out in a field. Later after we picked up my nephew, we had dinner (lentil soup and bread) and just did nothing. I made sure I was packed up for the morning.

      • Wednesday I had to get up at 3 AM and my sister helped me make sure I was ready to get in my Lyft. Everything went fine and I didn't forget anything. I had a quiet ride to the airport and got a little frustrated with some of the annoying signage at the airport. I was actually able to sleep on the plane for most of the ride even though I did have a seatmate who was kinda annoying. Then on the connecting flight from Atlanta I had the worst coffee of my life. Jeaux picked me up in Tampa and we had a meal at IHOP. At home, I put my suitcase in the house before going grocery shopping and found out ants had invaded one of my plants so I had to put it outside. Then we shopped and came home. I was gonna nap but I got distracted by the urge to unpack so I did that instead. I also updated some online stuff.

      • Thursday I came back to work after not checking in during the vacation at all. Not too much chaos but I had a few things to organize, and found out that in my absence we got shortlisted again (so now we have two interviews to prepare for). I did some data entry updates and went to a couple meetings. Then after work I did some walking and updating Meg on Polo about my San Francisco trip. We had Game Night and I got to see my friends, and I worked on my comic. I got it half done before I stopped to do late-night aerobics and went to bed.

      • Friday I got up early for work and had more data entry updates, timesheet wrangling, report generating, and meetings. Took my time on everything and didn't even finish too late. After work I drew the rest of my comic, posted it, sent a Polo to Meg again, and did a karaoke recording before relaxing with some silly videos.
      Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

      Health Plan Update:

      • Weight stuff: I didn't get any data on this during my vacation and will start checking it out next week.

      • Nutrition stuff: Despite being on vacation, I was still able to get my three servings of fruits/veggies--pretty easy when you're visiting someone who does keep those things in the house! But I definitely had some big meals and some sweets that were outside the usual. The seven days for the nutrition balance:

         Days HighDays On-TargetDays Low
        Carbs304
        Fats520
        Protein106

        I consistently did not get enough protein while I was on vacation, and there was probably a high fat percentage because of donuts and cake. Oh well! Guess I should try to make an effort to get more protein in while out and about in the future. I am still regularly taking vitamins.

      • Activity stuff: I'm continuing to play my dance game or do aerobics every other day. I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,009 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 13,838 steps.
      Books Read: 

        New singing performances:

        This week's song is "Light My Fire" by the Doors.



        Stuff drawn:

         My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


        #1044: ivy #328: in a bad way.


        Videos Made: 

        None this week.

        New photos:

        The San Francisco Photo Album 2025 is up for all photos! Here are the ones since Saturday.

        Yoshi hunting gophers

        Selfie with the Pacific Ocean

        View from the park

        Family in the park

        Sister finally got her cinnamon roll

        Selfie I took on a walk to the ocean

        Yoshi finally started eating his food

        Family horsing around

        Ash gets the "no" stick

        Our feet in Golden Gate park

        Sister cookie selfie

        Yusuke hanging with Yoshi

        Yoshi in the shade

        Yusuke and Ash walking ahead

        Yoshi tries to get gophers again

        Sisters at the Castro

        In front of the Castro theater

        Patricia's lunch

        My lunch

        Lattes at Blue Danube again

        My sister's family has a Japanese copy of my book

        Takeout for the family

        Bird's Milk Cake and Latte at Cinderella Bakery

        Cinderella Bakery Cake

        Yoshi hunting gophers AGAIN


        Social media counts:

        YouTube subscribers: 5,475 for swankivy (lost 2), 682 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 214 for Not-So-Giant Women (1 new), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 772 for swankivy (lost 2), 3,513 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 292 friends for swankivy (lost 1--I defriended someone for doing something I had repeatedly asked him not to do), 637 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 250 followers for So You Write (1 new), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,420 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 283 (no change). Threads followers: 75 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 358 (2 new).



        Saturday, May 10, 2025

        Personal Digest Saturday: May 3 – May 9

        Life news this week:

        • Saturday I had a slow morning and then redecorated for the new season. It's all May in my house now. Did my DDR and blogging and wrote my webcomic (early because I would be traveling and needing to post the comic while out of town!). I also drew half of it. The first episode of the Dracula remake I am in hit the Interwebs! And my part was included. I play a doctor who interviews one of Dracula's victims. It's neat.

        • Sunday I got a lot done but still felt like I procrastinated a lot I did laundry and took out the trash like usual on Sundays, and then I started the process of packing for California. I drew Negative One and I did get to practice ukulele too. I made some lists and got my ducks in a row.

        • Monday we got officially shortlisted at work so it's time to prepare for the next interview. I'll have to go after I come back from California. After work I got a nap in, then did my DDR and sent Polos and double-checked my packing. I processed my comic and put the needed files on my computer for taking to the West Coast. Also ate an artichoke and updated a bunch of files. And played ukulele.

