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).

Personal Digest Saturday: September 13 – September 19

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had cake for breakfast again. It's real nice with coffee. Then I finished up working on my voice acting site, added one more track to it, and sent Meggie and Steve each a Polo. Some reading too. Then did my blogging and recorded my one-shot for the voice acting role I just got. I did two takes and thought the first one was better, but the creator liked the second one. Haha! I worked on my book at night.
  
  
• Sunday I finished off the cake. No more cake! Sad. Did my DDR early in the morning and got my laundry started. Then I worked on voice acting projects all day. I did my last recording for the show where I play a villain (it's the last since my character gets killed), and I recorded for the silly kids on Discord, and I did some auditions, and I read through a script where I would have owed lines if I had any lines. Finally I took out the trash, updated my collections online with some new items, chatted with nerds, walked a little, and picked up an interview request for an asexuality-related podcast. We made our plans for the recording.
  
  
• Monday I thought we'd be scrambling to get some stuff done but we backed out of a proposal so it wasn't too hectic. I had to outline another proposal and edit a letter. One of the kids on Discord did a cover of a song I'd never heard before and when I asked what it was from I was introduced to EPIC: The Musical. I ended up feverishly buying all the soundtracks and listening to them (and this musical is longish--over two hours). Wow! I love it. I did some ukulele playing and worked on my book too.
  
  
• Tuesday I had a morning meeting and then I got to meet a new guy who joined our firm. We discussed his onboarding and I started working on his resume. I had to edit a letter as well. I listened to Meggie on Polo, talked to Tony in the yard, and came back inside to meet up with the podcast host I'd made arrangements with. We did the recording for two spots that will air next month. Did a seated fitness video (haha) and worked on my book. Listened to that musical some more.
  
  
• Wednesday I went to work and did some data entry and some resume updates. Was also distracted by Discord sillies and talking about some heavy problems with a friend. Jeaux came over early and picked me up to get our grocery shopping out of the way, and then we went over to Clearwater to see the Night Vale show. We ate at Tequila's first (meal was OK but not our favorite) and then we enjoyed the show. Our seats were really good. My foot started hurting during the show and I don't know why. When we got back to my place Jeaux made me watch Pitch Perfect, which I'd never seen. Funny.
  
  
• Thursday I went to a meeting, designed a slide, went to another meeting, and updated some data. Took a tiny nap! Still had a hurty foot. I don't know what it is. I wrote my comic, went to Game Night, and drew some comic stuff. I did play DDR even though my foot was bothering me. It didn't bother me more or less to play.
  
  
• Friday my foot is still bugging me. Eh. I worked on my reports, timesheets, and project research. After work I did some walking, learned a new song, and drew the rest of the comic. I finished it with plenty of time to spare and did some reading after that. Watched some reactions and goofed around with the kids on Discord.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: Dang, I thought I was doing pretty good with my protein (I was above or just under my goal most of the week) but then the last two days of the week were way off. I know it's because of ice cream and chips. But they're good. Mmkay?
  
  
• 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 10,007 steps, and my high day was Tuesday at 11,595 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 217.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "All Right Now" by Free. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1062: ivy #336: big things too.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

Jeaux & me at the Night Vale show

Cecil

Disparition

Harrison Kip (Jeffrey) & Cecil

Adult Mom, the Weather

Tamika Flynn (Symphony) & Cecil

Tamika Flynn (Symphony) & Cecil

Night Vale cast

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,458 for swankivy (lost 1), 684 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 215 for Not-So-Giant Women (lost 1), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 763 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,465 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (lost 1--had to lose someone who basically never spoke to me but came out of the woodwork to scold me about Charlie Kirk), 629 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 248 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 (3 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: September 6 – September 12

Life news this week:

• Saturday I did some cleanup in the house because my dishes weren't done and the recycling never went out last week since there was no pickup due to holiday. I updated my collection websites while putting some packages away and then I worked on my blogging. I finished the blogging right when Meggie got to my house, so that was nice timing. She and I hung out, went to GrillSmith and got yummy food, and did an exchange of stuff for eBay sales. She also gave me a bunch of new candles she won't have room for when she moves. Cool! After she left I worked on my lines for Dracula, did my DDR, and relaxed.
  
  
• Sunday I spent the morning listening to Steve on Polo, then jumped into a new project: making a website for my voice-over work. This was already kind of intimidating to collect the projects and voice samples I wanted to show, but on top of that WordPress was being a jerk and forcing hand-holding templates and AI crap on me--it was obnoxious trying to wrangle it into a basic functional site that would just let me make some freaking pages. Tiptoeing around pre-formatted pages and "blocks" and themes took up way more time than actually creating the content and I'm gonna stay mad about it. I finished out the day taking out trash, doing laundry, working on my book, and sending a Polo to Steve.
  
