On Writing Again

First Published: 2023 July 26

Draft 1

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

Conference Recap

First Published: 2023 July 20

Draft 1

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

Universe in the Park Part 3

First Published: 2023 July 18

Draft 1

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

Restarting (Again (again again))

First Published: 2023 July 18

Draft 1

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

Monthly Reflection

First Published: 2023 July 1

Draft 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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

On Crocheting Again

First Published: 2023 June 29

Draft 1

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

Cocktails and Catechesis

First Published: 2022 June 28

Draft 1

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

Lemon Wine Redux

First Published: 2023 June 27

Draft 1

It’s been a little less than a year since the last time I mused about lemon wine, and it seems like an appropriate time to do so again. Last year I apparently made a single batch of lemon wine before writing the musing. I ended up making one or two others, which was really fun.

This year, the recipe has changed slightly. As before, I cooked approximately eight pounds of sugar in water. This time, though, instead of lemon juice, I used pure citric acid.¹ I also took a note from my second batch last year and didn’t add the lemon juice to my must.

There are a few reasons I think that’s a good idea, most of which revolve around the fact that my yeast can’t metabolize citric acid and I don’t really want it to metabolize the ascorbic acid.² The other flavoring oils shouldn’t be digestible, and again, I would like them to remain. Also, adding lemon juice drastically drops the pH of the solution,³ and I don’t want to stress my yeast out.

It’s really strange to me how many flavor notes fermented sugar water has even without other additives. I don’t think I really believed that different yeasts actually produced ester profiles before this. The fermentation seems to be stalling out a little bit, but I’m hopeful that it won’t be true in the morning. If it is, I’ll do my usual lifehack of sprinkling a small amount of yeast nutrient to get rid of all the dissolved carbon dioxide⁴

It looks like I’ve historically used three quarts of lemon juice, which still seems like an appropriate amount. Anyways, I’m excited to see how this batch comes out. I think I’m going to do something that I’ve thought about since I started making lemon wine⁵, and dry hop it. I’ll go into more detail about what dry hopping is when that becomes relevant.

• I got an air filter and set it up.⁶

• Blogging streak day three

• Air quality got even worse, so I took a day off of exercise

• I slept with my window open last night, and didn’t realize the air quality was going to suffer so much. As a result, I slept poorly and in.

• I listened to a lot of CCCiaY and prayed the chaplet of St. Michael the Archangel over breakfast. As yesterday, I’ll also do a rosary in bed.

• I wrote two chapters today! That technically means that I’m three ahead. As soon as tomorrow’s chapter posts, though, it’ll be back to two ahead. Still exciting!

• Wrote a sonnet last night! Will not write one tonight because wow time flew.

• Didn’t write a letter. Should consider doing that tomorrow morning.

449/53

On Writing Again

First Published: 2023 June 26

Draft 1

Huh I hadn’t even realized that my last post on writing was less than two months ago. It was a very short post, more so¹ about my lack of writing for the day than anything else. Today, I want to talk about a few writing things I’ve learned or rediscovered lately.

First, I found a new workflow for writing my book. I am easily motivated by numbers going up², so I had taken to writing my³ chapters in an online word counter, which updated the character counts basically any time that I stopped typing for half a second. Someone at the conference I went to was horrified by that workflow, so I spent a few days using TeXShop’s built in word counter, which was slightly less nice. Today, though, an online source recommended StimuWrite, which is basically just weaponizing the dopamine bursts of using the internet as a way to make you write more efficiently. The features I love most about it are the pleasant⁴ moving backgrounds it lets you set, and the fact that there’s a fun little progress bar that tells you how far through your goal you are. It does mean that my workflow now looks like writing the goal, copying it into my document, changing the word goal, and deleting the text in StimuWrite, but that’s the nature of the beast I suppose.

I don’t think that I’m particularly more efficient with this tool, though its explicit lack of a spell checker does mean that I rewrite words far less often while actually typing. I think that it does certainly help me to keep writing when I’m halfway through a sprint, though. Looking down at the bar that is sixty percent filled⁵ and watching it slowly tick up as I write a few more words is really motivating to me for some obvious reason.

But, not all is roses and sunshine in the realm of my writing. I realized that I haven’t really written any sonnets in ages. I know that sonnets are like (insert metaphor here). The first time I write a sonnet, even just after taking a break⁶, it’s very difficult. If I keep it up for a few weeks, though, it becomes almost as easy as just transcribing a sonnet.

Back in the realm of sunlight and flowers, I wrote a letter to a friend today! I apparently fit nineteen words on almost every line⁷, which is a strange number, especially since it was reproduced on more than half of the lines.

Once more leaving the realm of daytime and flora,⁸ I would like to journal more. In part, I think it makes me more thoughtful. In part, a book I’m reading recommends it. In part, someone I look up to a lot does it daily. Between those three parts, it seems like something I might benefit from doing, especially since I already have topics in mind.

Looking back at that last paragraph, I’m reminded of why I started this blog. It was to be a digital diary, in part fulfilling course requirements. However, the reflecting I do here is far different than the reflecting I do in my private journal. I don’t want to say that it’s sanitized.⁹

Anyways, I’m glad to have at least a little bit of time to start returning to normalcy before my life goes crazy again.¹⁰ I need to write up a character for a DnD one shot I’ll be playing with friends this weekend.¹¹

• I quantum cleaned.¹² In particular, I dug out the blanket that I’ve been nominally working on since 2019.

• I blogged today and even yesterday. Wow, look at me, setting up a streak.

• The air quality was bad today, so I did an online pilates class. That was really fun, though absolutely killer. I also learned that my entire body is far less flexible than I remember.¹³

• I did, in fact, sleep in today. Tomorrow I will regain my historical sleeping goal, though, I hope at least.

• After this, I’ll do a rosary as I get ready for bed.

• I did finish today’s chapter last night, and I wrote tomorrow’s chapter today. If I can just write four more extra chapters by Friday, I get to my goal.¹⁴

• None music today.

• I’ve addressed another four letters, and I even wrote¹⁵ and posted one today! That means that I’m officially one third through this monthly goal.

732/235

Conference (etc.) Recap

First Published: 2023 June 25

Draft 1

So I’ve been absent another week and a half or so. In my defense, I was watching someone graduate, and then at a conference. In my offense,¹ I could have made time for this. Anyways, in the interest of not doxxing my family² I won’t be talking about the graduation here³. Instead, I’d like to talk about a conference I went to last week.

Despite being the most important conference that my group goes to,⁴ the conference is nearly unheard of. Even my friend who goes to the university that hosted it didn’t know it was happening. But, it was a great time to bond with my group, reconnect with old friends,⁵ meet new friends, and, of course, listen to a ton of incredible research talks. I also gave a talk, but it was far from incredible.

• I did a bit of cleaning.

• I blogged today! Planning to again tomorrow

• I did a 5K today.⁶ That wasn’t fun, but it was probably healthy for me

• I am still in recovery mode from the conference, and so I have slept in the past two days and will likely sleep in tomorrow.

• I did a rosary during the 5K.⁷

• I’m more ahead on the book than I have been for the past week or so.⁸

• I added another verse to the dumb song between the last posting of this blog. Now it feels like a complete song, because I don’t personally always love bridges.

• I’ve given up on posting⁹ the first letter I wrote. I did get a bulk pack of blank cards, though. I’ve addressed them to the people I’ve made a mental or verbal commitment to send mail to, in hopes that it will inspire me to write the letters.¹⁰

290/249