State of the AJ -- July 2016
I used to do these posts over on LiveJournal and Dreamwidth a lot, then I just kind of slacked off. The last time I did one of these posts anywhere was in April of 2014. I won't try to update every single thing that's happened since then, but I'll hit some of the major points.
Work
Well, this hasn't much changed in the last two years. I'm still trying to get my foot in the door with freelance work, but it's becoming more and more of a hassle, to be completely honest. It's really demoralizing because I just can't get a foot in the door anywhere, and I'm ready to just give up.
At the same time, any kind of "normal" work is even less of an option. I've had no steady work of any kind since January of 2013, other than the attempts at freelance work. The migraines make most office work untenable. My age and weight are detractors to me getting any kind of job in fast food or retail, if the lack of degree and length of time since my last "gainful" employment don't do it first.
I'd really like to find some sort of data entry job that I can do at home. One that's not a scam, obviously. I've been doing some work over on Amazon Mechanical Turk, but got out of it for a while there. It's not a lot of money, pennies really, but it's a little bit of something to do that brings in pocket change, I suppose.
My soulsis has given me some advice on going down to WorkSource and seeing about getting some help with employment and/or training for employment. If I'm lucky, I can hopefully get training for some sort of medical transcription and then do the work from home. Plus, it'll be nice to get a new paper trail for the migraines as an issue with "regular" employment. We'll see how that goes.
Pets
The cats are their usual selves. Leo's now 14, Stasia's 13, Gabe is 10, and Elphie's 8. Leo's become this walking zombified cat that defies reason, between his cockeyed fang and his skinny, unsteady body. But he's stubborn af and will likely outlive all of us. Stasia's still as fractured personality-wise as ever, but we have learned that she is a complete slut for seafood. Particularly crab. It's hilarious, especially as she totally understands when crabbing season is, so she's particularly affectionate of late. Gabe and Elphie are still playing at who is the top cat. Gabe is an eternal bully and wants to be in charge, even as we all know that Elphie's top cat. Because of this, Gabe takes his frustrations out on the older two. And we do what we have to in order to keep the peace.
House
Things are pretty much the same in the household as they've been for the last several years. We have a small container garden on the deck. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and strawberries. The pea plants got some kind of weird root rot or something that killed them off. The pear tree is exploding with fruit. The apple tree is finally producing actual fruit again after nearly a decade of nothing. I guess it's finally recovered from the over-enthusiastic pruning that Amy did.
The leaves on the neighbor's Japanese Elm are already starting to turn red. Neither of ours has started yet, but this is kind of terrifying, given that it's only the 19th of July. I worry that we'll be having an early and nasty winter this year, based on the elm leaves. We haven't had a really nasty winter like that since 2008, and I'd rather not repeat it if we don't have to, you know?
Spirituality
I've been kind of lax in this respect. I've taken a break from doing my monthly free tarot draws because… Well, I think I just wasn't feeling it as much anymore. While I do like offering the service to others, sometimes it feels like people just take what's free and don't appreciate it. So, rather than expend energy and feel like I'm being taken advantage of, I've suspended that service. I do, however, have my readings up on my Etsy store. That said, I think I'm going to work on a bit of a detox of sorts until Samhain. I'll do a proper rededication of service to my deities then, even as I still am respectful now.
Writing
My writing has been progressing nicely. I'm still mostly working with fanfiction, but am working on a few ideas for some original pieces. I did submit an article last year for publication, but it was rejected. That rejection hit harder than I expected, and I haven't tried since. I think this has some connections to my freelance work issues that I mentioned previously. It's terrifying to put myself out there and get rejected. But I'm hoping to try again. Plus, there's the fact that a lot of publications and contests require a submission fee that I just don't have.
