Fremont Coffee is staffed by good peeps.
I’ve felt remiss not updating this blog for the last bit. Lack of sleep kept getting in the way. Or, rather, lack of sleep lead to lack of focus which lead to not updating. Blah!
As such, a bunch of small updates for y’all.
Work
I officially no longer work at Quantcast, my contract having now expired. I still need to send them back their laptop this week after I pull my personal files off it, but other than that it’s all over. It’s really weird ending a job I’ve been doing for over four years, even if it had a lot of downsides to go with its ups. Still, it’s been about ten days so I’m getting used to it. I’ve also been applying for other jobs, without much success. But I know I just have to keep on going, I’ll get interviews eventually.
I’m also currently taking on freelance work, if that’s of interest to any of you (or your employers!). I have a professional website up at http://scrivian.com that you should check out. 😀 Prices are negotiable for the tech work, especially for friends/individuals and/or very small companies. I priced most of it by using my Quantcast hourly rate plus about $10, which ended up feeling high, but I also have been taught to try and not accept pay cuts for the same work, so. Hopefully I’ll get a few nibbles, but I’ve yet to start advertising beyond a single twitter post, so I’m in a “wait and see” state for now. (I also need to figure out targeting advertising for that concierge service, beyond just going up to big houses in Seattle and bellowing at them while holding up a sign. That…probably wouldn’t work, right?)
Writing
I’m getting really really close to being done with the second draft of my novel! Probably going to be done this week if I get to work on it consistently. I stumbled into the climax at writing today, so that’s cool. And really exciting. I’ve been working to get to this point tfor a while. I’m also looking forward to working on some short stories again, and I want to try to write an essay for the Speculative Masculinities anthology. I have an idea, and I think it’s good, but it’ll take me a bit to put down on paper. Essays are harder than fiction, for me. But I’m going to give it my best! *determined anime pose*
Pets
Everyone is pretty hale and healthy right now. Jabberwocky is now on meds to hopefully get her phosphorous to calcium ratio back into whack, as her phosphorous is high right now. Which means I get to dose her twice a day for two weeks, so goodbye evening events! Still, she’s worth it, even if she is the angriest about everything. <3
I’m also working on socializing her a bit more, and once I get the bedroom she’s in clean I’m going to let her free roam more often. I’m also thinking about building her a little viewing box extension of her enclosure so she can go look out the window, as she likes to hang out there when she’s let out.
The dragon atop her mountain.
Exercise
Weightlifting continues to go well, though I’m definitely starting to plateau of my beginner gains. Still, I can bench press my boyfriend (theoretically), so I’m not too ashamed at where I’m at.
I’ve also started doing yoga, which I think is starting to help on the flexibility front. The routine I do also has some really nice neck and back stretches in there, which I’m hoping will stop me from RSIing myself while sitting at a computer all day.
Computers?!?
I’ve been working on learning infosec stuff and taking a crack at learning Python, too. For infosec, I’m working on reading through an A+ certification book because it’s a useful cert to have and it’s good to get down to basics, even if it’s boring as paste. I’m much more looking forward to Security+. I’m also considering a CCNA certificate, but I’m not sure how useful it’ll be? Any thoughts are appreciated.
Python seems pretty cool but I’m still very early days into learning it. I’m also tempted to learn C++ and Ruby so I can contribute to some neat open source projects, but I figure I should go one step at a time. Even if I want to learn _all the things_, there’s only so much I can do at once, right? OR IS THERE?!?
Reading
I just finished Neil Gaiman’s The View from The Cheap Seats, which is quite good if a little bit repetitive (understandable, given the anthology nature of the content). The audiobook is the format I’d recommend, because Gaiman has a reading voice that I want to wrap around me and fall asleep in in front of a fire.
I was trying to listen to Kameron Hurley’s The Geek Feminist Revolution next, but I bounced off the narrator. She over-enunciates to the point it almost sounds like she’s trying to read in slow motion, but at normal speeds. Even at 1.5x. It’s…not great? At all? For me? But I have a paper copy so hopefully I’ll get around to it soon.
I’ve also been reading a huge chunk of short stories. Might I recommend S. Qiouyi Lu‘s “Mother Tongues” in the January/February 2018 issue of Asimov’s? I AM RECOMMENDING IT GO READ IT NOW GO. I also really enjoyed “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow in Apex. (You can read it online for free, too!)
Games
I finished Prey and now I am adrift. ADRIFT. I’m not sure what to play next. I’m thinking I should probably switch up the genre, so I’ll take a poke through my Steam library and hope inspiration strikes. (Suggestions are welcome, too!) And play PubG in the meantime. 😀
I think that’s it for now! How is everyone else doing? What are you up to? TELL ME ABOUT YOUR LIVES. LIIIIIVES. SEECRETS. I mean, uh, I’d love to hear from you! Yes, that.
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