Saturday was a sort of fuzzy blank day. Just trying to process everything and support Meggie because of Brendon passing away on Christmas. I did some chatting with my sister, talked to Meg on the phone, and posted some old photos of Brendon on social media. I ate a lot of leftovers and wasn't really paying attention to my choices. Drank a bunch of wine. Texted with friends and family.
Sunday there was also not much difference from the day before. I didn't really clean up and I ate a lot of crap. I did do a little transcript typing, did my chores around the house, and did karaoke. Talked on the phone to Kathy and Fred a long time. And talked to Meg again. Did some digital cleanup.
Monday I didn't have any meetings but it was a little busy with utility letters going out and letter prep. Did some more stress eating (and drinking). Meg still wanted to play games so we met (a little early) online so she could have an opportunity to laugh. We had some good times and I'm really glad she reaches out to talk to us when she needs us. Patricia messaged later to tell me she had some time to talk, and we ended up talking for like five hours or something. Wow! I got kinda drunk from the wine.
Tuesday I received my third pink varsity jacket so now I have the complete collection of three! I started getting the fundraiser payments hitting my bank so I sent them to Meg as they came. Did a letter at work, found out I got a holiday bonus, and worked on a proposal. After work I worked on a transcript and drank a bunch of wine. Made zucchini with linguine.
Wednesday I worked on another County proposal and the package for our upcoming interview. We hired a new guy. Ate more zucchini. Jeaux came over and we shopped, and he wanted mashed potatoes so I taught him how to make them. He was very pleased with himself. Then we watched fun videos and picked up watching Season 3 of Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts. Also I texted with Meghan and Steve.
Thursday was New Year's Eve but I had no plans except for drinking Sangria by myself. (That is what I did.) I did have to work though, and spent most of the day engaged with making reports and doing timesheets. My computer went down for a short time and my boss had to physically go to the office to fix it for me so I worked late to make up the time. After work I drew a So You Write comic and posted it, and was prepared to draw while talking to Victor but he didn't call. I made some Polos for my sister and I went outside when I heard fireworks. 2021!
Friday I had the day off so I spent it working on my comic, cleaning up the house a little, and posting my 2020 year-end survey. (Read it if you haven't!) Then I invited my mom over for the usual tradition of Breakfast for Dinner (except usually my sister and family is visiting, so this was pretty tiny, but still nice to do it). She showed up right on time! So I teased her that she's been on time for 100% of this year. We had eggs with mushrooms, soy bacon, and cheesy biscuits. She fell asleep after all that food so I let her stay the night on the couch.
This Tumblr thread has some discussion suggesting my book is good for aces to read but expresses reservations thinking the book doesn't support the inherent queerness of asexual people enough.
Food Plan Update:
It's been a rough week, diet wise, so I'm not sure why my scale numbers have not reflected what I expected. I got a new low weight this week--108.5 pounds. I have been below my goal weight for most of the week despite eating a lot of junk and drinking a ton of wine. I don't plan to continue this behavior--I can certainly write it off to the stress this week of losing Brendon and worrying about my friends--but I think this may be the last week I'll post my charts since I seem to be settling into a maintenance mode and don't need such strict monitoring anymore.
I also had multiple days this week where I did not try to meet my 10,000 steps goal. I don't believe it will be tough to regain this but again the circumstances of what is happening in my personal life do suggest if I need more rest than usual it's okay.
Here are this week's charts.
Reading progress:
Finished Reading: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Five-star review.
Daria's interview video is processed and approved, but I haven't finished the transcript so it'll be a bit longer before I can publish.
New photos:
My Daylight Curfew Jackets!
Jacket Mark I Closed
Jacket Mark I Open
Jacket Mark II Closed
Jacket Mark II Open
Jacket Mark III Closed
Jacket Mark III Open
Ukulele with new jacket on
Bonus: my first selfie of the year.
Singing a song!
