Personal Digest Saturday: July 20 – July 26

Life news this week:

• Saturday I got some much-needed rest, did some of my blogging when I got up, and decided to go to the mall to shop for clothes. Seems like department stores that have Juniors or Petites sections still work best for me. Had to go home before I was really done shopping because it was getting dark. Finished up the blogging and relaxed. Ate a potato and sent a Polo for Steve.
  
  
• Sunday I woke up thinking it was Monday! But nope. Another day to sleep in. When I did finally get up, I did laundry and dishes and then more laundry and trash. A fuse blew during a storm and for some reason it killed my keyboard, so I had to switch, and while I was in the middle of all that I found out Biden dropped out of the race so I ended up in several text conversations. Made an eye doctor appointment and submitted two short stories. Worked on some updates I'm going to do soon.
  
  
• Monday I just had to edit a letter at work and send some reminders to subconsultants for materials. Napped a little. Wrote a new short story that's unusually short for me (about 2400 words). Read some more of the book I'm in the middle of while getting steps.
  
  
• Tuesday I had a meeting and some more mail-outs to teaming partners. Edited my new short story and updated my website. Worked a little on my novel. Recorded a karaoke song.
  
  
• Wednesday I worked in the morning and went to the eye doctor appointment in the afternoon. My contact lens prescription has not changed but this is a new doctor and they were basically like "wow your eyes suck, like, astronomically." They gave me an accurate prescription for what my reading glasses should be too. Yay. I went shopping afterwards and bought more clothes. Jeaux met me over there and we ate at Red Robin, and then did our grocery shopping and watched Colbert. We also watched some more of Dungeon Meshi (just 2 more episodes).
  
  
• Thursday I did some data entry and coordination. Wrote a storyboard for my webcomic and made Polos. Had game night with my friends. Submitted some short stories and signed a new lease for my house. Played quiz games.
  
  
• Friday I dealt with timesheets and reports. Did some Polos, worked on my comic, got caught up yelling about politics on the internet, and got my steps in while reading. For the first time, this night involved TWO BIRDS visiting my porch. They are so cute!

New Reviews:

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

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Still making some tiny progress here and hoping I'll get where I want to be sometime in the next couple months. I recorded a high of 120.3 and a low of 119.9.
  
• Nutrition stuff: I'm still aiming this week to be slightly lower on the carbs and higher on the protein (with fats on target), and most of the carbs are from if I eat a sandwich (bread) and all the fruit I eat! I did well with that balance this week. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,235 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 13,681 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: None this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Down Girl by Kate Manne. I'm on page 91.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "And Dream of Sheep" by Kate Bush.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#1002: ivy #310: ambassador.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

Shopping in Juniors yields cute outfits.

Nice flower while waiting for my Lyft.

Cute little surprise gardenia bloom popped up out of nowhere!

I got TWO birdles!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,449 for swankivy (lost 1), 676 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: 836 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,884 for JulieSondra (3 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 644 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 256 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,437 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 283 (1 new). Threads followers: 65 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: July 13 – July 19

Life news this week:

• Saturday I did a little more leftover maintenance on Negative One's pages--stuff I didn't get around to updating the day before. Then I managed to get the blogging and walking done, and got some reading done too.
  
  
• Sunday I had some decent productivity. Finished all my Negative One updates finally, cleaned up around the house a lot, did some laundry and took out trash, did a Polo for Steve, and completed my update for my SU merch and collection page (except what was in the package I hadn't opened yet). Changed out my phone case--old one had glitter flaking off.
  
  
• Monday I put together a submittal package for my office and sent it in. Did some other work for my boss and some data entry. In the afternoon, did some walking, played some games, made a Polo for my sister, and finally opened the package I'd been avoiding opening. Incorporated those items into my collection lists too.
  
