Another ten days

Sometimes one doesn't "clear the backlog, prepare the runway" very much because there are things rumbling on the runway. And that's okay; time is ultimately meant to be used (that's extreme shorthand for something less mystical-sounding, but I expect y'all know what I mean). Today I caught up on many, many chores. Here are a few points I remember in the meantime:

• Some days in here were good. Tuesday, in particular -- one of my half-days at work -- I remember thinking that I'd done little bits of several interesting things and that it had been a good day reflecting a full life. I think there was exercise, work, a bit of crocheting, some reading, maybe even something else (cooking?).


• I'm feeling moderately okay in tune with friend groups; a song is doing pretty well in this week's "submit songs to a playlist and vote on them" thing I'm doing with co-workers, and I cooked weird little fruit pie wonton bites for a party that also went over well.


• A bunch of days were just workin', though. The way I feel at work correlates really strongly with how caught up on email I am, and this year I pledged not to avoid my email anymore; I've actually done a good job there, but not-avoiding isn't always the same as actually getting through it, either. It got worse and then better again. In the meantime, last week's main accomplishment was getting a huge raft of spot bonuses stuffed into the system for the smooth regulatory launch I mentioned last time. As the lead for the effort in my organization, I myself was getting bonused by a more central team, so this was me submitting bonus requests for everyone else. Much more of a pain than it sounds like. It kept me up late on Thursday, and I ended up having to convert some of them into (Australian, Brazilian, Canadian) currencies, but they're all in and my new VP has promised to approve the ones that are big enough to require his approval. Mine is among them, I happen to know, and it'll be my biggest-ever, so it makes me happy to hand out equivalent money to others.


• I was sort of happy about spring-forward DST and the way it pulls more light into the evening; the adjustment sucks, but this is the better time configuration.


• I listened to Why Fish Don't Exist and really really enjoyed its take on meaning / meaninglessness, and the perils of being too certain one is doing the right thing. For its nonfiction nature , and focus on a guy who's long gone, the story took a surprising twist; ( spoilers )
  Coming back out of that, it ends on a happy, queer, uplifting note. I've also been reading Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow which is super charming -- thanks to being set in my generation and my city, with my sort of geeky people -- despite some ultra flawed characters.


• I'm making good progress on my crochet project for Perse, which is now down to about 16 little mini-projects that take between 30 and 45 minutes apiece. If I finish it, maybe I'll give it to her early. I feel bad for her (she's sick), and also for the poor squirrel who's been running around taking care of too many things.
  

I haven't been out to the mothership in a long time, and have two reasons to potentially go out there in a week, so I moved two doctors' appointments and bought a plane ticket and booked a hotel. I'm not sure why but I'm kind of looking forward to it. It'll be disruptive. Still, it also falls moderately neatly into a break between my coach's 8-week handstand programs and should let me see a couple of California friends.