October Goals Update

It's November 1, so you know what that means: tell the internet how my October goals went!

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've continued not getting on the scale--just not very concerned about numbers, weight-wise, at this point. (Last time I went to the doctor early in the month, I was in a healthy range.) I'm not sure when I will feel like looking at numbers again. I'm still hitting the three-fruits-and-veggies-a-day goal almost every day, but not doing very well with getting enough protein this month. (It might be because some of my protein sources are also high fat.) Water goals have been good this month; haven't missed getting four glasses in except for one day, and I've continued with exercise (favoring the aerobics this time) and taking vitamins. Here is my Health calendar of progress:

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

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary:

EDITING: Almost done with the in-progress edit. I've knocked it down to 143,000 words, which isn't enough, and I feel like I'm not shaving off as much in the second half of the book. The outline I'm still building should help me make some choices about what else I need to cut. I don't have a specific goal.

SUBMISSIONS:

Still on an agent search to get my older work to a new representative and sending short stories to new markets. I'm still doing submissions consistently but I don't always get to them on the day I mean to. I finally sold a story last month, and I feel pretty good about a couple of the prospects I've sent other stories to.

Writing Progress:

PHOTO PROJECT: I was too busy in the latter half of the month to get much done on this, but I managed to get back to the year 2007. Hopefully I can get this done before the end of the year. I'll be so happy to have it out of my hair after wanting to do it for so long.

UKULELE PRACTICE: I don't have an active goal with this right now since I met my goal earlier this year learning all the songs I assigned myself. I pick it up and noodle sometimes but I am not really practicing anything.

VOICE ACTING: I haven't won any new roles this month but a role I got shortlisted on turned into a multi-tier audition and I've made it to the final round. Now waiting to find out if I got it. Another one of the projects I'm in premiered October 30, but I'm not in the first episode, so my acting on it still isn't out there.

Here's the Projects Calendar:

Here's the Projects Calendar:

READING GOALS: 

Summary: Did better still on reading this past month, but didn't quite make the "twice a week" guideline. I finished reading the book I was reading for several months, finally.

Progress:

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: Besides Jeaux Day and Game Night, the only things on my calendar were a hangout with Kari, three doctor's appointments, and a big fat Halloween party. I don't owe anyone any e-mails, so that's nice. I haven't improved on the documentation goals I've had. Disappointing.

Progress:

OTHER GOALS:

Summary: I did finally put up a bunch of stuff from my garage on eBay for myself and Meggie. 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.

Personal Digest Saturday: October 25 – October 31

Life news this week:

• Saturday I got up early and sorted out the labels and containers I'd be using for my evening party. Got my blogging done in the early part of the day and then got the rooms ready, setting out the trash cans and chairs and cooler arrangements for drinks. I put out my plates and utensils and napkins and finally started prepping some food--cutting up cheese and fruit, mixing dips, and getting the drinks in the ice. Finally I made the apple cider and put it in the container. I had just enough time to get my costume on and put out all the food before my first guest arrived--best timing ever! I enjoyed my friends' costumes and all the music and food. Ended up having ten guests in all. We mostly just talked and laughed all night. When the group got smaller toward the end of the night we played a card game and had fun with it. I got some help with cleanup at the end of the night and that was nice of them! Some people took food to go but I still had tons of leftovers. I didn't do as much cleanup as I usually do the same night because I was just tired. Ear status: Moderately annoying off and on all day.
  
  
• Sunday I felt sluggish all day--maybe after-party blues? I did end up getting the cleanup mostly done--washed all the dishes, put all the chairs back, cleaned and vacuumed, and did my usual Sunday chores (laundry and trash). I ate leftovers all day and caught up on the new episode of Fionna and Cake that just came out. And I did some editing on my novel (that's usually a Saturday thing but obviously I was busy). Ear status: Bad all day.
  
