Personal Digest Saturday: August 22 – August 28

Life news this week:

• Saturday I slept super late--must've needed it. Started my day with oatmeal, coffee, and a nice walk. I got my blogging done in between talking to my sister on Polo and doing a fun walk-aerobics video that Meghan recommended for me. I also tried a pair of blue-light blocking glasses. I stayed up all night writing most of an e-mail saga I'm going to send to Cara, but I couldn't finish.
  
  
• Sunday was another late wake-up, unsurprisingly. More oatmeal and coffee to start the day, and I chatted with Jeaux on the phone. He was still not feeling 100% right so he decided to go get a test for the virus. I took my walks and got harassed again by a dude in a truck this time. Spent the rest of the day on laundry, cleaning the outside table, and karaoke. Also started rereading old work logs from the bookstore days. In the evening, I interviewed a new ace volunteer named Cat. Nice long interview because we had a lot of digressions.
  
  
• Monday I was up reasonably early editing a letter for my boss. Found out our interview landed us in second place for that job we were after, so boo. Jeaux had his virus test. After work I played DDR and then played games with my friends. The server kept going out so we played Cards Against Humanity instead of our Jackbox games.
  
  
• Tuesday we had a meeting at work and it turns out we're closing our office to move to a smaller one because we're set up to do this work from home thing for as long as we need to and it'll be better for our purpose. We've got to pack up our stuff and ready it for the movers by the end of next month. I don't really have stuff there so I won't worry too much about it. Also found out one of my co-workers had and recovered from COVID. What a shock. I also talked to another co-worker on the phone and after work did Skype with Jeaux so we could watch Owl House. Also, I met someone on Tumblr who wanted to hear a limited release Steven Universe demo track that was only on certain vinyl releases, so I played it for them on a Zoom meeting.
  
  
• Wednesday I woke up after having fallen asleep on the couch like a dork. Had a very busy work day reformatting everyone's business cards and updating resumes because of the address change, and doing some stuff for new employees. (We're partnering with another firm in Connecticut and they needed resumes.) My computer kept lagging and I just had a really rough day. But Jeaux got his virus results and he was negative, and since he also felt fine he decided to come over after work. We had our usual grocery run and watching of silliness (we enjoyed some Colbert monologues), and we ate seitan tacos. I also chatted more with the Steven Universe fan on Tumblr about merchandise.
  
  
• Thursday I prepared some reports at work, but it was a relatively slow day. At least my connection to the office computer stopped lagging. The person on Tumblr I'd been talking to asked if I could do them a favor and buy a rare item on eBay for them and send it to them when they would have the money in a couple weeks. I figured I can do that since if they don't/can't pay after all I'm sure I can resell it. But then they kept increasing the amount they'd be willing to pay and wanting to add more items for me to buy and I was like, hold your horses kid. Wonder where this is gonna end up. I talked to Victor on the phone and got some drawing done.
  
  
• Friday I finished my database stuff and reports pretty early--having a database day is nice since I can listen to music while populating it. The person I helped with the eBay bid developed more complications with how they'll be able to pay me back so even if this turns out okay I'm really not down to do anything else. After work I had to work fast to get my webcomic up because I made it a little longer than usual, but I got it done and got some walks in too. And I edited an ace interview video (with Maxwell!) while drawing the comic. Not a bad week.

Food Plan Update:

• Welp! Two months on the plan. Good news: I'm down five pounds. Applause please.
  
  Bad news: There isn't really any bad news except that I feel like this is going slower than I expected? But I am a small person and a pound is a lot of me compared to most other people.
  
  I like the oatmeal breakfasts still, and I seem to have more variety in my diet now than I did before.
  
  Since it's the end of the month, I have a cool activity breakdown for you.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing, paused on reading projects right now!

• Currently reading: Emma by Jane Austen. I'm on page 225.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Mary Jane" by Alanis Morissette.




Stuff Drawn:



Webcomic Negative One Issue 0798: "Having His Say."






New videos: 

None. 

New photos:

Seitan Taco!

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,302 for swankivy (3 new), 671 for JulieSondra (lost 4), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 101 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 945 for swankivy (no change), 1,354 for JulieSondra (lost 4). Facebook: 297 friends (1 new, accepted a friend request from a friend of a friend) for swankivy, 632 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 62 likes for Negative One (no change), 162 likes for So You Write (no change), 84 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,477 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 203 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: August 15 – August 21

Life news this week:

• Saturday was great! Made some cookies and Jeaux agreed to take me to my mom's. There I spent some time hanging out with her and helping her with her shower. She was in a good mood and gave me some apples. I came home and got my blogging done and did my podcast with Daria. We chatted until after midnight once the podcast was done. Awesome.
  
