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2024 - Week 36

Arts & Crafts

I spent some time on a patch this weekend, but it was a fail. I first tried to do punch needle, but it just sucked. Then I tried to cross-stitch on the punch needle fabric, but the scale was off and the fabric was so flimsy that I couldn't get it to work out. I couldn't add the band name because the fabric falls apart, so it ended up being pointless. Back to the drawing board. Perhaps I'll use an entirely different design with cross-stitch instead.


Why change the design? The lettering just doesn't work with the angles afforded by the squares. It may need to be done entirely in embroidery to work.

Decluttering & Minimalism

I didn't make a lot of progress here due to exhaustion, but I did figure some last things out and have finally decided on a coffee table that matches my living room TV shelving unit and my other furniture. It features storage, is compact, and the table top can be raised up to use it as a workspace as needed. Storage is a constant need in Tiny Condo and I think this is the exact piece of furniture I need to complete the space. I will have it on a rug so I can easily move it out of the way for exercise. I already have a rug for this.

I removed my air conditioner and put it in storage after cleaning it. 

Gaming & Streaming

The monthly women's pinball tournament happened on Wednesday. I made it to round 4, which isn't my best, but I had some good balls against some tough players and one of them didn't beat me by all that much, so maybe I'm getting better?

During my game night, someone said that Kobolds don't go there and it turned into this in my head:


That's probably because I've been marathoning Twilight lately...

We survived more kobold attacks and went down a hole our GM was not expecting us to go down, so we may be in much trouble next time.

Goal Setting & Tracking

Arts & Crafts: Make a band patch (Fail)
Decluttering & Minimalism: Relocate the storage bench to the craft space. (25%)
Gaming & Streaming: Pinball (100%)
Lifestyle & Sports: Practice plus a double header. (100%)
Music & Songwriting: Begin the 100 Days of Ukulele challenge. (1%)
Reading & Writing: Write a new horror screenplay (15%)

Lifestyle & Sports

This month's Music Oracle is Debbie Harry of Blondie.


I was anxious leading up to meeting my fall softball team. New people. Plus I thought they'd be so much better than me that I was worried. Also, the ball is a different size and I worried I wouldn't be able to hit it and they'd think I suck. But it all turned out OK. It was a very relaxed practice and everyone was kind.

Friday's double header night was a lot. It rained the whole time. In game one, the rain was light and actually helpful at keeping us from being too warm. I scored a run and made some good catches between the two games. In that first game, I had a close enough call that had me order a batting helmet the next day. As I was about to attempt to run to second, the ball came whizzing by my head. It was so close that I felt it. Given the number of times I've hit my head between roller derby and martial arts, I decided I didn't want to chance anything. I have a lot of things I'd like to do in this life yet. We won game one.

It rained much more heavily in game two, but not enough for the ump to cancel the game. I learned I really don't enjoy playing in a rain coat. It felt restrictive and the inner liner got wet anyway. It was still wet the next day. I play better without it.

We also had to contend with geese hanging out in left field. We didn't want to hit them or anger them. A truly Canadian conundrum to have during softball.

Hopefully, it won't be a rainy weekend for the playoffs and the geese won't be taking the field!

I was quite tired on the weekend after the double header, so I relaxed and caught up on sleep. It had been months since I last slept in.

Music & Songwriting 

The biggest news that I care about this week in music is that Dead Sara's singer, Emily Armstrong has joined Linkin Park. There's a new song introducing her. They've stated that they aren't replacing Chester, but beginning a new era. As a fan, I'm excited for this new chapter with them.

As to the claims against her, Emily had this to say.

On the weekend, I began a ukulele challenge born out of a patch I want to add to my jacket. I did more planning for it then actually starting it. I've returned to Fender Play and I think I'll be restarting from scratch as I don't remember a lot. I'm going to focus more on learning the content throughly rather than just finishing the lessons.

Reading & Writing

I figured out another scene. It feels like I'm going too slow to make the deadline this year, but anything can happen. At least I'm making regular progress on it. The problem is that what I thought was the story is just Act I and I have only the vaguest ideas for the rest of the story. Writing is like this sometimes.

During my Pathfinder gaming session it dawned on me what things I needed to research in order to write the rest of the story after Act I. I believe several trips to the library are in order as I'd rather not buy a bunch of books.

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