Social Media Counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,294 for swankivy (6 new), 668 for JulieSondra (no change), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 110 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 938 for swankivy (lost 1), 1,357 for JulieSondra (lost 1). Facebook: 300 friends for swankivy (1 new--added a friend's alt), 629 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 73 likes for Negative One (no change), 224 likes for So You Write (no change), 85 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,476 (no change). Instagram followers: 235 (no change).
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Last year, these were my resolutions, and whether I kept them:
Finish a book and start editing it. [Did NOT.]
Complete my photos page on the new domain. [Did NOT.]
Make healthier choices with my eating, including taking vitamins and not eating just because I'm bored, therefore being able to fit into some of the clothes I'm a little too chunky for right now. [ACHIEVED!]
Get some kind of consistency to responding to e-mail and comments. [Did NOT.]
Use Lyft to go to work less often--try to ride the bus more. [ACHIEVED, but it was only because of plague.]
Get some kind of pattern to do better on social media besides Facebook. I want to be more active on Twitter and Instagram. [Did NOT.]
Submit more short stories. Can't really control if I get picked, but I hope to! [ACHIEVED!]
Finish all the Steven Universe recipe replicas on my list! [ACHIEVED!]
Complete my Steven Universe variant comic books collection! [Did NOT. Still missing ONE!]
Drink more water, dang it. [Only marginally.]
My resolutions this year:
E-mail. Get caught up and STAY CAUGHT UP. I have always struggled with this.
Learn to put myself to bed. No more falling asleep on the floor or with my contacts in. Get a bedtime routine and go to BED!
Complete my photos page on the new domain.
Maintain my healthy choices and my weight that I finally managed to hit this year.
Make time for writing projects. Finish at least one book in progress.
Continue to submit short stories.
Complete my Steven Universe variant comic books collection!
Actually follow through on drinking more water.
Less scrolling on Tumblr and Facebook; more working on projects. Set a timer and stick to it.
Help my mom with some important stuff and touch base with her more often.
Draw more fun projects.
Get a literary agent for my fiction projects.
Become more adventurous with my home cooking.
Improve on ukulele.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Ammy gave birth to little Zoë.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
Brendon. He just died on Christmas.
I was so incredibly fortunate not to lose anyone else close to me this year during the pandemic.
5. What countries did you visit?
I did not leave the US. For much of the year, I was not allowed to.
6. What would you like to have in 2021 that you lacked in 2020?
I lost 18 pounds and regularly walk 10,000 steps a day. (I never intended to show the comparison pics they have me take but I was surprised to see you can see the difference so I guess here. I'm so short that that's a pretty big change.)
July to December
I navigated the difficulties of working from home.
I stayed isolated since March except for weekly trips to the grocery store with Jeaux (who is also working from home and isolated) and occasionally seeing my equally isolated mother.
Began my Ace Interviews series and it is very well received.
Despite many challenges, I still managed to post a new video (just about) every month, keep up with a weekly and a monthly webcomic, write up and review all the new Steven Universe comics, books, and podcasts, and maintain an active social and online life.
Began the search for a literary agent to represent a science fiction book. (My existing literary agent reps my nonfiction.)
Got featured posts 11 times on Steven Universe Amino.
Won Best of Crafts on Steven Universe Amino.
9. What was your biggest failure?
Not finishing writing any books.
Falling off creating content for things that are important to me.
Spending too much time distracted.
Really doing a terrible job on my online communication. I feel like I disappointed a lot of people.
Routinely staying up too late.
Probably not doing enough to be there for people who could use check-ins from me.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
I had food poisoning like three times. It was weird.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Books, face masks, delicious coffee, presents for others, and cartoon collectibles.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Protesters and civil rights activists who made a statement so loudly, so clearly.
Parents who had to suddenly shift their entire world around when Covid hit and they had to become teachers.
My incredible, wonderful Meggie. I can't even express in words how shattering this year has been for her and I'm so grateful and awed that she is part of my world, somehow still standing.
