For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. AFTER ACTION REVIEW
This week was a bit rough so far. I tried working form home for the first time and it didn't go well. By that I mean I didn't get as much done as I as hoping. I should have tapered my expectations ahead of time. A lesson the universe has tried to teach me before, but I didn't. Instead I overworked myself a bit and got a massive migraine on Wednesday. That did give me time to recover and reset with lots of resting, so now I'm doing alright and generally on the up and up. Overall I'm pretty happy with what I did get done, and take the big action to forgive myself for what I didn't get done. No catching up, just a fresh slate to work from! MINIGOALS Recover. Listen to the next Masterclass. Edit and submit flashfiction. Do a simple upcycling project. How have all of the changes been affecting you?
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, uThis is, perhaps, not the most flattering photo. But I promise you this was delicious and 4/4 people who know Buffalo cuisine enjoyed it so much they wanted seconds. With the quarantine of 2020 well underway I wanted a soul warming soup, while also getting a taste of home. This was the result!
Makes four bowls worth, or eight tea cups worth. Ingredients: Chicken (I used chicken breasts, but you could use a whole chicken easily enough. Any amount of chicken over one cup is fine and can be changed to accommodate your meal plan for the week) 2 cups water 1/2 cup Franks hot sauce 1/4 cup barley 1 Bay leaf 1 tsp caraway seeds 1/2 tsp marmite (other umami related foods would be an ok substitute, such as miso) 1/2 tsp ground celery seed Pepper to taste Optional - carrots, peas, and/or onion. About 1/4 cup of each, I keep bags of frozen in the house. Optional decor - 1 celery stick per serving. Materials: Insta pot or crock pot Cooking: 1) Put chicken, water, and Franks hot sauce into the insta pot for 10 minutes with natural release. (For a crock pot I would do the same ingredients, 4 hours on high or 6 on low.) 2) Take out chicken. Put at 1-2 cups of chicken meat, cut into small pieces, back into the soup broth. The rest can be used in other dishes. (I was originally making this chicken for chicken wing dip, and wanted to find a way to use the broth.) 3) Put barley, bay leaf, caraway seeds, marmite, ground celery, and any optionals into the broth. Set insta pot for 22 minutes with natural release. (For crock pot at least 4.5hours.) 4) Plate it up! It looks a little weird since the hot sauce combines with the natural fat from the chicken at the top of the soup, but it tastes really good! If you wanted to be fancy you could put a celery stick into the soup, which would look super cute sticking out of a tea cup! For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. Well, it's been quite a week both in the outside world and in my work life. (Ok the work life things have been more big, exciting, and scary while the outside world things have been just scary.)
AFTER ACTION REVIEW I finally finished the audiobook which allowed me to focus on the rest of the page. I was able to finish the Masterclass. It wasn't as relevant to writing as I was hoping. (It was about comedy.) The exercise was going reasonably well, with yellow days being 75% of my goal complete. I'm concerned that I won't be getting even that with the work from home happening this week. We'll see. The community connections, I've completely forgotten what that was supposed to be. I could take a guess, but even then I'm not loving the idea, so I'm cutting it. Same for the workshops, which have all gotten cancelled/postponed etc. The list next week will be a little more trimmed! Finally I did a good push on blog posts. They were all ones I had already written, but I finally took the time to read them over and post them. It really shouldn't be as big of a deal as it is in my mind. MINIGOALS 1) Stay sane while working from home. (I love my home and I'm an introvert, so it's not missing people. It's the fact that it just takes so much longer to things! I have to wait for people to do the things for me at work! Maybe it's the control freak in me, but I just, ugh!) 2) Finish scheduling blog posts. 3) Look into the CSA, particularly seeing if a local place is willing to deliver due to the current world situation. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. MAJOR progress this week! What was the change? I told myself I was writing a to do list and posting it to my accountability group every day. That was it. I didn't even say that I was going to do the list, but you know, if I write the list I usually do it. One simple change and suddenly it feels like the fog has lifted, the audiobook is done and most of the board is looking pretty green!