  
• Sunday involved laundry, oatmeal, and talking to my sister P on Marco Polo. I didn't get everything done that I wanted to get done but I did get to do a Hamilton karaoke on SingSnap and I did get to take some extra walks. I also played a song on ukulele that I've done before but wanted to update.
  
  
• Monday I had to get up early to assist with the interview practice at the office. I timed the group's responses, and after the first practice I got to eat oatmeal and come back for more practices. Also had to send a proposal package and a letter of response. Very busy. After work I played DDR and played my online games with friends. This time it was just Meg, Ben, Katie, me, Jeaux, and Victor. Kathy and Fred and Steve could not join us. After, more walking!
  
  
• Tuesday I had to get up early again for another early-morning interview practice. We only had time for one before they had to go on for the real thing without me. Then I had to do a bunch of the stuff that is pretty low on my list of favorite work tasks: I had to request some plans, do a utility ticket, and send some other utility letters and do research for Hernando County's sidewalk job. After work I had time for a nap, walks, more videos for P, and chatting with Jeaux. He had developed what he thought might be a sinus infection, but just in case it turned out to be the virus, we decided not to meet for Jeaux Day the next day.
  
  
• Wednesday was slower at work but I had to do more utility letters and research. More talking to P on Marco Polo and more reading my old work logs, which are hilarious. Really glad I don't work there anymore. After work I biked to Winn-Dixie for my exercise and my grocery run in one! (Since I wasn't meeting with Jeaux.) I made a yummy pasta with broccoli for dinner and talked to my yard guy Tony. Jeaux was still a bit sick. Meghan recommended an aerobic walking program on YouTube and I tried a two-mile routine. Fun! I started editing the next episode of Not-So-Giant Women.
  
  
• Thursday was more utility stuff and some organization and proofreading for the Melbourne proposal. I did some more of those online walking routines. It was too soggy for outdoor walks, so perfect! Jeaux reported feeling better. After work I made some Polos for P and talked to Victor while drawing and walking. Not much news beyond that!
  
  
• Friday I had to physically go to the office--and my boss couldn't take me so Mom agreed to be my ride. When she showed up to pick me up 10 minutes earlier than agreed, I asked her who she was because she could not be my mother and be early. It was funny. She hung out with me and even helped me fold some papers to go in the proposal. I also got to meet my coworker Anh for the first time in person, even though we've been coworkers for a few months now. Everything went pretty smoothly and I dropped the package off at UPS with Mom. Then at home I did some more utility work and took a nap after work. When I got up I took a walk and finished my webcomic and afterwards I did another YouTube walk.

New reviews of my book:

• Isabella gave it a four-star review on Goodreads.

Food Plan Update:

• I am still doing well with the plan I'm on. I'm enjoying the oatmeal breakfasts and I think they will be important for the future--on the days I have the oatmeal breakfasts, I don't want very heavy lunches and dinners, so it keeps me going all day. I am enjoying mixing together a mixture of outdoor walks and these new YouTube aerobics/walks videos. I've been incorporating more avocados into my diet for good fat and I like that too. I'd like to try to incorporate more vegetables next week, rather than just veggie substitutes for meat that count as vegetables.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing, paused on reading projects right now!

• Currently reading: Emma by Jane Austen. I'm on page 225.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Burn" from Hamilton.




Stuff Drawn:



Webcomic Negative One Issue 0797: "Indoors."






New videos: 

My ukulele cover of "That Distant Shore"

New photos:

My new Pearl dress - with Rose flag

Closeup - dress with Rose flag

Pearl dress, Pearl plush

Pearl dress, Rose plush

My latest pumpkin smoothie

Drinking pumpkin smoothie!

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,299 for swankivy (2 new), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 101 for Not-So-Giant Women (2 new). Twitter followers: 945 for swankivy (no change), 1,358 for JulieSondra (lost 5). Facebook: 296 friends (lost 1, don't know who deleted me) for swankivy, 631 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 62 likes for Negative One (no change), 162 likes for So You Write (no change), 84 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (1 new). Tumblr followers: 2,478 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 202 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: August 8 – August 14

Life news this week:

• Saturday was an overall successful day! I got up super late but I needed the sleep. I ate some apple cinnamon oatmeal with raisins and it was delicious. Cleaned up the kitchen, went for a walk, and dove into planning the specifics for my podcast recording with Daria. Then I processed photos, finished my blogging, and played Dance Dance Revolution. Had time to take a shower and chill a bit before the podcast. Then my mom came over!! She had brought me cupcakes (gee, great for my food program!)--I had asked if she would buy me a fancy cupcake to celebrate my short story sale, as is the tradition, and she did! She just showed up later than I expected. I helped her with her phone and then did some recording with Daria. After we were finished I updated some stuff about the short story sale.
  
