First Published: 2023 July 30
Prereading note: this is incredibly rambly, because it’s A: being written at the speed of thought, and B: intentionally longer than I generally make musings.1
So, I’ve realized that I’m feeling really self introspective right now. There are a number of reasons, I’m sure. I’m aware of at least a couple, though.
I took a long nap earlier today. I don’t know whether it’s the exhaustion which requires a nap or the act of napping, but I find that my days spent after a nap are much more inward facing2 than the norm. More than that, though, when I woke from my nap, I realized that nothing on my to do list was actually something I needed to do. That was really freeing, because it let me ask myself whether I actually wanted to do what I had said.
In a number of cases, I did. I wanted to exercise, though I really did not3 want to run. Instead, I found an online yoga class, which was probably a better use of my time.4 I wanted to eat, and so got to be mindful about what I cooked. I did actually want to write a chapter of my book, though I did not want to write two.5 I wanted to write a letter to a friend, and now I’ve written it.
Of course, that is another reason for my introspection. I tend to write my letters first thing in the morning,6 in part because I find that the walk to work helps to recenter me. Without that centering, I was forced to sit and be with my thoughts. I also wrote a short journal for the first time in far, far too long. It was a short musing, but it was good for me to get back into the practice, at least a little.
Also, despite the fact that I went to Mass and then brunch with friends, the rest of my day has been spent in isolation. Especially since the nap somewhat reset my sense of day, I really feel like I’ve been alone this whole day. Interesting, unlike other times that has happened, I do not feel bad about it.7 That’s likely due to the yoga, since staying in is extremely correlated for me at least with not exercising.
And so, with the perfect storm of everything leading me into reflection and nothing preventing me from posting a musing, it seems appropriate to muse on reflecting. This post could equally be about musing, or about the purpose of this blog. I opened my journal entry with “Dear Future Me,” which I know I’ve talked about before as my primary intended audience. By explicitly framing it, though, I realized that there are a number of questions I have for my future self.8
It really made me think about what changes I’ve gone through in my time being explicitly introspective. I’ve come home from a time abroad. For all that it was absolutely a real experience, it does often live in my memory as somewhat of a hazy dream. Even when I read my explicitly chronological musings, I find that I disbelieve the chronology of my time there.
After that, I really began doing research far more legitimately.9 A summer spent bonding with other chemists really made me realize that my passions were best served going into chemistry, rather than10 music.
I lived through a massive pandemic.11 During that pandemic, I only just missed the second most destructive storm in American history.12 I moved to a new place, further from my family than I ever had been for an open ended period of time.13
I started dating someone seriously for the first time in my life. I started a band. I got a Master’s14 Degree. I became a PhD candidate.
I have gone through half a dozen journals, changing my penmanship in each. Within those journals are an interesting cross section of my life. Entire courses of notes are contained within them. Other courses are completely removed from them, because I decided to take notes on other platforms.
There are poems and songs aplenty, for all that I don’t ever plan to revisit most of them. I do often think about the fact that I used to be able to write a sonnet a night without too much thought. What happened in my life that I feel busier than I ever have before, despite doing what feels like far less?
In college, I maintained a high GPA while taking overloads of courses, doing sports and music, and having a social life. In graduate school, I no longer take classes, I don’t do any explicit sport or music, and I feel like my social life is nearly nonexistent. But, I do also write a book now, which is gradually becoming less weird for me to claim.
After all of the writing advice that my father tried to instill in me, I stopped writing in a five paragraph essay mode. Of course, that meant that I began having far more paragraph breaks. For a while, I think likely due to the book I was writing, that meant that I would write paragraphs all of three sentences each. As I become15 more aware of that trend, I’ve tried to buck it.
And yet, what’s the point of everything that I do? In five years, I will likely never revisit my journals. In ten years, I may forget that I ever had a blog. If I have children, my thoughts at a time before they existed might be a comfort to them when I’m gone. Of course, that presumes that my journals will even survive that long.16
What about the book that I’m writing, though? I enjoy writing it, at least sometimes. I like the nice comments that I get.17 I know that there’s the whole “not every hobby has to be money producing to be valuable,” but I still sometimes wonder about the value of my book. My journaling and blogging, at least, help me reflect explicitly on what’s going on in my life and hopefully18 lead me closer to G-d and an eternity in His loving embrace. Writing my book does not make me feel holier,19 which probably isn’t great. On the other hand, writing my book does make me write more. And, at least20 879 people enjoy the book enough to follow it. I suppose that making other’s days brighter is worth a lot.