Everyone who gave up personally meaningful gatherings, trips, and events to help keep others safe.
The vaccine task forces.
The nurses and medical practitioners of this world, and every other essential worker.
My boss who made his company safe to work for during a pandemic and accommodated my needs.
Three trans friends who began transition/came out this year.
My queer friends in general.
Poll workers, political activists, and fact-checkers who helped make the election more accessible, more informed, and fairer.
My friends who are parents, managing that delicate balance of dedicating themselves to their kids while engaging in some self care.
My friend Ronni who got a paperback deal.
My nephew Ash who made it through a strange time of distance learning and has continued to make cooler and cooler art.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
As usual, Donald Trump and his supporters.
People who spread lies and conspiracy theories (many of which have their roots in antisemitism).
Everyone who contributed to the coronavirus outbreak by refusing to listen to science and boycotting masks because inconveniencing themselves to literally save someone's life was too much of an imposition on their personal freedom.
People who are intentionally attending spreader events when they do not need to.
People who use tragedy to capitalize.
Every single fatphobe.
People who blamed black people for their own oppression.
People who used the coronavirus to be anti-Asian bigots.
People who don't think it's a crisis that our country imprisoned people for seeking refuge here. And the people who made it possible to do that to them as if they're criminals for trying to survive. (But these are the same people who would handcuff someone for stealing baby formula from Walmart, so. How desperate do you think someone is if they're stealing food for their baby?)
People who refused to use their power and money to improve the lives of desperate people.
Racists, homophobes, and transphobes who have felt even more emboldened this year to be huge disgusting bigots.
People who expect me and others to clean up the messes they made.
People who think it's edgy to repeatedly engage in behaviors they have been asked to stop for the purpose of upsetting others and then minimizing their pain.
People who send me snotty, rude, offensive, and creepy messages online.
14. Where did most of your money go?
Besides rent, it was definitely Steven Universe merchandise and lending other people money/contributing to craptons of fundraisers.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
The Steven Universe finale and final books, every step forward in queer representation and equality and happiness, oatmeal, talking nerdy stuff with friends, bringing my friend Steve into my circle of oldest friends to play games, podcasts with Daria, cosplaying, my nephew, a New York trip I planned but canceled, previewing and play-testing the SU card game, Angela Chen's book coming out (with my blurb!), finishing my SU recipes, my Pearl costume.
16. What song will always remind you of 2020?
Usually I'll pick some pop song I discovered during the year, but this year I will nominate "Ghen Cô Vy"--Vietnam's song teaching people how to wash their hands in the coronavirus pandemic. I unironically like it.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder?
Sadder.
ii. thinner or fatter?
Thinner.
iii. richer or poorer?
Richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
Writing fiction, responding to mail, and working on my damn website.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Arguing with people who aren't listening, worrying about politics.
20. How did you spend Christmas?
Well, largely in a weird sad haze because I woke up to the news that Brendon died and still haven't processed it all the way.
But as far as Christmas CELEBRATION plans, I invited Mom, Victor, and Jeaux to my house for Christmas dinner. So many cookies!
21. How will you be spending New Year's Eve?
By myself drinking Sangria and drawing comics.
22. Did you fall in love in 2020?
None of my relationships with other people could be described as "falling in love." I maintain that I have all the love I want in my life.
23. How many one-night stands?
I should probably just delete this question from the survey. But then I'd have to re-number and ew.
24. What was your favorite TV program?
No one who has spoken to me in the last five years doubts that my favorite TV program continues to be Steven Universe. I also got into Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, TheUmbrella Academy, and the Animaniacs reboot though.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
Nah, I hate all the same people.
26. What was the best book you read this year?
My five-star reads this year were Ace: What Asexuality Reveals about Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen; Steven Universe: End of an Era by Chris McDonnell; The Art of Steven Universe the Movie; and Attachments by Rainbow Rowell.