  
• Tuesday I edited a letter and attended a meeting. Heard the sad news that my friend Blake from back in Gainesville is no longer responsive to interact with his loved ones and he's on his way out. (He had a cancer diagnosis from some time back and we thought he'd beat it, but he announced recently that no more treatment was available and we were going to lose him. So this is the sad but expected news.) Talked to the probate lawyer again and still can't get the information I need to wrap up Mom's estate. Also talked to the title company about taxes and they told me several contradictory things. Sigh. Did some cleaning. Opened a package from Cara with a sweet gift commemorating my mom. Played some games and did a karaoke song and updated some charts.
  
  
• Wednesday I went to meetings and invited teaming partners to work with us. Did some research. Did a lot of Poloing and walking. Jeaux and I ate at a new restaurant (Grand Hacienda) which was decent. We grocery shopped, watched Colbert, did our walking, and talked shit about people who annoy us.
  
  
• Thursday I did some data entry and went to two meetings. Wrote my comic, did some walking, played some games, and met my friends for Game Night. Did some more drawing after Game Night.
  
  
• Friday I did my reports and finished my data entry for this work order. Finished my comic and spent a bunch of time updating the support files (contrary to popular expectation, probably, the big upheaval happens at 1001, not 1000--I have to restructure a bunch of stuff every 100 issues). After the comic was posted I just wasted a bunch of time relaxing, which I probably needed to do. And I found out that Blake passed away. I'll miss his art and his kindness.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: All right, something to actually say here. Have adopted the smaller portion sizes AND eating them when I want to, not when I think I should. Has resulted in a nice slow downward trend this week. I recorded a high of 121.8 and a low of 120.0.
  
  
• Nutrition stuff: My health tracker recommends a balance of 55% carbs, 25% fats, 20% protein. I am intentionally skewing that a little bit to be lower on the carbs and higher on the protein (with fats on target). I did well with that balance this week. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Saturday at 10,088 steps, and my high day was Tuesday at 14,036 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: None this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Down Girl by Kate Manne. I'm on page 67.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "The Freshmen" by The Verve Pipe.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#1001: meri lin #142: conversation.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

New 2024 poster

New poster wall

Jeaux's Mexican food looked like dessert for some reason

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,450 for swankivy (1 new), 676 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 68 for Tides of Time Band (1 new). Twitter followers: 837 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,881 for JulieSondra (lost 7). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 644 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 256 followers for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,438 (no change). Instagram followers: 282 (lost 2). Threads followers: 64 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: July 6 – July 12

Life news this week:

• Saturday I was up too early so I went back to bed to snooze and laze a bit. Then I got up to get ready for the convention. I got my costume on and Jeaux picked me up and dropped me off there while he went home and got ready himself. He met me there a while later and we went around looking at costumes and shopping and going to a "disability in cosplay" panel, with a lunch break at American Social. I got very tired at the end and Jeaux took me home. I took another snooze, then got up and processed my pictures and did my blog.
  
  
• Sunday I was up early again so I could get ready for band practice. Dad picked me up and we had a practice to work on our less polished songs. (A little rough.) Met with Connie at Yard House and got lunch, and then Dad took me home. I threw in laundry and took out the trash, then caught another nap. Got up, watched and recorded Polos, and did some prep work for my comic's upcoming thousandth issue celebration.
  
  
• Monday was a weird day. The server was down at work and my boss wouldn't be back until after usual working hours to reboot it, so I just did other personal projects in the daytime (with some limited work during the day answering e-mails and doing some crash data), and then when it was back up I hopped on and worked a short after-hours shift. Did some walking, Poloing, and comic prep.
  
  
• Tuesday I did data entry and wrangled reminders. Worked on my comic prep. Ben and Scott decided not to come over so I had the evening free to do more comic prep. 
  
  
• Wednesday I had meetings and proposal prep. Worked on more comic prep. Jeaux took me out to SoFresh (on his side of town because we had to go back and get something from his apartment that he'd forgotten), and after grocery shopping we took a walk and watched two episodes of Dungeon Meshi because people on Tumblr are into it.
  
