Personal Digest Saturday: February 19 – February 25

Life news this week:

• Saturday I knocked out some preparation for podcast recording but it took longer than I expected. Then I did my blogging and took a long walk to get steps in since I anticipated a pretty long recording session. Daria and I recorded our discussion of "Drop Beat Dad" and "Mr. Greg." Before going to bed I recorded a karaoke song.
  
  
• Sunday I got up early and Dad picked me up for band practice--this time at the guitarist's house. We had a great practice with really good recording setup, even though he had to use the electronic drums for it. We went out for sushi afterwards and had a great lunch and great talks. After I was home I jumped into the usual Sunday chores (laundry, trash), then worked on my next podcast episode.
  
  
• Monday at work I worked on a letter to go out and some other small errands. After work I did some walking and cooking and took pictures of my SU wallet collection which just had an addition. Posted my latest podcast for "Fusion Cuisine" and played hella fun games with my friends online. And I drew the beginnings of a funny fan comic idea.
  
  
• Tuesday was 2's Day (02/22/2022). Work involved document requests. I listened to our band recordings and gave some commentary to the other band members. Did the rest of the fan comic drawings. Had a big mess in my bedroom because a plastic shield fell behind the dresser and I messed up all my toys trying to move the dresser and get it out. Ended up having to take literally everything down and put it back up again. It took almost an hour.
  
  
• Wednesday I had to help with document preparation for teaming arrangements and work on a presentation slide. I processed my fan comic and posted it. After work Jeaux took me shopping and we got Little Greek takeout. We did our usual Colbert-watching and silly stuff and took a walk.
  
  
• Thursday I had to help with some file transfers, plan acquisitions, and document processing. Wrote a storyboard for my comic and drew most of it that night. Victor didn't call me. I made a grilled cheese sandwich cut into sticks to dip in tomato soup. It was good.
  
  
• Friday I was busy all day at work for the first time in a while. I did the upcoming project reports and one of the Districts had released all its data at once so it took a long time. Also had to help with proofreading a presentation and outlining a proposal. After work I finished the webcomic and posted, then did my walking inside since it was dark already--alternating between reading and listening to band songs trying to memorize lyrics.

New Reviews:

• Aleksandra gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.
  
  
• Sierra gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.
  
  
• Jackie gave The Invisible Orientation an unrated review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: And again things are better than last week so I'm satisfied. Very happy with most of the choices I've made this week too. High weight: 117.9. Low weight: 116.5.
• Nutrition stuff: Continued success with having a green food every day, and have continued incorporating more fruit. That's helping SO much with trying to find carbohydrates that aren't high fat.
• Activity stuff: I met my step goal every day this week! My low day was Tuesday at 10,035 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 13,767 steps.

Finished Reading: 

• Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently reading: Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. I'm on page 252.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Surface Pressure" from Encanto.

Stuff drawn:

Fan comic Pearl's Trash Can can be read here:

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0876: "You First." 

New videos:

Not-So-Giant Women Episode 32: Fusion Cuisine is out! Join Daria and Ivy as they watch and talk about "Fusion Cuisine" and cover such topics as Alexandrite's design, the rules and attributes of fusion, Alexandrite's offscreen fusion dance, Alexandrite's eating habits, the new information that Pearl hates eating, opinions of Connie's parents, the infamous "I panicked" moment from Garnet, cultural weirdness surrounding "foreign" names, Connie's flip phone, some digressions about parents banning things, how the Gems might act if they had human bodies, and how the dinner might have gone if Steven HAD picked one of the other three.

New photos:

Dad's electric drums and bein' a cool guy with sunglasses

Updated wallet collection

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,350 for swankivy (lost 2), 674 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 135 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 926 for swankivy (lost 4), 2,585 for JulieSondra (5 new). Facebook: 297 friends for swankivy (no change), 636 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 236 likes for So You Write (no change), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,464 (no change). Instagram followers: 244 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: February 12 – February 18

Life news this week:

• Saturday I made same-day plans with Mom and figured she might or might not show up, but she did! She brought over cabbage she wanted to use up and taught me how to make eggrolls. She even brought tofu for me and chicken for her! We took our time making them and hanging out. Later Jeaux came by to pick up something he forgot and he got to try the chicken eggrolls too. I barely got my steps in for the day and didn't get my blogging done until after everyone left. I also found out my sister L went to the hospital but she was released the same day.
  
