First Published: 2025 July 14 (because I forgot to hit post)
Welp, here I come a full week late with a reflection on the last month. It was, as every month seems to be, just absolutely full of events. In particular, the travel I did towards the end of the month meant that I was away from my computer more1, and therefore writing far less on it.2 I really want to get back into the habit of doing this, in part because I also really want to get back into the habit of the daily reflections. With that in mind, though, let’s get into the meat of the reflection.
Last month I thought I would be excited for:
Seeing a close family friend’s wedding. Went, it was super fun! It was a little sad because they had a memorial to my mother up, but that’s also really sweet in retrospect. The week before it we visited other family friends, and that was also really nice.
Visiting a friend. Also super fun! Ended up happening after the conference, because I don’t know how time works, I guess. We went to a zoo and a science museum. Great times, and it was really lovely to meet his fiancee.3
Presenting my research at a conference. Went really well! Unfortunately, the calculations were still ongoing at the time of presentation, and so I didn’t end up having as nice of one as it happened.
Singing in a few more concert-like events. They were really fun! Turns out one of them was the governor’s party, and they had us acting as guests when not singing. The other one was pretty bog standard.4
It happened today, but going to a friend’s5 baby shower! It was so nice to celebrate with them. I assume this was true!
Last month’s must dos!
Finish the presentation that I’m giving on Friday and then again at the end of the month
Woo! Gave the presentation that Friday, and gave it again at the conference. It was significantly improved by the second go round, and I do think that the Friday version helped with that.
Continue applying to next steps
Not really doing, which I’ll likely discuss more below.
Make progress on my thesis
Lots! Boss is happy with the work rate.
Last Month’s hopefully dos!
Make an actual list of everything that needs to happen before I can submit the paper. I don’t think that I officially had that happen, but it remains a good task.
Do all of those things. Nope! Paper is not submitted, which means that at least something isn’t working. I keep being 99% done with the project only to find a problem in the code that means I need to redo a lot of the work.
Finish the presentation and make it good. I got a lot of compliments on the presentation, even though many people were also disappointed by some of the findings.
Finish the chapter of my thesis on the program. I completely spaced this one, so it goes on my new6 list.
Rewrite the chapter of my thesis on the apparatus I used. Done, but I did a bad job of it.
Keep up on my web novel. Lol, nope! I feel really bad about it, though, which is like doing it?
Keep up on this site. See above.
Do music. I jammed with a friend one of the days, and then left my guitar in its case for a few weeks. I did buy two harmonicas7, and they were fun to play. I also sang a fair amount, I think?
Take care of myself.
Eh, by the end I was certainly disregulated. I think that’s mostly because I love routine.
What did I dream of doing last month?
Finish the Paper -> as above.
Write a full outline of the rest of my thesis. I actually think that I did this! Wild
Writing a folly a day. you can see that this is not happening.
Getting a backlog of chapters ready for the web novel. Nope!
Finish the presentations that I’m going to be giving in July. I give my first one on Thursday, and I have the loosest sketches of a beginning, which I started making yesterday.
Get the video series done. I did absolutely nothing on it.
Record the new song I wrote. I sang it for the friend, and she enjoyed it.
Write a few more songs. Nope!
Record a few more songs. Nope!
Jam with other people. Once or twice.
Find my next steps. Yeah!
Once again become comfortable with silence. I think so, honestly. It’s really nice having my headphones on even and especially when I’m not listening to things. My brain is once again in a space where I can’t listen to things while using my mind, which is good to know.
Spend the time I need to confront the faith issue that’s been boiling in the background for a few months now.
I forget if I wrote about it, but did actually figure out some of it, een8 if I didn’t, I did end up resolving a lot of it.
Learn shorthand and start writing it with my left hand.
Lol, I was so optimistic.
Before getting into the priorities, let’s look forward to this month9.
Five things I was excited about last month that I didn’t know would happen:
Getting to go to a family-hosted board game night again.
Went on a brewery tour
Saw the cryptozoology museum
Went to a number of breweries!
Started brewing again.
Five things that excite me about this July:
Visiting a friend! Did it
Giving a talk this Thursday to some high schoolers. I’m still really excited for i, even if I am growing incredibly nervous about how I’ll do.
Getting into a routine again! I haven’t really had one, but the fact that I’m gone basically all weekends means that it’s a routine of sorts? I hope at least.
Going on a visit to the place I got a job offer for!10
Getting to give a talk on an island I’ve always wanted to visit!
Last month I did must, want to, would dream of. This month I’m just going to do should and would love.
What should I do this month?
Get back into the web novel
Get back into follies
Write journal daily
Eat well
Stretch
Sleep
Clean
Research
Creation
Honestly, I think that I’m mostly just recreating the list of daily reflection, so let’s go down there and try making the new one.
