Personal Digest Saturday: April 20 – April 26

Life news this week:

• Saturday I chatted with Sarah on the phone, practiced music, and got my blogging done. Started listing some of Meg's eBay items for sale.
  
  
• Sunday I got the rest of the eBay listings done. Got a delivery of some food items that I needed to make mooncakes. Started laundry and started working on the mooncakes. They came out GREAT! Had to package some sales from eBay and did some karaoke and practiced some music. Did some editing on my newest short story. Made some almond crescents to go with the mooncakes. Took out the trash in like the middle of the night.
  
  
• Monday I had a letter going out at work that took more time than usual. Walked to the post office to drop off Meg's sales. Worked on some shortlisted project stuff for work. Made some luminous crescents and baked zucchini. Got more of my short story edited and figured out a title for it finally.
  
  
• Tuesday I had an early meeting and sent out some invitations for teams we're forming. Found out I can send a 15-second video along with a signed poster I bought so I recorded one and sent it (because I wanted to show them a plushie I commissioned and I think they'll get a kick out of it). Worked on my office's shortlisted project some more. Went to a dermatology appointment which was the fastest and best medical appointment I've had in recent memory. (First time in a long time I can remember having an appointment time that coincided with when I actually got seen!) Came home and started cooking for my friends. Ben and Scott came over and we ate our luminous crescents, baked zucchini, and potato soup, and then for dessert we had the mooncakes and almond crescents. (It was a full moon so I made all my food moon themed, if you're wondering.) We watched the rest of Season 2 of Steven Universe and enjoyed each other's company. After they left I got my steps in and worked on music.
  
  
• Wednesday I worked on a transcript basically all day. I did some Polos and singing. Jeaux came over and we ate at 4 Rivers, then grocery shopped and hung out and watched Colbert and the end of Extraordinary. Good night.
  
  
• Thursday I finished my transcript at work and went to some meetings. I did some utility work and data entry. Walked to the post office again and had a chat with a neighbor. Wrote my comic, did some Polos, went to game night, and screwed around not being very productive most of the rest of the night.
  
  
• Friday I did my reports, teaming coordination, and data entry. Got some walking in, talked to Jeaux about his new apartment, and got my comic done. Had to do more walking afterwards to meet my goals. Tried and failed to make an appointment. People don't answer phones LOL.

New Reviews:

• Hannah Soucie gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: This is the same as last week, but again I didn't use the scale some days. It's the same high and low as last week.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I'm doing pretty well with balancing nutrition even on days where I'm eating at a restaurant or eating a special meal! Bought stuff to eat more salads this week too--I have a favorite salad that includes feta cheese, candied walnuts, and cranberries, so I have been nomming on that. Vitamins continue to be taken religiously!
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week, but have mostly had a trend of just barely making it. Whatever, the minimum still counts! My low day was Sunday at 10,010 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 15,296 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm on page 172.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Don't Know Why" by Norah Jones.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#0989: dax #146: a feeling i don't have anymore.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Homemade Mooncakes!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,433 for swankivy (4 new), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 843 for swankivy (no change), 3,858 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,439 (no change). Instagram followers: 83 (4 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: April 13 – April 19

Life news this week:

• Saturday I worked on some music and ate my breakfast really late for some reason. Did some walking and blogging and Poloing and set up my plans to do floor shopping with Ben.
  
  
• Sunday I went to Mom's house to coordinate with Ben and his friend Adam about what supplies to buy for Mom's house. Then went to Lowe's and spent a bunch of money. They took the stuff back to her house and worked on the floors while I did my chores at home: trash and laundry and cleaning up. Did a karaoke song and worked on my webcomic early. Did some editing work for the office.
  
  
• Monday we had to send out five letters so I was slammed all day. Ben was over at Mom's with his roommate doing floors so I sent them pizza. Did some prep work to make it easier to make the breakfast-for-dinner fun meal the next day. Put away laundry, walked and did Polos, and drew some Negative One frames.
  
  
• Tuesday we had one letter going out and three meetings. After work I started making waffles shortly before my friends came over and everything came out great. I made a handful of breakfast potatoes, soy bacon, waffles from scratch, and eggs as requested. And toppings were available for fun waffle times. We had a great night eating and watching cartoons.
  
