Melt Into This
Nov. 29th, 2023 10:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebeI spent a lot of time yesterday setting up my new month in BuJo. I didn't spend a lot of time with it in November, and I think that hurt my ability to be productive. Now that I'm trying to stretch myself with a bunch of different projects, it's become more essential that I have something to keep it all straight. It's a good thing I'm spending time on this beforehand; hopefully, that means it will be closer to second nature when Friday comes around.
Two days until then, and I'm hoping I can start out the month on the right foot with pretty much everything organized. I'd like to restart my YNAB budget -- or take the opportunity to try out Rocket Money instead -- so I can make sure Christmas presents are taken care of by the time the holiday rolls around. I won't be able to spend a lot of money this year, but it will be nice to set up a project for gifts and actually follow through this year.
I handled lab results and support tickets mostly at the day job. I'm settling into a good groove with the lab results, at least, but I'm also worried I might not be handling them completely. I know that the Lab Results team will handle most of the work, but is there something I should be doing to make the downstream jobs a little easier? During our shadowing one time, the boss mentioned I should be adding the map and reports locations and paying attention to any comments left in the Microlab tab. Are there other things I could be doing to go above and beyond?
This week I'm mostly focused on being reasonably fast and limiting the time spent going down rabbit-holes. It can be shockingly easy to do that with some orders, especially if I'm checking a completely new service. Now that I've spent literal months trying to get a grip, I think I've got my wits about me well enough to start contributing a bit more regularly.
The schedule continues to be an issue, though. On gym days there's not quite enough time for eight hours if I slack even a little bit, and my boss told me that it wouldn't do to put in fewer than eight hours on Monday and make it up with overtime through the rest of the week. I'm thinking the best solution is pushing back my alarm to 6 AM. That'll give me more time to meditate, groom, and slowly come online before the walk at 7 AM. I could even put myself in a position where I'm ready to go to work at 8 AM. If I take a 30-minute lunch, that means the day ends at 4 PM and I'll have 20-30 minutes to buffer between that and gym. In fact, that just might be the ticket. I'll try this starting tomorrow, see how it goes.
I didn't get any writing done, even though I gave myself space for it. I was quite tired once we got back from the gym and didn't feel like doing anything heavy, so I just browsed around until it was time for dinner. I took my time washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, so we weren't eating until after 8 PM. I had another chance once R. took off for karaoke at Renegades (our local gay bar), but instead I fooled around in Hearthstone way too long.
I think I may have lost the plot with that game. I've been spending so much time in Solo Modes I haven't been paying attention to the changes and...well, things are quite different now. :) I think they've moved to a model where "Standard" only includes the most recent decks, "Twist" is a bit more free-form, but the rules (and available packs) change from season to season, and who knows what else is going on elsewhere. I should read up on it to get a better grip on it, but...then again maybe I shouldn't. There are other games that could fill that niche that don't require nearly so much attention, after all.
I did play some FFXIV, but got stuck on the final mission of patch 3.4. There's a sequence where every member of the Scions needs to give Alisae their aether so she can channel it into one big attack and I could *not* for the life of me figure out how to do it. It turns out the her sword is an interactable item and I just need to interact with it -- but the timer for Aether giving stops when you're attacked, and the Warriors of Darkness are heavily invested in not letting you win. I hope it's not *too* challenging now that I know what to do, but we'll see.
There are a number of organizational things to do and right now they're all free-floating in my head. I think I'll use the Bullet Journal to lay shit down, or at least draw up a rough draft by hand so I can come up with a complete project list. One big thing I'd like to do is Kondo-ize my digital devices so I can use them more intentionally; get rid of the shit that doesn't serve me, and make sure the stuff I actually want is easily found and readily available. I'm thinking that my productivity apps should be front and center, with other tools and distractions shuffled off into various folders. There's a LOT of art I should save in someplace easy to move (or copy), and a lot of writing that could be better arranged.