  
• Sunday I got up early and Dad picked me up for band practice. We practiced harmony in the car but didn't get to try it out due to equipment difficulties at our bandmate's house. We played a really long rehearsal and I overworked my voice a little. Afterwards we went to Applebee's (Connie joined us) and I ate, like, all the chips and dip along with my grilled cheese and fries meal. On the way back my dad and I got to chat, and after I got home I caught up with Meghan, did my trash and laundry, and took a nap. When I got up I had an interview for someone's asexuality book. I screwed around reading my book and texting with my sisters.
  
  
• Monday I was back to work dealing with timesheets and occasional e-mails. I ate the rest of my eggrolls and worked on writing stuff. Made a post about items I'm looking for for my SU collection. Played games with friends and got my walking done early.
  
  
• Tuesday I did some research at work and made some reports. Did some more writing-related stuff. Cleaned up the house a bit and listened to Polos and took some pictures of my pin collection. Did my taxes and my mom's taxes. And recorded a karaoke song.
  
  
• Wednesday I had a meeting and worked on updating a database for our marketing. I made some recordings from some old tapes and had a brief chat with the pest control person who was curious about my book. After work I grocery shopped with Jeaux and we got Moe's food, and after our TV and walking we had a really long talk about Steven Universe for some reason.
  
  
• Thursday involved uploading a bunch of files from a completed project to our company files. Did some more writing stuff and took a nap after work. Victor called in the evening and updated me on all his stuff. I had vegetables and went to bed.
  
  
• Friday I went to work in the late morning and took care of some document processing and more updates on our database. After work I did my webcomic drawings and posted the comic. I made some more recordings from old tapes while drawing. Finished up my walking and wrote an e-mail.

New Reviews:

• H gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Amazon.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Okay! Pretty happy with the direction things are going now. I've been making better choices (nothing too extreme, though) and it's paying off. High weight: 118.7. Low weight: 117.1.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Continued success with having a green food every day, and I've also been incorporating more fruit. Have been much closer to the ideal balance between carbs, fats, and protein, though I could always use lower fat and higher carb for some reason. (That's why I'm putting more fruit and low-fat yogurt into my diet.)
  
• Activity stuff: I met my step goal every day this week! My low day was Tuesday at 10,100 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 16,999 steps.

Finished Reading: 

• Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently reading: Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. I'm on page 156.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "All Apologies" by Nirvana.

Stuff drawn:

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0875: "Big Boy Belt." 

New videos:

None.

New photos:

Mom working on eggrolls

Eggroll ingredients

I had some wine

Finished eggrolls

Updated pin collection

Updated hat collection

Finally tried on my Stevonnie swim dress

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,352 for swankivy (7 new), 673 for JulieSondra (2 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 135 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 930 for swankivy (2 new), 2,580 for JulieSondra (28 new). Facebook: 297 friends for swankivy (no change), 636 likes for JulieSondra (1 new), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 236 likes for So You Write (2 new), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,464 (no change). Instagram followers: 245 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: February 5 – February 11

Life news this week:

• Saturday was a good day--slept late but got everything done. I cleaned up the house and put away/washed dishes, and then I walked to the post office to mail Meghan's last birthday gift that came late and finished all my blogging before Steve got to my place. He and I hung out all evening and ate pizza from our favorite pizza place. I spent the evening updating my notes on my in-progress lesbian science fiction romance, and I cut up some potatoes for overnight soaking so I would be able to make poutine in the morning.
  
