Pretty Solid

August has gone by really quickly. Busy at work which I think has made the days fly by. But no real setbacks anywhere, just solid, if slow progress.

Read on for my monthly recap, where I take a look at the areas of my life that are important to me, that I’m working on or trying to improve.

Reading

I finished four books this month, and I was mere pages away from finishing a fifth!

Finished

• To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I really enjoyed reading this again. I don’t think I absorbed it at all when I read it when I was younger. I listened to a podcast as I read and I think that helped. It’s a well known literary podcast, and in general I find their analysis good, my only drawback is they are very religious, and put a christian slant on a lot of things that I think don’t or shouldn’t have it. I can understand the people who don’t like this book because of the white saviour aspect. There was certainly moments reading it that I felt that as well. But overall, really loved it.
• The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald. Another classic, another re-read and another podcast to go with it. It’s the same podcast as mentioned before, and the same drawbacks apply. But they also genuinely had some views that hadn’t even occurred to me. I enjoyed this re-read and I definitely have a deeper understanding of this book now, and appreciate it a lot more.
• The Staircase in the Woods by Chuck Wendig. I really liked this horror novel. I didn’t find it scary (but to be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever found any book to be truly scary). There were some cool themes, I could see a lot of the inspiration sources coming though. It felt very of the times, much like other Wendig I’ve read, and I wonder how well some of that will hold up later.
• The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. This wasn’t really a book, but it was an audio presentation of a series of programmes of Campbell being interviewed by Bill Moyes. Really interesting, but somewhat dated. Still good though.

In progress

• Winter’s Heart by Robert Jordan. Still no progress .
• Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake. Still no progress but I did borrow it from the library to start up again. I had been going to borrow it again when I was at the library for writer’s group anyway, but a message I received made me realise it was time. I woke one morning to a message from my younger sister’s best friend. We’ve message for practical things in the past, but not really for just have a chat, here’s something interesting you might like, type messages. The message she sent was a screen shot of Gormenghast and a message about how her dad loved the book and she had given a copy of it to my mum at her dad’s wake, and that if I hadn’t already read it, I should. It was such an out of the blue thing to receive, one of those weird coincidences that make you wonder about coincidences. So I borrow it, and will get back into it.
• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. This is only a few pages off being done. I’ll admit that I’ve kind of just let this one wash over me. I get what’s happening, but I don’t really understand the meaning of it, and why this book has the status it does. I’m looking forward to listening to the last part of the podcast about it to help me understand it better.
• Do Hard Things by Steve Magness. My hold just came up on this one, I’ll try and get as much as I can read before it goes back and I’m in the queue waiting again.
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C S Lewis. About 50% through. This is my sleeping book, but it’s kind of meh. I sort of want to just burn through these last 3 hours of it to be done.
• This is Your Brain on Music by Daniel J Levitin. Waiting for hold to come through.
• Wizard and Glass by Stephen King. Read a chapter or maybe two. I treat myself to a chapter of this when I finish a tough read, or when I switch between text reads. I love it so much.
• The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers. Realised this wasn’t on my in progress list last month and I wonder when it dropped off. I read a little bit, not even a full story. I should at least finish the story I’m on…
• Broken by Jenny Lawson. Started this as al my audiobook loans finished or are on hold. I’ve followed The Bloggess vaguely for many years, and I do think she’s funny, but sometimes it’s a bit much. How many things can be wrong with one person? But the amusing parts are worth it, I think .
• Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb. Part three of this trilogy, and probably the last series I’ll read in this world. Made a good start, but then it was due back and now I have to wait four weeks for it to be available again.

Health

The health tracker that I started has fallen by the wayside a lot this month. I usually fill it out in the morning at work and because work has been busy, I haven’t had time or keep forgetting. I want to pick it up again though because I found the insights helpful.

I’ve been focussing on my weight this month. It hasn’t really moved at all, but having it so much in the forefront is hopefully helping me make better choices.

I am purposely trying to increase my fibre and protein. I am now eating all bran every morning with my breakfast and I’ve noticed a difference in how often I poop. It’s a lot more and easer.

For protein I am trying to add tofu to meals during the week, using up a block of tofu each week. (I just realised I forgot tofu in the grocery order this week :()

Missed a couple of training sessions, but mostly consistent. Could have walked more, but have done ok.

My training schedule these days is Monday’s Muay Thai, Thursdays BJJ, Saturday Parkrun. That’s going to change though, with guild meetings moving back to evenings next month, and parkrun moving to 8am starts.

My mental health has been good despite the busyness at work. I kind of enjoy coming here, I like the people. It’s got its issues, but I don’t actually mind it too much. Although, I would still rather be at home.

I’ve been trying to reduce snacking still and not overindulging in dessert. Hopefully that will start showing up on the scales soon. I’ve been trying to think more carefully before eating dessert. I usually eat dessert because it’s time to eat dessert. I’m trying to think before acting and decide do I actually want or need dessert tonight? Some of this arises because S is so routine focused. He’s not able to leave it up in the air. If I said at some point in the evening after dinner we may or may not have dessert if we feel like it, he’d kind of freak out. He needs to know that at 8pm every evening we have dessert.

Writing

Last month’s writing prompt turned out really well, but I left it to the last minute, even more than usual. I did go to writers’ group though, and I’ll go again next month.

I tried journalling again, but as usual after a few days I either didn’t write because I felt what I had to write was just a repetition of the previous days, or because I got busy and it fell by the wayside. I’ll try again. I’ll keep trying.

Book of Stitches

Not heaps of stitching, I think I was in a bit of a slump after the push to finish the two exhibition pieces. I now have multiple ideas I want to start, but also lots of little projects that are partway through that I want to finish. Also started a new project at guild and need to have that finished up to a certain point before the next meeting.

I’m going to do the diploma thing. It’s something that will give some structure to my projects and hopefully push me to more research. And hopefully I can also turn it into some content.

I finally put my Tasmanian Tiger pattern up on Etsy.

This month’s (last month’s) stats are:

Views: 224 (177)

Visits: 125 (103)

Sales: 3 (4)

I haven’t made any more moves about starting my stitching blog, but the ideas are still there.

Finances

I finally got the refund back from the bank for the fraudulent transaction on my credit card. After that, I dipped into my savings and bills fund to pay off the credit card and close it. I’m so relieved it’s gone. I now only have my HECS debt to finish paying off, and with tax returns and Japan pension refund I think I can clear that soon as well, I just have to get off my backside and do the paperwork.

Got my annual pay increase from work, which is welcome as our rent has also increased. Between the two it evens out just about and I maybe end up $20 a week better off. Better than being worse off!

Work

Work is work. I feel like I’m maybe starting to figure this place out a little more (9 months in). As mentioned before I really enjoy interacting with the guys here. I’d still love a wfh job, but in the meantime, this one isn’t too bad at all.

The focus for the next month is to get my guild stitching done, get the stitching blog set up and stay consistent with exercise three times a week, plus walking to work pretty much daily.