  
• Monday I was busy with editing letters at work. Also walked to the Post Office to drop off an eBay sale. Just missed getting soaked in the rain and wasn't even thinking about it! So lucky. I worked on my book, did some Polos, worked on some music for the band, recorded a karaoke song and a new video, and got tired kind of early. Ear status: Bad all day.
  
  
• Tuesday I worked on our shortlisted project and did some data entry for timesheets. Outlined a proposal. Played DDR without issue even though I felt kinda weird. Planned my comic So You Write and drew all the frames. Did some reading. Processed my video and subtitled it and posted it. Ear status: Bad most of the day with a couple short stints of less bad.
  
  
• Wednesday was a weird day. Got a message on my medical chart about scheduling physical therapy for my foot (I haven't been able to do that because they referred me to a place that doesn't even have an office in my city), and they they called me offering to get me in for the ENT appointment I've been waiting for much earlier than expected. (I was gonna have to wait an entire additional two weeks otherwise.) They had an appointment that morning and I slid in and grabbed it. The ENT was really nice and said I'd need a more in-depth appointment since nothing stuck out to her after a cursory exam. And guess what. That exam isn't until December 2. Ridiculous honestly. But she prescribed me a low-dose steroid to see if I'm dealing with inflammation, and I picked up the prescription and went home. I continued my work day and took care of some maintenance stuff. Got my book worked on since I didn't get to finish the previous day. Talked to a director about a third round of callbacks for a voice role I'm trying to get. Went out to eat with Jeaux at one of our faves, Vallarta's, and then in the grocery store my ear stopped bothering me for the entire rest of the night. I was cautiously optimistic. After Jeaux left I sent in a query and got to go to bed with no interventions for my ear problem for the first time in almost six weeks.
  
  
• Thursday I had an ear-problem free day all day and was very grateful for it. I went to meetings at work and did some data entry. Did a Polo for Meg, wrote my webcomic, did DDR, went to Game Night, and recorded my lines for the final callback for that project I'm shortlisted for. And I processed So You Write while listening to reactions on YouTube. Unfortunately at the very end of the night my ear problem came back. I only got about 27 hours of relief.
  
  
• Friday I was awakened by annoying ear noises. And again, it was bad all day, plus weird side effects from the medicine and I was dizzy. It took a lot longer to do everything I was trying to do and I had to cancel my evening plans to go visit Kari with brownies. But I did get all my work done at the office, go to a couple meetings, complete some reports, get my webcomic drawn, get both webcomics posted, and get my steps in while talking to Steve. I also chatted with the director a little regarding my latest audition and it sounds like he liked my take on the character but I'm sure the other finalists are talented too. I did manage to close out the night with some productive stuff regarding a book review and updating some online tracking. I did not get any trick-or-treaters, which was super disappointing because I was ready for them! Weirdly, at the very end of the night my ear noises got almost nonexistent and I chanced going to bed with nothing in my ears again, and it worked out. But I definitely need to make another appointment with a doctor to figure this out because I don't think it makes sense to just put it off until some general "hearing test" more than a month from now. Oh, and the first episode of an audio drama I'm cast in came out, but I'm not in the first episode, so I have to wait for the next one to hear how it sounds.

Interviews/Articles/Mentions:

• I was the guest on Asexuality 201 October Aces! Listen to my interview on I Don't Know If This Counts. (This is a different interview from the one that posted for Ace Week.)
• An Instagram user named marginnotesandmaps recommended The Invisible Orientation in honor of Asexual Awareness Day.

New Reviews:

• Martyna Trojgo gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: Since I had an overwhelming amount of leftovers (a lot of it snack foods and sweets!), I completely prioritized eating things before they went bad instead of focusing on nutrition. I had leftover fruit and stirred a lot of it into yogurt, but that ended up being my only large source of protein this week, and I was low on protein every single day. However, I DID pay attention to still getting my three servings of fruits and veggies and still taking the vitamins!
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or DDR every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Thursday at 10,009 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 13,162 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. Three-star review.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm just starting.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Pleasantly Blue" by 4 Non Blondes. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write: #173: diverse book privilege.

