Personal Digest Saturday: October 19 – October 25

Life news this week:

• Saturday I stressed over my messed-up house with all the bedroom furniture in the living room. Ended up procrastinating all morning. Finally started cleaning the kitchen. Then Yasmin came over to give me political signs for my yard and grilled cheese from Culver's, and I gave them all their stuff that they accidentally left at my house. They helped me move my furniture back in the bedroom! OMG they're awesome. I finished cleaning the kitchen after they left and tried to get most of the stuff back into the bedroom but I got tired. Got my blogging done as well. Pretty productive day.
  
  
• Sunday I got up and dove right into cleaning more. I put the rest of the guestroom back together and went on to clean the living room. It's a huge room full of nine bookcases so it takes a long time to dust and I was doing it thoroughly. While I was several hours into that, my internet finally came back after being knocked out by Milton last week! Wow. No internet for a week and a half. I vacuumed after all the dusting, then did my trash and laundry chores, and finally I worked on my Halloween costume which ended up looking GREAT!
  
  
• Monday I went back to work. Edited a letter and sent it in the morning. Worked on some spreadsheets and stamped some documents. Then I did some cleaning in my bedroom and rearranged a bit with my new night table Jeaux gave me. Also cleaned the guest bathroom. I started cleaning the office room while trying to edit my new Not-So-Giant Women video, but I got tired and fell asleep early.
  
  
• Tuesday I continued cleaning my office while listening to a presentation on how to use QuickBooks. (For work.) I also entered some data for timesheets. I installed my new keyboard and reorganized some Steven Universe merch items that had gotten too crowded up, so now I have hooks on the wall to hang my SU bags and I put my keychains up to hang on the wire shelves. Drew some of my comic early because I anticipated being in crunch time at the end of the week to prepare for the Halloween party. The office looks super good. Did some dishes, sent a Polo to Steve, and worked on the Not-So-Giant Women video more. Fell asleep early again.
  
  
• Wednesday I went to a debriefing meeting and did some more project research. I cleaned my little bathroom and waxed some floors. I spruced up the house of the odds and ends I'd missed, worked on my comic, called my lawyer, and talked to the lawn guy Tony. Jeaux came over and we ate at SoFresh. I got my party shopping done. We watched some Colbert videos and took a walk and then he left kinda on the early side for us.
  
  
• Thursday I had a meeting and did some follow-ups and research at work. I processed my webcomic, finished my Not-So-Giant Women edit, updated some labels for my Halloween treats, and talked to the bug guy. After work I made molasses-ginger animal cookies (a full recipe, which ended up being like six cookie sheets' worth), two pumpkin pies, and a cream cheese pumpkin roll. I went to game night with my friends and then cleaned up the kitchen while talking to Jeaux on the phone.
  
  
• Friday involved reports at work and updating some records. I got done kind of early and made some candy corn fudge and vegan pumpkin brownies. I decided to bake muffins too (sometimes I do that the morning of the party, but I had time), so I made mini banana muffins and pumpkin muffins. Did a pretty epic cleanup of the kitchen after that since I'd baked so much, vacuumed, and answered some messages. Also took a little break to read comics. :)

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• I was mentioned as a trailblazer in a visibility post on the LGBTQ SAVES page on Facebook and the matching Instagram page.
• A Spanish page called Homosensual has a post that includes me discussing asexual celebrities and calling me "one of the darlings of the asexual communities."

New Reviews:

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

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I got a new low this week, but the high didn't move. And it truly seemed like I got lower numbers when I was eating more. Weird. I recorded a high of 114.5 and a low of 112.8.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I have been continuing to get three servings of fruits/veggies nearly every day, but again have not been watching the balance much. I'm eating a lot of fruit. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Saturday at 10,255 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 14,535 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis. I'm on page 112.
  

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "That Particular Time" by Alanis Morissette.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 

#1015: weaver #159: by chance.

Videos Made: 

Not-So-Giant Women Episode 67: Friend Ship is out. Join Daria and Ivy as they watch and talk about "Friend Ship" and cover such topics as the Steven's-perspective-only rule, the original purpose for many of the lethal features we saw on the spaceship, where Pearls might be in the Gem social structure, the eventual resolution between Pearl and Garnet, Amethyst's maturity, what Peridot meant when she said the Earth has an expiration date, Steven's increased confidence in his shield abilities, Peridot calling Steven "a Steven," philosophy on the Gems' weapons and body language, Pearl's poor self esteem and Garnet's confidence, what Peridot is really up to, and Sardonyx's return.

