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Odds and Ends
Time to try to get back into the swing of weekly updates! I have no idea what the hell I've been up to for the past... Month and a half, really, it's all blurred into a bit of a fugue. But that's fine, it'll be fun, we will figure out what I have been doing with my life together!
I'm gonna break this one down into categories, because goodness knows I need SOME way to organize my thoughts.
Driving: I found a different driving school which will let me buy just the six hours of behind the wheel lessons I need at a "not higher than the cost of just redoing the entire class PLUS lessons" price. I scheduled a first two hour block and then snow happened and I didn't go, which sucked, especially since I'm leery about whether this will be useful to me and whether I'll be getting my money's worth, but I really just need a piece of paper that says "this person did six hours and you can let them take the licensing exam" so that's the plan. I've continued practicing parking with my dad and am MARGINALLY less awful at reversing into a space in the way the Maryland exam requires but I still don't love it.
Volunteering: I've decided to volunteer preparing taxes again this year! I did my refresher classes the second week in January but I still need to take the exam to be certified in 2019 and I've just had so little time lately when I'm coherent enough for a ~2 hour long test. Our first day open is NEXT Monday and then I'll be doing this once a week through mid-April. I genuinely really LIKE my tax volunteer thing so I'm excited about actually doing it but I'm stupidly stressed out about the test for literally no reason. It'll be fine, I just need a long enough block of time without distractions and stress so I can grind through it.
Conventions: I did Magfest the first weekend in January and Arisia over MLK weekend! Magfest I ended up only doing Friday and Saturday because I was going back and forth from home this year. It wasn't worth it to transit for the short day on Sunday or even shorter day on Thursday. I went to a bunch of nerdcore rap concerts and played a ton of jubeat and got to hang out with a handful of friends, so it was a good con experience overall. It was just... Kind of lonely compared to hoteling and I hope that next year I can get a hotel again and room with friends, otherwise (unless the musical guest list is really good), I'm not sure I'll do Magfest in 2020.
Arisia was fun, even if the weather was FUCKING AWFUL. (New England winters, etc.) Friday I was really only there long enough to get my badge, do a first run of dealers, and do the swing dancing lesson and dance with Yrin, but swing dancing was SUPER FUN and I'm so glad I went!! I'm genuinely tempted to look into the swing dancing sessions at Glen Echo again now because I know those existed once upon a time. Saturday was my big full day where I bought things from dealers, did the art show (and bought a thing there), did a bunch of paneling and just generally had a great time. Sunday I uhhhhh did two panels and lunch and then had a stress meltdown before going home but that's, that's fine. It was fine.
Boston: Ah, a general catch-all both for the fact that I just visited Boston and so I can mention concretely that I plan to move to Boston. I have been thinking about this for several months now and making general efforts to get my life together in Maryland so I'm even ABLE to leave Maryland, but I feel like I've gotten to a point where it's less "this is something I want to do" and more "this is something I am actively doing." My one friend in Boston is looking into our rental options and her lease is up the first of September, though she's considering breaking it and moving sooner. I'm... Really going to move. I'm excited but nervous about it and there's still so much I need to do and it'll be a number of months more before I do it, but! I'm going! To move! To Boston!!
Socializing: I feel like I've been less social lately and it has not been great for me. I got to see friends over Magfest and Arisia weekends and visiting with Yrin was WONDERFUL, I love Yrin very much and am so glad for just, spending the entirety of Sunday evening physically flopped on Yrin because I was wiped. But I haven't really... Had any casual hangouts with just one friend in weeks and weeks and I miss that. I should ask Psiten to do something. (I have now asked Psiten to go dancing with me.)
