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Jan. 7th, 2024 09:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexagonI am, more than anything, trying to Stay On Top Of Things. I've decided that my motto for now is "clear the backlog, prepare the runway" which basically means to be thorough -- to follow up on things and yeah, clear out backlogs, and also try to prepare for the things I can foresee. I feel a desire, which I'm not acting on perfectly in any way, to be doing less, and splitting my attention less, and focusing on just a few things that are important. To that end, and partly also because I seem to be at my heaviest ever, I'm doing Dry January and will also only be buying essentials for the next month or so. I am glad to be home, I like my life pretty well, maybe I can just lean into that and make it all go as smoothly as possible without a ton of extra distractions.
In the name of clearing backlogs, I did about five big financial chores on Friday, all related to the end of the year; figuring out how much I spent in total last year (less than I expected), categorizing all the rental property expenses, getting paperwork together for Q4 estimated taxes... confirming that my 401(k) withholdings are happening... stuff that's better done than not. Then did snail mail over the weekend and realized my insurance coverage is going wrong in hellishly interesting ways, so there I will be on the phone to Liberty Mutual tomorrow. BIG SIGH.
I've had interesting talks with people this weekend. Exhibit A: a long in-depth listening session with my gym-friend who's trying to have a baby with adopted embryos and a gestational carrier (but maybe IVF? but her body isn't very hospitable to embryos so...). Exhibit B: video chat with Norwood, in which he's in therapy trying to figure out whether he wants to really marry -- as topposed to just hippie-marry -- his new partner, who can't really work and who he's already funding at $1000/month. Exhibit C: nice catch-up with my friend who is a tenant, after I went over to deal with snow removal (the other owners being out of town), in which we compared poly stories and marveled at how long we've known each other. All of these together were actually fairly affirming, in that I know good people who are working through their lives in sensible ways given their priorities and values, and I guess I'm doing that too. Even if, right now, that just means functional and not so much interesting.
What else? Lots of snow. No squirrel this weekend, gone to Oregano (as it would say), and I wish for it to come back because we have an anniversary to celebrate. I finished a book set in pre-Revolution France that more or less portrayed my worst nightmares in terms of society and in terms of women dying in childbirth, sooo it's nice to come back to this century.
In the name of clearing backlogs, I did about five big financial chores on Friday, all related to the end of the year; figuring out how much I spent in total last year (less than I expected), categorizing all the rental property expenses, getting paperwork together for Q4 estimated taxes... confirming that my 401(k) withholdings are happening... stuff that's better done than not. Then did snail mail over the weekend and realized my insurance coverage is going wrong in hellishly interesting ways, so there I will be on the phone to Liberty Mutual tomorrow. BIG SIGH.
I've had interesting talks with people this weekend. Exhibit A: a long in-depth listening session with my gym-friend who's trying to have a baby with adopted embryos and a gestational carrier (but maybe IVF? but her body isn't very hospitable to embryos so...). Exhibit B: video chat with Norwood, in which he's in therapy trying to figure out whether he wants to really marry -- as topposed to just hippie-marry -- his new partner, who can't really work and who he's already funding at $1000/month. Exhibit C: nice catch-up with my friend who is a tenant, after I went over to deal with snow removal (the other owners being out of town), in which we compared poly stories and marveled at how long we've known each other. All of these together were actually fairly affirming, in that I know good people who are working through their lives in sensible ways given their priorities and values, and I guess I'm doing that too. Even if, right now, that just means functional and not so much interesting.
What else? Lots of snow. No squirrel this weekend, gone to Oregano (as it would say), and I wish for it to come back because we have an anniversary to celebrate. I finished a book set in pre-Revolution France that more or less portrayed my worst nightmares in terms of society and in terms of women dying in childbirth, sooo it's nice to come back to this century.