  
• Wednesday work was meetings and updating my documents. Talked to Tony in the morning--always nice to see him. Cleaned up the kitchen a bit from the carnage of the previous night. Jeaux came and we ate at Mandola's, and took some mozzarella sticks out to Ben who was working at Mom's house. We brought him some of Jeaux's roll cake also--he had made a jelly roll to share! Went grocery shopping and spent too much money. Watched Colbert, took a walk, and watched some more of Extraordinary. Then drew some more comics.
  
  
• Thursday was a very productive day. I did some utilities and communication at work, and then I finished drawing and processing Negative One and wrote up some plans for my next podcast recording. Checked in with the realtor and made some plans and confirmations. Texted with Ben about life. Attended game night (small crowd!) and watched a Steve Polo and a reaction. Had a dumb argument on the internet.
  
  
• Friday involved timesheets and reports at work. When I got off I posted my webcomic online, got my walking done, went internet shopping, and met with Daria for podcast recording (we recorded two episodes: "Doug Out" and "The Good Lars"). Very satisfying day.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• Justin published a Medium review called "Nota Bene — An In-Depth Review of Michele Kirichanskaya's Ace Notes: Tips and Tricks for Living in an Allo World" and discussed why Michele's book is so important in the context of needing to move on from earlier works like my book The Invisible Orientation.
  
• On Reactor, a review called "A Different Type of Romance: Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell" was posted. It's mostly a review of a book I haven't read but the author mentions coming to an asexual identity after reading my book.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: I visited the scale sporadically, so can say I had a high of 123.3 and a low of 122.3. It's not worth much attention since it's like . . . a pound. Ya know?
  
• Nutrition stuff: Good balance! I've done great with my veggies and have done less nighttime munching, which I think I should cut down on. I have continued taking vitamins as usual.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week, but have mostly had a trend of just barely making it. Whatever, the minimum still counts! My low day was Tuesday at 10,026 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 13,917 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm on page 172.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Trouble" by Coldplay.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#0988: ivy #306: the normal way.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Breakfast for dinner!

Ben with breakfast for dinner.

Scott with breakfast for dinner.

Me with breakfast for dinner.

First bluebird of the season!!

Jeaux's roll cake!

Sampling Jeaux's roll cake!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,429 for swankivy (lost 2), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 843 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,857 for JulieSondra (6 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,439 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 279 (2 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: April 6 – April 12

Life news this week:

• Saturday I got a document to sign from the contractors doing my mom's roof. I had to go out to get it notarized so I did so and bought a sandwich next door while I was out. Made some home improvement arrangements with Ben. Did my usual blogging, walking, and chilling.
  
  
• Sunday Ben and I went to Mom's house to take pictures of some touch-up spots for the painter, fixed the broken fan, figured out the irrigation system, and took some measurements. We went to Lowe's to pick out flooring and accessories, and then we ate at Grain and Berry. We hung out for a long time and bought some plants. Then after he left I did laundry and took out the trash and did some Polos.
  
  
• Monday there was an eclipse but I didn't even get to go outside. I was pretty slammed getting letters out all day at work. (We had three due.) I made a doctor's appointment and ate a potato and wrote an e-mail to a new friend. Paid the roofer and he did me a favor getting some branches off my roof (even though he was hired for my mom's house, haha). I did some more Polos.
  
  
• Tuesday work involved chasing subconsultants around and entering some timesheet data in the accounting software. After work I did walking and recorded a karaoke song and did some reading. Ben came over and we made Thai noodles and watched The Big Year. Fun!
  
  
• Wednesday I did some more chasing people around at work. I paid the last installment to the roofer because Mom's roof is done! Now I just need floors. Went to the bank to get some more checks and deposit some cash. Did some Polos, chatted with Tony when he came to do my yard, and went to eat at Best NY Pizza with Jeaux after work. We shopped and showed each other silly things on the internet.
  
  
• Thursday I had some tasks to do with follow-ups and utilities. I did some walking, bought some tickets, wrote my comic, and survived a tornado watch. Played games with my friends and drew some comics. Had some naps.
  
