The State of the Swankivy - August 1

swankivy

The State of the Swankivy - August 1 - August 7

Aug 08, 2020 17:58

The week in review:

Biggest news is I sold a short story for the first time in a few years and it's really nice to be rewarded so fast after I just started submitting again. Very encouraging! The story is called "Everyone's Gay in Space." It'll be a while before it's published though, so I'll give details then.
Saturday I did another oatmeal experiment (peanut butter and berries to make PB&J!) and got some laundry started early. My mom sent me flowers in honor of my fictional character Ivy's birthday! (If you must know, she's 24. Yikes.) Took a walk and got sexually harassed by a creep (an elderly white man in a car) so I walked across the golf course to avoid him. Got my blog stuff done and updated my cartoon blog's index page.
Sunday I did another oatmeal experiment (peanut butter and banana with honey and cinnamon). Also did some dishes and updated the index of my cartoon blog some more. Got laundry folded and put away. Then I had to go to the office for a few hours to help my boss with a proposal that was due the next day. When I got home I hadn't had much chance to get walking done so I took an epic walk and managed to get the steps in. I came home, did karaoke, and redecorated my house for the harvest season.
Monday was pumpkin spice oatmeal! Yum! I had a bunch of work to do on our marketing letters (one of them was the unusual long ones, which requires forms and charts). I also took a couple walks and talked to my sis on Marco Polo. We've been sending a lot of Polos. After work I played Dance Dance Revolution, showered, and tuned in to play games with my friends Meghan, Katelyn, Benjamin, Jeaux, Fred, and Kathy! (Victor didn't make it for some reason.) It was a good time and afterwards I did some more walking around.
Tuesday I made CHOCOLATE banana oatmeal! OOOOOHH. The day mostly involved some work on setting up letters and a bunch of data entry for roadway inventories. (We started a new work order. I'll be busy with this for the rest of the week.) After work I took a bike ride and found that I most likely will be able to make it to the bike shop sometime soon--it's not ridiculously far away. I want to get my bike chain tightened and the bike tuned up. After the ride I took another walk, hit the shower, and did a fun self-care routine while chatting with my sister. Then I opened packages and let her watch me find out what the hell I ordered. After, more walking. Too much walking! I'm tired.
Wednesday I tried a pumpkin smoothie for breakfast, taking a break from oatmeal because I planned to have a heavy dinner. I did a bunch of data entry for my project, and after work I went to the grocery store with Jeaux. We came back and made fried rice. (It was my first time making it, but you couldn't tell!) Then we watched The Owl House and hung out jabbering like usual. Played a game too much on the Internet.
Thursday I listened to music while entering data. I also tried a coffee oatmeal concoction that wasn't great. I basically spent the whole day doing the data entry. After work I wrote a storyboard for my comic and talked to Victor on the phone during a walk and during doodling. When he eventually fell asleep on me, I worked on the comic and noticed before bed that I got an acceptance letter for a short story!
Friday I had to cram in a bunch of work on my data entry project, but I got it all done by the early evening, interspersed with listening to CDs and grabbing the songs I liked. I tried a different kind of coffee oatmeal with quick oats and I didn't like that either. :/ Then I did some paperwork to sign the contract for my offer of publication on my short story, which left me scrambling to get my work done on my webcomic. (I didn't make much progress while on the phone with Victor.) I did fine with all that and spent some of the wee hours taking walks and updating some online stuff.

Social media counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,297 for swankivy (1 new), 675 for JulieSondra (lost 1), 16 for v & V Vids (no change), 99 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change). Twitter followers: 946 for swankivy (lost 2), 1,362 for JulieSondra (2 new). Facebook: 296 friends (lost 1, don't know who) for swankivy, 633 likes for JulieSondra (lost 1), 62 likes for Negative One (no change), 162 likes for So You Write (no change), 83 likes for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,479 (no change). Instagram followers: 203 (no change).

Food Plan Update:

The food plan is going pretty well. The scale isn't moving much, but overall I can say it is very slowly going down, so I guess at least I can say I'm doing this sustainably and realistically. Eating oatmeal in the mornings is really helpful to feeling energetic and not hungry the rest of the day (though I haven't been struggling with any hunger issues during this). I'm liking the pattern of taking several breaks from work to take walks so I'm not so sedentary for so long, and getting all the steps in for the program has been challenging but doable. I've still got two dance aerobics sessions scheduled per week and one bike ride, which I seem to be taking on Tuesdays. The oatmeal experiments have been fun even though this week I ran into a few I didn't like.

Books Read:

Finished Reading: Nothing, paused on reading projects right now!
Currently Reading: Emma by Jane Austen. I'm on page 225.

Songs Sung:

This week's karaoke song is "Turn! Turn! Turn!" by the Byrds.

Videos Made:

My interview video with Marta is up! Ace Interviews #4: Marta & Swankivy!

"Swankivy interviews asexual-spectrum folks about their experiences being ace! Guest is Marta from Poland, an aego-bisexual panromantic ace. Marta is the founder of the biggest Facebook group for Polish asexuals and helps organize meetings through the Polish ace group, Asfera (which has a Facebook page)."

Pictures Taken:

Flowers Mom gave me for Ivy's birthday: