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2023 - Weeks 33 and 34



Since Week 32 was a vacation week where I just spent time with family and did very low key things like thrifting, I'm skipping that one.

Week 33 started with a vacation day to recover from the vacation.

Since then, I've been working hard on my decluttering efforts. I should be writing, but I'm finally making progress in this other area that has been such a pain point for me. 

I began reorganizing my living room. First, I moved my rowing machine into my bedroom next to where I keep all my sporty items. Once that was out of the living room, I could better see the rest of the room, what needed to be moved around, and I could move it around, so I did.

I moved my sewing desk near my balcony door, which was swapped with the cabinet that was there before. That cabinet is closer to my TV area, which makes great sense since my movies and liquor are in and on it.

I moved my IKEA PS unit that holds my music related items like small instruments, sheet music, and cables. I was using it as a separation between my office and my living room, but I've been needing better access to my electronic piano for learning and creating. I finally bought the second tier for my keyboard stand and I'm hoping my little midi controller (AKAI MPK Mini) can live there. I've been spending a lot of time investigating musical genres as I'm trying to figure out where I want to prioritize my time.

There's still a lot to do to clean it up fully, but having the furniture in the same general area of The Tiny Condo, is going to be a wonderful change that will help me accomplish my artistic goals.

I recently got a larger USB hub and I'm hoping that lets me add another camera for streaming purposes and then I can do other things like sewing, painting, and eventually music on stream. I always intended to be a variety streamer rather than a game streamer. I'm sad about how long it has taken to get to this point, but I'm really looking forward to what comes next.

This little pre-fall cleanup is giving me the flexible space I've been wanting and I couldn't be happier about it.

I've also been planning out my fall schedule. I might have an activity most days as I'm truly hoping to get into a two days per week tai chi class near my house and I'll have curling two days per week along with streaming. The dojo doesn't seem to pick up their phone, so I'm just going to show up before the class next week. A bonus is that it's in an area of town that is close to where I enjoy shopping more, so I might be able to better plan some things out like meals.

Softball was rained out on the 18th, but I had a lovely time socializing with my ball team at a BBQ. We don't get a lot of time to chat at the games and the bar can be quite packed and loud after, so it was really great. One of the things that I loved the most was talking about our experiences in sport and with this team. There were many echos of it being so good for one's confidence and that our team is a wonderfully caring group that is always trying to improve. I couldn't have been placed on a better team regardless of where we are in the standings.

We had two games this weekend. The sad fact was that we hadn't gotten to really play since July 14th with all the weather events and holiday weekends, so I had little hope we would get to since rain was in the forecast again. We lost the first by 1 point. We lost the second by a little more, but it began with us already down by 7 points.

The following day, I had a movie outing planned with a friend, a book discussion for Nights at the Round Table that was previously postponed, and Hadestown. My friend had to postpone the movie, so I was able to attend Drag and Balls. I'm glad I did. I was able to catch up with an old derby friend and see several friends from other teams, as well as, some curling friends.

The book discussion went as well as it could given that we both found the book to be beautifully written yet largely forgettable. I'll post the link when it's available.

Check out my review on Hadestown here.

The Capital Pride Parade capped off the weekend and I both loved that and needed rest! As for the parade itself, I had a wonderful time with friends from various groups and the overwhelming support for the community was heartwarming. Though it wasn't entirely free of hateful people like far right activists or religious extremists who felt the need to try and ruin a day of love, those people were thankfully rare and in small numbers.

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Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

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