  
• Friday I did my project reports and utility adjustments and had an annoying headache all day. Drew the rest of my comic, barely got my walking in, and practiced some music.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• HerNorm published 5 Signs that You or the Person You Are Dating Is Demiromantic and used my book as a named reference.

New Reviews:

• Cornelius gave The Invisible Orientation a two-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Another week where I didn't reliably get on the scale, but the one day I did it said 123.3. So that will be the only data you get today.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Doing pretty well with the balance (and much better with protein than I have been lately), and am keeping up with my veggies and fruits consistently! I have continued taking vitamins as usual.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,030 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 11,595 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm on page 167.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "The Scientist" by Coldplay.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#0987: weaver #154: big enough.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Ben and me eating at Grain and Berry

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,431 for swankivy (lost 4), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 844 for swankivy (no change), 3,851 for JulieSondra (lost 2). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,440 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 277 (2 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: March 30 – April 5

Life news this week:

• Saturday I went out to my mom's house to meet the carpet guy and we got measurements and talked about options. I had to handle some misplaced trash at my mom's house and managed to locate a fan blade that one of the cleaners broke. Dangit. Came home and worked through blogging and got my writing comic drawn. Practiced some songs and watched a silly video.
  
  
• Sunday I cleaned up the house and processed the webcomic. Learned a song and sang it for karaoke. Did some walking. Kari came over and we hung out, ate pizza, caught up on each other's lives, and watched a few more episodes of Steven Universe Future. (We saw up to episode 12.) Great night!
  
  
• Monday there were no April Fools for me! I had a slow day at the office working on small tasks. I also had to search around for a contractor to get some mortar off my mom's bedroom floor because carpet can't be laid until it's gone. But everyone wanted way too much money. I ate a bunch of leftover pizza to help myself cope, haha. Updated my cool goal calendars and posted them. Put away laundry and watched some Polos.
  
  
• Tuesday was busier at work. Took some naps after. And did some troubleshooting with the Skylight frame we're giving my dad for his birthday. Wrangled some more house details for Mom's. Did some Polo videos. Sanded some flaky paint off a pedestal. Ben came over and we chatted about life and ate at Sweetgreen. Ate some of my Japanese snack box.
  
  
• Wednesday I had meetings and follow-ups. Made a shopping list and cleaned up the house. Jeaux and I ate at SoFresh and shopped at Michaels and Publix. Came home and made my dad's cake in between taking walks and watching Colbert. We made a three-layer chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream frosting from scratch, but my glaze plan didn't work out. I also made white chocolate–dipped cake pops from the leveling scraps for decoration. Jeaux helped clean up and left, and I loaded the dishwasher after he left.
  
  
• Thursday I worked and explained some policies. Did some research and sent some reminders. Decided to try a different glaze for my dad's cake and got it to work! And added some piping with extra frosting. Jeaux came over and we headed out to Sarasota to meet up with my dad and Connie. We put the cake in the fridge and met Dad's friend Jimmy at P.F. Chang's. I had pad thai, and Dad got a free cheesecake. He liked our joke cards. We went home and ate the cake and I gave him the Skylight frame that my sisters and I had filled with photos. We watched it for a while as we enjoyed the cake. After it got pretty late, Jeaux and I headed out. We stopped at Walmart on the way home and then got home. I was really tired but for some reason I watched a movie by myself before I went to bed.
  
  
• Friday I mostly spent time bothering teaming partners and working on reports. Took more naps. Had to squeeze to get my webcomic done and my walking done before midnight, but I did it, then went to bed early. Found out my mom's roof is going on next week because the contractor is ready.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• The Star Observer published Five Ways to Celebrate Asexuality Day and included reading my book as a suggestion.

New Reviews:

• Peach Odita-Honnah gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Guess what, I didn't get on the scale this week so I have nothing to tell you. :)
  
• Nutrition stuff: The latter half of the week had a lot of cake! And I had an unusual number of restaurant meals! But the balance has been okay and I have still managed to MOSTLY keep the fruits and vegetables plentiful. It's just harder when I also have cake a lot. I have continued taking vitamins as usual.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week except one day that I had thought I had finished and actually didn't, so I was a couple hundred short. My low day was Saturday at 9,829 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 11,152 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Magic For Beginners by Kelly Link. I'm on page 131.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Someone Like You" by Adele.