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1068: ivy #342: breaking rules.

Videos Made: 

Letters to an Asexual #130 is out. In this video, I share some comments I initially made on a HuffPost asexuality-related feature regarding people's misconceptions about how relationships won't last if they don't include sex. I also share a Tumblr user's commentary on my post and my reply to them.

New photos:

The 2025 Halloween Party album is up in full, but here are my favorites:

My Rose Quartz costume

Jeaux's Dib costume

Dare's Luigi costume

Meghan's witch costume

Meg & Adam (Donald "Dump" with tiny hands)

Kari, Meggie, Adam

Yasmin's excellent plate

Yasmin, Business Phantom

Arthur put ranch on his pumpkin roll

Zak, Dare, Dorian

Friends (hi Michael!)

Jeaux explains things

Arthur in pillow heaven

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,440 for swankivy (lost 4), 680 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 766 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,460 for JulieSondra (lost 4). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (1 new, I friended Zak who came to my party), 627 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 79 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 followers for So You Write (no change), 103 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (no change). Instagram followers: 290 (1 new). Threads followers: 81 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 405 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: October 18 – October 24

Life news this week:

• Saturday I did some organizing projects in the bathroom storage and the bedroom closet--just stuff I've been meaning to get to. I listened to some lengthy reactions to entertain me while doing it. Then I redecorated for the Halloween season. I chatted with Steve and Jeaux and did some aerobics. Did my blogging. Worked on my book edit. Ear status: Bad all day.
  
  
• Sunday I spent nearly the whole day listing stuff on eBay. Some was Meghan's stuff and some was mine. I also cleaned up the house a little and did a Polo exchange with Meghan. Recorded a karaoke song as well and someone featured it on the front page again for some reason. Ear status: Bad all day.
  
  
• Monday I had a long day at work. Updated some subconsultants' documents and dealt with the administrative stuff we have to do whenever we get shortlisted (because we got shortlisted in our home district!). Walked to the Post Office to send some stuff that sold on my break. Processed a letter to go out, went to a meeting, and then after work I did my aerobics. Updated some lists, did some inventory on what ingredients I need for my party, and made my final list. Wrote my webcomic storyboard early because the end of the week would all be party prep. Edited a chapter of my book. Ear status: Bad all day.
  
  
• Tuesday I had to spend most of the work day entering credit card charges in QuickBooks. I got some to do a bunch of voice-over auditions, sent some Polos for Meg, talked to Tony, washed some dishes, and vacuumed. Kari stopped by because she is now my neighbor! In walking distance! Edited my book, watched some reactions, and finished drawing all the frames for my webcomic. Ear status: Bad all day, so I asked for a referral to an ENT because the medicine they prescribed has not resolved the issue and it's a week later. I also tried to get my referral info for the physical therapy that was recommended (for my foot) since it STILL hasn't arrived in the mail, so they sent it electronically and I tried to make an appointment but they don't even have a branch in my city, so I'm requesting a different referral.
  
  
• Wednesday I had trouble staying asleep because my ear was real bad. I had to call to reschedule my ENT appointment because it's the same day as our shortlisted interview and they ended up bumping me ANOTHER week out. I don't know if I'll make it. Ugh. At work I did some adjustments for timesheets, applied stamps to stuff, sent some reminders, updated some data, and reviewed our "go" projects. Sent Ben a Polo. Played DDR for the first time in a while because my foot had improved. Jeaux came and took me out to 4 Rivers, where I ate WAY too much and was very uncomfortable and thirsty afterwards! I think I overdid it on the salt. We grocery shopped and I got my last chunk of supplies for the party. He and I watched silly videos while I tried to recover from dinner. Then we made pie together. After he left I sent out a query. Ear status: I was expecting that by today it would wane a little because that's been the pattern, but nope, still bad all day.
  