  
• Sunday I woke up super late, but once I was awake I got to making my poutine. That involved frying the potatoes, making mushroom gravy, frying the potatoes again, and assembling the poutine with cheese curds, which also involved some VERY silly cosplay (because I'm a Steven Universe nerd and there were a few seconds where a character was holding some poutine). I wrote up my recipe for Tumblr and Reddit and posted it, then ate the rest of my fries later. I submitted a short story and wrote a recommendation letter for one of my friends. And I worked a little on my next podcast post.
  
  
• Monday I was sleepy at work. Had to deal with a marketing letter (one of the hefty ones) and it went through several iterations with a backup package included. Had some online arguments and had some back-and-forth Marco Polo videos. Put away laundry and then played online games with my friends. Worked on the podcast more. Repaired some clothes. Shared my poutine recipe with Amino and finished the podcast editing.
  
  
• Tuesday work was stressful because I had to outline a proposal that was something I'd never seen before, but I figured it out as best I could. Then I had to respond to some utility people and write weird e-mails. I posted my podcast episode (Not-So-Giant Women #31!) and sent responses to two people who want to interview me about asexuality. Then I played Dance Dance Revolution and cooked some zucchini for dinner. Then I worked on some silliness with my book.
  
  
• Wednesday I woke up a little late and had missed a meeting, but it was a meeting I'd been invited to that morning so I had no warning, ha. I made the next meeting and it was fine. (I don't usually get to say much in the meetings.) I did some research for a coworker, applied some edits for another coworker, and put together a submission packet for my boss. I adjusted some stuff with my personal budget and then Jeaux arrived to take me to the grocery store. We shopped and got yummy rice bowls from SoFresh. We spent the evening eating them in front of the Colbert show, watching silly videos, and taking a walk.
  
  
• Thursday I had multiple meetings that I had little input in, and one of them was a meeting about the proposal I outlined on Tuesday. After work I continued to work on an e-mail I've had in progress for a long time, and after doing some writing-related check-ins and e-mail, I got tired. Victor usually calls me on Thursdays but he still hadn't called by almost 9 PM so my tiredness led to me missing his call. (He did call, I just missed it.)
  
  
• Friday I was very busy at work, providing some meeting minutes from a recording and updating some reports I do for upcoming projects. After work I finished the drawings for my webcomic and posted the issue, and then chatted with some writer friends and attended to some biz. I went to bed at a SORT OF reasonable time but it was more because I wanted to be warm, not because I was tired. (I fell asleep anyway.)

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• Public Libraries Online did a feature on "Asexuality on the shelves" and spotlighted my book.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Well, I got another new high (which is not a good thing)--and it has convinced me to stop buying "decorative candy" that I will definitely eat. If I don't want to get back into the range where I will be having trouble with my clothes again, I'm going to have to work hard on this starting now, and I'd really prefer not to throw away the hard work I did last year. High weight: 119.5. Low weight: 117.9.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I continued to succeed at having at least one green food every day! And the balance for my protein/fat/carbohydrate balance is still very good. I don't have any problems getting enough protein. It just seems like I have too few carbohydrates and too much fat.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my step goal every day this week, and even had one high-impact aerobics day. My low day was Monday at 10,081 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 13,204 steps.

Finished Reading: 

• Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently reading: Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. I'm on page 156.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Because the Night" by 10,000 Maniacs.

Stuff drawn:

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0874: "The Planting Process." 

New videos:

Not-So-Giant Women #31: Keep Beach City Weird is out! Join Daria and Ivy as they watch and talk about "Keep Beach City Weird" and cover such topics as Sneeple theories, Ronaldo's anime eyes, the adorable Steven Tag forms, discussions of the Fryman family dynamics, Ronaldo's conspiracy theories always casting himself in a critical role, why the Gems knew to come rescue Steven after he'd been kidnapped, Sneeple arms, the fact that actual aliens are Ronaldo's neighbors and he still finds that unworthy of an explanation, Peedee's support of his older brother, Pearl's refusal to participate in Steven Tag, money in the SU world, the controversy of whether Ronaldo's delusions should have been encouraged, and the real-life Ronaldo blog on Tumblr.