In other major news; one of my stories got accepted into an anthology! This was the one I sent out in Jan for my goals list, and I'm ecstatic! AFTER ACTION REVIEW 1) Audiobook - Done, done, done! I've learned A LOT while doing this project, and I didn't budget the learning curve time. You'd think by now I'd know that I'll probably do five hours of a new project and then want to go back and redo them once I know the best practices. Alas, the universe taught me the lesson again. Perhaps this time it'll stick. Either way I did enjoy doing this, and would be happy to do it again. Furthermore I do intend to have a blog post about it sometime this upcoming weekend, so keep an eye out for it! 2) Town Hall - Skipped it. I knew that I was within finishing distance of the audiobook so I went home instead. It's also been a big stressful but kinda in a good way (big project kickoff) at work so I knew that an extra couple hours at home would be good for me personally. One of the goals for this year is to listen to what my brain and body need more, and I did listen, and I took an action on it. That's a big win for me! 3) Finances - My finances weren't quite as aligned as is ideal. I spent a bit more while traveling than I expected at the start of the year. That's ok, I decided to spend the money to take a train. For one I don't like driving and for two it's better for the environment. Other than cost it's worth it to me, I just wasn't thinking about it in that way when I made my budget at the start of the year. Other than that I should cut back a little bit on impulse games/Amazon purchases. MINIGOALS Masterclass, upcycling project, and community connections. (If the last one is possible with the corona virus scare. If not I'm going to put it as a yellow for effort, and otherwise not worry about it.) Also one blog post about working on the audiobook. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. Where did the time go?! I've been trying to finish out the audiobook project and there's always one more thing to do or apply etc. It's a lot of work and been taking up a lot of time! Because of that everything else feels like it's at a standstill. Hopefully the dam will break this week and I can start to work on the other smaller projects/otherwise feel like I'm making progress all over the place.
AFTER ACTION REVIEW: 1) Audiobook - Half way done with the master edits, after doing a few rerecords. The amount of learning one can have after applying a new skill for ten hours is outstanding! I can already hear it in the quality of the recordings. It's nice to have that improvement, though it'll also be nice to have this project buttoned up! (Remind me to always double the amount of time I think a new project is going to take!) 2) Prep for Board Games at my place - It went really well! After cleaning every surface I was able to get into the stuff that doesn't get cleaned as often. The corners of the room, the front door/windows got a wash. (So much less dog slobber!) Went through the board games shelves and got rid of eight or so games while completely reorganizing what's there. It's crazy how many more games one plays when they're simply easier to get to! (I turned a lot of the games on their side, instead of having them stacked. Such a small change, such a big effect!) The event itself was a lot of fun too, no surprise. I'd like to host these a little more often, if I have the energy! 3) Small goals - I did start to refocus on the Masterclass and I'm almost done listening to the next one before putting together the notes and calling it good. I think it'll be pretty swift after the audiobook is done. Financials and the upcycling project didn't get looked at at all for the same reasons. MINIGOALS Big Goals: 1) Audiobook - Finish it! Submit it! Click the button! 2) Go to the town hall this week! Do the thing! Small Goals: (In case I need to productively distract myself) Read the way too many books I got from the library. Masterclass. Financial Review. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. Hello everyone!
It's been a bit of time. I was off traveling, which was quite relaxing and overall a blast. I spent a lot of time focusing on being present and enjoying the experience, which helped make it a wonderful time. That also meant that once I got home I wasn't ready to put my nose to the grindstone again for my goals. Instead I took the time to enjoy existing for a while. (My anxiety was particularly low.) It was kinda wonderful. Still, I am ready to start working on these goals again. (Although hopefully keeping the anxiety pretty low at the same time.) Despite not focusing on any goals I was still generally keeping up with my to do list and most of my scheduled weekly goals did get finished anyways. (Apparently this system is working pretty well for me?!) MINIGOALS Big Goals: 1) Audiobook - First recordings of everything have been completed. Now I need to do final reviews, master edits, and put it all together. This needs to get submitted before the checkin on the 7th. It's close, but that's relative when I've already put in 15 hours and it needs another 5, at least. 2) Prep for Board Games at my place - I did a lot of the needed cleaning for this already this weekend including washing just about everything. Scrubbing the counters. Clearing off the table for the first time in months. Making decisions about items that I'd been thinking about getting rid of, etc. There isn't a ton left that needs to get done, but I'd like to continue to use this momentum to get to some of those once a year cleaning activities. Having a clean house is already making me happier, and the board games themselves will be a lot of fun. Small Goals: 1) Refocus on a Masterclass - I was just reading a book about how comedy can help people connect. I know there was at least one comedy class that I had been listening too before, so I'd like to get back to listening to that again. 2) Financial Review for Feb - Checking in and making sure I'm on budget. 3) Upcycling Project - I have a couple in mind and haven't taken actions on any of them since getting back from vacation. I'd like to take one step before Wednesday's checkin. What are you looking forward to in March? This case started with the Slytherin. They didn't know they were a Slytherin at a young age since HP wasn't out yet, but they did know that they had A PERSONALITY and that when they wanted to do what they wanted to do then they did it and SO HELP someone who got in their way. They knew this much about themselves and that meant that they would be able to realize what they needed in a relationship; someone who would accept them for who they were but wouldn't get run over by their personality and what they wanted.