New photos:

Pine Warbler!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,461 for swankivy (4 new), 680 for JulieSondra (2 new), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 199 for Not-So-Giant Women (1 new), 65 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 829 for swankivy (lost 2), 3,876 for JulieSondra (lost 10). Facebook: 295 friends for swankivy (no change), 640 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 253 followers for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,429 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 277 (no change). Threads followers: 74 (no change)..

Personal Digest Saturday: October 12 – October 18

Life news this week:

• Saturday I woke up at Jeaux's apartment still displaced by the hurricane. We waited for news of power or my friends being able to go back to their neighborhood but it did not happen. Spent the day doing more photo processing and took some walks with Jeaux. I did some blog stuff and engaged with various time wasters. Jeaux found his old Gnopples cartoons that he made in the early 2000s and we watched them and laughed. He treated me to Yard House (very crowded) for dinner. Then we watched four episodes of Heartstopper. Great show!
  
  
• Sunday I was STILL marooned at Jeaux's. He played around playing games and I worked on e-mail and silly quizzes. We ate some pasta he made for dinner. Then Yasmin texted me from my house saying the power was back on! And their own power was back on too so they'd be going home. I asked them to gather up the cat and be out before I got home since I'm pretty allergic, and it took them several hours to pack everything and clean up the house. (They didn't want to leave it messy but they had been limited in what they could clean with no running water and no electricity.) We finally got back in the house after they safely left and I found out one of my rooms had water damage--apparently it leached up through into the carpet through the concrete slab like what used to happen at my mom's. The mildew had stunk up the house. Really bad. Not my favorite thing to come home to. I also still didn't have internet back so I changed my phone plan to get unlimited data and had to use my phone as a mobile hotspot. But at least I got to sleep in my bed again. (Not in the mildewy room.)
  
  
• Monday I had to work with no internet--just my mobile hotspot. I checked in and got a few things done (including establishing a new business relationship with a subconsultant!) but I spent most of the day cleaning up my trashed yard. It was pretty bad. I had three downed trees and chinaberry branches strewn all over the yard. One of the trees was on the back fence and belonged to a neighbor, so I didn't touch it. One of the trees had fallen in a woodsy bush area in my back yard so it's not in the way. And one very small tree had fallen across the back yard with some branches blocking access, so I went out there with a hand saw and removed the branches that were in the way. Then spent the entirety of the day lugging piles and piles of broken trees and junk out to the curb for pickup. I tried to take breaks but I didn't really take enough of them because I got pretty ill by the end. I managed to get all my patio furniture and plants back out and restore the outdoor areas to order, took a shower, and lay down in a dark room for a few hours. Then my sister called and I caught her up on my New York trip, my evacuation, and my recent cleanup experience in a firehose of rambling. (She knew what she was getting into, haha.) My property manager people, whose new management is AWESOME, were very much in touch throughout the day helping me arrange a steam cleaning for the mildew room.
  
  
• Tuesday I was surprised to wake up and not have sore muscles. Just a little tired. Went to work and did some data entry cleanup. Put a few things back outside and did Polos for Meg finally. Cleaned the entire back room of the house because it was sandy from plants being in there for the hurricane and then me going in and out while cleaning the yards up all day Monday. Found three dead lizards and one alive one that kept hiding. Did my dishes too. Made an unboxing Polo for my sister featuring the Cartoon Network merch I got at the hotel because she asked about it. Processed all the new items into my collection. Sent some applications out for proofreading work.
  
  
• Wednesday I did some work sending out teaming invitations. I spent a lot of the day packing up books and bookshelf items from my guestroom because I had to move all the furniture out to get it steam cleaned. I cannot move the furniture myself but I got all the doodads out. Put away laundry, did a Polo for Steve, cleaned out the fridge, and was ready when Jeaux arrived. He took me to the grocery store where I had to replenish all my lost food as well as start buying stuff for the Halloween party. We picked up a pizza and then I scanned in my epic groceries before we ate. We watched some more Heartstopper and then Jeaux helped me move the heavy furniture out of the bedroom into the living room. After he left I had no energy so I went to bed.
  