Social Media: Ah, the tangentially related subject to my social life. I'm taking a semi-permanent hiatus from twitter! I have decided that for at least the first two months in 2019 I am going to use twitter only on Saturdays, kind of like a reverse "day of rest" thing. So far, I think it's working out pretty well? It makes me feel a little lonely and I have this weird feeling of CRAVING TWITTER which is genuinely like how substance withdrawal feels, but then when I actually use twitter on my single day of social media time it doesn't actually satisfy my needs for social interaction and isn't actually all that enjoyable. I genuinely am happier not wasting so much time on that hell site it's just... The habit, which I am still in the process of breaking and probably won't break entirely because there are too many friends I can best communicate with only on there. I'll never go cold turkey but maybe this is enough.
Games: On the subject of mobile games, I really have quit tenirabi but I've been antsy about it and so I've been struggling to find a phone game to satisfy my taptap cravings until the hypmic game is released. I revisited Deemo, played a new game called Lyrica for a bit, and have started playing Tapsonic Top which is actually scratching the itch because it's actually a gacha game with character cultivation... Which theoretically was what I was avoiding because I don't want to get too attached to a new game but this one is laughably unpopular and the writing is AWFUL even if the rhythm game mechanic is fun so I think... I'm mostly safe.
On the subject of not-mobile games, I wish I was still playing more videogames but I haven't been in the mood. I bought Pokemon: Let's Go but haven't played in weeks, and I bought the switch port of original Disgaea and the switch edition of Disgaea 5 but only loaded the game up and poked around your home base sort of location and never got anywhere with it. I've had a lot more free time, relatively speaking, considering I'm on a semi-permanent twitter hiatus, I just haven't felt like gaming.
Media: Ah, a catch-all for media consumption! As previously mentioned, I downloaded a manga reader app. Besides stuff about the yakuza, I started rereading the Pokemon Special manga and have been reading a lot of Korean webtoons. I read Raising A Bat, Like A Butterfly, Sadistic Beauty (sadly discontinued and not completed, which I did not realize), Why Did Men Stop Wearing High Heels?, and Make Me Bark. The webtoon format is honestly SUPER smooth and readable on mobile and that's definitely contributed to the rate at which I've been eating through comics. I really did miss reading manga and webcomics it was just the FORMAT that didn't work with my lifestyle and so I'm really happy to be reading stuff again.
I've also been reading a lot. As previously mentioned, I read the entire Machineries of Empire trilogy in less than a month and loved every single word of it with my whole entire heart, few book series have been so perfectly, lovingly tailored to me and I adored it. I also read Autonomous which turned out to ALSO be hilariously relevant to my "human super wanting to fuck an android specifically BECAUSE it is inhuman and more or less a walking weapon" interests. And I've begun reading Pachinko, which is also really good if less laser-targeted to my id and which I am probably only reading more slowly than the others because I alternate reading chapters of the novel with reading chapters of comics.
On the subject of TV, I've been binge-rewatching Criminal Minds in chunks from the beginning and have made it to mid-season-nine, which is about where I left off watching when I was following it on TV every year. I got kind of burnt out on the show for having to constantly out-do its own levels of awful but I really like the cast so in a weird and probably terrible way, it's a comfort watch and it's been nice coming back. I also watched the new season of Grace and Frankie this past week, which I LOVED, it's such a heartwarming, feel-good show.
I've been very, very slowly watching Antarctica anime at a rate of about one episode every two weeks, and I started rewatching Chihayafuru with Lauren, which has been LOVELY. I'd almost forgotten how much I love this series; I have the manga bookmarked on my manga reader and I think I'll wait until we're done with the anime but after that I plan to read it from the beginning. I'm also really excited about season three coming soon! Finally!!
Annnnnd I'm going to say this is it! I feel like I'm forgetting something but that's what I get for trying to cram a month's worth of odds and ends into one journal entry. I feel like I'm going to be even more of a lengthy TL;DR than I was before without my being on twitter all the time to dump smaller updates into. But honestly... It makes me feel more organized and on top of things to write things out longform all in one go.
Now to just achieve the "all in one go" part because I sure did write this entry across Friday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for lack of my managing to focus enough time all in one sitting.