Last Month’s daily reflection11:
Did you journal by hand, and do you feel like the stormy questions in your mind got on the page?
Did you do your best to sit in still silence?
Are you making sure that each task is given your full attention, not just because the task deserves it, but because you deserve the luxury of doing a single thing at a time?
Are you focusing on your posture and breath?
What in your body is holding tension right now? How can you fix it? When will you fix it?
Comments on sleep?
How’s eating going? In particular, how are you doing with eating plants and unprocessed food?
Are you neglecting any of your familial obligations? If so, how can you rectify this?
Cleaning: what is the biggest priority you have right now, and what is the next action item for it?
Thesis: current task. What’s preventing you from finishing it? How will you remove that obstacle?
Thesis: next task. What will you need to be able to do it?
What’s the next job you’re applying to?12
Are you intentionally trying to spend time with others?
Are you doing your absolute best to ensure that you and those you interact with view the interactions in the same light? Are you sure?
Are you keeping up on this daily set of reflection questions?
Are you keeping up on writing the follies? If not, what’s in the way?
How are the long form follies coming? Do you feel like they’re weighing you down right now?
Are you writing poetry? When, and what were your takeaways from the previous day’s writing?
Are you making music? If not, what is in the way?
How resonant is the list right now? Decently, though I think that I want to change a few things.
Did you journal a full page today?
What ink/pen did you use, and what were your thoughts on it?
How’s prayer?
How’s focus?
How’s sleep?
How many meals, and how balanced?
How’s the posture?
How’s the breath?
How’s the movement?
How’s the physical flexibility?
How’s keeping up with the family obligations?
How’s the thesis?
How’s the poetry?
How’re the interpersonal relationships?
How’s the music?
How’s the other writing?
How’s the cleaning?
How’s ordering the life?
water?
I’m sure that I’ll reorder this on another day, but for now it feels good enough. So, then, let’s fill out the daily reflection, I suppose!
Did you journal a full page today?
Just about!
What ink/pen did you use, and what were your thoughts on it?
I worked with a Kaweco Perkeo, and I was using Private reserve Vampire red. It is more brown than red, I’d say. The Kaweco is definitely not a heavy flow pen, and so the ink often went on the page almost a pale salmon. On points where the ink goes down hard, it’s more like dried blood. This seems to be a standard review of the color, so I don’t think I’m making a mistake there!
Other than that, I do love the way that the pen feels in the hand. It’s very gentle, and that’s nice.
How’s prayer?
Oops, a good thing to remember to do in the future certainly.
How’s focus?
Eh, it’s hard to get going when I have midday meetings, but I’ve always known that.
How’s sleep?
Decent. Yesterday was a really low energy day, so I ended up getting to bed relatively early.
How many meals, and how balanced?
Today: had a waffle and have been working on a bowl of oats since then. That’s a sign I should get a more protein heavy dinner, which probably means that it’s time to go grocery shopping again.
How’s the posture?
Has been generally bad lately. My shoulders feel almost permanently curled in, and at this point I’m beginning to wonder if that’s just correct.
How’s the breath?
Haven’t really thought about it that much, being totally honest. It’s nice right now to be getting a few breaths in, though.
How’s the movement?
Stretched once today, am about to stretch again. Other than that, I walked around a bit, but not as much as I usually like.
How’s the physical flexibility?
I can touch my toes, my shoulders feel tight, and I find myself crossing my feet when I lie down, which I am told is a symptom of tight hips.
How’s keeping up with the family obligations?
I failed to listen to last week’s album, and will start listening to this week’s.
How’s the thesis?
Currently the main goal is making sure all my citations and figures are looking good.
How’s the poetry?
Nonexistent, but I think that I have time today to fix that.
How’re the interpersonal relationships?
Generally decent! On the other hand, I haven’t really been seeing people, in large part because I have been out of town.
How’s the music?
Not great, I think that I’m most of the way through the song for the wedding.
How’s the other writing?
Non-existent. Mostly that means the novel.
How’s the cleaning?
I can do better!
How’s ordering the life?
Eh. I have a to do list!
Water?
Much better today than ever before!
good↩
un-good↩
English lacks diacritics, and so critics can be satisfied knowing this is an active choice of mine↩
where does that term come from? I wonder↩
since I’m friends with both parents, not entirely sure how to possessive that word↩
ugh someday I’ll get into some sort of ordering that works for me, I hope↩
one necklace worn that’s a single octave and one in I think key of D↩
I meant to say even, but I hae been using hae in texts lately, and may also get into een↩
and what’s already happened in it↩
woo! employable↩
unlike most times, I’m not doing my daily reflection before writing the new one in large part because I need to get back into writing somehow, and this seems like the best way↩
note that this might be a “things we don’t post” but↩