Followers, love, attention, lots of really cool merchandise, a complete collection of autographed trading cards, great coffee and scented stuff, a healthy year, a win for Democrats in the presidential election, incredible conversations, a resolution to some instability at work, a short story sale.
29. What did you want and not get?
Better time management, a trip to New York, the 2015 issue of the Greg Universe Special with cover by Fellipe Martins (the only one I'm missing DARN IT), visits with Meghan and Steve and my dad, holidays with family, friends to remain healthy (a bunch of my friends have caught and suffered from Covid), an agent for fiction (though I just started looking!), a Democratic presidential nominee more in line with my views (Biden was low on my list), justice and peace for oppressed people, basic relief for people in my life who can't make a living now.
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
I hardly saw any movies this year and a couple of the ones I did see I didn't like, so I guess (if it counts) I'll just pick the Hamilton broadcast?
31. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 42. At work one co-worker got me tiny cupcakes and my boss bought me a cake!
After work I went out to Japanese food with Meghan, who came for our birthday, and we had Jeaux over so he could give us birthday gifts. We ate some of the cake my boss gave me. I got to celebrate my birthday before Covid was happening in this country since it was in January.
32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
If my country took Covid seriously and obviously if I didn't lose a dear friend to it. If we'd had a president and leadership that wasn't obsessed with image and willing to ignore science for his reputation and the economy. And as always, a book deal would have been cool.
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2020?
Sweatpants and Steven Universe tee shirts. And when going out, stylish masks. Also being able to fit into some of my smaller clothes again, but that's not really a fashion concept.
34. What kept you sane?
Cartoons, long walks, Polos with my sister, Stephen Colbert, sympathetic friends, coffee, kind people, music, distractions, stress cleaning.
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Oh, you silly survey.
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Black Lives Matter and the entire shitshow that was the Presidential election.
37. Who did you miss?
I already miss Brendon and he's gone a week. And beyond that, I miss literally everyone I haven't been able to see, especially Steve and Meghan because they've both been through some terrible stuff and I want to hug them.
38. Who was the best new person you met?
I haven't met anyone new this year "for real" but there's someone pretty cool I'm talking to on OKCupid (I haven't written about her here yet), and all of the people I interviewed for my Ace Interviews series were so cool!
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2020.
We have to accept that we live in a world where some intensely selfish people will light the world on fire before they'll deign to grant you your fair share of it.
Biggest news of the week is that I lost a friend to Covid. My friend Brendon died Christmas morning. Here is a fundraiser for his family. (I'm running it.)
Saturday I managed to get some light cleaning done in preparation of my Christmas gathering. I talked to my mom and later Meghan on the phone while doing my cleaning and made some Polos for my sister. I got a new low for my weight goal, did my blogging, and got all my holiday decorating done. I'm a champ! Oh, and I squeezed in arguing with a dork in a cartoon nerd group.
Sunday was another good day. I finally made my weight goal of 110 pounds, so now I will essentially be switching to maintenance mode . . . whatever that turns out to be. I did my laundry, did karaoke, addressed some e-mail, and made a silly birthday video for my nephew Ash who turned seven on this day. I also took out the trash and framed my Beach City poster. And I wrote up my thoughts on the SU DVD and posted them. I started work on subtitling my video with Daria as well.
Monday I went back to work for a short week. Had so much to do but I did it all! Made shipping labels, drafted bump letters for a utility coordination thing in Hernando County, called a utility for another project, and edited two letters, plus timesheets. After work I talked to the man who mows my lawn, Tony, for a long time. Then I played games with my friends, hung my Beach City poster, and fell asleep early.
Tuesday work was very busy again. Had a meeting and found out my role on the next interview might be more substantial. And I worked hard on some transcripts but the recordings were terrible. Spent the day dealing with that and some spreadsheets for my co-worker. After work I did a little cleaning and then we had an early Jeaux day so we could try to avoid too many crowds at the grocery store. He and I shopped, ate frozen food again, and made peppermint cookies together. After he left I made red velvet crinkle cookies too.
