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).