2024 - Week 10

Oh, Hi, March!

This is a busy month at work as I try to finish all the 2023 things and set up the 2024 things. I'm pushing forward on my goals outside of work anyway. Maybe that's a bit silly given still being injured on top of it all, but I'm getting so close to just being able to relax much more often, which also means I'll have more time for guilt free creating.

Arts & Crafts

I don't really have an excuse for why I haven't finished my PWHL Scarf yet other than that I didn't feel like knitting at my queer craft group and I have gotten sucked into this sticker bomb project. It's addictive once you get going! Three of the four doors are ready for sealing. I will finish the fourth and then find time and spare to clear coat them all two to three times. When? Your guess is as good as mine.

I started bringing my Fairy Cross-Stitch to the queer craft night. The room is very bright, so it's ideal for it. That is also the craft project I've been working on the longest. Unfortunately for me, I had to frog much of what I had done this week because the young fairy's torso and bottom half were not aligning. Luckily, I recently hung some new lights on the wall above my couch for crafting and reading and now the girl's body is properly assembled.

Decluttering & Minimalism

This week, I got a shelf unit and some cloth bins to put my video game accessories in. The unit matches my TV stand and so do the bins. Unfortunately, I had to get more bins because they were a couple of milimetres too tall for the shelving unit.  Yes, milimetres. Ugh. At least I had another place I could make use of the bins in and they came with extra tags. It worked out in the end, but I was pretty frustrated by the whole thing.

I've moved my weapons bucket to my bedroom, since that's where I exercise. Or where I will when my arm isn't in pain.

Fitness & Budo

My arm is finally starting to feel better. I'm sleeping through most nights and I'm not in constant pain. I forced it to stretch forward some despite the pain and just started moving it a lot more because it won't get better being idle. I haven't had a day without pain yet, but I hoped that would start after beginning massage appointments. 

My first massage appointment was interesting. It was with a student. Part of the intake had her gently feeling me all over and she was able to tell things about me I never wrote down like that I had injured my ankle previously. Some of the things she suggested I work on are things my physiotherapist gave me, but she explained to me what was happening with my body. Like the cross-body stretch that we have been told to do for curling is actually bad for me because those muscles are over-stretched on my body from decades of office work. I need to do the opposite to get my pecs and upper back muscles strengthened. She also said I've got very strong muscles, but I've been working them at a rate that is faster than they can repair and grow, so I need to slow down. As one friend said, "Rome wasn't built in a day." I guess that's why my biceps were feeling rather rock-like. Oops.

But I think there is more going on here. This unfortunately seems linked to my medication. It's like it prevents my muscles from healing. Apparently, it's not unusual for kids with ADHD to take longer to heal broken bones. I guess I'll be asking to try non-stimulants next.

Gaming & Streaming

Monday was Diablo IV night as usual. I had to pull myself away from my sticker bomb project, but I got a lot of quests done.

On Wednesday, I went to the monthly women's only pinball night. I didn't make it as far as last time, but it was still fun. I had a sour beer. It was OK, but quite tart. I'm still searching for a beer I like.

In Stardew Valley, Emily and I aren't married yet. There's been no rain for me to go get the necklace from the old guy on the beach. We did go camping though.

Sports

I watched some of the Montana's Brier curling event this week. I'm not as invested in watching men play sports. This may be because it's not as relateable to me in that some of the ways men do things just aren't feasible for the body I have. I'm looking forward to the Women's World Curling Championship coming up later in the month.

In PWHL this week, Ottawa faced Minnesota. Lately, I've been unable to get time to watch the games as I have other things like curling in the same timeslot. And then I only have time to watch the highlights.

Writing

When I began this week, I had no idea if I would get anywhere on my writing. It's something that has been difficult to do with getting my condo to be a nice place to be in. When one is away from writing for awhile, one begins to wonder if they are really even a writer at all. It's been quite some time since I submitted any projects anywhere and I've been feeling the weight of that. 

I got a chapter edited. I forgot I had renamed one character and was confused for a bit. I started changing it back and then realized I liked the new name better and fixed it again. The joys of editing...

But it's another chapter done and I added quite a bit to a scene, so I'm feeling better than I did earlier in the week about the state of my novel.