Wednesday was the last day before a four-day weekend. I did more transcript stuff and had a meeting, plus some research. After work I spent a really long time working on my comic. Not sure why I put so much attention into the drawings. At least they're really good this week. (I was finishing early because Christmas is Friday.) I also drew my nephew's latest original character in my style and sent it to him. Oh, and I received a copy of the game I helped promote and edit earlier this year; Beach-A-Palooza's final version arrived. My name is in the credits for Special Thanks! Cool! I didn't get to any cookie baking.
Thursday I had off for Christmas Eve, though I checked in with my e-mail once. Then I got to work on baking! First I made eggnog cookies while joking around with my friend Steve in texts. I showed my sister the cookies on a Polo. Then I made snowball cookies and snickerdoodle bars. Victor still called me and we chatted while I was making the dough for my cheesy bread and my gingerbread. After we finished our call, I made the frostings for the bars and the peppermint cookies and did a little kitchen prep.
Friday I woke up to Meghan's text that just said "Brendon died." We'd thought he'd been a little better but evidently not. So after some crying and texting and setting up a fundraiser for him, I determined that I was still having people over and went on to post my comic, run the dishwasher, bake the cheesy bread, and jump into party prep.
I made a cauliflower bake with feta cheese, a pan of vegan scalloped potatoes, fried zucchini, and the cheese bread. I also put together a cranberry punch with really picturesque garnish. My guests were Mom, Victor, and Jeaux, who live in isolation primarily and do not work outside the home or go out. So they were safe to be around (like me). We all cared about Meghan and Brendon so the night was really difficult, but it was good to be around them. Surprisingly, ALL of the food was delicious and every single thing went right. Mom brought brisket and wine so the boys had some meat and I drank the wine. Later Mom fell asleep and we all played the Beach-A-Palooza game. I also got lots of nice presents and we all exchanged gifts. Everyone left at about 2 AM. Wow!
I made it to 110 pounds this week. I actually went a little below that and ended up at 109.5 for a few days, but I've ended the week back up so I'm still going to post this stuff until I'm feeling like this is consistent or whatever. I'm going to focus on maintenance--continue trying to do 10,000 steps per day, continue to monitor my food for now since I seem to do better when I document (for now), and working to make better choices as to what I eat and portion sizes.
Here are this week's charts.
Reading progress:
Finished Reading: I did not make time for reading anything this week.
New singing performances: This week's karaoke song is "Where's the Party" by Madonna. The recorder is still going through some stuff trying to adjust to the move away from Flash so hopefully you can still see this.
Stuff Drawn:
Doodle of one of Ash's original characters, in my style
Daria's interview video is processed but she hasn't approved its publication and I haven't done the subtitling, so maybe next week.
New photos:
Put up my Beach City poster
Put up my movie bonus poster
New completed game!
Kidding around pretending a baking book is sexy with a centerfold
Cheesy pull-apart bread
Ridiculous cookie platter with 5 cookie types, all homemade
Homemade gingerbread
Cranberry Christmas punch
Vegan scalloped potatoes
Baked cauliflower with feta spread
Fried zucchini
Group at Christmas dinner!
One of each dessert on my plate
Playing Beach-A-Palooza
Social Media Counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,288 for swankivy (no change), 668 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 110 for Not-So-Giant Women (lost 1). Twitter followers: 939 for swankivy (no change), 1,358 for JulieSondra (lost 3). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 629 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 73 likes for Negative One (no change), 224 likes for So You Write (no change), 85 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,474 (no change). Instagram followers: 235 (5 new).
Saturday I got the last of my holiday shopping done and talked to my sister. Also made a very silly comic about one of the Steven Universe characters and it was well received on Tumblr to the point that the art got stolen later in the week. Gee I love drawing popular stuff. I also posted the newest podcast for Not-So-Giant Women. Not a bad day, all things considered.