When I look back at myself this time next year, what will I wish that I spent more time on? I have to imagine that it will be similar things that I wish past me had spent time on now. I wish that I would have practiced art, though I can never really explain why. I wish that I would be better at organizing. And, despite the fact that one of my most common compliments21 is that I am good at keeping in touch, I wish I did better at that.
So, where does that leave me? I’m not totally sure. What I do know is that, for all the choices past me made that I’m less than thrilled about, I can’t deny that I ended up where I feel like I should be. The people I’ve met throughout this journey remain important to me.
Oh, I just realized I never posted yesterday’s post. Whoops.
I cleaned a bit today, though not as much as I had wanted upon waking. I at least feel more ok with the fact that I have higher priorities right now than decluttering.
I blogged today and yesterday.
I did yoga, and will do a self guided stretch after this.
I went to an improv show last night, so slept in this morning.22
I went to mass, and will plan to pray a rosary as I drift off again
I wrote two chapters yesterday and another chapter today. That means that I’m four ahead, which means that if23 I manage to write two tomorrow, I will finally be five ahead.
I wrote an aggressively bad poem. That is still better than not writing a poem at all, though, so I’ll be happy with it.
As mentioned, I wrote a letter. It was probably one of my less coherent letters, which is a shame.
1381/267
for reasons that are between me and myself↩︎
emotionally, at least↩︎
and almost never do↩︎
wow I’m way more stiff than I thought I was↩︎
Or, at least, the amount of time left in the day made me not want to.↩︎
or at least firstish thing after leaving my bed. Often that’s an hour after waking, but that’s neither here nor there↩︎
or as a result of it↩︎
which are in my journal, and will not be reproduced here.↩︎
I know that’s the wrong word, but it’s the one that I have right now.↩︎
explicitly, at least↩︎
though, despite the fact that the world is over it, it has not really ended in any legitimate sense↩︎
and lived through a fair amount of the immediate rebuilding↩︎
abroad, while further, was an explicitly predetermined length of time↩︎
I hate that it’s possessive, but that’s the nature of language I suppose↩︎
became? great question on tense there↩︎
to say nothing of whether or not I’ll have children↩︎
though wow the negative comments hurt way more than the nice comments make me feel better↩︎
though I don’t know how often it actually happens,↩︎
not feeling in the like “wow I feel so holy when I’m sleep deprived and then we have song time” way that camps do it, but in the intellectual way of being able to see where something is helpful to my sanctification. It also does not do the former↩︎
as of writing this (part of this) post at 2033↩︎
complements? I can never keep the two separate↩︎
I am glad that 7 is now sleeping in↩︎
somehow↩︎
First Published: 2023 July 29
Maus is a book that I feel like I’ve always known existed. Despite that, I do not believe that I read it before this year. I can be honest with myself and admit that a large part of the reason I ended up picking it up is the fact that schools are replacing it in their curricula.
For those who don’t know, Maus is a graphic novel about a man’s experience interviewing his father about surviving the Shoah.1 The Jewish people are represented by mice,2 Germans are represented by cats,3 and Poles are represented by pigs.45 Some see the choice of animal characters as a way to make the horrors seem more abstract, in a way that humans would not. I can’t find anything explicit about why he chose to use animals in the novel, and so I’ll just accept it for the literary device that it is.
Being semi-autobiographical and written in two parts separated by a vast gulf of time, the story drives you to keep turning the page. The first book sets the framing as a man interviewing his father6 about his experiences. The first book covers from before the war until his father is sent to Auschwitz. There is an element of dark humor in the way that dramatic moments within his father’s younger life7 are interjected by the reminder that the book is telling the story of collecting the story.8 After revealing something horrifying about the war, the book will cut back to Art’s father complaining about something minor in the present of the book.
Around two months after reading the collected version, the opening of the second book sticks with me the most. It is a panel with a plethora of labeled numbers. A few jump out immediately: the number of Jews who died in the Shoah, the time since the last book was published, the time since his father died, and the time since his daughter was born. Because the book is now being written also as a memorial to his father, a third timeline is now explicitly introduced to the story.