With writing, I've been thinking of having at least two or three projects in various platforms. Like, relatively tame fan-fiction could be written on 4thewords; D&D stuff could be written up on World Anvil or within Google Docs; Patreon stuff or writing meant to be sent "professionally" could be in Scrivener. That way, no matter where I am or what I'm using, there are a couple of options for writing whatever I feel like.
Two days until then, and I'm hoping I can start out the month on the right foot with pretty much everything organized. I'd like to restart my YNAB budget -- or take the opportunity to try out Rocket Money instead -- so I can make sure Christmas presents are taken care of by the time the holiday rolls around. I won't be able to spend a lot of money this year, but it will be nice to set up a project for gifts and actually follow through this year.
I handled lab results and support tickets mostly at the day job. I'm settling into a good groove with the lab results, at least, but I'm also worried I might not be handling them completely. I know that the Lab Results team will handle most of the work, but is there something I should be doing to make the downstream jobs a little easier? During our shadowing one time, the boss mentioned I should be adding the map and reports locations and paying attention to any comments left in the Microlab tab. Are there other things I could be doing to go above and beyond?
This week I'm mostly focused on being reasonably fast and limiting the time spent going down rabbit-holes. It can be shockingly easy to do that with some orders, especially if I'm checking a completely new service. Now that I've spent literal months trying to get a grip, I think I've got my wits about me well enough to start contributing a bit more regularly.
The schedule continues to be an issue, though. On gym days there's not quite enough time for eight hours if I slack even a little bit, and my boss told me that it wouldn't do to put in fewer than eight hours on Monday and make it up with overtime through the rest of the week. I'm thinking the best solution is pushing back my alarm to 6 AM. That'll give me more time to meditate, groom, and slowly come online before the walk at 7 AM. I could even put myself in a position where I'm ready to go to work at 8 AM. If I take a 30-minute lunch, that means the day ends at 4 PM and I'll have 20-30 minutes to buffer between that and gym. In fact, that just might be the ticket. I'll try this starting tomorrow, see how it goes.
I didn't get any writing done, even though I gave myself space for it. I was quite tired once we got back from the gym and didn't feel like doing anything heavy, so I just browsed around until it was time for dinner. I took my time washing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen, so we weren't eating until after 8 PM. I had another chance once R. took off for karaoke at Renegades (our local gay bar), but instead I fooled around in Hearthstone way too long.
I think I may have lost the plot with that game. I've been spending so much time in Solo Modes I haven't been paying attention to the changes and...well, things are quite different now. :) I think they've moved to a model where "Standard" only includes the most recent decks, "Twist" is a bit more free-form, but the rules (and available packs) change from season to season, and who knows what else is going on elsewhere. I should read up on it to get a better grip on it, but...then again maybe I shouldn't. There are other games that could fill that niche that don't require nearly so much attention, after all.
I did play some FFXIV, but got stuck on the final mission of patch 3.4. There's a sequence where every member of the Scions needs to give Alisae their aether so she can channel it into one big attack and I could *not* for the life of me figure out how to do it. It turns out the her sword is an interactable item and I just need to interact with it -- but the timer for Aether giving stops when you're attacked, and the Warriors of Darkness are heavily invested in not letting you win. I hope it's not *too* challenging now that I know what to do, but we'll see.
There are a number of organizational things to do and right now they're all free-floating in my head. I think I'll use the Bullet Journal to lay shit down, or at least draw up a rough draft by hand so I can come up with a complete project list. One big thing I'd like to do is Kondo-ize my digital devices so I can use them more intentionally; get rid of the shit that doesn't serve me, and make sure the stuff I actually want is easily found and readily available. I'm thinking that my productivity apps should be front and center, with other tools and distractions shuffled off into various folders. There's a LOT of art I should save in someplace easy to move (or copy), and a lot of writing that could be better arranged.
With writing, I've been thinking of having at least two or three projects in various platforms. Like, relatively tame fan-fiction could be written on 4thewords; D&D stuff could be written up on World Anvil or within Google Docs; Patreon stuff or writing meant to be sent "professionally" could be in Scrivener. That way, no matter where I am or what I'm using, there are a couple of options for writing whatever I feel like.