  
• Monday I went to work and edited a letter and entered some data. Then I worked on my voice acting website more, adding samples and figuring out how to get some singing samples in from recordings on SingSnap. Also did some recordings for songs I had no satisfactory recording for. Seems pretty good now! Did some DDR and chatted to some sillies. And did some more editing on the book . . . which finally brought the word count under 150,000 words. And still going! I'm so happy.
  
  
• Tuesday was a fake Monday because a bunch of stuff was due. I sent in the letter I edited the previous day, edited another letter, and did some organizational tasks. Fed my plants some new smelly food. Worked more on the voice-over website. Got some more work done on my book, too.
  
  
• Wednesday I did some timesheet data entry and some inventory updates. And also had a meeting. After work I went to Saki with Jeaux and we did our usual grocery shopping and walking. After he left I submitted a query and worked on the website some more. And I found out I got cast in another production--just for a one-off role that I'll have to complete quickly, but it seems like a fun one!
  
  
• Thursday I had to spend most of the day entering credit card charges for my boss unexpectedly. I did get some data entry done for the inventory as well. Then I worked on my website even more. I feel like it takes me longer to get stuff done these days, but maybe I'm imagining it. Talked to Meg on Polo, went to game night and talked about politics with my friends, and drew a couple of comic frames. Then I made an angel food cake from a box like my mom used to do. Washed the dishes and read a book while getting the rest of my steps in. Worked on the website more--almost done.
  
  
• Friday I had angel food cake for breakfast in honor of Mom--it would've been her 71st birthday. Awww. I went to work and did reports and data entry. After work I had some trouble with procrastinating and had to really buckle down in the latter hours of the day to get my comic done. I still posted it on time and still left enough time to get my walking in (while listening to Steve on Polo). Then I researched markets and sent a short story in, and got tired while reading over that short story.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: Welp, four days out of the seven I was under on my protein goal (the carbs are winning). I had an extra restaurant meal and a day of cake figuring in there. But I'm also just really not looking at the balance right now, even though I am pretty consistently getting the three fruits/veggies servings in anyway. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to play my dance game every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,192 steps, and my high day was Tuesday at 13,406 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 183.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1061: ivy #335: by herself.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

Me at GrillSmith with a pretzel

Meggie at Grillsmith

The angel food cake in honor of Mom

The angel food cake in honor of Mom

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,459 for swankivy (no change), 684 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 216 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 764 for swankivy (lost 4), 3,467 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 292 friends for swankivy (1 new--I accepted a friend request from someone who liked me after I made a popular comment on a friend's Facebook post), 628 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 80 followers for Negative One (lost 1), 249 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,415 (1 new). Instagram followers: 285 (1 new). Threads followers: 80 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 392 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: August 30 – September 5

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had trouble getting motivated to do anything. I did get a short story submitted and wrote the storyboard for So You Write and I made a video but didn't process it. Also made a Polo for Ben and struggled to get enough walking to make my step goal, but I did get there eventually. But other than that I just kinda got distracted and did nothing.
  
  
• Sunday was more of a get-everything-done day. I processed my video, spent too long getting photos for an update, and prepared the subtitles for the video. Then I drew my comic while listening to a reaction. Played DDR for a really long time and tired myself out. Started laundry. Worked on the blog a day late. Worked on my novel. Chatted with silly people. Read through Episode 7 of Sleepy Hollow but my character didn't have any lines so no recording to do.
  
  
• Monday was a holiday so no work! I processed my goals update for my blog posts and recorded my lines for the Cassius play. (Well, it was one line technically. And I jumped on a background voice to help out with a scene, which I've never done before.) Jeaux talked me into coming over and going to Yard House with him, and he bought my meal 'cause he's nice. Then I played games, walked while Poloing, and edited my book.
  
  
• Tuesday at work was pretty busy. I sent invitations to team members and processed input. Listened to Polos from Meg. Had to set up a replacement for an item I received in the mail which was broken. Worked on my book. Played DDR.
  
  
• Wednesday I did more teaming organization and processed some forms. Sent a Polo to Steve. Jeaux was early picking me up for our hangout. We ate at Applebee's (they have an Impossible Burger!) and shopped at Target, did our grocery shopping, and showed each other silly things on the internet like usual.
  