Book two of Maus is the story of someone realizing that they have lost a relationship with their now dead father while listening to recordings of their interviews about his time in the Shoah. Where the first book emphasized that Art’s father had some ridiculous complaints, the second highlights how much his father was trying to manufacture reasons to see his son. Interjected between scenes of the abject horror of a concentration camp, the framing of a strained relationship of father and son becomes all the more heartbreaking. More, scenes where his father scrimps to save every last piece of money or food become far more reasonable when he discusses how that tendency is one reason9 that he was able to survive the horrors he did.
The book is a fairly quick read. If you haven’t read it, you should. The fact that it is being banned or even restricted is horrifying to me.
I cannot think of anything else to say about the book, if only because I lack the words to express the way that it made me feel. Most books that I read do little to affect me mentally or emotionally. Those that do tend to tug on a single chord of my heart string or line of thought that I can identify and follow and recognize. Maus hit me and continues to hit me like a tidal wave.
honestly, this word choice is something that I’m spending a fair amount of consideration on. Holocaust is the most common word used in the American world, and I’m nearly positive that’s the term Spiegelman used within the book. But, within the Jewish circles I’ve seen, Shoah is almost universally the phrase used.↩
apparently in part because Jews were (are? [sadly enough present tense is still needed]) often depicted in Nazi propaganda as rats↩
because cat and mouse↩
other nationalities get other animals, but they’re rarely relevant to the story.↩
as it turns out, the choice to represent Poles as pigs is incredibly controversial.↩
who he has a difficult relationship with↩
such as being forced to flee his home in the middle of the night↩
with conversations about how tea is made poorly or the like↩
along with luck↩
I won’t be doing the reflection here because it feels somehow off to treat Maus like any other book I’ve read.↩
First Published: 2023 July 27
At the beginning of the month, I volunteered for a local mission trip. For those not in the know, mission trips are often experiences for middle and high school aged youth to travel somewhere, do nominal service, and pray about it. I1 tend to take issue with the fact that they often require very expensive travel and that they do minimal actual good. Likely to help combat that trend, my local diocese has a program which does most of those same elements but locally in the diocese.
It was a really incredible event, for all that it was a bit of an accident.2 Over the three days that we were there, we helped maintain the diocesan offices,3 helped a family with a newborn to maintain their home,4 and then finished the lawn work that other groups had done for a woman with advanced MS.5
I, along with another leader who had not done this before, were responsible for shepherding some middle schoolers, directing them in their work and making sure that they were safe and engaged. It was a shockingly easy job, especially compared to the horror stories I had been told.6 On all three days, we finished every task well ahead of schedule, which was a really nice feeling.
As mentioned in one of the footnotes,7 the third day was the one that I felt best about. When we were packing up, the woman made her way to the front of her home for the first time in weeks. She teared up upon seeing all of her hedges neatly trimmed and the detritus in her lawn cleaned up. Knowing that trimming a hedge, something that is not difficult for me, means so much to someone who cannot really made me reflect on the many blessings I’ve been given.
Of course, being a Catholic camp, there was a lot of time for prayer. We had Mass every day, and I was even asked to do the readings for the first day’s Mass, which was really nice, if incredibly stressful. It is also a camp, and so there were bonding activities, and time for the kids to play.
All in all, it was a fantastic experience, and I really hope that I’m able to do it again next year. I’m sure that there is more to say about the experience,8 but I think that this is enough detail for me to recall the event later on, which is one of the primary goals of this blog.
I cleaned the smallest possible amount. I did move a friend out of their home, though, which counts to me.
I did blog today9 and also did the day before. I think I’m getting back into it.
It was10 far too hot for me to feel comfortable exercising outside. I did spend two or three hours this morning moving a friend, though11, so I think that counts in many respects.
As with a week ago, I set my alarm for half seven and woke at six. I’ll still be rising earlier tomorrow.
I made it to the chapel for a quick prayer this morning, and I did night prayer tonight after the theology discussion I went to.
