Personal Digest Saturday: September 7 – September 13

Life news this week:

• Saturday I wore contacts again for the first time in a while and seemed to do OK. Worked on my mooncakes to bring as a treat for my band practice! Sent little pictures of the mooncake-making to the band, haha. Then I worked on a Polo for Meghan but while I was doing it lightning struck right near my house and destroyed the internet, so I had to turn off the video. I had no internet for the rest of the night and the troubleshooting led me to booking a tech coming to the house the next day. I used a mobile hotspot on my phone to get my blogging done. The lightning strike also blew out one of the outlets in the kitchen--so my stove stopped working. Glad I got my baking done early!
  
  
• Sunday Dad picked me up for band practice. It was a pretty good practice, especially considering we mostly worked on songs that were newer or less mastered. We took a break for pizza and mooncakes, and Dad took me home. I had to get home a little earlier than usual because I had an appointment with the tech. He showed up on time and he said the entire line outside had no signal, and had to replace it (like, climbing a pole and drilling a new setup into the side of the house and everything). And then it turned out both my modem and my router had been fried and I needed new ones of both. The whole process took more than two hours. Poor tech guy! But he got my stuff working. I still did laundry and took out the trash. Unfortunately my eye started acting up again and I had to go back to glasses. I also got to see a butterfly freshly out of its pupa in my backyard!
  
  
• Monday I still hadn't gotten anything back from the pharmacy about an eyedrop I'm supposed to use, so I called and followed up and I guess there was a bunch of miscommunication because nobody really knew why the prescription wasn't filled three days after I went to the doctor. I ended up getting the ball rolling again and picking up some eyedrops after work. (And found a bunch of vitamins on sale at Walgreens!) Work mostly involved bothering people to give me paper, updating, looking for contact addresses for stuff, and research. Did some research and made some decisions about my Halloween costume. Made a Bingo card for the upcoming debate.
  
  
• Tuesday involved meetings and basic organizing of stuff. After work I kinda did nothing for a while until it was time for the debate. I had a fun bingo card for people to play along but didn't know it had a low limit for players so not all my friends got in. Oh well! It was fun but I did not get bingo. The debate was unbelievable for a couple reasons but it was a lot more satisfying to watch than the previous one. Still having eye issues.
  
  
• Wednesday I tried wearing contacts again and my eye was unhappy by the end of the day. Had a meeting at work and helped my boss with stuff. Did some data entry and research. Jeaux took me to Noble Crust for dinner and we grocery shopped, watched Colbert, took a walk, and watched the last two episodes of Umbrella Academy. We also made some plans for our upcoming New York trip.
  
  
• Thursday I had several meetings and did some data entry. Wrote my comic, did some Polos, and revisited an old recording I'd made from the last time I spent a day with Mom--because this day would have been her 70th birthday. Chatted with my sisters a bit. Went to game night with friends and then drew some more while listening to news. Sent some documents to my probate lawyer for when the estate will be closed.
  
  
• Friday I did reports and sent out reminders for stuff. Did some Polo recordings and read old stuff. Got my walking, reading, and comic-drawing in. Eye seems to be improving but I'm not done with the eyedrops yet.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: Maybe a little plateau this time. My high is lower but my low is (just barely) higher. I think I just had a really low day last week because of the day I didn't eat much due to the Covid shot recovery. Hopefully I will legit get down there and keep going as I continue my efforts. I recorded a high of 116.2 and a low of 115.6.
  
• Nutrition stuff: The balance is pretty good but I find that on the days I eat avocados I don't seem to balance all that "good" fat out with enough carbohydrates or protein. Need to work on that more. A couple days this week I didn't get my third serving of veggies/fruits in because I was tired and not hungry and went to bed early. I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Wednesday at 10,040 steps, and my high day was Monday at 10,635 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Down Girl by Kate Manne. Five-star review.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. I'm on page 132.
  

New singing performances:

None.

Stuff drawn:

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 

#1009: adele #248: being in the world.

Videos Made: 

 

None.

New photos:

Mooncakes!

A butterfly that came out of its pupa after going through metamorphosis on my asparagus fern!

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,454 for swankivy (lost 1), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 197 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 834 for swankivy (no change), 3,900 for JulieSondra (14 new). Facebook: 296 friends for swankivy (no change), 641 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 81 followers for Negative One (no change), 254 followers for So You Write (no change), 99 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,434 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 277 (lost 2). Threads followers: 70 (lost 2).

Personal Digest Saturday: August 31 – September 6

Life news this week:

• Saturday I worked on my So You Write comic in the morning, then went to get my Covid booster with Jeaux and accompanied him to get his oil changed. After I got home I finished the comic, took a nap, and made a Polo for my sister. Finished my blogging and went to bed early because the side effects were already hitting me.
  
  
• Sunday I woke up after a terrible night's sleep because of the vaccine side effects. Got cold, got hot, got very achy and spent the whole day not feeling like eating. Got some singing practice done and did some submission homework.
  
  
• Monday I had the day off for Labor Day. Caught up on laundry since I didn't feel like doing it the day before. Took some new photos of my Daylight Curfew jacket that I got a long while back and added it to my collections galleries. Also posted some fun photos of my 2019 Steven Universe Movie party because it was the five-year anniversary of its premiere. The post got super popular on Reddit. Took a nap, worked on my novel, did a karaoke recording, and did some reading while walking.
  
