Personal Digest Saturday: November 18 – November 24

Life news this week:

• Saturday I got some steps and cleaned up around the house before Meghan came over. We hung out, went to Walgreens and Home Depot, and tried to fix some stuff at my mom's house but were unsuccessful. Then we ate at Noble Crust and went shopping at a kitchen store. Later we hung out talking, baking pumpkin cheesecake bars, and rambling about life stuff.
  
  
• Sunday we had coffee together in the morning and then went out to meet Adam at a restaurant called Tres Amigos (it was excellent). After a little chilling back at my house, Meg went home and I took a nap, then put my new wet/dry vacuum together (it was very difficult to get the wheels in!). I vacuumed out some gunk from one of my water tanks and did maintenance on another one. Since I was in cleanup mode I also paid Mom's bills again and did some laundry. Then I talked to Ben on the phone for like 3 hours.
  
  
• Monday at work I had to edit three letters to go out. Not time for much else but I started working on a transcript my boss wanted also. I received some important paperwork for my mom's estate which allowed me to finally start getting certain aspects of her affairs taken care of, so I looked up some info about getting the needed appointments. I chatted with Ben briefly again and also texted with my sisters. Was sad to hear my brother-in-law Yusuke lost his father the day before.
  
  
• Tuesday I had another letter to do and also just basically spent the whole day on a transcript and making appointments for the mom stuff. (I need to go to the bank and the DMV.) After work I did a little walking and Poloing, then had a game night with friends since we were not going to be able to meet on our usual Thursday. Did more walking and watched some reactions.
  
  
• Wednesday I did some updates and downloads of information I track for our marketing. Also went to the post office to change my mom's address but after I walked all the way there the clerk told me they were out of the address change forms. So I had to walk home with nothing accomplished. Ended up getting a Lyft car to another post office so I could take care of it. Then I met Jeaux and we ate at Joe's Diner, watched Colbert, took a walk, and made a pumpkin roll.
  
  
• Thursday Jeaux and I drove to Sarasota to meet my dad and Connie, where we stood in line at Der Dutchman for two hours for Thanksgiving food. First time not doing Thanksgiving at someone's home I guess! My mom was very invested in the Thanksgiving traditions but was limited as to how much traveling she could do, so when she was still with us I couldn't go far. So this was the first time I've gotten to spend the holiday with my dad in a very long time. The food was good and we brought our pumpkin roll for dessert, which we had with some pecan pie as well. We also looked at my cookbook for a long time and ended up watching six episodes of Steven Universe on my dad's giant TV. Then we went home, took a walk, and I went to bed early.
  
  
• Friday I did nothing like a weird lump for most of the day. Finally got around to writing my webcomic and taking some walks. I got started drawing very late and interspersed it with games and walking, and ended up getting really close to the deadline so I had to hurry. And then my scanner stopped working so I couldn't do the comic. I had to slap together a version of it that worked from phone pictures of the art (which I hope I can fix later). Pretty stressful. Then I put together a garment rack and wrapped up my night pretty early.

New Reviews:

• Pynk Moon gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.
  
• Dan gave "Everyone's Gay in Space" a four-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Back to the usual but I was trying to eat up leftovers from fun desserts and stuff, plus there was Thanksgiving. High weight: 123.7. Low weight: 122.5.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Working on getting more protein in my diet this week and just ended up with a lot of sugar. Still consistently taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,339 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 15,055 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Loveless by Alice Oseman. I'm on page 126.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Dancing in the Dark" by Bruce Springsteen.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


#0967: ivy #300: Most People's Nature.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Meggie making pumpkin cheesecake bars

The baked pumpkin cheesecake bars

Cardinal!

With Meggie and Adam at Tres Amigos

Carolina Wren!