  
• Sunday was a somewhat lazy day. I did my laundry and trash and got all my walking done but not a lot in terms of projects. Did some karaoke and called a friend. Wrote one letter. Updated Internet stuff and sent a Polo video to my sister. Read a little of my old work.
  
  
• Monday was super busy at work--had to finish data entry and read over a couple letters and double-check some proposal stuff. Then I played Dance Dance Revolution, had a potato, and hung out with my friends Meghan, Katelyn, Jeaux, Steve, Kathy, Fred, and Victor on an online game. It was fun but one of the games was super awkward because we had to pretend to be monsters who were trying to date each other. I ate a mousse my mom got me. Then I got tired and fell asleep when I didn't mean to.
  
  
• Tuesday was a day of weird naps. I woke up super early, took a long walk, went back to sleep, got up for a meeting, went back to sleep, got up for ANOTHER MEETING, and then spent the day updating some reports. After work I talked to my friend Sarah on the phone while taking walks, and did a couple videos for my sister and listened to hers. Did some short story negotiations and ate a wrap.
  
  
• Wednesday I had more meetings and some various work stuff. Took some walks and made video conversations for my sister. I took a little nap too. Later, Jeaux came and we went to the grocery store, came home and had lazy sandwiches, and watched The Owl House again. We also watched Colbert and chatted like usual. I read some of my old stuff until bed.
  
  
• Thursday I spent most of my work day on a transcript for the interview group. Then my boss told me I could drop out of the interview group because they were going to bring in someone else with more relevant experience. Which is fine for me, heh. (Really anybody on the team can talk about what I was gonna talk about.) After work I played DDR and wrote my comic. Victor called and we mostly got to have a full chat. Did some drawings while on the phone as usual.
  
  
• Friday I got up late and went to work. Did a bunch of stuff for the interview package we have to submit and completed my reports and timesheets. Later I took a walk and finished my webcomic, played DDR again, and did some laundry early.

New reviews of my book:

• Kelsey Hock gave it a four-star review on Goodreads.

Food Plan Update:

• All is still well with my plan. They're filtering in more stuff about other important aspects of health besides diet and exercise--like electronics use and getting enough sleep. There are some recommendations about bedtime and some advice about types of exercise to modify what I'm doing. Not sure how much I'll be incorporating, but maybe some of it. I'd like to take some time before bed to wind down with reading. We'll see. The scale is continuing to do its thing pretty slowly. I feel like there are a lot of days I'm not eating as much as I should, which is weird, but it's not causing me to be hungry. It just takes a lot of time to get in all this extra activity and sometimes that can make you feel like not eating much.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing, paused on reading projects right now!

• Currently reading: Emma by Jane Austen. I'm on page 225.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder.




Stuff Drawn:



Webcomic Negative One Issue 0796: "Vigilance."






New videos: 

None!

New photos:

Cupcake for short story sale

Rose Quartz dress

Apple Cinnamon oatmeal with raisins

Apple Ginger oatmeal with pistachios

Banana oatmeal with sunflower butter

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,297 for swankivy (no change), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 99 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 945 for swankivy (lost 1), 1,363 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 297 friends (1 new--I accepted a friend request from someone in the SU group) for swankivy, 632 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 62 likes for Negative One (no change), 162 likes for So You Write (no change), 83 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,479 (no change). Instagram followers: 203 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: August 1 – August 7

Life news this week:

• Biggest news is I sold a short story for the first time in a few years and it's really nice to be rewarded so fast after I just started submitting again. Very encouraging! The story is called "Everyone's Gay in Space." It'll be a while before it's published though, so I'll give details then.
  
  
• Saturday I did another oatmeal experiment (peanut butter and berries to make PB&J!) and got some laundry started early. My mom sent me flowers in honor of my fictional character Ivy's birthday! (If you must know, she's 24. Yikes.) Took a walk and got sexually harassed by a creep (an elderly white man in a car) so I walked across the golf course to avoid him. Got my blog stuff done and updated my cartoon blog's index page.
  
  
• Sunday I did another oatmeal experiment (peanut butter and banana with honey and cinnamon). Also did some dishes and updated the index of my cartoon blog some more. Got laundry folded and put away. Then I had to go to the office for a few hours to help my boss with a proposal that was due the next day. When I got home I hadn't had much chance to get walking done so I took an epic walk and managed to get the steps in. I came home, did karaoke, and redecorated my house for the harvest season.
  