  
• Thursday I got a lot done; had to edit a letter, edit the content of another letter, and stamp some stuff. I worked on my music playlist for my party and got a bunch of stuff updated that I didn't think I would ever get done! Did some more cleaning and Poloing. Wrote my comic, played games with my friends and drew while playing, and updated my status documents for the writing submissions I'd heard back about while out of town. Did a long Polo for Steve about New York. Fell asleep on the floor for a while. It suddenly got cold in Florida!
  
  
• Friday work was busy--had to process a letter, do my reports, do timesheets, bug people for replies, and update a timesheet spreadsheet. The steam cleaner vendor came and steam cleaned the room in about 10 minutes! No more mildew smell, though it had pretty much entirely dissipated. Then I drew the rest of my comic, did another Polo for Steve, and posted the comic. Walked a little more while doing some chores, threw in a karaoke song at the end of the night, and relaxed.

New Reviews:

• Mari gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.
  
  
• Dana gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Looks like the stress and hard work has counteracted any "vacation eating" I had in New York. Back to about where I started when I left. I recorded a high of 114.5 and a low of 113.1.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I have been continuing to get three servings of fruits/veggies every day but am not watching the protein/fat/carb balance much right now. It's been a weird week and I was eating out of cans sometimes while at Jeaux's and on the road. I feel fine. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,016 steps, and my high day was Monday at 18,426 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis. I'm on page 112.
  

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "You Owe Me Nothing in Return" by Alanis Morissette.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 

#1014: ivy #315: be a jerk.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

Cleaning up after Hurricane Milton:

My Geek Chic factor was high on Friday so here's a photo.

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,457 for swankivy (1 new), 678 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 65 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 831 for swankivy (lost 2), 3,884 for JulieSondra (lost 19--something must've happened on Twitter while I was away!). Facebook: 295 friends for swankivy (no change), 640 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 253 followers for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,430 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 277 (no change). Threads followers: 74 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: October 5 – October 11

Life news this week:

• Saturday Jeaux and I woke up in our New York hotel room and had our breakfast out on the terrace. We wandered around at bookstores and I happened to check the weather page on my phone and we found out that there was a storm approaching Florida, forecast to be a Category 2 hurricane named Milton. We got a little anxious about it and went down the street to eat pizza and talk about what we were planning to do to prepare when we got back to Florida. We decided the storm looked too dangerous to stay--Jeaux lives in a flood evacuation zone so would be definitely facing evacuation, and I live under really big trees that I don't trust during hurricanes above Category 1. We decided we'd plan to evacuate when we got home. And then we changed into nice clothes and went out to see the early showing of the Broadway musical Six, which we super enjoyed! We then went back to the hotel, changed again, and ventured out to a place called Swingers for mini golf and food. Unfortunately it was much more geared toward drinking than we really wanted, so we decided it was something worth trying once but that we didn't love it.
  
  
• Sunday we ate breakfast on the terrace again and then I spent some time catching up at work. Then we went to the Museum of Natural History and had a great time looking at dinosaurs and birds and human history. We took a break halfway through to eat some good Asian food (so we wouldn't have to pay museum cafeteria prices) and went back to look at more stuff. Friends were beginning to text me asking what my hurricane plans were. We had decided by that point that we would evacuate to somewhere in Georgia. After our museum visit, we went back to the hotel and got ready for our reservation at the Peak restaurant (with included observation deck visit). Our food there was not as good as the last time we went but it was still worth doing, and we enjoyed the Edge. Then we bought some less expensive dessert on our way back to the hotel at a trendy sweets shop. We got our bags packed for the morning and went to sleep.
  
  
• Monday we grabbed very early breakfast and didn't eat it on the terrace because it's cold out there before 7 in the morning. We got to the airport super early and had lots of time to kill! I got some work done. Then I slept on the plane most of the time. Jeaux and I parted ways at the airport and I got a cab back to my place. I immediately (and I mean immediately, didn't even stop for a drink) began hurricane preparation. I spent an hour bringing all my outdoor stuff inside my garage and plants into my back room. Then finally I got some lunch and began doing laundry, unpacking, and re-packing my stuff to leave the state. I communicated with my friend Yasmin about the storm and they were not going to leave the area but they were in a mandatory evacuation zone so I told them they could use my house as backup even though I myself did not want to stay. They came over and got a key from me in case they couldn't go with their first choice of place to ride out the storm, which made them feel better I hope! I did some packing and sending a Polo to Meghan. The path of the hurricane and its strength kept getting scarier looking. Some were estimating it could be a Category 4 hitting Tampa dead on. I tried to get some sleep but was planning to leave at 1 AM with Jeaux to drive to Georgia so I didn't get much success with that.
  