  
• Thursday I put out fires at work and did more data entry, went to meetings, and did project research. Went hardcore into the comic prep trying to hit the deadline. Wrote a long comic for the thousandth issue and started drawing it during game night. We had a packed house with 9 players so it was a lot of fun. Went back to comic prep after.
  
  
• Friday I did my timesheets and reports, and then finished up comic stuff and posted the 1000th issue and the accompanying 1000th issue contest. Bizarre that the comic has been going for over nineteen years and I'm finally here. Managed to get it all done and record a song besides, plus I didn't even miss my walking goal! But I was exhausted at the end of the night.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• Cody Daigle-Orians is sharing my blurb from their upcoming book The Ace and Aro Relationship Guide. Here's the Instagram post with the blurb and Cody's comment.

New Reviews:

• melanie ☾ gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.
• Sarah Cheney gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Making an effort once again and hoping to see if smaller portions are a good idea. I recorded a high of 122.5 and a low of 122.0. 
• Nutrition stuff: Very good balance this week except for some restaurant food days (and even those were pretty decent). I am still regularly taking vitamins.
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,008 steps, and my high day was Saturday at 23,760 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: None this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Down Girl by Kate Manne. I'm on page 49.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "A Complicated Song" by "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#1000: adele #246: mastermind.

Videos Made: 

None.

New photos:

For the photos taken at Metrocon, there is a full Metrocon 2024 Album on my photo site, but here are my faves:

My Steven Universe costume

My Steven Universe costume

Rose Quartz (Steven Universe)

Pink Diamond (Steven Universe)

Steven & Pink Diamond (Steven Universe)

Wirt (Over the Garden Wall) & Steven

Ken (Barbie)

Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)

Bill Cipher (Gravity Falls)

Simon & Betty (Adventure Time)

Jeaux and me at lunch at American Social!

Garnet (Steven Universe)

Steven Universe crew (Peridot, 3 Stevens, Jasper)

Steven and the Stevens

Pearl (Steven Universe)

Two Stevens and Pearl (Steven Universe)

Aang (The Last Airbender)

Korra & Bolin (Legend of Korra)

And my awesome photo of me with my folders of 1,000 comics!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,449 for swankivy (lost 2), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 838 for swankivy (no change), 3,890 for JulieSondra (3 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 644 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 257 likes for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,438 (no change). Instagram followers: 284 (2 new). Threads followers: 64 (1 new).

Personal Digest Saturday: June 29 – July 5

Life news this week:

• Saturday I recorded a video for my channel and managed to process and post it with a transcript all in the same day. Sometimes I work fast. Then I got to work on the blog in between walking and writing a storyboard for my writing comic.
  
  
• Sunday involved some relaxing and some productivity. Got my webcomic done for So You Write, did laundry, put out trash, and did more prep for my Negative One thousandth episode. Talked to Jeaux on the phone. Learned a new song and sang it for my karaoke.
  
  
• Monday I compiled info for a packet that was due for our interview at work, and I had to edit a letter for a different district. We also did some interview practice. Ben visited me very briefly after work. Then I got my bag and outfit ready for the next day so I wouldn't be scrambling in the early morning.
  
  
• Tuesday I got up at 4 AM so I could be ready to get picked up by my boss at 5 AM. Managed to get in coffee and breakfast. We had time for a Dunkin' Donuts break (I got more coffee and an avocado toast). We met the rest of the interview team at the DOT office in DeLand and kicked off the interview process (yep, we got to be first). We didn't run out of time and hopefully they liked our answers. My boss dropped me off at home and I took a quick nap and went back to work. Then after work I had Ben and Scott over and we watched the rest of Season 3 of Steven Universe while eating Greek food. After they left I got the rest of my steps in and worked on my comic.
  
  
• Wednesday I did some data entry at work. Did more comic prep. Jeaux came and we ate at 4 Rivers and did our shopping and caught up on silly things to read each other.
  
  
• Thursday I had the day off for Independence Day. Used it to sleep in and draw. Hung out with the Game Night friends but we didn't play games--just socialized. Did more comics after.
  
