Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff

[Aria]

@solstice If there is one thing I've found in business, it's the alarming number of people who refuse to realize that "It makes sense on paper!" and "This is a good idea!" often overlap, but absolutely are not synonymous.

[Too Old For This]

@aria Add to that the oddly high number of people that, once something is in 'beta' and being tested on actual people, they are loathe to pull it back and actually fix the mistakes that are noted by the participants. Its almost like they seem to think they will have failed if a new process or practice can't go straight from test groups to full implementation.

[Crawfish]

Since this is basically my job now, I figure it's safe to put here.

The kids are in school full time and my schedule has a routine, though it's been bumpy this last month: my daughter wasn't getting enough sleep and we were all getting up at 5am, so we switched for about ten days to taking her to school. Now she's decided she didn't mind the other way, so she'll go to bed earlier, etc, long story short, I do not handle abrupt schedule changes well, my work schedule with Drawing Cats has gone straight to the Bad Place.

I found two stacks of finished, unsent cats that I could have sworn were scanned and sent and neither happened. I have several orders that are unfinished but I've talked to them and they are wonderfully, amazingly understanding, my scanner/printer is AMAZING and if it had legs it could walk my dogs and train them to dance, but the software is SO NEW and CONSTANTLY UPDATED that it takes an hour and by then my tenuous hold on my sleep schedule goes to crap because if I get less than seven hours, everyone has a bad day the next morning.

But.

We are back on the old(er) schedule, things are going to smooth out again, I will reclaim my six plus hour days to do nothing but art (and keep puppies from eating shoes because dear god we bought our son three pairs of shoes in the last 7 days I shit you not) and finally finish the big Arx Gods as Cats calendar and seriously consider making a tarot deck from the resource of characters I've made since March.

I love you guys. Please bear with me. I'm super sorry I'm a chaotic nuclear art spaz.

[Aria]

@too-old-for-this Ohh, man. My absolute favorite with projects in testing -- or any projects at all really -- is when you ask a question about the prioritization and decision-making process so you can try and understand their goals and that's met with a look like you just called them Bitchface McStupid McPoopypants in front of the entire meeting. It's even better when it's followed with the vaguely threatening insinuation that you'd better get on board and be a team player, or else.

[Too Old For This]

@aria That is how you know that a Project Coordinator got the job by kissing butt rather than through any actual leadership skills or knowledge set. Because they don't understand what you mean, so clearly you are just trying to make them look bad despite it... really being bad to not have a priorities list or be able to explain your decision-making process and how both apply towards the overall goals of the project.

[Aria]

@crawfish I know I purchased a whole bunch of cat pictures, though I'm pretty sure I have them all now? I thiiiiiiink there's one or two that someone meant for me in the queue somewhere and if that's at all stressing you out, please do not let it.

Obviously I can only speak for me, but.... though I bought pictures because they were cute and funny and clever, I also bought them because you were super excited and having fun and making real support for your family off them, which made me happy. I absolutely do not care when anything does or doesn't get to me if you're having fun making things and able to pay down some bills.

[Crawfish]

@aria

(I am still very much enjoying it, life has just been very messy and mostly in a good way, just ... messy.)
(ty<3)

[Ganymede]

@crawfish

I can wait until your queue is shorter before ordering mine.

Also, lemme know if you need supplies.

[Crawfish]

@ganymede you're like santa claws.

[Ganymede]

@crawfish

[Derp]

@too-old-for-this said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@ominous said in Health and Wealth and GrownUp Stuff:

@too-old-for-this

[Arkandel]

When I think about it, and I have been, I like growing old. Or, rather, I like the older me.

Growing old will eventually kill me (unless something else does first). So that's the downside!

But I think I've been able to leverage the experience of my own as well as others' mistakes to fix some things about how I live the time I have left. For example I've come to realize:

1. There are parts of my mental and physical health I need to prioritize, and do so. But also that doing so is itself an improvement; it's a form of self-respect.
2. Others won't care about or even notice any of those things. They have their own shit to think about. No one gives a shit about what I do, my personal triumphs or achievements, no matter how hard-earned they are.
3. I'm okay with that. They have their own lives to look after, and should.

These things were by no means trivial for me to internalize. It was, at times, difficult to even realize that I had agency in changing things about myself on any level rather than to accept who I was.

Be yourself and be comfortable in your own skin are perfectly good pieces of advice but they shouldn't limit the potential of who I can become - as long as I want to.

[Too Old For This]

I get to take part in a clinical trial to test a new drug for relief from myalgic encephalomyelitis (chronic fatigue syndrome). I hate that name, it makes it sound like a 'made up' disease. But I am thrilled at the potential for some relief!

[kk]

I am attemping to cut down my hours a bit to deal more with real life. We will see how it goes, because, I will work in absolute emergenices and the like. But my goal is only work between 40-60 hours a week and never go over 60. We will see, wish me luck!

[JinShei]

Just in case money might be made. Disclaimer, drunk, did not read beyond money

https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/6562134/Research-Opportunity-2

[HorrorHound]

The best advice I ever heard about being a tradesman and doing jobs for myself was as follows:

"If you're not losing half your contracts at minimum because you're too expensive, you're shorting yourself. Know the value of your work, your time, and your skill."

[mietze]

Putting the finishing touches today on converting the downstairs living room into a space that is usable amd safe for my youngest, after it being the domain of the Bigs and neighborhood teen hangout den. It can still be used for that when they are home and will be largely the domain of the bigs on breaks but right now my little guy is having a lot of fun with a new space to hang out and also a better place to start having his friends over to hang out.

Most fun was being on a discord call with all my bigs as they walked me through setting up some of their old game systems as well as chatting about how things are going at school.

[Too Old For This]

Living room furniture is being delivered this weekend! I ordered the original set back in July. Delivery kept getting pushed back because apparently the set I ordered is coming from overseas and ports keeping opening/closing thanks to COVID still being a dick. So I went back through their site, called the sales rep that helped me in the store... he helped me to cancel my current order and place a new order for a set that is in stock. It will be slightly less cool than the original set I'd ordered, but it will be comfy and fit better with my asthetic and its cheaper too!

[Derp]

TIL, slightly paraphrased:

"The calories in, calories out model of weight loss has been almost completely debunked. It has about as much credibility among endocrinologists as climate change denial has among geologists."

As a large person that has been stigmatized about my weight as essentially one of the few minorities that it's both acceptable and encouraged to routinely be shitty to, this makes me smile.

[Solstice]

@derp

Citation? My dieting butt is genuinely curious to read this.