About halfway through a chapter, which I think is as much as I can do tonight. I’m beat from the day12
I did not do poetry today, but I did think about the nature of language and poetry, which is close enough to me
I again managed to write a letter. That’s really nice, for all that the explicit goal for the month was empty my pile. The fact that it’s nearly doubled feels a little unfair to me.13
611/168
like many people↩
I meant to sign up for a high school trip, misread H and M, and then volunteered to do the middle school trip because it was the days that actually lined up with my schedule.↩
which I think is important, for all that I absolutely see why that could feel less than ideal to many↩
the project that I (being brutally honest) felt least good about (though still very good. Service is service, after all)↩
which is probably the project I feel best about.↩
I was told many students would just sit and refuse to work. All of mine were beyond thrilled to be able to help people.↩
which feels wrong to reference↩
like the fact that I was told to join the priesthood, seeing my old parish priest, doing morning prayer while looking at the sunrise, etc↩
obviously↩
is↩
as mentioned above↩
and more than doubling my exercise and move rings (for those who don’t know what that means, sorry)↩
Curse you past me↩
First Published: 2023 July 26
Wow one month to the day since my last post on writing. I guess I should look at what I thought then, before entering into what I wanted to write about.1
I still use Stimuwrite for my writing, and it remains a really good motivator. It’s somehow good enough that it’s kept me going this whole summer. I am absolutely more efficient with it now, because the numbers going up give me dopamine rushes, which are really nice.
I am still absolutely atrocious at writing poetry.2 I should figure out why that is. I’m sure that it has something to do with my lack of schedule anymore, but that’s just an idea.
I have continued writing letters to friends, which has been great.3 I’ve stopped counting those words in my word goals, which feels healthy.
I also have absolutely not been journaling in the slightest. I don’t really think that’s an issue, though, because I haven’t felt particularly disconnected from myself lately. I think the grounding of writing to friends helps a lot.
Interestingly, every sentence in this musing, other than the first, begins with the letter “I”, and almost all of them are the word. I guess it is a self reflection, so that makes some amount of sense.
Anyways, on to the real content of this musing. I recently got a fountain pen, and have been using it for the analog writing I do. It’s an interesting transition, for a few reasons.
First, it’s a little thicker than the utensils i’ve been using lately. Despite being labeled as ultrafine, it’s still about thirty percent wider than the nibs I’m used to. It’s also a lot heavier than my pencils and pens, which is a welcome change, though one that takes some adjustment. Getting ink to run has been a little more difficult than expected, though I’m hopeful that will change in the future. All in all, I’m very excited to see what comes of my new writing implement.4
I cleaned a fair amount today, though that was mainly because it was necessary to clean space in order to move the things I needed to move. I also washed some objects that had an indeterminate need to be washed, though since I plan on using them soon, it’s likely good that they’re clean now.
I am about to write a chapter, which I began this morning.
My last musing’s Tuesday next has come and past, and I have not made time for exercise. I guess that’s something I need to start slotting back in.
I woke up at six and immediately returned to sleep, which is a choice.
I have been listening to CCCiaY, though not today. Prayer has been slipping again, so I should probably try to pray tonight before bed.
Today’s chapter came up on time, and I need to write Friday’s now. I did write the first few hundred words of it for today’s chapter, before realizing it was best served as a cliffhanger.
Once more, today will be a day without poetry.
I wrote and gave a letter today. The friend appreciated it, and I heard that another letter was delivered, and yet another was appreciated as well. I also addressed around five new ones since my last posting, which means the pile is in no risk of emptying.5
554/121
fountain pen↩︎
I mean atrocious to modify the action of creating, which I do not do, not the quality of the product (which is also low I feel like)↩︎
I feel like it might have been smart to record who all I sent letters to, though that obviously didn’t happen↩︎
Maybe I’ll even be inspired to write more.↩︎
at some point I’m going to worry that I’ve thought I sent a letter but didn’t or that someone will see that I’ve sent everyone around them a letter but not them and they’ll think I don’t value them. That is absolutely a problem for J(I don’t know if my first name is explicitly associated with this blog yet) when that occurs.↩︎
First Published: 2023 July 20
Once more, I’ve made it back from a conference where I didn’t blog at all. This is the other important conference my group goes to. It happens1 bidecadally2, which means this is likely going to be the only time that I attend it. In part because I was exhausted from beforehand, I don’t know if I retained as much science at this conference as I would have liked. But, I do absolutely think that I had a lot more professional networking than I expected to
This conference was for the entirety of my3 field. There were two poster sessions and otherwise almost exclusively invited talks. The talks really ran the gamut for the entirety of the field.