Jeaux frosting the pumpkin roll

Jeaux presenting the pumpkin roll at Thanksgiving

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,443 for swankivy (no change), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 194 for Not-So-Giant Women (3 new), 70 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 848 for swankivy (lost 2), 3,853 for JulieSondra (lost 5). Facebook: 300 friends for swankivy (1 new, an old friend's new account), 648 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 246 likes for So You Write (no change), 97 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,442 (1 new). Instagram followers: 266 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday: November 11 – November 17

Life news this week:

• Saturday I had to stop taking vitamins because it was required for my upcoming medical procedure. I spent the day over at my mom's house packing up the rest of her kitchen for donation, cleaning off her table/cleaning out her dish cabinet/cleaning out a couple desks/collecting up her jewelry, and even tossing some paperback books in the recycler. (We really can't donate them--they're very damaged from smoke.) I was very sad tossing my mom's beloved sewing machine (it was broken). Also, my Lyft driver on the way over there was yelling at me in dismay that I had "allowed" the tree across the street on the golf course to be cut down. "You should have stopped them!" he said, and didn't accept that the tree had been dying and/or that I am not in charge of what happens on the golf course. (To add to the weirdness, he didn't speak English and I didn't speak his Chinese dialect, so we were having this conversation through a translation app.) Weird experience. Got home after taking lots of garbage out and got cleaned up, did my blogging, did a Polo, and stayed up late for no real reason doing silly quizzes online.
  
  
• Sunday was band practice. Dad picked me up and we practiced seven new songs and some of our old ones. Went pretty well and was fun, and we ate at Yard House afterwards. Got home and did laundry and trash, and then worked on Polos and another episode of Not-So-Giant Women. Went to bed early.
  
  
• Monday there were no letters because they were all bumped to Tuesday. I just did some research catch-up and follow-ups. Calculated out some budget stuff and found out that where I thought I was behind I was actually ahead. Worked on the podcast again.
  
  
• Tuesday I had two letters to go out and one of them was a bit chaotic. This was the last day before I would have to go on a clear liquid diet so I loaded up on protein for all my meals (since I would not be able to get ANY protein the next day). Worked on Polos, karaoke, laundry, and a podcast, and worked a teeny bit on a short story I'm writing.
  
  
• Wednesday I mostly did reports all day. I began a liquid diet and I was super hungry the first half of the day even though I was getting plenty of calories. My favorite things to eat were my lemon popsicles and my vegetable broth, and I was super happy that coffee is okay without creamer as long as I use lots of sweetener. After work I had to start taking laxatives and it was nowhere near as dramatic as I'd been led to believe, though the treatment itself was Super Yucky. I was able to take a two-hour nap even (because I had to be up for a 5:30 AM appointment the next day!). Did some Polos.
  
  
• Thursday super early morning I had to take more laxatives at 2 AM and then went back to bed. Again not dramatic but I was very thirsty and got dehydrated. Jeaux picked me up and took me to the surgery center and we got there right on time. Right before my procedure was when I had to potty a lot LOL. I got taken back to the prep area and had to change into the hospital clothes and a nurse was very nice to me and kept bringing me warm blankets because I get cold easily. I felt better after I got IV fluids. But then I got taken into the procedure room and they knocked me out and the next thing I remember I was drinking juice in the recovery room. I am officially a young old person who has survived her first routine colonoscopy. Wheee. Jeaux took me to IHOP because I could eat again so I had eggs and pancakes. We spent the day hanging out and resting, and then later we went grocery shopping and out to eat at Burger 21. Later we played games with our friends and tried to watch Colbert but I got very tired and slept early (for me).
  
  
• Friday I went to work and did timesheets and reports. Worked on my comic, did some Polos, and talked to my probate lawyer (they just got a new paralegal signed on and she called to update me on everything). Got some laundry done and finished the comic and did some Polos. Somehow I ended up not walking quite enough and missed my step goal by less than a thousand for the first time in a very long time.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• Modern Pleasure: Dr. Jenni and Kim interview me for "The Asexuality Convo." Nice overview with some basic coverage about asexuality, but balanced with nuanced discussions of asexual people's relationship to sex and how discrimination can manifest.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Everything was a little bit weird this week since I had the liquid diet and medical procedure stuff, so this isn't really good data. High weight: 123.7. Low weight: 121.2.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I've been eating a pretty balanced diet but still need better ways to get vegetables into my diet consistently. I had one super protein-heavy day right before a 100% carbs day because of the liquid diet. For 5 days this week I did not take vitamins because I was asked to stop them before the procedure, but after that I went back to consistently taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week except I missed it by a small amount somehow on Friday. My low day was Friday at 9,586 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 12,719 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Loveless by Alice Oseman. I'm on page 126.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "You Gotta Be" by Des'ree.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


#0966: weaver #149: Imaginary Scenario.