  
• Barely Tuesday, 1 AM, Jeaux came over and we loaded up the car. We left in his lovely car (which is named Toothpaste). We initially just drove for hours until we crossed the state line at 6 AM and ended up in Valdosta at an IHOP. The restaurant was short-staffed and overwhelmed with people trickling in evacuating. I had a very short nap in the booth. (I did not want to sleep in the car because if Jeaux had to be awake, so did I.) Jeaux did some research while in the restaurant trying to find the best place to get a hotel, but we had to go pretty far away to find anyone with any availability and they were saying the closest open hotel was 3 hours away. We booked it anyway and ended up in Columbus, Georgia. Jeaux thought we'd be able to check in but I thought we'd have to wait for the usual check-in time, and I was right--we couldn't check in until 3 PM and here we were around noon. So we holed up in a library and I tried to sleep there and that also didn't work very well. We finally got to get into our hotel (but there was a huge pile-up at the counter because of some check-in issue by the person at the front of the line and technical difficulties), and I took a shower and hit the lovely, lovely bed. We really liked our hotel room! It was actually better than the one we had in New York. Which was good because we'd be living in it for a few days. After our nap, we went out wandering, found a Taco Bell and ordered food, and brought it back to our room to eat while watching Colbert. I usually don't go to Taco Bell because out of the three times I've gone there, they've given me meat instead of bean burritos two of the three times. This was my fourth time. They gave me meat again. Jeaux got to have an extra burrito because of that. Sigh. We also got some staple food at Walgreens to just keep in the room. I do like peanut butter sandwiches.
  
  
• Wednesday I did a great job sleeping in. We were a little late to the continental breakfast so we had to eat in a crowded dining room but that was okay. After we got back to the room and started working from the hotel room, I checked my interior cameras I left on in my house and was surprised to see my friends walking into my house! (They had not told me they would be using my house for a backup after all.) So I texted them like "hey guys!" and told them about the camera, which had been set up to help me determine whether there was any damage while I was gone. They finally got back to me and updated me on their situation. Yasmin and Arthur and their cat would be staying there for the storm. Through the day Jeaux and I ate sandwiches and took walks and stuff. We watched hurricane news. It was pouring rain in Tampa. Power finally went out there at my house at 8:40 PM, leaving my friends in the dark and confirming I would lose all the food in my fridge and freezer. Sigh. Jeaux and I went out for sushi and came back. Jeaux wanted to go to bed early in case we might be able to start driving back at like 1 AM again. I was pretty sure that wasn't going to work because, like, the hurricane was actively beating the shit out of our city right then. But he believed it would be over fast and we wanted to beat the rush. It did not work out that way; when we woke up and Jeaux was still thinking leaving for Florida would be a good idea, I talked him out of it because the hurricane was still literally over my house until like 3 AM and we didn't know what the flooding and downed trees would be like. We decided to extend our stay another day and Jeaux took care of it. I know he was disappointed but that was safest in my opinion. I went back to sleep.
  
  
• Thursday I took a fast shower and we went down to breakfast. We both went to work (I worked a lot actually) and Jeaux took one of his walks without me because I was so busy. I got sparse updates from my friends who were still kinda trapped at my house with no power because of impassable roads. After work we walked to a bowl place and got bowls. Yum! Then we decided we had enough proof that there wasn't too much flooding in his area and his power was on. (My area had tons of downed trees and flooding and no power.) I bought a book light so I could draw my damn comic in the car on the ridiculous ride back. I got it done in under two hours. Go me. We stopped at the same IHOP in Valdosta! Then ended up at Jeaux's house and there was a lot of tree damage and crap but it was safe. He got me up to his place and we went to bed at about 5 AM.
  