Sunday was a pretty slow and nice day which included laundry and eating the last of my Hawaiian rolls. Did some random research on a project I want to nail down for questions and answers about Steven Universe that have been answered outside the show. I'm always having to link people to this stuff and would like a central hub for it. Took my trash out and found out it was warm enough to walk outside! Wrote some e-mails. Put up a new signing sheet that I won on eBay on my wall. Started watching special features on the DVD I received of the complete Steven Universe show!
Monday we finally had to do interview practice, but it went really well and we were able to get our topics covered well before the clock ran out. Also had to send two letters and one expanded letter. Tough day! I did everything though, even though I had to work late. Later hung out and updated some stuff and played online games with my friends. Later enjoyed a night with my family lighting Hanukkah candles on Zoom! So nice to see everyone--Sister P and fam, Sister L, and Dad & Connie. Afterwards, I relaxed and watched more special features.
Tuesday I got up early for more interview practice. Had to attend to some utility coordination and turn in a package for our information on this project so they know who our team is and stuff. Did some recipe planning for my holiday dinner and got excited about food. :) Did Polos with my sister while doing laundry. Then watched more DVD features.
Wednesday I had to get up early for practice with my team. We did a run-through and then only an hour later was the real thing. (I got to grab oatmeal right before.) We did okay, though the questions weren't quite what we had prepared for. Then after that I just cleaned up some stuff and took some time off because I put in extra time this week. I watched some more features on the DVDs. Later when Jeaux came over we went grocery shopping and decided to eat frozen pizzas. We watched some of the commentary tracks on the DVD and I took notes like a nerd. (Jeaux called me a nerd.)
Thursday I got up kinda late. I had to edit a draft of our new website for one of my co-workers. After, I did some Project Manager database updates and dealt with some utilities. Then after work I wrote my storyboard, played with video editing, and had a pretty good conversation with Victor until I got tired. Then I drew some more and listened to Polos.
Friday I finished my Project Manager reports and did some Upcoming Project reports as well as discussing utility stuff I have to do next week. Did more Polo exchanges with my sister and worked on my timesheets. I listened to and edited my next asexuality interview and finished my webcomic drawings, posted it, and fell asleep on the floor.
ANOTHER new low weight--I'm almost there. Maybe next week I'll hit my goal, woohoo! Unfortunately I had some pretty uneven sleep and some unintentionally very low calorie days because I was busy and disorganized and not really eating right. Oh, but on the good side, I tried a cauliflower crust pizza and it was good!
New singing performances: This week's karaoke song is "Scarborough Fair" by Simon and Garfunkel. The recorder is still going through some stuff trying to adjust to the move away from Flash so hopefully you can still see this. It seems like they're getting it together--links can be shared directly from their new site this week for the first time, but they don't have an embed option now. Click through!
Join Daria and Ivy as they watch and talk about "Steven the Sword Fighter" and cover such topics as immortality, what Steven's experience with school or the doctor might be like, Pearl's new outfit, sword fighting, toys, Holo Pearl's murderous nature, Amethyst and Garnet's behavior without Pearl, weather in Beach City, and boomerangs. Today's recipe: None. Today's merchandise: A bonus Mystery Mini, and Pearl's McFarlane set with the pillar and sword.
New photos:
Wall of SDCC Signing Sheets now that I got the 2013
Enjoying hot chocolate and quality entertainment
Social Media Counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,288 for swankivy (lost 2), 667 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 111 for Not-So-Giant Women (3 new). Twitter followers: 939 for swankivy (2 new), 1,361 for JulieSondra (1 new). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 630 likes for JulieSondra (no change), 73 likes for Negative One (no change), 224 likes for So You Write (no change), 85 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,474 (no change). Instagram followers: 230 (21 new--got a bunch of new followers from my stolen art post).