  
• Monday was pumpkin spice oatmeal! Yum! I had a bunch of work to do on our marketing letters (one of them was the unusual long ones, which requires forms and charts). I also took a couple walks and talked to my sis on Marco Polo. We've been sending a lot of Polos. After work I played Dance Dance Revolution, showered, and tuned in to play games with my friends Meghan, Katelyn, Benjamin, Jeaux, Fred, and Kathy! (Victor didn't make it for some reason.) It was a good time and afterwards I did some more walking around.
  
  
• Tuesday I made CHOCOLATE banana oatmeal! OOOOOHH. The day mostly involved some work on setting up letters and a bunch of data entry for roadway inventories. (We started a new work order. I'll be busy with this for the rest of the week.) After work I took a bike ride and found that I most likely will be able to make it to the bike shop sometime soon--it's not ridiculously far away. I want to get my bike chain tightened and the bike tuned up. After the ride I took another walk, hit the shower, and did a fun self-care routine while chatting with my sister. Then I opened packages and let her watch me find out what the hell I ordered. After, more walking. Too much walking! I'm tired.
  
  
• Wednesday I tried a pumpkin smoothie for breakfast, taking a break from oatmeal because I planned to have a heavy dinner. I did a bunch of data entry for my project, and after work I went to the grocery store with Jeaux. We came back and made fried rice. (It was my first time making it, but you couldn't tell!) Then we watched The Owl House and hung out jabbering like usual. Played a game too much on the Internet.
  
  
• Thursday I listened to music while entering data. I also tried a coffee oatmeal concoction that wasn't great. I basically spent the whole day doing the data entry. After work I wrote a storyboard for my comic and talked to Victor on the phone during a walk and during doodling. When he eventually fell asleep on me, I worked on the comic and noticed before bed that I got an acceptance letter for a short story!
  
  
• Friday I had to cram in a bunch of work on my data entry project, but I got it all done by the early evening, interspersed with listening to CDs and grabbing the songs I liked. I tried a different kind of coffee oatmeal with quick oats and I didn't like that either. :/ Then I did some paperwork to sign the contract for my offer of publication on my short story, which left me scrambling to get my work done on my webcomic. (I didn't make much progress while on the phone with Victor.) I did fine with all that and spent some of the wee hours taking walks and updating some online stuff.

Food Plan Update:

• The food plan is going pretty well. The scale isn't moving much, but overall I can say it is very slowly going down, so I guess at least I can say I'm doing this sustainably and realistically. Eating oatmeal in the mornings is really helpful to feeling energetic and not hungry the rest of the day (though I haven't been struggling with any hunger issues during this). I'm liking the pattern of taking several breaks from work to take walks so I'm not so sedentary for so long, and getting all the steps in for the program has been challenging but doable. I've still got two dance aerobics sessions scheduled per week and one bike ride, which I seem to be taking on Tuesdays. The oatmeal experiments have been fun even though this week I ran into a few I didn't like.

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing, paused on reading projects right now!

• Currently reading: Emma by Jane Austen. I'm on page 225.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds.




Stuff Drawn:



Webcomic Negative One Issue 0795: "Tangled Up."






New videos: 

My interview video with Marta is up! Ace Interviews #4: Marta & Swankivy!

 

"Swankivy interviews asexual-spectrum folks about their experiences being ace! Guest is Marta from Poland, an aego-bisexual panromantic ace. Marta is the founder of the biggest Facebook group for Polish asexuals and helps organize meetings through the Polish ace group, Asfera (which has a Facebook page)."

New photos:

Flowers Mom got me for Ivy's birthday

Working it out with Cat Steven

New Cookie Cat Jacket

Pumpkin Smoothie!

Look at that smooth yum!

PB&J oatmeal

Peanut Butter & Banana Oatmeal

Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal

Banana Mocha Oatmeal

Coffee Almond Oatmeal

Coffee & Cream Oatmeal

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,297 for swankivy (1 new), 675 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 99 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 946 for swankivy (lost 2), 1,362 for JulieSondra (2 new). Facebook: 296 friends (lost 1, don't know who) for swankivy, 633 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 62 likes for Negative One (no change), 162 likes for So You Write (no change), 83 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,479 (no change). Instagram followers: 203 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: July 25 – July 31

Life news this week:

• Saturday I got up early, made oatmeal cookies for my mom (with raisins this time!) and went to her house via the Jeauxmobile. I didn't hang out that long but she wanted me to help pack up a third of her china for me to have at my house. I said okay. While she was resting I snuck in and did her dishes. :) She drove me back home and I put the china in a big tub to let it soak since it needed cleaning from storage and smoke. It came out really nicely and I rearranged some of my kitchen to find a place for the stuff. After Mom left I played DDR for exercise--I'd been planning on a bike ride but it rained. I processed some photos but didn't get my blogging done.
  