  
• Friday there was still no power at my house and my friends were still squatting there. They did some cleanup on my yard which was very nice of them! Jeaux and I went to the grocery store to get me some staple food and instant coffee. Then we both went to work. Later we took a walk to a copy shop and I got them to scan my art so I could do my comic. I was not able to see the scan because there was no screen, so I was disappointed when I got back to Jeaux's that the scanning had been crooked and some of my art just wasn't even picked up by the scan. Had to make do with that and templates that didn't render right on my laptop, but guess what, I still got my webcomic up even while displaced by the hurricane. Took a shower, did laundry, ate a sandwich. Went to bed early and my friends were still squatting at my house with no water and no power. Apparently the mayor showed up on the golf course across the street and started giving away food. Hoping I'm not stuck at Jeaux's apartment too much longer, but that's where things stand.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I didn't take any readings while on vacation and haven't been able to visit the scale while marooned after the hurricane, so I have one reading from when I was home super briefly and that will constitute my high and my low: 114.9.
  
• Nutrition stuff: What's really weird is how I'm managing to still get fruits and veggies in while traveling--it isn't as hard as I thought! It's only more difficult if you stick to really traditional restaurants. I was able to get a decent nutritional balance some of the week, but eating in restaurants does seem to lead to a lot of higher fat meals. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,561 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 22,890 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis. I'm on page 112.
  

New singing performances:

No opportunities to record a song this week.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 

#1013: adele #249: blending in.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

There are a LOT of photos, from New York but here are the faves. There is now also a New York Album to peruse all of them.

Day 4 in New York with Jeaux: Went book shopping, saw SIX on Broadway, and played mini golf at Swingers!

Pizza at Bravo's

Dressed up for Six

Playing golf at Swingers

Playing golf at Swingers

Eating at Swingers

Eating at Swingers

Day 5 in New York with Jeaux: Went to the Museum of Natural History, had dinner at the Peak and enjoyed the Edge observation deck, and had dessert at a trendy shop!

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History

Asian food break

Dinner at the Peak

Dinner at the Peak

Dinner at the Peak

Dinner at the Peak

Dinner at the Peak

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Checking out the Edge observation deck

Dessert at Tri Dim West

Dessert at Tri Dim West

Dessert at Tri Dim West

Day 6 in New York with Jeaux: Flying home from New York into Hurricaneville:

Evacuating for Milton

Hotel continental breakfast in Georgia

Working in the hotel room

Sushi meal in Georgia

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,456 for swankivy (1 new), 678 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 65 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 833 for swankivy (no change), 3,903 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 295 friends for swankivy (lost 1, no idea who), 640 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 253 followers for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (lost 1). Tumblr followers: 2,431 (no change). Instagram followers: 277 (no change). Threads followers: 74 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: September 28 – October 4

Life news this week:

• Saturday I spent some time updating myself on my hurricane-impacted friends and checking in. Did my blogging and started my packing for New York. (I like to pack early.) Did some cleanup in my back yard but not much. Got some walking and reading in. Sent some social messages and texted with my sisters about vacation plans.
  
  
• Sunday I finished my packing and helped Jeaux with his packing list. Finished cleaning up the back yard for now. Did my usual trash and laundry chores. Did some analysis on what to practice at band practice. Played a game and listened to reactions. Made a Letters to an Asexual video and posted it.
  
  
• Monday I spent some time looking up utilities for some projects, went to one meeting, and entered timesheet data. I posted my So You Write comic, recorded a song, finished reading a book and posted reviews, and processed my September goals post. Everything went well with my preparations for leaving town.
  
  
• Tuesday I worked on teaming invites, had two meetings, and helped my boss with documents. Finished editing my So You Write comic. (Every 10th issue I like to do a long one, so this one took a while. It has 20 frames instead of the usual 4. So. Yeah.) Wrangled more weird transphobic comments in that group and got more people banned. Wrote my Negative One webcomic early so I could knock it out and get started on the next one--I'll be traveling next week so everything's getting crunched. Got my steps in cleaning up a bunch of clutter that's accumulated in the house.
  
  
• Wednesday morning I got up at 3:30 AM and made my last-minute preparations to leave my house for the airport. Everything went according to plan. I got to the airport and met Jeaux there shortly after. We had no trouble with security and had a little airport breakfast before heading out. We managed to get seats together this time but entertained ourselves separately (he watched a movie and I read a book). We arrived in New York City and got a taxi to our hotel. We settled in in our room, which was pretty nice, and then had a lovely quinoa bowl lunch and headed off to stand in line to be in the audience for The Late Show. The waiting wasn't as bad this time as it was the last time and we got to see the taping of Stephen Colbert's show featuring Andrew Garfield and Ina Garten. After the show, we ate at a little restaurant called Harrison's. We were going to watch the airing of the show we'd just taped but we ran into some logistical issues about the next day's plans and ended up trying to solve it for a while. (We did not succeed.) Jeaux had planned for us to ride Amtrak trains out to Pennsylvania but hadn't counted on them suddenly being super expensive if you didn't buy them ahead, and we could not find a way around it.
  
