Corner of Bourbon & Division

Is anyone still around?

I am blowing the dust off this thing, and seeing what happens. The plan is to try to be better at documenting what's going on in my life, just for myself at least. I am bad at paper journaling, but back in the before times I was pretty good about keeping LJ up to date.

So this is just a quick-and-dirty entry to log my commitment to updating regularly.

See you next year, friends!

 Happy New Year, friends!

May we all make the kinds of choices that will make 2021 treat us better than 2020.

Love you all. <3

I used to to a meme at the end of every year, but when I went back to look for it, I found it no longer really applied to my life enough that I'd want to re-use it. So I guess I'm on the lookout for a new one (maybe shorter than the one I was using before, too).

The New Year seems like as good an arbitrary time as any to take stock of one's life and see about making changes. It helps that my birthday falls close to the beginning of January, so it gives me another excuse to revamp my life a bit every year, and see about living in a way that's more in line with my values. 2016 was a year of up and downs (so many downs, what the hell), but it helped cement one thing in my mind: there is work to be done. So, this year, I'm taking a page out of Jillian Holtzmann's book:




On a personal front, I think I'm already on the right track, and just need to keep going in the same direction. I've been overall doing better in terms of taking care of myself, though I still have work to do. I'm going to carry on making efforts at going to bed at a decent and mostly regular hour (work schedule permitting), eating as well as I can without getting punitive about it, and exercising. I've been slacking off on the latter because I dislike exercising indoors, and we've had so much snow that I've found it hard to go running. I need to get back out there, even if I walk and don't run, if nothing else. This year is also the year I plan to write my letter of intent to join the Quakers. I still have no idea how I'm going to do that. Darling Quakers and their "There's no wrong way to do it!" approach to this. It's very stressful. ;) I had planned on doing it last year, but I ended up not being able to go to Meeting for several months because of the classes I was taking, and it felt a little weird to apply for membership and then fall off the face of the planet for a quarter of the year or more. So this year it will be.

I have a long list of personal projects I want to pick up, too, but those are less resolutions and more "Wow, it would be so cool to do X!" kind of things. I think two very concrete resolutions I can make to keep myself balanced is to a) write one LJ entry per day, no matter how short or how boring I may think it is, and b) update my bullet journal every day, to help me keep on top of things. I'm still working on my bullet journal, to streamline it so that it's a mix of useful and happy things without becoming overwhelming (which is what happened in December), but I'm optimistic that it will become the reliable tool that it's meant to be if I work at it a little.

On a more social front, well, I need to get myself into gear. The good folks to the South of here look like they're about to have a fascist regime take over, so if that happens I am determined not to be a bystander, not to let the tank of oppression crush everyone under it without at the very least trying to do something. I've been trying to find LGBTQIA activist groups in Ottawa, but I must not be looking in the right places, because all the websites and information I've found have been defunct or obsolete or at the very least not updated in months. I don't suppose any of my local friends know where I could find an active group? In Montreal I always knew where to go and who to talk to if I wanted to get involved, but I will confess that in Ottawa I am all at sea when it comes to this, even after living here for two years. Basically, I think I've done the bystander thing long enough, time to get myself more actively involved.

In short, I'm trying to find a balance between making changes and continuing on with the changes that are already in progress, all without burning out. In an effort to keep posting here, I may pick one project to talk about per day (with some repeats as I progress--or fail to progress--on said projects).

:::ETA::: Hm. Not sure why that gif isn't working. All my tests indicate it should be. Oh, well. I'll see if I can link to it in the comments.

The universe rewarded me for turning 36 with a wicked bout of vertigo in the middle of my night shift, which I was working alone. So I had to call my boss in disgrace for the second time in six months and crawl home and wait for death, but not before I ended up puking in the trash can at work because I couldn't make it to the bathroom. It was extra humiliating. /o\ I also had to cancel my first ever volunteer session at Shepherds of Good Hope, which also sucked.

So things are a little like my icon, but without the vodka, and it's not nearly as fun as it looks.

I spent today curled up with my laptop, posted some fanfiction and took a nap. I also did dishes, so that today wouldn't be a total write-off. I'm scheduled to have a Skype chat with my parents later on too, which will be nice. The world has (mostly) stopped spinning, and moving doesn't make me throw up anymore, so that's a win. :)

Now seems like as good a time as any to talk about my plans for the year. I've decided not to do "resolutions" in the traditional sense of the word. That being said, I do have a lot on my plate for the foreseeable future.

( 2015 behind the cut! )

Anyway, that concludes my lengthy rambling about what I have in mind for the year. I'd promise to post more, but that's probably a lie. I seem to go through phases when I post a lot, and others in which I post only sporadically or not at all, and I think I'll just stick to that. I'll post when I feel I have something of value to share, and that will have to suffice.

Happy New Year again, everyone!

I know, I know, this is still not the long post on willpower and extended will that I have been threatening to write for a few days now. I promise it will get written, possibly this weekend, time permitting.

Instead, I managed to squeeze enough time out of my day to work out my "un-schedule," or rather what a day typically looks like in the life of Phnee. I'm hoping this will help me manage my time better, now that I know what needs to be done on a regular basis. I've had to split my days according to categories, since everything changes drastically from one week to the next. There are seven different ways my days can go: regular day shifts, the first night shift, regular night shifts, first day off, off days that fall on weekdays, off days that fall on weekends, and the last day off.

I will put it all behind a cut, but I think having it written down will be more useful than trying to keep it all in my head. I found last week that making an unschedule for the days on which I was commuting was especially useful to help keep me on track. I was able to make much better time than I usually do.

( Unschedule behind the cut )

Since I didn't post here much during the year, I guess maybe I should try to recap the last year a little bit, see what sticks out in my mind.

( Year in Review )

Happy New Year, my lovelies!

You will likely not be shocked to hear that I am celebrating from my desk at work. On the plus side, tomorrow I get paid overtime.

I hope 2012 treats all of you super well. :)


In slightly related news, I shall be at Hurley's on Thursday the 5th for my birthday, starting in the early evening. Feel free to come by and have a drink to help me celebrate turning 33!

Happy New Year everyone!

*throws confetti*

Dear 2008,

You have provided laughter and tears, joy and frustration, triumphs and failures. Thank you for your services.

That will be all.



Here's to the New Year!

Here we are, the latest instalment of the two New Year's memes I do every year.

( Meme behind the cut! )