  
• Thursday I had a bunch of prep work to do for upcoming projects, so I spent all day on that. I talked to my friends on Polo, observed some drama on Discord and had some discussions about it, and made my cookie dough for the animal cookies. Worked on the cute food labels for my party. Went to game night and the Jackbox people released a new game pack so we explored new fun games. After, I finished processing Negative One, cleaned up the kitchen, and baked all the cookies while listening to reactions. Submitted a short story before going to bed. Ear status: Mostly bad most of the day.
  
  
• Friday I had to get up early to let the pest control guy in and then I had an early meeting. After that I worked on my usual weekly reports. Made a pumpkin roll early in the day and cleaned up from it. Swept out the porch and table, straightened up the garage from where I threw boxes all over the place, and then got busy in the kitchen again. Made peanut butter candy corn fudge, two kinds of muffins, and a new recipe: Halloween brownie cookies. Got all the cleanup done and some food labels sorted before it was bedtime. Ear status: bad all day. Wow!

Interviews/Articles/Mentions:

• Asexuality 201 Special on Substack! Listen to my interview on I Don't Know If This Counts.
• University of Birmingham discussed considering the impacts of media representations of asexuality and quoted my book.
• An Instagram user named annas_sweets_and_stories said The Invisible Orientation changed their life.
• An Instagram user named omahaforus referenced me as a notable asexual awareness celebrity.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: This time only 2 out of 7 days were low protein again (one, of again, was my restaurant day). I continued to monitor it more closely than earlier in the month and am pretty happy with the result. (The non-restaurant day was only just under the protein goal I wanted.) Still managing to get the three servings of fruits and veggies and still taking the vitamins!
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or DDR every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,162 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 15,120 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 416.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Take It on the Run" by REO Speedwagon. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1067: ivy #341: everything has a name.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,444 for swankivy (lost 1), 680 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 767 for swankivy (1 new), 3,464 for JulieSondra (3 new). Facebook: 290 friends for swankivy (lost 1, don't know who), 627 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 79 followers for Negative One (lost 1), 247 followers for So You Write (no change), 103 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (1 new). Instagram followers: 289 (4 new). Threads followers: 81 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 405 (3 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: October 11 – October 17

Life news this week:

• Saturday my ear behaved all day, which was nice. I listened to some music and relaxed for a long time, then got my blogging done and got around to sending Polos to my friend Ben. Then I cleaned old photos off my phone to make space and read old comic pages. I submitted a short story and edited my book.
  
  
• Sunday my ear was okay when I woke up but then it got bad again ALL day so I decided to make a doctor's appointment. Listened to music and did some laundry and took out trash. Had a chat with someone doing a project that I auditioned for. Did some more voice-over auditions. Worked on my photo page and got 2009 done. Recorded a karaoke song.
  
  
• Monday I called the doctor and managed to get a same-day appointment in. I did some filing and teaming invitations at work, and then in the afternoon I saw the doctor (and asked her about my foot too). She gave me a prescription for what she thinks is wrong with my ear and referred me for an X-ray for my foot. But no slots were open so I had to make an appointment for the next day. I got my prescription from the store and listened to some music. Recorded a song cover. Recorded a reprise audition and a callback audition for voice-over stuff. Worked on my book and my photos page.
  
  
• Tuesday I got up super early to get to my X-ray appointment. They knocked it out quickly and I went home and went to work. Later the same day they said everything is normal for my foot and they're going to refer me to physical therapy. I also started my medicine for my ear. No real difference. I outlined a proposal at work and did some dishes, listened to a Polo, worked on my photo page for 2008, and did some aerobics. Then I went out to talk to Tony. While we were chilling out there a little girl who lives next door who is mentally and physically disabled came wandering out of the house and kept coming up to us, then wandering back in the house--didn't seem like any adults were there and the door was left open for this poor kid to wander into the street over and over again, so I called the non-emergency number and had a welfare check done. Hope everything was okay. I finished my photo page for 2007 and edited my book, then updated my website with some new favorite music and movies.
  