External to the explicit conference but related because I was there at the geographical location in the specific time, I also had some fun experiences. They took us on a hike to a national lakeshore.4 I bought two supplies for brewing.5 I also learned6 that I love pinball. I don’t really know what to make of that.
I did clean a little. More importantly, though, I made minimal mess, which means that I’m further ahead. A lot of that comes from closing a few cabinets that I perpetually leave open.
I wrote another chapter today! I did minimal poetry, though I am ok with that.
I’m accepting and embracing that I won’t really have time to exercise before Tuesday next.7
I set an alarm for half seven today and woke up around six anyways. I’m now getting to bed too late, but will still be up bright8 and early.
I listened to more CCCiaY, and I managed to find time to go to chapel to pray a rosary. It was really nice.
Today’s chapter was still longer than normal9, but shorter than yesterday’s. I’ve finished the first arc in my story, which is funny, because it took twice as many chapters as expected.
I’m not going to write explicit poetry today.
I wrote a letter and posted it. I remembered one person I was supposed to address a letter to, addressed it, and hopefully am not forgetting anyone. I also queued another letter to be addressed and then written.
366/68
nominally↩
so every five years↩
admittedly tiny↩
where I went too far and then had a lovely rosary power walk (where I prayed rosary slower than normal, interestingly enough)↩
tannins and malic acid. I don’t know when I’ll use either, though the lemon wine recipe I use does recommend some tannins.↩
remembered?↩
a construction that I prefer to next Tuesday↩
I hope↩
between thirty and fifty percent so↩
First Published: 2023 July 18
The time between UitP posts is decreasing. Thankfully,1 I’ve got a fairly long break before the next one.
This past trip was two State Parks, one of which I spoke at last year, and the other of which I had never been to before. The talks contained identical slides2, but some lovely people3 who went to both said that the content of the talks was wildly different. There were fewer questions, though the attendance was worse than before, so that makes some amount of sense. In defense of the world: the first talk happened just after a thunderstorm that took out power in the entire area and downed a tree near where I was speaking. The second talk was double booked against a number of concerts.
I still had a fantastic time, though. I got to spend time beside a fantastic body of water.4 Both nights managed to clear up in time for star gazing, which means that I went from being one in four talks successfully stargazing to three of six. One more and I hit a majority.
Iteration continues to be true, and I’ve now done four of nine for the summer. There’s a tenth that remains tempting, and a tentative winter talk, but those shall come or not as they’re meant to.5
For monthly goals:
I did not clean much today, though I’m about to do a bit.
I wrote a whole chapter today, this post, and yesterday a song draft.6
I still haven’t been as active as I’d like to, but wow am I exhausted.
I woke at six today, which was fantastic. Tomorrow I hope I can do the same.
I did CCCiaY on the walk to work today, and I’m planning to do a rosary tonight.
I wrote a7 chapter today, which was great. If I can keep this up for the rest of the month, I’ll be ahead.
As mentioned, I wrote a song yesterday. I’ll hopefully remember a poem tonight.
I wrote a fourth letter and posted them all today. I’ve forgotten entirely who one of the people I promised a letter to was, which is a major shame. I will keep hoping to find them.
364/87
for my sanity and research productivity, not for the sake of this blog. I would happily make this blog about the many wonderful talks and people I get to give and meet respectively (the talks are rarely wonderful, though the parks always are. I suppose I should’ve said parks I’ve seen)↩︎
barring date, as before↩︎
read: my family↩︎
a lake some could even call pretty great↩︎
I started the sentence so well with T but that fell apart.↩︎
technically I sang a song draft but↩︎
overly long↩︎
First Published: 2023 July 18
I logged on this morning to see what my last post was, getting ready to have not written for about two weeks. I suppose that seventeen days is around two weeks, but it’s somehow far more disheartening to see that I last blogged my monthly reflection. Some of the time I feel less bad about missing.
From the 9-15, for instance I was at a conference.1 On the 16 and 17, I was in rural parts of the state doing UitP events.2 And before the 9-15, I was volunteering at a service trip from the 5-7.3
However, I still feel bad about missing the postings during all of those days. While I have the hazy blur of great times spent at all three of those events, that doesn’t have the same element of memory that remembering to log my days each day tends to bring. I also fell off of writing basically entirely.