        • Tuesday at work involved bothering team members for responses, creating a transcript of an interview, and preparing some forms. Took all day. I did step out to talk to Tony a little when he came to do the lawn. I sent my transcript to my boss, did some housekeeping, and finished packing. Read a lot and practiced ukulele.

        • Wednesday I got up early to check in on my app but it was being a jerk and wouldn't let me at first. It kept going to the completed screen but instead of the boarding pass, it would show a graphic prompting me to check in--and that would lead me to the same process I'd just done. Indisputably, doing it three times finally worked and I got to go back to bed. Later in the morning I got up for meetings, and then later I did DDR, read the rest of the book I was reading, and posted some reviews. I did one research project at work too. After work, Jeaux picked me up and we ate at Ahi, did some errands, grocery shopped, and added a few new items to my bags for my trip. Jeaux left and I didn't go to bed because my Lyft to the airport was at 2:30 AM.

        • Thursday began with me getting in a Lyft and I had some trouble because my driver couldn't open the trunk for me because he was an amputee and his instructions weren't working on opening the trunk. I finally managed to do it and had a very hard time getting the suitcase in his trunk because he already had stuff in there, and then I was too short to close it and I had to jump! Driver was fine though, just couldn't help me work his car. I got to the airport and it was DEAD inside--no employees at the counters to check anyone's baggage, and even the kiosks to do it yourself were asleep and would not make bag tags, so basically I got to the airport extremely early and spent more than hour standing in a line that had no employees. Dang. Eventually people did come to the posts and it was fine after that, and we all went through security and waited at the gate. I got a seat on the plane to Atlanta and everything was fine there. Then I sent Meg a Polo from the airport in Atlanta before boarding a flight to San Francisco, where I had a terrible seatmate who made it impossible to sleep. She kept picking up her phone and BLASTING music periodically, even though she asked for headphones from the plane staff. She just wouldn't use them and kept waking me up by playing music out loud. What is wrong with people.

          When I finally got off the plane, my sister picked me up from the airport and unfortunately my suitcase broke while we were lifting it into the car. Ugh. But despite that, we had a nice drive to her house and we hung out a little bit. We walked to a local small restaurant and got grilled cheese and soup, then walked to pick up my nephew from school. I took a tiny nap while my sister did an errand taking care of another dog she'd agreed to attend to, and then we walked to take Ash to coding class and hung out at a coffee shop while waiting for him. We had some nice drinks and chatted. We picked up donuts and made pizza at my sister's house and ate. Her husband came home from work and we all hung out a little and attended to some doggie drama. I finally got to have a good night's sleep.

        • Friday was my sister's birthday! I had some coffee and breakfast with my sis, and we did an aerobics video together and had lunch. I got a little tour of the plants in my sister's garden and we sat and enjoyed the sun for a while. Then we did some errands--pet store, grocery store, Ross to get new luggage. We picked up Ash from school and went home to get ready for our concert. We went out to eat and had soba and veggies, and then went to the Fillmore for our They Might Be Giants concert! We saw the band play and enjoyed the show, and we got some souvenir shirts and posters. Then home! We ate some cookies and went to bed.
        Interviews, Articles, Mentions:
        New Reviews:


        Health Plan Update:

        • Weight stuff: I don't have as much data as usual since I am on vacation, but while I was home I recorded a high of 116.2 and a low of 115.1.

        • Nutrition stuff: Got a decent balance with my fruits and veggies throughout the week, but while traveling I'm having more trouble with the protein balance and am seeing higher carbs/higher fat percentage. The seven days for the nutrition balance:

           Days HighDays On-TargetDays Low
          Carbs511
          Fats205
          Protein403

          I am still regularly taking vitamins.

        • Activity stuff: I'm continuing to play my dance game or do aerobics every other day. I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Monday at 10,330 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 18,645 steps.
        Books Read: 

          New singing performances:

          This week's song is "Jesus He Knows Me" by Genesis.



          Stuff drawn:

          My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


          #1043: dax #154: insecurity visits.


          Videos Made: 

          None this week.

          New photos:

          My knees on the airplane

          Patricia petting Yoshi

          Lattes at Blue Danube

          Patricia's new birthday chair from Dad

          Patricia in the garden


          Yoshi in the shade

          Soba before the concert with my family!

          They Might Be Giants on stage!


          Social media counts:

          YouTube subscribers: 5,477 for swankivy (lost 1), 682 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 213 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 774 for swankivy (lost 2), 3,512 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 293 friends for swankivy (no change), 637 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 249 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,421 (no change). Instagram followers: 283 (1 new). Threads followers: 75 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 356 (no change).