  
• Wednesday my ear was doing better. I went to work and did project research. I cleaned up around the house, went to a meeting, and did some follow-ups for communications. Jeaux came over and we ate at Little Greek, then did our grocery shopping (a big one for me since I'm getting party supplies). My foot was really acting up. Hard to make it through the trip. Argh. At home we watched Pitch Perfect 2 because Jeaux wanted to show it to me. Then after he left I watched some reactions and relaxed.
  
  
• Thursday I worked on project research all day. Ear was still mostly behaving and foot was not as bad. I did some aerobics and wrote my webcomic, then went to Game Night. Send some photos to my sister for a project her son is doing. Submitted a query. Dealt with some random drama online.
  
  
• Friday I didn't sleep well. Got up and fixed up some packages for stuff I'm selling online. Fixed my messed up OKCupid account. (They flagged me for "attempting business activities" and wouldn't tell me what they thought was business activities. I promise I have never ever tried to sell anything on OKCupid, but maybe it's misinterpreting links that used to be allowed as if they're commercial material. I recreated it with no links.) At work I did some reports and timesheets and sent reminders to people. Then I worked on my comic, got my steps talking to Steve, and submitted a short story to a place I feel good about.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: This time only 2 out of 7 days were low protein (one, of course, was my restaurant day). I paid attention to it this time trying to get closer to the goals. Still managing to get the three servings of fruits and veggies and still taking the vitamins!
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Thursday at 10,077 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 13,075 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 416.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "One Way or Another" by Blondie. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1066: ivy #340: something in return.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,445 for swankivy (lost 4), 680 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 766 for swankivy (1 new), 3,461 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 290 friends for swankivy (lost 1, don't know who), 626 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 followers for So You Write (no change), 103 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (2 new). Tumblr followers: 2,414 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 285 (no change). Threads followers: 81 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 402 (4 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: October 4 – October 10

Life news this week:

• Saturday my ear was annoying all day. I got my morning coffee and aerobics done, and then my friend Kari texted to say she was ready to come over. We made our plans and went to Best NY Pizza to get salads and a margherita pizza. Then we hung out at my place just catching up and talking. She is moving to my area so she had a lot of new updates. After she left I got my walking in talking to my friend Ben on Polo about old updates and I got my blogging done. I didn't get to my writing even though I meant to.
  
  
• Sunday my ear was only annoying for the first part of the day and then it calmed down. I worked on my book and got through the edit, did some voice-over auditions, worked on my photos page, and listened to a guy reacting to the EPIC musical so I could hear it again. Also recorded a new karaoke song and made my invite for my upcoming Halloween party.
  
  
• Monday I worked on two letters and some utility coordination. Did some aerobics, sent another Polo to Ben, and watched someone else reacting to EPIC. Got in an edit on my book.
  
  
• Tuesday I had meetings and more utility coordination, and I updated some timesheet stuff and coordinated meetings. Watched more reactions and edited another chapter in my book. Started building up my party playlist on my newer laptop because my older one has finally decided nothing works.
  
  
• Wednesday I had a packed day at work and my ear was acting terrible. Went to two meetings, sent teaming invitations, updated some data entry stuff that needed adjustments, entered stuff into the accounting software, and tried to get my new work computer all in order. Then I did my DDR and straightened up the house before Jeaux came over. We ate at Applebee's, shopped at Target and Publix, and watched the second half of the EPIC musical (him for the first time).
  
  
• Thursday my ear was better again. I did some research and follow-ups on teaming at work. I took a nap, sent a Polo to Meg, and wrote my comic storyboard. Went to Game Night, which was fun as usual, and then afterwards stayed chatting with Steve and Jeaux for a while after everyone else left. (We usually don't do that.) I did more drawing on my comic and listened to reactions. I sent a query also.
  