At the start of the month, I was nearly three chapters ahead of writing. By the end of the first week of July, I was no chapters ahead. Since then, each chapter has been written scant hours and minutes before it needs to be posted, and I can see a clear decrease in quality as a result. There were no poems, no songs, and no new journal entries written during this time either.
I think that the lack of writing really is4 getting to me. I feel far less grounded without the structures I have intentionally installed in my life, and I think that writing is legitimately one of the bedrock ones somehow. So, I hope that as I continue this month and future months, I will remember that the future version of me is inordinately grateful for the writing I do, especially compared to how much effort it really is to write.
In terms of goals for the month:
Despite the fact that I’ve been home for a total of seven nights this month, which includes recovery crashes5, I have managed to improve the cleanliness of the home.
Well, I completely dropped the ball on blogging, but also all writing.
I’ll defend myself from6 accusations of not exercising, because I have been away from home. I did swim for the first time in ages last Monday, which was really fun. I need to get back into it.
While I haven’t gotten my sleep schedule back to that, partially it is again outside of my locus of control. When I’m at a conference that has pseudo-mandatory social time until eleven at night and nothing scheduled until half eight7, it’s hard to motivate myself to wake at six. I have been intentional about sleeping enough, though.
I was doing great on prayer during the first week of the month8. Since then, it’s been a bit more of a struggle, and this does remind me to be more intentional about it.
Though I didn’t get ahead, I’m still proud of myself for keeping up with the publishing schedule throughout all of the chaos I’ve endured. Now that life9 calms down, I think getting five chapters ahead is reasonable. Doing some quick math10, I need six new chapters to keep up with the publishing schedule. Being five chapters ahead plus publishing six means writing eleven. There are fourteen days11, so I should absolutely be able to get ahead. It means less than a chapter a day, and I know that there will be days that I can write two.12
Though poetry felt like a reasonable goal, I have fallen completely off of that train. Now that I’m going to be sleeping in my own bed again, though, I think it can come back.
Of all my goals, I think this is the one I’ve done best on. I’ve written three letters, though haven’t addressed the last two13. It’s a really nice morning hobby, and I think that I will absolutely be bringing it back.
Well, I suppose losing half the month would make my daily reflection more into a half-month’s reflection, so it makes sense that the goals took longer than expected.
682/140
Musing to come↩︎
Musing to come↩︎
Musing (likely) to come↩︎
was? since I’m actively writing self reflection right now↩︎
when you get home from an event a few hours before normal bed but sleep the rest of the day anyways↩︎
internal↩︎
a British construction I refuse to lose. For the non-Brits, half past eight↩︎
though going to a church camp makes finding time to pray easy↩︎
relatively↩︎
maths? fun fact: in my book I avoid using either term with hopes of hiding where I’m from. I’ve taken to mostly using the term calculations↩︎
twelve if we remove Sundays, which (see goal about prayer)↩︎
though today may be a zero chapter day, since I drive back from the northern part of my state just in time to start volunteering.↩︎
and might have forgotten who they were meant to be addressed to↩︎
First Published: 2023 July 1
I missed a day of writing, but such is the nature of life. I had fun with friends and volunteered, which is probably better. My goals last month with their status:
Accomplishments/Finite Tasks
I played and sang at a friends wedding!
My talk was written and performed
My instrument did not run, but it was not my fault finally.
Growth
I’m once more ashamed of my living conditions, but it’s a faster fix this time I’m sure
I blogged a fair amount! I also wrote a total of a little under thirty five thousand words. That’s fewer than May, which is a little surprising. Then again, I suppose that I did lose a few weeks of writing altogether.
Exercise was intermittent
Sleep was intermittent
I didn’t make enough time for sleep
I’m a little under three chapters ahead
I wrote a song!
I wrote three letters to friends, though only mailed two.
Looking forward, I would like to:
Make my home clean again and invite a friend over. I have actual time in it this month, so that should be easier.
Continue blogging/find a way to do it during my conference. I know I won’t have time for it next Thursday, because I’m volunteering.
I’d like to exercise more. Ideally daily, but
Once again, I’d like to develop a sleep schedule that gives me enough and gets me up early (6am)
I’d like to make more time for prayer, or at least be more intentional about my prayer
I absolutely need to get five chapters ahead, if only because I want to start monetizing.
