Arts & Crafts
I've been too tired to clean this room up, so I didn't get to it this week. But I will be starting my costume for Drag and Balls very soon, so it will have to get done.
Decluttering & Minimalism
This video was one of the best I've seen on how to help a person with ADHD clean their home. The use of see through bins is more helpful than a lot of people may realize. Also, just by grouping like things together, it helps take away some of the hard parts of decision-making, it lets them see just how many of an item they may have, and it makes it easier for them to decide on downsizing items on their own schedule.
Gaming & Streaming
My Minecraft house and car. Also, the pub I've been working on.
Goal Setting & Tracking
Arts & Crafts: Clean craft area.
Decluttering & Minimalism: Finish door repair and reinstall.
Gaming & Streaming: Just have fun.
Lifestyle & Sports: Continue with physio exercises and play softball.
Music & Songwriting: On hold.
Reading & Writing: Edit one chapter.
Lifestyle & Sports
The week began with drinks and celebrating Canada Day. We planned to order food, shared laughs, and welcomed summer. The food thing didn't happen because their next door neighbour invited us to their BBQ. I was initially a little scared because I had no idea what I would be eating, but he's the chef at Absinthe! I met an English teacher who knows several of the writers I'm friends with and we chatted about a variety of things including students using ChatGPT for their work. The teachers can tell. You're not fooling anyone. But, how many essays are needed on the same stories? I can see a lot of the work not feeling like a value add. The excitement of learning and doing something others aren't isn't there in school today. Anyway, I recommended a couple of writers she didn't know and we both went on our merry ways. Later, my friends and I enjoyed the fireworks before I embarked on the journey home since I live further away from that area of town than the rest of them.
Wednesday brought an event for women at a pub that friends were hosting. It was their first time hosting this particular one and it was a huge success. The pub was packed and excited at the idea of more of these events.
Friday's softball was so much fun. I was nervous, but it went really well. I got some hits in and was able to get on base once. Our team tied with the other who were quite tough.
This week, I got back to using my CPAP machine and after two days, I already felt more rested. It was a little uncomfortable after softball as I suppose I missed a spot on my nose with the sunscreen on Friday, but it was worth the discomfort.
Saturday brought Natsu Matsuri. This is a Japanese festival. I used to participate in it as a martial artist and I thought it would be fun to go as a spectator with friends. My friends bailed on account of the overly humid weather. I was cool with that. I don't know who decided it would be a good idea to have it during Bluesfest, but that was a huge problem for parking. But the location they held it at this year was also not right for it. It was too small and oddly set up. In past years, one could walk around easily and visit the booths to buy things or sign up for a class after watching a performance. Those basic things were impossible because it was over capacity. Also, they had some events indoors and some outdoors, but neither place was big enough for the crowd size. I don't think anyone was counting the people. The basic metric for helping judge year-to-year about where it should be held. I didn't run into any of my friends who I thought might be there. Ultimately, I wish I had just stayed home.
Music & Songwriting
I'm doing my own learning on the violin as it's ridiculous to me that we barely touched the instrument. I spent $70 to play less than I was before getting a teacher. That doesn't include gas to travel there. Plus the extra time to travel there. The teacher I had seemed like they didn't want to be there and it just didn't feel like a good place for me to learn partly because of that. I learned the proper positioning and that's what I really needed to learn the most to prevent injury.
I've since signed up for a course with Udemy that does all the beginner stuff plus more for $20. So far, this teacher is so much better. He explains everything really well. He also realizes that students may want to know that something isn't completely taboo, but rather better suited to a more advanced player. He'll also say that it's harder to mess up and sound bad if you do something like use a particular part of the bow in his suggested way.
I'm waiting for peg drops though as my acoustic violin is on the budget-friendly side, so it doesn't like to stay tuned. The drops are supposed to fix that. While I wait for those to come, I'm listening to violin music.
Reading & Writing
On Saturday, I had a writing session in the morning that left me feeling quite pleased. I fixed some areas that I had been previously stuck on. I didn't want to scrap them entirely, but I also knew they needed to change. I found a happy medium that leaves the spirit of the sections intact while making them subtle. Sometimes harshness is good, but other times it detracts from more important messaging.