  
• Thursday I did some data entry and maintenance on updating contributions from team members. Sent a Polo to Meg. Played DDR and one of the buttons was messing up. Wrote my comic storyboard, went to game night with friends (everyone was there!), submitted a query to an agent I've been waiting to query, and talked to Jeaux on the phone. Submitted some voice-over auditions.
  
  
• Friday I found out one of the voice-over auditions got me shortlisted. Yay. Went to work and did reports and went to a meeting. Sent a Polo to Meg, drew my comic while enjoying reactions and news, and ate a potato. Recorded a karaoke song. Submitted a short story to a magazine.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I have no data this week. :)
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: The balance is pretty good between carbs, fats, and protein this week, most days, but I had a few days that were significantly low on protein and I need to watch that. (They actually tend to be days when I got a decent amount of protein but I went to a restaurant or something and had something with an unusually high amount of fat, like french fries, and that throws off the balance.) But I've got a bunch of very high-calorie days and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I exceeded the recommended amount every single day. I am not a calorie-counter but because I use an app to track balance, I did notice this. I'm not a fan of that trajectory. I'll see if I can do better next week. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
  
• Activity stuff: I'm continuing to play my dance game every other day. I made my 10,000-step walking goal every day this week. My low day was Saturday at 10,040 steps, and my high day was Monday at 15,653 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige. I'm on page 166.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Shout" by Tears for Fears. 

Stuff drawn:

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, So You Write: #171: just send it.

 

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One: #1060: adele #261: before the window closes.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

None.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,459 for swankivy (1 new), 684 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 216 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 66 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 768 for swankivy (no change), 3,467 for JulieSondra (lost 3). Facebook: 291 friends for swankivy (no change), 627 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: 2,414 (no change). Instagram followers: 284 (lost 1). Threads followers: 80 (no change). Bluesky Social. Bluesky followers: 391 (2 new).

August Goals Update

Oh no. A new month. I gotta keep myself honest with this goals update from August.

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 still doing well with getting three servings of veggies and fruit almost every day, but I've kinda fallen off the wagon a little bit with not paying that much attention to the balance or portion sizes etc. I hope to see a difference in this in September. Water intake has been great, above or beyond the goal every day this month. I had another day where I had to bump scheduled exercise a day forward because of being really tired after coming back from vacation. (I know the difference between just being lazy and truly being tired. You don't wanna hurt yourself pushing through when you genuinely need rest.) I am continuing to take vitamins (Vitamin D in the morning; biotin, red yeast rice, and Co-Q10 enzyme in the afternoon; multivitamin at night). 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: After completing its first whole edit, I'm about 18 chapters into the second edit, and I'm finally starting to see significant progress. The manuscript is getting close to dropping below 150,000 words (from almost 200,000!) and from there it will become more and more manageable. I'm continuing to squeeze the chapters and diagram them in a separate document so I can later look at the outline and decide if any plot points can be reduced or deleted. It's working!

SUBMISSIONS:

Still on an agent search to get my older work to a new representative and sending short stories to new markets. Many short stories have gone out to promising markets, but progress is slow. I'm still doing submissions consistently but I don't always get to them on the day I mean to. I still hope to be able to pick up writing on my other in-progress novel this year, but I think editing and going out to the test audience and then going to querying might eclipse too much of the efforts. We'll see.

Writing Progress:

PHOTO PROJECT: I finished the photo project and got everything into albums this past month. I have been taking a break from this, but this coming month I guess I will start filtering them into my digital albums. Exciting!

UKULELE PRACTICE: After learning all the songs I planned to the previous month, I took a big break from this this month, just playing uke a couple times when I wanted to experiment with some random song. I'll see how much of it I retained at some point and see if I can practice regularly to stay fresh, but right now I no longer have a goal with this.

VOICE ACTING: I did not win any new roles this month, but I've continued to keep busy recording for at least four different projects, trying to keep up with deadlines. I submitted fewer auditions this month than usual because I was busy with family visits, vacation, and catching up after vacation.

Here's the Projects Calendar:

READING GOALS: 

Summary: Hmm. Looking at how dismal this still is, I wonder if I need to crack down this coming month--the original goal was to read at least twice a week, and I forgot I even had anything specified. I'll see if I can keep to this in the upcoming month.

Progress:

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: Vacation with family was the big thing--it took up a lot of my peopleing battery this month. Other than that just a couple little things on the schedule. I'm up to date on interpersonal communication, but the documentation goals have STILL gone unaddressed.

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 did work with my sister to finally get my mom's telephone stand out of my garage, so that's a big improvement. 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. I haven't thought about it in a while.