And so the hunt started, and it went as well as such things can be expected really. They were able to try and date but they'd realize within three months that it wasn't working. Time and time again. Of course when they met The Gryff they weren't too keen on dating them at all. They were hard headed and wouldn't budge on anything. But they were also consistent. When the Slytherin wanted to get up and go to the gym at the early hours of the morning to play badminton who was the only other person who showed up? The Gryffindor. They built a mutual respect for each other. And so they eventually started to trust each other and talk to each other as friends. This is where the second part of what the Slytherin knew needed to be in their relationships came into place. She knew that she needed someone who would be able to tell the truth, especially when it was hard. Someone who wouldn't be scared to tell her when she was overstepping her bounds, which easily happens when you're distracted by your goals and aspirations. This Gryffindor was able and willing to do that. He was interested in bonding on that emotional level and was not interested in lying because that would be denying who he truly was. So they were able to understand each other at a fundamental level. Then the last part of the trifecta came about; food. The Gryff's secondary house is Puff and therefore almost intrinsically loves food. The Slytherin had always felt that food showed love and safety throughout her childhood, it was something that she would demand be a certain way and if it wasn't SO HELP the person who didn't give that food to her. The Gryff loved good food and was willing to get it and share with the Slytherin. So that's how it came to be; the introspection of knowing that a Slytherin needed someone who wouldn't change because of her. A Gryffindor who was willing to keep his gym related promises day after day after day until a trust could be formed. Long conversations into the night about things that needed to be discussed and were full of truth. Thus ends the case study of this Slytherin and the Gryffindor. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. It was an absolute mess at work last week which meant I needed to take the evenings to recharge and I ended up missing the last checkin. This one is late because I had a friend over for the weekend and I was focusing on that instead of writing this up. The weekend was a lot of fun, it was wonderful to catch up with said friend and otherwise have some forced relaxation and good food.
Audiobook - finished recording a first draft of all short stories. Still need to do poetry recording. My back was feeling particularity bad this week, which was some of the reason that work was a mess. (Or at least felt like a mess.) Thus me not doing exercise most days. This week I'll be traveling, so I'm not worrying about it. I'll get back on the wagon after that. I did do all of the minigoals from last checkin! So progress, slowly and surely! MINIGOALS I have 1.5days at home before going off on another vacation. During that time I want to make some major big goal progress. Record poetry first drafts. Finish rough editing of all short story and poetry files. Upload to Drive and download onto tablet so that I can listen to them while traveling. Taxes. Aeon Timeline - A software that's all about making a timeline of what's going on in a story and which characters are present at each event. The software started as a genealogy software which means it has a lot of features that are wonderful for writing a story since a story emulates life. Just one example of how useful this tool is; if you put in the birthday of your characters then it will calculate how old they are during a particular event! Think about the math you're saving yourself!
4thewords - I've been having a major resurgence in gaming, which has distracted from my writing. But there is one known way to distract from a game, and that's by having another game. 4thewords is a writing related video game, where you have to defeat monsters by writing a certain amount of words in a time limit. Boss monsters get defeated by writing more words. While the concept is kinda simple it's just enough motivation to sit down and keep writing, let alone the fact that they have a streak counter which I've always found to be a great motivator! If I'm at day 100 there's no way I won't get in at least 150 words! There are also the classics, which never age out! Scrivner - Make flash cards that attach to your scenes. It makes it easy to look at the summery of your novel and rearrange as quick as a flash! Google Doc's - This deserves an honorable mention, I don't like it as much for writing but for the editing it's wonderful! It makes it particularly easy for sharing one document with multiple people who can then comment on it. Everyone can see everyone else's comments and respond to them if they particularly disagree. The discourse can be one of the most valuable parts of the beta reading comments. For those tuning into this round my master goals list is here. The list of everyone participating in this round is here. AFTER ACTION REVIEW
Overall an ok week. Finished the finances for the month within budget which is very exciting! Did another Wikipedia update and another blog post. One big change is that when I do stuff early, such as Quora this week, I'll be filling it out for the timeslot that it's next scheduled for. One one hand this will have me miss some data about when I normally finish some of these activities. On the other it's going to be a lot easier to see what I have left to do because at least three times I thought I needed to go on Quora again since I filled it out on Monday instead of Wednesday. Minigoal wise things went well. I recorded two short stories and have edited one so far. (Hopefully another by the end of the day today, we'll see.) I didn't revise the post but I did find two new locations to post in. We'll see how that goes. Nothing new coming to me about the plot for the new SS. Luckily it isn't a rush, but not having a clue at all is kinda annoying. MINIGOALS Record 1 SS. Stretch goal for 2. (Only four full stories left, they're all long.) Edit 1 SS. Stretch goal for 2. 1 Activism activity. Finalize 1 workshop. Send out two more emails to schedule more. |
Project Progress
100 Squats per Day
21%
Read 52 Books
100%
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