Apparently Checking Your E-mail Is Good Sometimes?

I’ve gotten worse about checking email, but I’m glad I did it today! I found an offer from a couple days ago to republish one of my old microfictions in a new anthology the editor is trying to put together. I’ll post a link when it comes out, but I wanted to share this vagueposting bit of news just because it was so exciting and fulfilling.

I haven’t written a lot lately, and I haven’t published (or even submitted) in years. So this felt really good and validating. Even if for whatever reason the anthology doesn’t come together, it gave me a much needed boost and I’m really grateful for that. <3

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August Begins

An image of the I-5 bridge over the Seattle ship canal at night.

Back in June one evening I got stuck on the Montlake Bridge on my bike while heading home after an evening GMing a one shot. And hey, I got a cool picture out of it!

And we’re back for a brief update!

Cool Work Stuff

After over a year of temping, 3-4ish at a nonprofit and then 10 months at my current place, I’ve been hired for a full-time position. There’s decent (good, tbh) pay! Health insurance! Stability! I’ll be a Business Systems Administrator, which is a fancy way of saying “makes Salesforce work good, also a bunch of other random stuff.” It’s different from the Help Desk-esque IT work I’ve been doing, but it’ll hopefully be a good chance to grow and learn new skills and all that. Plus the people I’ve been working with at my current gig are pretty great, on average, so I’m happy I get to stay around and cautiously optimistic in general.

My friends and I celebrated my official first day today by going and throwing axes and drinking beer. It was rad.

Goal/Project Updates

  • West Seattle Food Bank website has been redone.
  • Jabberwocky’s stuff is partially dealt with. The enclosure’s taken down, which was the biggest part. A couple of boxes of miscellaneous gear still need to be taken somewhere.
  • Garage Sale Bike was *going* to be finished, and then it turns out I didn’t notice one of the missing parts previously, so now I have to figure out a replacement for that.
    • Also my main bike is busted. I was gifted a VanMoof S2, of all things, and have been using that as a substitute to decent success. I miss having cargo racks, though.
  • Cleaning/Decluttering is being chipped away at again. Lots of backsliding, trying to pick back up. But relatedly…
  • The Big Scanning Project is back and I’ve made progress the last couple nights. Hopefully will keep chugging along.
  • The Novel Project has been going slowly, at a pace of at most a few thousand words per month. But it’s going. I’m currently chipping away at the climax, but this is going to be a biiiiig rewrite once draft zero is done.

Goals For This Month (Why Not)

  • Write more than this one blog post XD
  • Finish the Great Scanning Project
  • Fix my main/commuter bike
  • Keep decluttering
  • Write 10k on the novel project
  • Do at least 20 workouts

We’ll see how it goes! I’m trying to get myself together a little more than I have been, and I think the stable employment is going to help a lot with that. Still, the optimism is in Caution State for the time being.

Onwards. Will post again soon. Or at least sooner than the gap between the last post and this one!

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New Year, New Goals (Goals for 2025)

Hey, it’s 2025 and it’s almost the end of January, so it’s time to set some goals. It was probably time to set them about, say, 30 days ago. However, Christmas/New Years was busy and I wanted to think things through a little more before I threw them out into the world. Continue reading

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So, Trump Won…

Anna Kendrick grimacing and saying "...Shit." before bowing her head.

Y’know, it sucks to have that flickering candle of hope burning in your heart and then be punched in the stomach, kneed in the face, and thrown into an open sewer. Trump winning feels like that. Continue reading

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Happy Halloween

Lucy and Linus waiting in the pumpkin patch for The Great Pumpkin, looking up at the night sky and smiling.

Happy Halloween, nerds. I’m engaged in my tradition of watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and I hope you’re getting to do whichever Halloween things make you happy. <3

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Everything is Going Great

Life continues to be chaos, as it is wont to be these days. At least I made it to my writing night, for the first time in a few weeks. Granted, I’m the only one here in person today, but so it goes.

(Incidentally, if you’re interested in a writing night for spec fic authors in Seattle on Wednesday nights in-person, or virtual wherever the hell you like, drop me a line. And maybe don’t read the rest of this post, I’m sure I look like a basketcase.)

A very, very quick summary of the chaos: Continue reading

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Clawing at Dirt

A scuplture that looks like a cross between an amoeba and a jellyfish, lit from inside, hanging from the ceiling of a light rail station. Two other sculptures are visible in the background.

Is this relevant? Not really, no.

This is round four of trying to write a blog post. I’d like to write about my life without feeling like I’m whining or feeling sorry for myself. That has proved difficult.

I’m sure it’s just an attitude problem and if I try hard enough the world will turn into sunshine and rainbows.

This sounds more pessimistic than I am. I just feel stuck right now. Things are manageable, but barely, and getting things to improve feels like I’m clawing my way up a steep slope of loose dirt. While moving three different pieces of cargo with me, only one of which I can hold at a time. Progress is possible, but limited and very difficult.

At least lifting weights has been going well for the moment. So that’s something.

In fact, why don’t we go through my year goals. With a one sentence per goal limit, because limits breed creativity and also I’m trying to spare you all a 1000-word post. Continue reading

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Sudden Burst Transmission

An image of the band Tiny Stills playing live.

I saw the Tiny Stills live last week! Yay! A definite bright spot in the last couple weeks.

Okay, so I might have fallen off the once a week blog post thing. Whomp.

Hopefully I can get the average back there by the end of the year.

Things have been overwhelming lately in a lot of ways. Some good, some bad, some just…a lot. Continue reading

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It’s the First of May!

It’s the first of May, and thus I am obligated to remind you all this lovely (and silly) song exists.

That’s it for today! Enjoy. 🙂

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Rattling Off Bullets

A screenshot from XCOM: Enemy Within. The camera's focused on an alien console with a holographic projection above it. Dr. Shen says over the comm "Is this what the aliens do for fun? At least they're not playing... computer games."

Putting me on blast, XCOM! D:

At the moment, the last week feels like it was very long indeed. Late-day energy crashes are fun. As such, quick bullet points: Continue reading

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