  
• Tuesday was the grand return to work. Finally was able to get some crash data that was getting blocked from being sent to me because of server-side spam controls. Ran some utility tickets. Got some photos of jackets and sweaters photographed for the collections. Made an eye doctor appointment because my eye kept tearing up and it's been over a week. Fixed some stuff in my cookbook. Did some reading.
  
  
• Wednesday I went to a marketing meeting and a debrief meeting. Did some maintenance and research. Talked to my probate lawyer and still no progress. Updated some collection images. Went on a quest for Mexican food with Jeaux before ending up at Grand Hacienda. Then we shopped, took a walk, saw Colbert, and watched one episode of Umbrella Academy.
  
  
• Thursday involved a work meeting and project research. Later I wrote my webcomic's storyboard, wrote some blogs, drew a little, and went to game night with my friends. Finished reading Down Girl.
  
  
• Friday I got up super early to go to my morning eye appointment. They found ingrown eyelashes that were causing the constant irritation and had to pluck them. All better! Went to work and did my timesheets and reports. Finished my comic, did some reading, and tried to condense nine pages of notes I took on the book I'd read into a reasonably sized review.

Health Plan Update:

• Weight stuff: We have continued the pattern here of both the high and the low being lower. Good news. I recorded a high of 117.0 and a low of 115.4.
  
• Nutrition stuff: Good balance mostly, but had one day where I didn't get enough protein because of where Jeaux and I went to dinner. Every day except one my fat intake was too low, so I will get that up next week. (I am not trying to reduce fat in my diet; I'd like to aim for the recommended balance or have more protein less carbs, but nothing drastic.) I am still regularly taking vitamins.
  
• Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day this week. My low day was Friday at 10,017 steps, and my high day was Thursday at 14,610 steps.

Books Read: 

• Finished Reading: Down Girl by Kate Manne. Five-star review.
  
  
• Currently Reading: The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik. I'm on page 30.
  

New singing performances:

This week's karaoke song is "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John.

Stuff drawn:

My monthly writing webcomic, So You Write:

 

 
#159: multiple paths

My weekly fantasy webcomic, Negative One:

 

#1008: ivy #313: follow the rules.

Videos Made: 

 

None.

New photos:

I took photos of my latest jacket, a group jacket photo, and a group jacket-and-sweater photo.

   

Cool mushrooms I saw outside the store! 

 

Social media counts:

YouTube subscribers: 5,455 for swankivy (no change), 675 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 197 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 67 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 834 for swankivy (no change), 3,886 for JulieSondra (lost 4). Facebook: 296 friends for swankivy (lost 1--I unfriended an abandoned account that got hacked), 641 likes for JulieSondra (lost 2), 81 followers for Negative One (lost 1), 254 followers for So You Write (lost 2), 99 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (lost 1). Tumblr followers: 2,434 (lost 1). Instagram followers: 279 (no change). Threads followers: 72 (no change).

August Goals Update

Well, it's now September, which means I gotta do my August update on how the goals are going!

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:

HEALTH GOALS:
Summary: Everything's the same as last month (in a good way). I have been eating a little less but still keeping my intended balance, taking vitamins, keeping up the water intake, and making it to 10,000 steps every day of the month. Here is my calendar of progress:

PERSONAL PROJECT GOALS:

Summary: The photos goal has been somewhat shelved as I've been focusing on writing stuff a lot more, which is honestly a good thing because I hate that writing always seems to be last priority even though I've long considered it my primary goal. I also haven't picked up my goals for ukulele yet.

But writing is looking good. I jumped back into submitting queries and stories a lot more and I did some work on my in-progress novel. It wasn't anywhere near as much writing as I'd like to be doing, but I've been working on some of the most difficult-to-write chapters (which might be part of the reason I procrastinated so much on writing them). But here's how my month looked:

READING GOALS: 

Summary: I am still slogging through reading a dense nonfiction book, but I'm almost at the end. These are not fast reads. I'm gonna have another embarrassingly low book count at the end of the year, but I didn't have a goal, so that's fine.

RELATIONSHIP AND COMMUNICATION GOALS: 

Summary: A documentation thingie is coming soon--I'm almost done. My e-mail box is at 3 unanswered mails. Social schedule has continued to calm down this month versus the first half of the year. A few social plans I had got postponed or canceled, so not as much activity as I'd originally hoped.

OTHER GOALS:

Summary: I finally got the information I was waiting for on a debt collection on behalf of my mother, but as per usual, "we'll follow up if they don't reply in two weeks!" has turned into more than three weeks with them also ignoring my follow-up. Mom died well over a year ago now and I still can't resolve everything despite how on top of it I've been throughout the process. Unfortunately it feels like when you're trying to do a group project in school and everyone else refuses to do their part.

Back-burner projects like my plaster pillar painting are still waiting. I put some of the unsold items from my mom's statues and candy jars up on eBay but no takers so far.

The last appointment I wanted to get for this year is making it to the dentist, but I haven't scheduled it.

Time-wasting has mostly defaulted to reading and watching news and playing mindless games while listening to the news. I would like to do less of this. I haven't fallen back into the same time-wasters I gave up at the beginning of the year but it's not necessarily better to just have different time-wasters. I have not picked up any of the TV shows I want to watch.

Will update again next month!