Videos Made:

Not-So-Giant Women Episode 66: Historical Friction is out. Join Daria and Ivy as they watch and talk about "Historical Friction" and cover such topics as the ongoing storyline's application in this episode, Jamie's thespian ventures, Mayor Dewey's crush on Pearl and what his actual first name is, who Dewey's running against all the time anyway, Mayor Dewey's initial refusal to accept edits, the history of Dewey's family being mayor, the identity of the Fusion that saved William Dewey, Stevenian enthusiasm, Nanefua's inappropriate behavior, and the creative name "Beach City."

New photos:

Cardinal

Cardinal

Downy Woodpecker & Cardinal

Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, and House Finch

Cardinal

Tufted Titmouse and House Finch

And also the neighbor's cat, Bruno, is very interested in the bird feeder.

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,443 for swankivy (lost 2), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 194 for Not-So-Giant Women (3 new), 70 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 850 for swankivy (no change), 3,858 for JulieSondra (lost 3). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 648 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 246 likes for So You Write (no change), 97 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,441 (no change). Instagram followers: 266 (3 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: November 4 – November 10

Life news this week:

• Saturday I got up and finally FINALIZED MY STEVEN UNIVERSE COOKBOOK (well, its first draft) for release on the 10-year anniversary of the show's premiere. It had a bunch of glitches and things I wanted to clean up but it was complete enough for me! Free download of PDF on Dropbox or Google Drive.
  
  
  
  With that out of the way, I cleaned up a little in my house (finally doing the dishes and a bunch of stuff I'd been ignoring) and then Ben came over and he helped me go pick out a bird feeder. We hung out and chatted, set up the bird feeder, got some burritos at Moe's, and he let me introduce him to Steven Universe (we watched the first 12 episodes). Nice way to spend the anniversary--introducing someone new to the show!
  
  
• Sunday I had a Relaxation Day (and finished up my blogging since I didn't get to do it the day before). I did some laundry and then my friends and I went out to a comedy club to see Ben Brainard. Yasmin, Arthur, Jeaux, and I had a lovely time and I got a fruit and cheese plate. Afterwards, Jeaux and I took a walk and after he left I put out my trash and put out my charity boxes for St. Joseph's to pick up.
  
  
• Monday I did three letters at work and did some catch-up, process work, and follow-ups with subconsultants. I put away laundry and tweaked the cookbook some more. I got the two-sided printing figured out and the live table of contents enabled. Also had to put my charity stuff back in the garage because the charity people never showed up to pick it up.
  
  
• Tuesday I was able to slide in with an appointment for the next charity pickup in a few days from Red Cross. I worked on invitations for teams and talked to my probate lawyer about why I STILL don't have paperwork to designate me the administrator of my mom's estate. And they wrote back and said they have the letters and did I want to come pick them up (in another city). No idea why there seem to be so many delays and communication just does not seem to be flowing. After work I worked on the cookbook some more AND THE FILE CORRUPTED AND WAS NOT RECOVERABLE so I lost a bunch of work.
  
  
• Wednesday I did research and followed up on teaming stuff at work. I then worked on tweaking the cookbook more. And I finally started seeing birds on my bird feeder! YAY! Jeaux and I tried out Chronic Tacos, went grocery shopping (had to pick up stuff for my one day I have to be on a liquid diet next week, ew), and we took walks and watched Colbert and started watching a new show called Koisenu Futari (a Japanese show about aromantic asexual people living together). I finally finished tweaking the cookbook.
  
  
• Thursday I worked on reports and wrangled subconsultant arrangements. I kinda drifted around the internet looking at Reddit and Tumblr to relax for a while in between writing my comic and doing Polos. I played games with my friends for Game Night and drew some comics, and then put my charity boxes out again for the Red Cross.
  
  
• Friday I did upcoming project reports and subconsultant stuff again. I finished my comic after work and updated website stuff to reflect a new interview that posted this week. Made some minor edits on my cookbook even though I'd decided I was done. Did Polos. Got tired early. Had to put my stuff back in the garage because YET AGAIN the charity people did not pick up my donation. I have now scheduled with Red Cross three times and the last two times they just didn't come at all, while the time before that they mysteriously only took half my boxes. I give up.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• Spinsterhood Reimagined: Lucy Meggeson interviews me about asexuality, aromanticism, and the connection our communities have with those who are perpetually single. Great conversation!
  
• AskMen published an article called "What Does It Mean to Be Graysexual?" which mentions my book as recommended reading.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Back to regular eating patterns with one exception: There's been leftover Halloween candy figuring in here and there. :) High weight: 123.1. Low weight: 121.7.
  