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write:

#154: Is It Good?

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#0986: adele #242: in the shadow.

Videos Made:

None.

New photos:

Jeaux in the frosting process for Dad's cake

Dad's cake finished!

Dad at P.F. Chang's!

The crowd at Dad's party

There's no way this guy is 70

New hat! And cake.

Inside of the cake!

Social Media Counts: 

YouTube subscribers: 5,435 for swankivy (1 new), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 844 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,853 for JulieSondra (3 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 247 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,441 (no change). Instagram followers: 275 (2 new).

March Goals Update

April's here, so it's time for another goals update:

1. Health Goals: I resolved to drink more water, eat more fruits and veggies, and walk at least 10,000 steps a day.
2. Personal Project Goals: I resolved to get digital photos sorted by the end of February and collect memorable bits from Facebook for my essays; resolved to work on writing or editing at least one day a week; resolved to relearn ukulele songs I've forgotten and learn new ones, and keep creating my regular webcomic and video content.
3. Reading Goals: I resolved to read at least twice a week.
4. Relationship and Communication Goals: I resolved to document daily life stuff more, keep up with e-mails and online communication, and make time for friends and family.
5. Other Goals: I wanted to prepare and sell my mom's house, watch some TV shows I'd dropped, and not play time-wasting tames.

Progress Update (you can click to see the calendars better):

HEALTH GOALS:
Summary: Everything's going fine here. Water intake is good and I've gotten used to being hydrated. I had my first day since I made the resolution where I drank only 3 glasses of water, though. I've continued to eat at least three servings of fruit and vegetables almost every day (with one always being a green veggie), with a couple days when I only did two, and walked at least 10,000 steps every day of March EXCEPT one day I was somehow about 200 steps short. Here is my calendar of progress: 

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary: This got better a lot faster than I thought it would in most categories! I'm still trying to prepare my mother's house for sale and it's still taken a lot of my time. Photo sorting is still in progress but I made it through one of the large folders I have and am about to start the other large folder. Maybe I'll adjust the goal to get that one wrapped up by the end of this month and hopefully start sorting them onto the website soon. I have continued collecting Facebook clips almost every day.

I have finally written some new content besides webcomics! I did not pick up my in-progress novel but I reread/edited and old one and did some query submissions for the first time in a while, and I wrote a complete new short story (but am still struggling to title it and wrap up editing before submitting). My ukulele practice has not been a focus, but I still hope to do some review before the summer and to start learning the new songs soon. 

READING GOALS: 

Summary: I am doing okay with reading a couple to a few times a week. It might be going a teeny bit faster? I finished a book and got through half of another.

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: I haven't documented as much as I need to but I'm working on it. My e-mail box is at 3 unanswered mails. I have spent a lot of time with friends and family on weekdays and almost entirely had my weekends free, which was great for the writing projects. 

OTHER GOALS:

Summary: Mom's house is the huge looming one. Since last month we have gotten two ozone treatments and a duct cleaning to deal with the cigarette damage, got my friend Ben to bust up the tile floor and get it out of there, got a bunch of contractor repairs for the electrical and plumbing, had the entire interior of the house painted (!), and had the entire place cleaned. I am in the process of getting some leftover mortar taken out of the main bedroom floor so I can have the concrete sealed, and I have gotten my quote for the carpets. Once that is done WE CAN LIST THE PROPERTY and we're in the process of scheduling a photographer.

My garage was stressing me out because it was full of unprocessed Mom stuff, and I wiped it out almost entirely this month. I built a shelf unit for housing the vinyl records and Victrola records, reorganized my wires and cables, cleaned out my desk and put a new bookshelf and a new night table in my office, revamped all my CD and book storage, and found storage for some of my music books by rearranging some areas of the house. It was intense! I still have a plaster pillar from my mom's house that still stinks so it's outside and I'm going to paint it. (I have bought the paint but haven't done the thing.) I processed a bunch more stuff from memory boxes and labeled them. And no, I have not picked up any of the TV shows I want to watch.

Will update again next month!