To whichever all of you is reading this... Thanks for always consuming my walls of text about my life. I have very good friends. ♥
I'm gonna break this one down into categories, because goodness knows I need SOME way to organize my thoughts.
Driving: I found a different driving school which will let me buy just the six hours of behind the wheel lessons I need at a "not higher than the cost of just redoing the entire class PLUS lessons" price. I scheduled a first two hour block and then snow happened and I didn't go, which sucked, especially since I'm leery about whether this will be useful to me and whether I'll be getting my money's worth, but I really just need a piece of paper that says "this person did six hours and you can let them take the licensing exam" so that's the plan. I've continued practicing parking with my dad and am MARGINALLY less awful at reversing into a space in the way the Maryland exam requires but I still don't love it.
Volunteering: I've decided to volunteer preparing taxes again this year! I did my refresher classes the second week in January but I still need to take the exam to be certified in 2019 and I've just had so little time lately when I'm coherent enough for a ~2 hour long test. Our first day open is NEXT Monday and then I'll be doing this once a week through mid-April. I genuinely really LIKE my tax volunteer thing so I'm excited about actually doing it but I'm stupidly stressed out about the test for literally no reason. It'll be fine, I just need a long enough block of time without distractions and stress so I can grind through it.
Conventions: I did Magfest the first weekend in January and Arisia over MLK weekend! Magfest I ended up only doing Friday and Saturday because I was going back and forth from home this year. It wasn't worth it to transit for the short day on Sunday or even shorter day on Thursday. I went to a bunch of nerdcore rap concerts and played a ton of jubeat and got to hang out with a handful of friends, so it was a good con experience overall. It was just... Kind of lonely compared to hoteling and I hope that next year I can get a hotel again and room with friends, otherwise (unless the musical guest list is really good), I'm not sure I'll do Magfest in 2020.
Arisia was fun, even if the weather was FUCKING AWFUL. (New England winters, etc.) Friday I was really only there long enough to get my badge, do a first run of dealers, and do the swing dancing lesson and dance with Yrin, but swing dancing was SUPER FUN and I'm so glad I went!! I'm genuinely tempted to look into the swing dancing sessions at Glen Echo again now because I know those existed once upon a time. Saturday was my big full day where I bought things from dealers, did the art show (and bought a thing there), did a bunch of paneling and just generally had a great time. Sunday I uhhhhh did two panels and lunch and then had a stress meltdown before going home but that's, that's fine. It was fine.
Boston: Ah, a general catch-all both for the fact that I just visited Boston and so I can mention concretely that I plan to move to Boston. I have been thinking about this for several months now and making general efforts to get my life together in Maryland so I'm even ABLE to leave Maryland, but I feel like I've gotten to a point where it's less "this is something I want to do" and more "this is something I am actively doing." My one friend in Boston is looking into our rental options and her lease is up the first of September, though she's considering breaking it and moving sooner. I'm... Really going to move. I'm excited but nervous about it and there's still so much I need to do and it'll be a number of months more before I do it, but! I'm going! To move! To Boston!!
Socializing: I feel like I've been less social lately and it has not been great for me. I got to see friends over Magfest and Arisia weekends and visiting with Yrin was WONDERFUL, I love Yrin very much and am so glad for just, spending the entirety of Sunday evening physically flopped on Yrin because I was wiped. But I haven't really... Had any casual hangouts with just one friend in weeks and weeks and I miss that. I should ask Psiten to do something. (I have now asked Psiten to go dancing with me.)
Social Media: Ah, the tangentially related subject to my social life. I'm taking a semi-permanent hiatus from twitter! I have decided that for at least the first two months in 2019 I am going to use twitter only on Saturdays, kind of like a reverse "day of rest" thing. So far, I think it's working out pretty well? It makes me feel a little lonely and I have this weird feeling of CRAVING TWITTER which is genuinely like how substance withdrawal feels, but then when I actually use twitter on my single day of social media time it doesn't actually satisfy my needs for social interaction and isn't actually all that enjoyable. I genuinely am happier not wasting so much time on that hell site it's just... The habit, which I am still in the process of breaking and probably won't break entirely because there are too many friends I can best communicate with only on there. I'll never go cold turkey but maybe this is enough.
