Personal Digest Saturday: February 4 – February 10

Life news this week: 

• Well this week was truly weird because despite being unemployed, I was very busy--due to having an interview EVERY SINGLE WEEKDAY. Yeah let's get into that.

• Saturday I spent most of the day trying to finish reading a book, and also talking to family on the phone.

• Sunday was mostly a music day--did some karaoke and a new ukulele video but the editing on that took a long time so it took a chunk out of the day. Sent in some applications and also got through most (but not quite all) of my reread of Bad Fairy (which I am supposed to send to my agent).

• Monday's interview: a phone interview with a health care consulting group. I don't know that I have the right background or skills for that one, but it seemed like it went all right. Kinda finished it up thinking they'd probably pick someone else though. I then went grocery shopping, made avocado sushi and cucumber sushi, and ate it. Later had burritos with Jeaux at Moe's.

• Tuesday my mom took me to a preliminary interview at a company that's looking for candidates to place with one of their clients. That interview went very well although one of the people I was interviewing with was stuck in traffic so we conducted it on the speaker phone. I was told I was a likely finalist pick and I went out to breakfast afterwards with my mom. I took a nap at home, got up and drew some fan art, and that night I got a little nervous that none of the jobs I'm interviewing for will pick me so I started looking for more to apply to and found one for a lawyer's assistant that required a typing test. I took the test and sent in an application.

• Wednesday morning I was awakened by the lawyer's office calling me. Initially, Wednesday was the only day I did not have an interview scheduled, but these guys wanted me to come in later that morning--they were impressed with the typing score. (I type pretty fast y'all.) My mom was busy with a doctor's appointment so I got a paid ride over and had the interview. They gave me a copyediting test there too. After, I took a nap, found out I've been asked to a second interview for the job from Tuesday's interview, and went out with Jeaux to buy comics and eat at Cheddar's. On the way there the lawyer called me and offered me a job. That was awfully quickly! I told him I'd need to think about it and wanted to consider the other options, so he gave me the info to send in my questions to help me with my decision. I typed up some questions and sent them that night. Jeaux and I listened to Night Vale and saw the first episode of the Series of Unfortunate Events miniseries on Netflix.

• Thursday morning my mom picked me up for an interview at an engineer's office. On the way there I received an e-mail from the lawyer basically telling me they don't want to wait for my decision (because I said I'd need the weekend to think it over with the other things I'm considering) and they were moving on but thanks anyway. Well that was . . . uncomfortably fast. The whole thing. Wonder what the job itself woulda been like. (Probably a lot like that.) I had the engineering interview and the guy seemed nice (he was even someone I'd worked with marginally at my old job when we teamed together), but they only have part-time admin work and if I want full-time work I have to learn to be a designer (!!!) so I have to think about that. He's in no rush to fill the position and if I accepted I wouldn't start 'til March, so I have some time there. At home again I sent some mails to prospective roommates for Mom and worked on my webcomic. After that I talked to Victor.

• Friday was my second interview for the client I did the preliminary interview with on Tuesday. I had to go way out to this high-security building where you need a badge to get in, and the guy who interviewed me was super nice and I liked him. Don't know if my background is appropriate or if I'm a good match for the job (especially since there is potential travel and I don't drive), but he seemed to not be thrown by that. It would be a job supporting some of the admin aspects of the food service technology at various sites for the client around the country. Sounds interesting! I could do it. I came home, posted my webcomic, made some banana bread from scratch, and took it to Jeaux's house for A NEW EPISODE OF STEVEN UNIVERSE because it has now moved to Fridays. We enjoyed the cartoon and I went home and did some more doodles and got some rest in.

New reviews of my book:

• Brad gave it a three-star review on Amazon, opining that it really needed an editor. (Hee. Don't worry, I had one at my publisher. I guess she disagreed with you about what should have been cut. It's fine to disagree!)

Interviews, Features, Mentions:

• Maybe Sex Just Isn't His Thing: Dan Savage's column Savage Love Letter of the Day asked me for "expert advice" in response to a letter from a potentially asexual man, and then they published my answer in addition to Savage's. His view on asexual people seems to have evolved but some readers took issue with some of his advice and wording. The Asexual Agenda also linked to the letter in the linkspam.
• Everything's so much better when it's gay: Tumblr blogger luvtheheaven brought up a quote from some of my previously offered writing advice to counter someone who felt they were forced into making their writing diverse before concluding it's a waste of time. The post is . . . well, really something. My quote was used well.

Reading progress:

• Finished this week: No books, but I did slide in a five-star review for the latest Steven Universe comic (#1 of a new ongoing comic series).
  
• Currently reading: Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel.

New singing performances:

This week's performance was "Army Dreamers" by Kate Bush.



New drawings: 

My fan art for the week's Steven Universe episode,
"The New Crystal Gems," featuring Peridot, Lapis Lazuli,
and Connie Maheswaran as the protectors of Beach City!

Pretty sweet preliminary sketch of Garnet
for one of my fan comics.

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0613: "Teaching Them Respect."






New videos:

My latest unlisted ukulele video is "Both of You" from Steven Universe.



New photos:

My "hire me!" outfit before an interview.

My "I'm ready to go out, really" photo.

Social Media counts:
 
YouTube subscribers: 5,297 for swankivy (lost 4), 614 for JulieSondra (no change). Twitter followers: 852 for swankivy (lost 3), 1,325 for JulieSondra (lost 4). Facebook: 293 friends (lost 1, dunno who dumped me) and 205 followers (no change) for swankivy, 652 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 55 likes for Negative One (no change), 127 likes for So You Write (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,498 (no change). Instagram followers: 103 (no change).