That said, I have begun a fascinating writing project that started on 1st June and will continue until 31st December of this year. The project is called #666foryou and is centered around the cancelled-before-its-time Damien TV show. The object is to write 666 stories based on the show as a thank you to the cast and crew, with a minimum of 100 words per story. As of today, there are 147 stories already written in this project. It has some of my best writing, I think. And by the time the series is done, it will be my #1 fandom for quantity of fic written.
Fandom
Okay, my fandoms list has been dwindling, particularly with shows ending in one way or another. My current list of shows watched [even though some are on hiatus atm] is as follows: Once Upon a Time, UnREAL, Game of Thrones, The Fosters, Grace and Frankie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Orange is the New Black, iZombie, Wynonna Earp, Portlandia, and Fargo. And I've just started watching Wentworth as of today.
I'm going to take this time to discuss the fandom that ruined my life in all the best possible ways. Yes, I'm talking about Damien. 10 hours of perfection that hit so many of my buttons, it's not even funny. A&E completely dropped the ball and let this creative powerhouse go without doing a lick of promotion. When the fans are promoting the show more than the network, there's a HUGE problem, okay? This show made me think, brought back all of my obsessive research of the Bible, particularly the Christ mythos and the Antichrist. I haven't been this invested in a television show ever. My mourning has not ended yet, and the show was cancelled two months ago tomorrow. I became a lifelong fan of Glen Mazzara and so many of the cast, crew, and actors because of this show. I was already a lifelong fan of Barbara Hershey's, but Damien just made it stronger.
Misc & Sundry
I've been doing a lot of crocheting of baby clothes, as well as hats and scarves for all ages, for several families on the Okini list. This is a charity that lets people help Lakota families in need. It lets me do something crafty that helps other people, which always makes me feel good. Plus, it lets me work on clearing out my yarn stash, which is sorely needed. I'm enjoying the ability to make these adorable clothes and know that they'll go to someone who will appreciate them.
I've been reading a lot lately, too. Amy got me a Kindle a few months back, and I have been going through my backlog of free ebooks. It's been nice...
And I guess that's pretty much everything right now. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I'll post about it when I think of what it is.
Original post @ Dreamwidth with
comments. Commenting is welcome on either post.
Work
Well, this hasn't much changed in the last two years. I'm still trying to get my foot in the door with freelance work, but it's becoming more and more of a hassle, to be completely honest. It's really demoralizing because I just can't get a foot in the door anywhere, and I'm ready to just give up.
At the same time, any kind of "normal" work is even less of an option. I've had no steady work of any kind since January of 2013, other than the attempts at freelance work. The migraines make most office work untenable. My age and weight are detractors to me getting any kind of job in fast food or retail, if the lack of degree and length of time since my last "gainful" employment don't do it first.
I'd really like to find some sort of data entry job that I can do at home. One that's not a scam, obviously. I've been doing some work over on Amazon Mechanical Turk, but got out of it for a while there. It's not a lot of money, pennies really, but it's a little bit of something to do that brings in pocket change, I suppose.
My soulsis has given me some advice on going down to WorkSource and seeing about getting some help with employment and/or training for employment. If I'm lucky, I can hopefully get training for some sort of medical transcription and then do the work from home. Plus, it'll be nice to get a new paper trail for the migraines as an issue with "regular" employment. We'll see how that goes.
Pets
The cats are their usual selves. Leo's now 14, Stasia's 13, Gabe is 10, and Elphie's 8. Leo's become this walking zombified cat that defies reason, between his cockeyed fang and his skinny, unsteady body. But he's stubborn af and will likely outlive all of us. Stasia's still as fractured personality-wise as ever, but we have learned that she is a complete slut for seafood. Particularly crab. It's hilarious, especially as she totally understands when crabbing season is, so she's particularly affectionate of late. Gabe and Elphie are still playing at who is the top cat. Gabe is an eternal bully and wants to be in charge, even as we all know that Elphie's top cat. Because of this, Gabe takes his frustrations out on the older two. And we do what we have to in order to keep the peace.