  
• Friday my ear was still behaving. I got up relatively early for someone who stayed up all night. Went to a meeting, did my reports, and did some DDR and a Polo. Finished my drawings and posted the comic, did some walking and reading, and watched more reactions. I was looking around for a place to submit a short story but couldn't find one before I got tired.

New Reviews:

• anne k. gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Audible.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: 3 out of 7 days were low protein, which is better than last week, but two of those days were just a hair under, so I am happy to say this was a much better balance than last week. I'm basically always listing spinach as my green food though--I should probably throw in some variety. Still taking the vitamins!
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or play my dance game every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Thursday at 10,108 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 16,971 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 328.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "The Warrior" by Scandal. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1065: ivy #339: a map.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

The new Steven Universe vinyl (volume 2!) is out!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,449 for swankivy (lost 1), 681 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 765 for swankivy (3 new), 3,463 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (no change), 627 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 followers for So You Write (no change), 101 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (1 new). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (no change). Instagram followers: 285 (no change). Threads followers: 81 (1 new). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 398 (3 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: September 27 – October 3

Life news this week:

• Saturday was a bit slow while still involving me getting a lot done. I saw a giant bounce house rented next door at my neighbors' house so I knew they were planning a party and would likely be screaming and blasting music all day once the party started, so I got voice acting work done early. I practiced music, accepted a short story offer, submitted a short story, worked on my blog, got all my steps, and practiced more music. My ear was still being wack but not as bad.
  
  
• Sunday Dad came to pick me up for band practice. Had to take my coffee with me! We had our first band practice with a new group. We have to practice in his small music room. We had a good first practice, stopped for a snack, and then couldn't do a round 2 because we had an equipment failure. Sad! We ended practice and Dad drove me home. We stopped at a Mexican restaurant called Lolis where I had a great Beyond Taco and we had a nice leisurely lunch. Then at my house my dad fixed my washing machine!! I can now use cold water in it again. After he left I did laundry, took out the trash, did some aerobics, and relaxed playing computer games while listening to music. My ear was not bothering me.
  
  
• Monday work was slow and my ear got annoying again. Did some project tracking and outlined a proposal. Took a couple weird naps, sent a Polo to Meg, worked on my latest video and posted it, and worked on my So You Write comic. Did some reading, got some stuff done on my photo gallery finishing it through 2011, and edited my book.
  
  
• Tuesday I did some project research at work. Recorded my lines for the latest Sleepy Hollow episode. Did a voice-over audition and got shortlisted. My ear was annoying in the morning but then stopped bothering me later in the day. My boss told me late in the day that we were going to finish a proposal I thought we weren't going to have time for, so I set him up for the work he needed to finish and agreed to help pull it together the next day. I did some DDR, sent Meghan a Polo, edited my book, and posted my comic.
  
  
• Wednesday I helped with the proposal and we turned it in. Listened to Meg's Polo. Opened some new cool pins I ordered, but I only got 2 of the 4 I wanted. Talked to Tony when he came to do my yard. Jeaux came and we ate at Burger 21, grocery shopped, took a walk, and watched some silly stuff. Then we watched half of EPIC: The Musical. After Jeaux left I updated my goals on my blog posts.
  
  
• Thursday I had to work on utility coordination at the office. Then I did some aerobics. I wrote my comic storyboard, did some singing, and met my friends for Game Night. We had a fun time and I drew a little. Then I listened to a Polo from Ben, sent in a query, and relaxed.
  
  
• Friday I did some timesheet work, then walked some packages to the Post Office, and finished my reports when I came back. Then I worked on my comic and posted it, messed around with dorks on Discord, submitted a short story, and chatted with Ben on Polo. Did some singing too.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: 5 out of 7 days were low protein--worse than last week. (Most of those were just close, but still. I can do better.) I would say I made a lot of choices that I'm not super happy with this week, though I did still manage to get my fruits and veggies most days. Still taking the vitamins!
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or play my dance game every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Sunday at 10,021 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 15,030 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 287.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Magic Man" by Heart. 