• Sunday it rained again so I couldn't clean my table. I did all the other chores like laundry, dishes, and trash. Did some transcript typing and some karaoke, and finally got through all my blogging.
  
• Monday work required some proposal wrangling but that was really it. I did manage to get my table cleaned in the afternoon. A roofer visited and I showed him the problem but it didn't get fixed this week--don't know what the timeline is at all. Had some nice text chats with my sisters and played DDR. I got a positive response on one of my short stories--a senior editor said they liked it but not for the anthology I submitted to, and asked me to send it to another one of their projects that might fit better. (But it required I shorten the word count, which I did. An unexpected chunk of the day devoted to editing, but well spent!) Also, Meghan's precious kitty cat had to be put down. :(
  
• Tuesday I did edits on a proposal for a local city and dealt with some plans downloads. Texted with my sisters more, took a bike ride and a long walk, and sent out another story after a rejection. Played some fun games online with Meghan's family--hope to recruit some of my pals for games next week! I also worked on my video transcript.
  
• Wednesday I worked on some project manager databases and did some package tracking. And of course a bunch of walking. When Jeaux came we went to the store, got food, and made some yummy veggie wraps with soup! Man do I have leftovers though. We watched Owl House and hung out. Also sent some video messages to my sister P.
  
• Thursday involved some forms for an upcoming letter and some database stuff. I had to revamp the video I was transcripting because there were some more things I wanted to cut out. I worked on my writing webcomic and sent the video to the interviewee, Marta, so she could review it. Also, I started an oatmeal experiment! New oatmeal recipes for breakfast every day. Victor called but he only lasted about an hour and a half before he got too sleepy and I told him to go to bed. Boo. Got the comic done!
  
• Friday I had to do a bunch of stuff with the local proposal again. And I did my usual reports. It is my fictional character Ivy's birthday! She is 24. Wow. I worked on the webcomic and reviewed the season 3 instrumental soundtrack of Steven Universe which was just released. It's great as always!

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• The-Modern-Typewriter Blog said they were reading my book and answered someone's question about it, giving a little mini-review.
• Queer As Cat recommended my book with some other ace resources to someone who needs a parent to understand.

New Reviews of My Book:

• Zoe Perzo gave it a five-star review on Goodreads.
• Auntie Terror gave it a four-star review on Goodreads.

Food Plan Update:

• Still doing my cool plan and still liking it. Since it's the end of the month I think I'll show you some stats. I wish the food plan could show a weekly or monthly breakdown but they only do that with exercise. But overall I am given 1200 calories to spend (it increases on days I record a workout or exercise) and I'm generally coming in well under that without being hungry at all, plus meeting an ever-increasing step count (it will eventually recommend 10,000 steps, but I'm up to 8600 right now and haven't failed to meet the requirement yet) and setting personal goals for exercise and mindful eating.

 

• I've ended the month at 123 pounds (overall, down 2 pounds, which is on track for the expected .5 pound loss per week); I can wear a pair of jeans I couldn't before; and I'm eating way more vegetables and fruits and yogurt than I used to.
• I am also doing something cool with oatmeal breakfasts that I just started! So far I have done a raisin/pistachio/honey oatmeal and a peach cobbler oatmeal. More next week!

Reading progress:

• Finished Reading: Nothing, paused on reading projects right now!

• Currently reading: Emma by Jane Austen. I'm on page 225.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister.




Stuff Drawn:




Webcomic So You Write Issue 110: "Shorter."









Webcomic Negative One Issue 0794: "That Look."






New videos: 

I made one but I haven't been given permission to make it public yet.

New photos:

China put away in the cabinet

Another post-workout selfie

My wrap! Mushrooms, tofu, cheese, broccoli

Wrap is wrapped!

Oatmeal with raisins, pistachios, and honey

Oatmeal with peaches, yogurt, and cinnamon

Social Media Counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,296 for swankivy (3 new), 676 for JulieSondra (1 new), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 99 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 948 for swankivy (lost 2), 1,360 for JulieSondra (no change). Facebook: 297 friends (no change) for swankivy, 634 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 62 likes for Negative One (no change), 162 likes for So You Write (4 new), 83 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,479 (lost 3). Instagram followers: 203 (1 new).