House
Things are pretty much the same in the household as they've been for the last several years. We have a small container garden on the deck. Tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, and strawberries. The pea plants got some kind of weird root rot or something that killed them off. The pear tree is exploding with fruit. The apple tree is finally producing actual fruit again after nearly a decade of nothing. I guess it's finally recovered from the over-enthusiastic pruning that Amy did.
The leaves on the neighbor's Japanese Elm are already starting to turn red. Neither of ours has started yet, but this is kind of terrifying, given that it's only the 19th of July. I worry that we'll be having an early and nasty winter this year, based on the elm leaves. We haven't had a really nasty winter like that since 2008, and I'd rather not repeat it if we don't have to, you know?
Spirituality
I've been kind of lax in this respect. I've taken a break from doing my monthly free tarot draws because… Well, I think I just wasn't feeling it as much anymore. While I do like offering the service to others, sometimes it feels like people just take what's free and don't appreciate it. So, rather than expend energy and feel like I'm being taken advantage of, I've suspended that service. I do, however, have my readings up on my Etsy store. That said, I think I'm going to work on a bit of a detox of sorts until Samhain. I'll do a proper rededication of service to my deities then, even as I still am respectful now.
Writing
My writing has been progressing nicely. I'm still mostly working with fanfiction, but am working on a few ideas for some original pieces. I did submit an article last year for publication, but it was rejected. That rejection hit harder than I expected, and I haven't tried since. I think this has some connections to my freelance work issues that I mentioned previously. It's terrifying to put myself out there and get rejected. But I'm hoping to try again. Plus, there's the fact that a lot of publications and contests require a submission fee that I just don't have.
That said, I have begun a fascinating writing project that started on 1st June and will continue until 31st December of this year. The project is called #666foryou and is centered around the cancelled-before-its-time Damien TV show. The object is to write 666 stories based on the show as a thank you to the cast and crew, with a minimum of 100 words per story. As of today, there are 147 stories already written in this project. It has some of my best writing, I think. And by the time the series is done, it will be my #1 fandom for quantity of fic written.
Fandom
Okay, my fandoms list has been dwindling, particularly with shows ending in one way or another. My current list of shows watched [even though some are on hiatus atm] is as follows: Once Upon a Time, UnREAL, Game of Thrones, The Fosters, Grace and Frankie, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Orange is the New Black, iZombie, Wynonna Earp, Portlandia, and Fargo. And I've just started watching Wentworth as of today.
I'm going to take this time to discuss the fandom that ruined my life in all the best possible ways. Yes, I'm talking about Damien. 10 hours of perfection that hit so many of my buttons, it's not even funny. A&E completely dropped the ball and let this creative powerhouse go without doing a lick of promotion. When the fans are promoting the show more than the network, there's a HUGE problem, okay? This show made me think, brought back all of my obsessive research of the Bible, particularly the Christ mythos and the Antichrist. I haven't been this invested in a television show ever. My mourning has not ended yet, and the show was cancelled two months ago tomorrow. I became a lifelong fan of Glen Mazzara and so many of the cast, crew, and actors because of this show. I was already a lifelong fan of Barbara Hershey's, but Damien just made it stronger.
Misc & Sundry
I've been doing a lot of crocheting of baby clothes, as well as hats and scarves for all ages, for several families on the Okini list. This is a charity that lets people help Lakota families in need. It lets me do something crafty that helps other people, which always makes me feel good. Plus, it lets me work on clearing out my yarn stash, which is sorely needed. I'm enjoying the ability to make these adorable clothes and know that they'll go to someone who will appreciate them.
I've been reading a lot lately, too. Amy got me a Kindle a few months back, and I have been going through my backlog of free ebooks. It's been nice...
And I guess that's pretty much everything right now. I'm sure I'm missing something, but I'll post about it when I think of what it is.
Original post @ Dreamwidth with
comments. Commenting is welcome on either post.