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write: #172: every leaf

.

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1064: ivy #338: stuck.

Videos Made: 

Letters to an Asexual #129 (Young Aces!) is out. In this video, I share some community members' thoughts on coming out as asexual early in life and what older people's responsibilities are regarding supporting young aces.

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,450 for swankivy (lost 5), 682 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 762 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,463 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (no change), 628 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 followers for So You Write (lost 1), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (no change). Instagram followers: 285 (no change). Threads followers: 80 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 395 (no change).

September Goals Update

October is upon us, so here are my updates for how September went with my goals.

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 don't have, like, a "weight loss" goal, just a nutrition/exercise/hydration goal, but one thing that changed this month is that I haven't gotten on the scale. I'm not sure when I will feel like looking at numbers again. It's not particularly important, and I'm comfortable, but I do think I could make some better choices. I'm still hitting the three-fruits-and-veggies-a-day goal almost every day, but the protein/fat/carbs balance hasn't been great this month. Water goals are really good this month, though, and I've continued with exercise (heavily favoring DDR) and taking vitamins. Here is my Health calendar of progress:

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

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary:

EDITING: The in-progress edit is still ongoing. Last month I was getting close to getting below 150,000 words; I'm now at about 145,000 and still slightly less than half the book to go. I am very pleased with the progress, and am optimistic about getting close to the goal by the end of this edit. It may need a specific goal set and another swipe through to tighten it even more, but I won't know until I get there. The outline I'm building will help with that.

SUBMISSIONS:

Still on an agent search to get my older work to a new representative and sending short stories to new markets. I'm still doing submissions consistently but I don't always get to them on the day I mean to. I finally sold a story this month, and have hopes of selling more before the end of the year, but everyone takes a long time to get back to me--more so than in the past.

Writing Progress:

PHOTO PROJECT: I have jumped back into sorting photos into their online albums and tagging the older photos. I've made it all the way back from 2025 to 2011. Years beyond 2009 are going to be both easier and harder in certain ways, but I'm ready to knock it out soon.

UKULELE PRACTICE: I don't have an active goal with this right now since I met my goal earlier this year learning all the songs I assigned myself. I did practice once just for fun, but I'm making room for other things right now.

VOICE ACTING: I won one new role this month--a one-shot that I've already completed recording on--and have been shortlisted on another project. I made a new website for my voice-over projects and to offer samples of my performances for anyone who might wanna hire me.

Here's the Projects Calendar:

READING GOALS: 

Summary: Did a little better on reading this past month, but didn't quite make the "twice a week" guideline. I'm not too concerned. Something's gotta give sometimes.

Progress:

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: A couple of shows and a band practice added to the usual social activity I had this month. I am happy with everything in that arena and I do not have any outstanding e-mails. I could probably do better with responding to social media comments but that's never critical. I haven't improved on the documentation goals I've had, which continues to be slightly annoying to me.

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 need to put some new items on eBay for Meggie. I still have a TV show I want to watch. I need to catch up on photographing the updated Steven Universe collection.

Personal Digest Saturday: September 20 – September 26

Life news this week:

• Saturday my foot was still bothering me but I did my dance game anyway (didn't make it worse). Worked on my blog. Watched the new Knights of Guinevere pilot and thought it was pretty good. Did some reading and editing, and read some older issues of my comic.
  
  
• Sunday my hand suddenly started bothering me out of nowhere so I had to deal with that all day and couldn't do most stuff that required two hands. Still managed to record a karaoke song, do laundry, and take out the trash. I did some digital errands regarding a credit card and started working on the photo project's digital half. I got everything done back to the year 2012, which is pretty significant progress.
  