  
• Thursday we had planned to go to Pennsylvania but thought we weren't going to get to because the prices were crazy. Over breakfast Jeaux found a deal that he was willing to go for if he could count it as a birthday gift. Haha. Well, we decided to go for it. We headed over to the Amtrak station and rode a train for three hours out to Lancaster, and watched a bunch of episodes of Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken. When we got to Lancaster, there was an annoying delay getting a Lyft out to the Cartoon Network Hotel, which made us nervous because we were on a tight schedule. We arrived at the hotel--it was cool!--and got a table in the Cartoon Kitchen. Things were taking a while so we decided the best thing to do was have me shop in the gift shop while Jeaux waited at the table for our food. I had some glitches there too and they had to re-ring my whole order (yes, I bought a bunch of Steven Universe stuff--which isn't available anywhere else, which is why I always wanted to go). But I finally got my stuff and got back to the table and ate my grilled cheese sandwich. Then it was back to the train station. We made it with a little more than ten minutes to spare. And on the way back we finished watching Eizouken. We went from there to grab some late dinner at a bowl place and I got a yummy kale/spinach/banana bowl. Then we relaxed in the room and got a good night's sleep.
  
  
• Friday we had breakfast on the terrace again and I had a sore knee for the day. We chilled in the room for a while and then went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We saw some great stuff--art from all over the world and all eras of human history, and we also saw some musical instruments! We had lunch in the museum's café (a weird number of tater tots were consumed). I was sleepy and my knee hurt so we went back to the hotel a little early and took a two-hour nap! Then we got up, took the train to see the Upright Citizens Brigade's improv show Asssscat, and had a great time doing that. Improv is really fun to watch! I was feeling up to walking home instead of taking the train. We stopped at a yummy restaurant to eat burritos, and after resting at the hotel for a while we went out for ice cream! Then settled in to bed.

New Reviews:

• Federico gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.
• Ames gave The Invisible Orientation an unrated review on Goodreads.
• Stacy gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I am not taking any readings while on vacation, but before I left I recorded a high of 114.4 and a low of 113.1.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Despite being on vacation, I'm managing to get my fruits and veggies in! I'm not paying much attention to nutrient balance or anything but I'm looking for opportunities to include fruits and vegetables in the things I'm grabbing at vacation spots. (And for the first half of the week I did well with finishing off the fresh produce before leaving town.) I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Sunday at 10,656 steps, and my high day was Friday at 18,088 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. Five-star review.
  
  
• Currently Reading: This Night Is Ours by Ronni Davis. I'm on page 112.
  

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Why Does the Sun Shine?"" by They Might Be Giants.

 

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write:

 

#160: special skills.

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 

#1012: dax #150: released.

Videos Made: 

 

Letters to an Asexual #118 is out! In this video, someone opines that asexual activists are only being treated poorly because they're so aggressive toward heterosexual people. And also, diversity initiatives are about legally discriminating against heterosexual people. Wow!

New photos:

Hurricane Helene yard waste aftermath:

There are a LOT of photos from the New York trip so far, but here are the faves. Later there will be a completed New York vacation page to browse, but here are these for now.

Day 1 in New York with Jeaux: Plane ride, outside the Colbert show, walking in the city at night:

Plane to New York!

Outside the Late Show with Stephen Colbert!

Late-night city life

Day 2 in New York with Jeaux: Breakfast on the terrace, Amtrak train ride out to Lancaster to see the Cartoon Network Hotel, where I bought a bunch of SU merch!

Breakfast on the Terrace

Amtrak station!

Amtrak station

Train to Pennsylvania

My train trip

Cartoon Network Hotel's Steven Universe merch

Me buying stuff

Eating in Cartoon Kitchen

Merch haul

CN Hotel

CN Logo

Day 3 in New York with Jeaux: Asssscat show at UCB and burritos and ice cream after!

At the Asssscat show at UCB Theatre

Ginormous burrito at Summer Salt

Ice Cream at Van Leeuwen

Social media counts:

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