Games: On the subject of mobile games, I really have quit tenirabi but I've been antsy about it and so I've been struggling to find a phone game to satisfy my taptap cravings until the hypmic game is released. I revisited Deemo, played a new game called Lyrica for a bit, and have started playing Tapsonic Top which is actually scratching the itch because it's actually a gacha game with character cultivation... Which theoretically was what I was avoiding because I don't want to get too attached to a new game but this one is laughably unpopular and the writing is AWFUL even if the rhythm game mechanic is fun so I think... I'm mostly safe.
On the subject of not-mobile games, I wish I was still playing more videogames but I haven't been in the mood. I bought Pokemon: Let's Go but haven't played in weeks, and I bought the switch port of original Disgaea and the switch edition of Disgaea 5 but only loaded the game up and poked around your home base sort of location and never got anywhere with it. I've had a lot more free time, relatively speaking, considering I'm on a semi-permanent twitter hiatus, I just haven't felt like gaming.
Media: Ah, a catch-all for media consumption! As previously mentioned, I downloaded a manga reader app. Besides stuff about the yakuza, I started rereading the Pokemon Special manga and have been reading a lot of Korean webtoons. I read Raising A Bat, Like A Butterfly, Sadistic Beauty (sadly discontinued and not completed, which I did not realize), Why Did Men Stop Wearing High Heels?, and Make Me Bark. The webtoon format is honestly SUPER smooth and readable on mobile and that's definitely contributed to the rate at which I've been eating through comics. I really did miss reading manga and webcomics it was just the FORMAT that didn't work with my lifestyle and so I'm really happy to be reading stuff again.
I've also been reading a lot. As previously mentioned, I read the entire Machineries of Empire trilogy in less than a month and loved every single word of it with my whole entire heart, few book series have been so perfectly, lovingly tailored to me and I adored it. I also read Autonomous which turned out to ALSO be hilariously relevant to my "human super wanting to fuck an android specifically BECAUSE it is inhuman and more or less a walking weapon" interests. And I've begun reading Pachinko, which is also really good if less laser-targeted to my id and which I am probably only reading more slowly than the others because I alternate reading chapters of the novel with reading chapters of comics.
On the subject of TV, I've been binge-rewatching Criminal Minds in chunks from the beginning and have made it to mid-season-nine, which is about where I left off watching when I was following it on TV every year. I got kind of burnt out on the show for having to constantly out-do its own levels of awful but I really like the cast so in a weird and probably terrible way, it's a comfort watch and it's been nice coming back. I also watched the new season of Grace and Frankie this past week, which I LOVED, it's such a heartwarming, feel-good show.
I've been very, very slowly watching Antarctica anime at a rate of about one episode every two weeks, and I started rewatching Chihayafuru with Lauren, which has been LOVELY. I'd almost forgotten how much I love this series; I have the manga bookmarked on my manga reader and I think I'll wait until we're done with the anime but after that I plan to read it from the beginning. I'm also really excited about season three coming soon! Finally!!
Annnnnd I'm going to say this is it! I feel like I'm forgetting something but that's what I get for trying to cram a month's worth of odds and ends into one journal entry. I feel like I'm going to be even more of a lengthy TL;DR than I was before without my being on twitter all the time to dump smaller updates into. But honestly... It makes me feel more organized and on top of things to write things out longform all in one go.
Now to just achieve the "all in one go" part because I sure did write this entry across Friday, Tuesday, and Wednesday for lack of my managing to focus enough time all in one sitting.
To whichever all of you is reading this... Thanks for always consuming my walls of text about my life. I have very good friends. ♥
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