  
• Friday was the anniversary of Mom's death, so I got together with my sisters on Zoom and chatted with them (mostly not about Mom, but a little). Then I did my reports at work and completed the rest of my comic drawings. Got my walking done too and packed a bag for the convention the next day.

Interviews, Articles, Mentions:

• QJC Collective included my book on a recommended list.
  
• My book is recommended in a Writing for Life Post about writing asexual or aromantic characters.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Eh I don't know what's going on here. I recorded a high of 122.5 and a low of 121.1, but I haven't really changed anything significant.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Pretty good balance for everything this week. Had several great salads. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Tuesday at 10,053 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 12,034 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: None this week.
  
  
• Currently Reading: Down Girl by Kate Manne. I'm on page 36.

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Unsteady" by X Ambassadors.

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write: 

#157: political.

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

#0999: ivy #309: boy clothes.

Videos Made: 

Letters to an Asexual #115 ("Can I be queer if I'm a panromantic ace?") is out. In this video, I discuss more about ace people's queer identity and inclusion in queer spaces.

New photos:

Pride Day 29: Asexuality-related zines!

Pride Day 30: Book Awards!

Well, Pride Month is over. Should I post Sloth photos?

Interview Outfit

Interview Outfit

Birdle's cute face

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,451 for swankivy (lost 1), 677 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 838 for swankivy (lost 1), 3,887 for JulieSondra (13 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 644 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 257 likes for So You Write (no change), 100 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (1 new). Tumblr followers: 2,438 (1 new). Instagram followers: 282 (no change). Threads followers: 63 (lost 1).

June Goals Update

Holy crap, it's July! 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: I'm doing great with drinking water, though there are always these days that I get started a bit late so I drink less over the day. I've been trying for three servings of fruit and vegetables (with one always being a green veggie), and that has mostly worked out with a few exceptions. And I walked at least 10,000 steps every day of June. Here is my calendar of progress:

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary: I made a ton of progress with my photos in the first half of the month. I discovered an alternate approach to it that's really helping me out, but for the time being it has been derailed because I am also balancing this with the other time-sensitive project that's cropped up: preparing some additional content for my upcoming 1,000th webcomic for Negative One. I have continued collecting Facebook clips for future essays almost every day.

Writing projects were untouched this month except for my weekly webcomic, but I guess it's understandable. My ukulele practice has also been disappointingly nonexistent, and that is especially annoying because I did want to have more songs learned by the time I go to Metrocon and that will not be happening because Metrocon is coming right up. Oh well. Hopefully this calendar will look way different next month.

READING GOALS: 

Summary: I had one sprint toward finishing a book in the middle of the month because I wanted to give feedback for a blurb by a certain promised time. I have not made time for reading in between other projects lately. This is another thing I will ease back into soon.

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: My documentation goal didn't get much love this month but I kept some notes for when I can make time for it. My e-mail box is at 3 unanswered mails. I had more social events scheduled than actually appeared here because I had SEVERAL cancellations. Boo! But still regularly hanging out with friends. I went to an Alanis Morissette concert, saw my dad, had a band practice, and did a podcast recording.

OTHER GOALS:

Summary: Well, we closed on Mom's house. I now need to resolve a few things with the probate lawyer but I don't have anything left for me to do--I'm waiting on them. I really can't wait to resolve everything and distribute the house money between my sisters and me.

My plaster pillar from my mom's house is still outside and I'm still planning to paint it. I still have some of her statues and things that I want to sell but it's difficult to get takers. I think I will need to take them to eBay.

I have planned to do some health screenings this year and I think the next thing I should focus on is getting my eyes checked. Following that, sometime this year I'm going to get to the dentist as well.

I mostly haven't had issues with time-wasting games, but this month the silly thing I memorized was all the world's country flags, and have been distracting myself with silly games that quiz me. I have not picked up any of the TV shows I want to watch.

I did a cool photo project this month where I took photos with various queer content for Pride Month! It wasn't a planned project. I just ended up doing it on a whim.

Will update again next month!