New photos:

My poutine

Percy cosplay with poutine

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,345 for swankivy (no change), 671 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 135 for Not-So-Giant Women (1 new). Twitter followers: 928 for swankivy (5 new), 2,552 for JulieSondra (29 new). Facebook: 297 friends for swankivy (no change), 635 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 234 likes for So You Write (1 new), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,464 (no change). Instagram followers: 246 (lost 1).

Personal Digest Saturday: January 29 – February 4

Life news this week:

• Saturday began another pretty uneventful week. We had a lot of cold weather and my heater didn't work that well so I spent a lot of time cold and huddling in my Comfy. I spent the day working on blogging and planning for my podcast, then recording the podcast. Was nice to catch up with Daria and record "Hit the Diamond" and "Steven Floats." I also discovered that the weird fruit fly-like bugs in my house were drain flies! I bought some stuff online to get rid of them.
  
  
• Sunday I got up late because I wanted to stay in the warm bed. I did the usual chores for the day--laundry, trash, cleanup. Recorded a karaoke song and posted to ask Reddit whether they thought I should make poutine. (Almost 2,000 upvotes later, I think they want me to make poutine.) I also drew and posted a new So You Write comic.
  
  
• Monday I did some data updates and timesheet stuff. I took a nap and did some walking. Did a little bit of website work with my photo gallery. Played games with friends online. More walking after, and was able to put my plants back outside because it was less cold.
  
  
• Tuesday I had to read a letter and send it in, but that was the work highlight. I also updated a bunch of records. I spent my free evening photographing expanded collections for my SU merch (I have gotten a new jacket, three new sweaters, two new dresses, three new shirts, one new backpack, one new blanket, and one new enamel pin since I last updated, so it was time!) I also worked on querying.
  
  
• Wednesday I had nothing going on at work so I did my project management reports even though they're not due for more than a week. Made a lot of headway on the Halloween albums on my photos website. After work Jeaux picked me up for groceries and food from Burger 21. (We both got Impossible Burgers.) We did our usual looking at silly stuff and taking a walk. After he left I slept early.
  
  
• Thursday was pretty dead at work too. I did more Polos with friends. It warmed up so much here that I had to turn the air conditioner back on. Worked on my photos site and my comic. Victor called and updated me on his life.
  
  
• Friday work was super slow again! I had to do some setup for letters and plans requests though, and I helped my boss with a package. I worked on the comic and got it posted, did some walking and talking, worked on querying again, and finished the Halloween gallery finally! Another large section of the photos site done.

New Reviews:

• Amheliie Amheliie gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads (in French).
  
• Crystal Starr Light gave The Invisible Orientation a five-star review on Goodreads.
  
• kory. gave The Invisible Orientation a two-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Still no real changes here. High weight: 118.7. Low weight: 117.9.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I did very well having at least one green food every day! (It was usually spinach, but a couple times it was zucchini.) My protein/fat/carbohydrate balance is very good.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my step goal every day this week except I was a few hundred steps short on Friday but I can't really count that, it was close enough. My low day was Friday at 9,601 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 11,555 steps.

Finished Reading: 

• Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently reading: Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow. I'm on page 156.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Million Reasons" by Lady Gaga.

Stuff drawn:

Webcomic So You Write Issue 128: "Say Nothing." 

Webcomic Negative One Issue 0873: "Like a Parent." 

New videos:

None.

New photos:

Being Cozy

Jeaux wore his Rubies shirt

Good morning cozy photo

Updated enamel pins collection

Updated blankets collection

Updated bags collection

Updated dress collection

Updated shirt collection

Updated sweaters & jackets collection

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,345 for swankivy (no change), 672 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 134 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 923 for swankivy (lost 1), 2,523 for JulieSondra (50 new). Facebook: 297 friends for swankivy (lost 1, don't know who), 635 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 80 followers for Negative One (no change), 233 likes for So You Write (no change), 86 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,464 (no change). Instagram followers: 247 (lost 1).