Doing some sort of poetry each day seems like a doable goal, if not a low bar.
I would like to get through my stack of letters1
That seems like a doable set of goals. Today I get to give a talk in a state park again, which I’m beyond excited about.
including the two new ones I need to add↩︎
First Published: 2023 June 29
It’s been a little more than a year since the last time I blogged about crocheting. When I last wrote it, I was in the habit of making hats1. I don’t actually know if I have made any hats since the one I blogged about here. I did make a few bags with a new stitch that I learned, which was really fun, though shockingly slow to build up.2
But, as is so often true of my hobbies, I fell out of the habit of crocheting for a while. Somehow, the algorithms that serve me content seemed to think that I wanted to get back into crocheting, though. In particular, there’s a pattern going around right now that’s apparently viral. It mostly just looks like strawberries.3
So, after four years of crocheting4, I finally made a pot holder. I think that’s generally recommended to be among the first projects people start on, but I’ve never been particularly good at following conventional ordering for learning skills. The strawberry stitch builds into a pot holder really nicely, since it’s a completely linear project. It’s a four row pattern that then loops. Odd rows are in red, and even are in green.5
The first row is single crochet three, double crochet five stitches into the fourth, repeat that until you have three stitches left, then single crochet three. For a foundation, the site I found the pattern on recommended doing a row of single crochet with 4N-1 total stitches where N is the number of strawberries you want. The second row is single crochet in each single crochet, then single crochet the five stitches together and add a chain and slip stitch for sizing.6 Row three is single crochet one, double crochet five into one, single crochet three, repeat the second and third steps until the end, which is single crochet one. Fourth row is identical to second row.
The overall pattern makes a nice offset set of strawberry shapes, though I would like to explore with different number of stitches in the strawberries or separating them. That’s for another time, though. It also built up a little thinner than I would have liked, so I think I’ll need to sew a cotton sleeve to the other end for thickness.
Once more, I did not make the progress I wanted to on my home.
I hope not to break my blogging streak tomorrow, but that will mean that I need to write before playing DnD with friends.
Air quality is returning to breathable, though it hasn’t yet. After this I will stretch, since I haven’t hit my daily goal yet.
I slept terribly last night, so slept in.
Today I listened to less CCCiaY, though I will do a bedtime rosary.
I wrote a little under two chapters today, which was fun. Interestingly, I was able to write one chapter basically straight through in under forty7minutes, and then while writing the second noticed that it was late.8
Three days have passed without poetry.
I wrote and mailed a letter this morning! It was really fun! I also took the advice of a book I’m reading and lit a candle while I wrote. It did make it far more fun.
537/155
a hat-bit, if you will↩
the stitch was solomon’s knot, which I feel like should be very fast, since it’s such a loose weave.↩
or, as one group mate phrased it, tomatoes. I hope that he’s unique in believing that↩
wow that’s way too big of a number. I did not graduate that many years (not doxxing myself right now) ago, that’s so fake↩
and wow I do not know how to effectively switch colors.↩
as it turns out, when you crochet together, you’re apparently supposed to pick up each stitch individually, yarn over and replace, and only then take them all off. So, instead of the hook having five red loops, it has six green. It took me far too long to realize that.↩
which should really have a u↩
and got jump scared by a music video playing in full screen and my app crashing (thankfully right after I saved to another program)↩
First Published: 2022 June 28
Tonight I went to my first cocktails and catechesis in a while. More or less, it’s a happy half hour followed by around an hour of discussion about the content in the past few weeks of the CCCiaY. This week’s topic was Baptism and Confirmation.
It was a great time, though more sparsely attended than I remember. Between that and leaving work late, though, I didn’t end up doing the writing I wanted to today.
I made arguably negative progress.
Blogging streak day four! wow!
Air quality got somehow even worse, so I took another day off of exercise. I did walk a friend home, though, so I’m counting that
I got up at six! Wow! Starting a streak just in time to end it.
I listened to a lot of CCCiaY today. Once more, bedtime rosary is the plan
I wrote none chapters today.1 I’m still two ahead, though, which is really nice.2
Two days of no sonnets
Two days of no letters. I think tomorrow morning is a great time to write one though.
176/11