• Nutrition stuff: The candy is disrupting the amount of fat in my diet and so is the amount of eggs I've been eating. I really need to get a more reliable source of vegetables that I will eat regularly. Still consistently taking the vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,011 steps, and my high day was Friday at 15,344 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Loveless by Alice Oseman. I'm on page 126.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Come Out and Play" by the Offspring.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


#0965: adele #237: Time Will Tell.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Ben and me with the new birdfeeder

Cookie Cat and Steven Universe with Ben

Ben Brainard friend with Yasmin, Arthur, and Jeaux

Birddd

burd

biirrd

BirrrrrrrrrrrD

BIRD

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,445 for swankivy (lost 2), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 191 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 70 for Tides of Time Band (lost 1). Twitter followers: 850 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,861 for JulieSondra (lost 5). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 648 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 246 likes for So You Write (3 new), 97 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,441 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 263 (no change).

Personal Digest Saturday (but posted on Sunday!): October 28 – November 3

Life news this week:

• Saturday I worked on blogging but didn't get it done in time before I had to leave. Ben picked me up to go to his board game party and I got to meet his roommate, Danny. We arrived at his house and he had a cat so I had to take my allergy medicine. Glad I had some with me! We got pizza and I brought my pumpkin spice cupcakes, and I got to meet his other friends Javi, William, Kirk, and Scott. We played the game Just One which was fun, and then split up into a complicated game table and an easier game table (I went for the easier one, and played Quacks of Quedlinburg). We all chatted about various things and Scott gave me a ride home when I had to go. Great night!
  
  
• Sunday I had a restful day. Finished blogging, engaged in a bunch of texting, and finally a little bit of Chore Mode (laundry, trash, paying bills). Did karaoke and made more pumpkin spice cupcakes to use up the pumpkin and frosting I had left over!
  
  
• Monday three letters and two teaming request waves went out. Did some walking and Polos, put away laundry, and wrote, drew, and processed my So You Write comic.
  
  
• Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment for routine stuff and other than that I worked--had meetings and research. Got my candy and stuff set up for trick-or-treaters! Got a few waves and it was fun to see their costumes. Decided I wanted to make a Steven Universe COOKBOOK for the ten-year anniversary of the show's premiere! I have been wanting to do one for a long time but it was intimidating. And yet I somehow decided it'd be a good idea to take it on and do it within four days. Smart.
  
  
• Wednesday I went to work and worked on the Steven Universe cookbook all day until Jeaux got to my house. We ate at SoFresh, grocery shopped, took walks, finished watching Our Flag Means Death, caught up on Colbert, and then after he left I worked on the cookbook more.
  
  
• Thursday I had utility stuff and meetings and the first real cold snap of the year. I continued working on the cookbook after that. Also started working on Negative One during game night playing with my friends.
  
  
• Friday I had reports and other stuff to catch up on. Other than that I finished Negative One and got it posted, and did nothing else the rest of the day except work on the cookbook. I finished it in the wee hours of the morning. A 118-page cartoon cookbook made in four days. It probably has some mistakes and problems but I just wanted to get it out there for release on Saturday.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Started the week with the highest numbers I've seen! Weird. But then I spent a chunk of the week working on my cookbook project constantly and kinda kept forgetting to eat, and the numbers went back down. Neither situation is good. But I'm hoping not to see that number again and hopefully get down below 120 again before the end of the year. I know it seems like small potatoes but I really need to not buy all new pants. High weight: 124.5. Low weight: 122.5.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Did really well with protein this week! Maybe a little better on everything else. Still need more vegetables and haven't been buying the stuff to do smoothies for reasons. Still consistently taking the vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,217 steps, and my high day was Friday at 12,253 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Loveless by Alice Oseman. I'm on page 126.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "You Keep Me Hangin' On" by the Supremes.

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write:


#149: the awesome scene.

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:


#0964: dax #141: carrying water.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes for Ben's birthday

Ben's friends enjoying my cupcakes

Ben enjoying the cupcakes

Me trying a cupcake

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,447 for swankivy (4 new), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 191 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 71 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 851 for swankivy (2 new), 3,866 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 648 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 243 likes for So You Write (lost 2), 97 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,442 (8 new). Instagram followers: 263 (1 new).