  
• Monday I went to a meeting, sent some teaming coordination e-mails, edited a letter, and updated some data. Managed to get in a quick nap. Practiced some band music. Tried to do DDR even though both my foot and my hand were hurting. (It hurt to move my hand even though it wasn't doing anything.) Made a cool dish with fake meatballs I was trying for the first time. (Had trouble getting the sauce jar open because my hand is messed up.) Still managed to do the dishes somehow. Tried to do more work on the photos page but I was really distracted by not being able to use my hand right, and then my ear started making a noise for no reason like there was thunder in it.
  
  
• Tuesday the weird noise in my ear woke me up, so I went to work early and started work on a proposal. Also went to a debrief meeting and caught a lizard trying to go in my dishwasher. My hand was still bothering me for the beginning of the day but it randomly just stopped hurting halfway through the day, though it stayed kind of tender, but nothing like the past couple days. The ear issue persisted. VERY annoying. I put in an earplug to try to distract me from the noise (which works but doesn't fix it). Redecorated the house for the next season. Looks very Fall in here! Listened to/watched a new episode of The Best Show because the guest was Rebecca Sugar. I wrote up some details about the appearance and put them on my blog. My typing was almost back to normal since my hand started behaving. Finished editing a chapter of my book.
  
  
• Wednesday the ear issue persisted, waking me up again. I discovered a couple more temporary ways to get it to stop making the noise but they're not very sustainable (like weird jaw positions or actively chewing something). Worked a lot and stayed busy all day--entering data for timesheets and working on a proposal. Did my DDR game (no problems with my hand, but I still couldn't lift the board--my hand is still a little weak). Didn't meet up with Jeaux because we had a special event the next day. I worked on the next book chapter and practiced music, and sent in some voice-over auditions.
  
  
• Thursday I STILL had the ear issue. Meghan suggested taking Claritin. I did but there was no difference. I did some proposal stuff and some data entry. Wrote a comic script and got my stuff ready to go to the Weird Al concert. By the time Jeaux picked me up for grocery shopping, the problem with my ear had lessened to the point that I wasn't sure if it was happening anymore. After we got back, we left again to go to Clearwater. We went to a restaurant called Clear Sky and met up with Meghan and Adam, who already had a table outside. I had pretended to Jeaux that I didn't know they were coming, and pretended to just randomly notice them. We didn't tell him we had planned it until after we were all together. ;) We had some really good food (I got a Beyond Burger!) and then we went to the Weird Al concert. The show was great, though it was really hot outside and this was an outdoor venue. This was the first time I'd seen Al in 25 years! And it was fantastic. Afterwards, we went our separate ways and Jeaux and I got drinks at the Wawa before going back to my place and hanging out a bit. Good night, and my ear was behaving so I didn't need to sleep with an earplug in.
  
  
• Friday I woke up and my ear was doing the thing again, but it's much less severe and sometimes it goes away for a while, so I guess it's getting better. (The kind of issue I'm having seems to be one of those things where it's likely doctors will just say "huh. well that sucks. but we can't help you." Meghan thinks me having so many random issues not caused by injury within days of each other has to be an inflammation response. We don't know to what.) I went to work and did my usual reports, some project research, and another proposal outline. Finished my drawings for the comic, played DDR, and processed the comic. Then I just worked on music for the evening. And I got an offer to publish one of my short stories.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: 4 out of 7 days were low protein again. I am gonna need to focus on this to get the balance better more consistently. It looks like it might be because the protein sources I'm choosing these days are also higher-fat sources? I will think about it. Still taking the vitamins!
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to do aerobics or play my dance game every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,095 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 17,234 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 262.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Santa Monica" by Everclear. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1063: ivy #337: no judgment.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

Just a bunch of photos from the Weird Al concert and our hangout with Meg & Adam beforehand!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,455 for swankivy (lost 3), 683 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 763 for swankivy (no change), 3,465 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (no change), 629 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 248 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (no change). Instagram followers: 285 (no change). Threads followers: 80 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 395 (no change).