summercomfort (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
summercomfort) wrote2023-12-30 04:04 pm
summercomfort) wrote2023-12-30 04:04 pm
birthday / year in review
Woo I am now officially 40!! It is very exciting, because Confucius said that at age 40 he was no longer confused (四十而不惑), and the folks at work who are 40+ tell me that it's great because they no longer give a fuck about what other people think, and that sounds awesome!
I had a nice quiet birthday (regular Saturday of taiko class, yummy lunch, boba and co-working time with spouse, and then cake with the fam for dinner), which was SO NICE. (I really like low-key celebrations that mostly involve as little social energy as possible.)
Anyways, birthday time = year in review time!
At first glance, I felt like I didn't really do much this year, but then I remembered -- I didn't actually finish the 2022 comics anthology until March of this year, so that's probably what I was doing in Jan/Feb. School-wise, I was also very busy all of Spring semester because I was teaching a completely new class: Chinese History Through Material Culture! I was also being interim department chair and also managing the hiring of a new teacher for our department, so yeah... I guess that's where the first half of the year went?? Oh, yeah, in March we started going back to taiko class, which made Saturdays busier, too. Dad went back to China at the end of March, so then there was all the emotional fallout from that, too. Then there were those 2 weeks in May where I spent a week making a costume for Fanime, then another week on a school trip to DC, and then came back to immediate go to Fanime...
Summer was mostly good, in that I got a lot done (July 4th comic and Tape v Hurley comic, primarily), but also that was the start of Taiko Drama, which sucked up a lot of time (and continues to suck up a lot of time). There was also the 2-week summer travel that left me completely peopled-out and drove me into peopling energy deficit for much of September and October. I feel better now, but it was pretty bad there for a while. Nov and Dec has been generally better, except for the Mysterious Stomach Pain problem (the stomach endoscopy came back normal, so once again, no idea what it could be.) Also, in the past few weeks I've suddenly gotten a renewed bout of ficcing energy?? It's weird that, after about a year and half of words not working and where I was constantly making new wips, writing ~1000 words before hitting some sort of brick wall, and the words themselves being completely meh, I'm ... suddenly able to write a bit??? It might be because school work has stabilized a bit (I love my new role as Quest Coordinator!), or I just might be in space of No Longer Being Confused (thank you, Confucius!)
So in terms of things I did this year that I'm particularly happy about:
- finished Tape v. Hurley comic!
- finished the Fang anthology, including my silly story about a deep sea anglerfish looking for companionship in the dark: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52678564
Other things that I did:
- drew a little comic featuring Miss Rutabaga: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52678756
- drew Ye Olde July 4th Comic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1968099/chapters/121926184
- wrote and posted 3 fics, apparently? I have one more that I'm pretty close to finishing
- spent a lot of time and money on taiko stuff -- drum building, negotiating with ex-sensei, drafting statements, teaching Sunday workshops, performing, etc etc etc
- made a cool costume for Fanime (Beedle) and also figured out a good Halloween costume (Wu Zetian). (I'm thinking of doing 3 more historical Halloween costumes for the next 3 years, and then I can put them in rotation -- Sakamoto Ryouma, Queen Min, Hong Xiuquan aka Jesus' little brother)
So overall, this year has been busy, and generally fruitful. I'm slowly getting better at finding that balance between being productive and being burnt out, though that's something I should continue to work on next year. (less time spent at school, create a summer buffer time so I'm not going from traveling straight into school stuff) As Miss Rutabaga gets older, I also want to rebuild couples time and build family activity time. (Miss Rutabaga is almost 8, and on the plus side, is much more able to self-manage when it comes to activities. On the down side, said activities tend to be watching youtube videos or playing video games...). There's also a few stormclouds in the horizon (spouse quit his job and will be spending Jan/Feb job hunting, and of course the 2024 election is going to be bad for his mental health), but we've had a talk about how I can't be his sole source of emotional support and he's started seeing a therapist and being better about self-interventions.
Wow I can't believe I'm 40!! Past self would think I'm SOOOO OLD, lol.
I had a nice quiet birthday (regular Saturday of taiko class, yummy lunch, boba and co-working time with spouse, and then cake with the fam for dinner), which was SO NICE. (I really like low-key celebrations that mostly involve as little social energy as possible.)
Anyways, birthday time = year in review time!
At first glance, I felt like I didn't really do much this year, but then I remembered -- I didn't actually finish the 2022 comics anthology until March of this year, so that's probably what I was doing in Jan/Feb. School-wise, I was also very busy all of Spring semester because I was teaching a completely new class: Chinese History Through Material Culture! I was also being interim department chair and also managing the hiring of a new teacher for our department, so yeah... I guess that's where the first half of the year went?? Oh, yeah, in March we started going back to taiko class, which made Saturdays busier, too. Dad went back to China at the end of March, so then there was all the emotional fallout from that, too. Then there were those 2 weeks in May where I spent a week making a costume for Fanime, then another week on a school trip to DC, and then came back to immediate go to Fanime...
Summer was mostly good, in that I got a lot done (July 4th comic and Tape v Hurley comic, primarily), but also that was the start of Taiko Drama, which sucked up a lot of time (and continues to suck up a lot of time). There was also the 2-week summer travel that left me completely peopled-out and drove me into peopling energy deficit for much of September and October. I feel better now, but it was pretty bad there for a while. Nov and Dec has been generally better, except for the Mysterious Stomach Pain problem (the stomach endoscopy came back normal, so once again, no idea what it could be.) Also, in the past few weeks I've suddenly gotten a renewed bout of ficcing energy?? It's weird that, after about a year and half of words not working and where I was constantly making new wips, writing ~1000 words before hitting some sort of brick wall, and the words themselves being completely meh, I'm ... suddenly able to write a bit??? It might be because school work has stabilized a bit (I love my new role as Quest Coordinator!), or I just might be in space of No Longer Being Confused (thank you, Confucius!)
So in terms of things I did this year that I'm particularly happy about:
- finished Tape v. Hurley comic!
- finished the Fang anthology, including my silly story about a deep sea anglerfish looking for companionship in the dark: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52678564
Other things that I did:
- drew a little comic featuring Miss Rutabaga: https://archiveofourown.org/works/52678756
- drew Ye Olde July 4th Comic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1968099/chapters/121926184
- wrote and posted 3 fics, apparently? I have one more that I'm pretty close to finishing
- spent a lot of time and money on taiko stuff -- drum building, negotiating with ex-sensei, drafting statements, teaching Sunday workshops, performing, etc etc etc
- made a cool costume for Fanime (Beedle) and also figured out a good Halloween costume (Wu Zetian). (I'm thinking of doing 3 more historical Halloween costumes for the next 3 years, and then I can put them in rotation -- Sakamoto Ryouma, Queen Min, Hong Xiuquan aka Jesus' little brother)
So overall, this year has been busy, and generally fruitful. I'm slowly getting better at finding that balance between being productive and being burnt out, though that's something I should continue to work on next year. (less time spent at school, create a summer buffer time so I'm not going from traveling straight into school stuff) As Miss Rutabaga gets older, I also want to rebuild couples time and build family activity time. (Miss Rutabaga is almost 8, and on the plus side, is much more able to self-manage when it comes to activities. On the down side, said activities tend to be watching youtube videos or playing video games...). There's also a few stormclouds in the horizon (spouse quit his job and will be spending Jan/Feb job hunting, and of course the 2024 election is going to be bad for his mental health), but we've had a talk about how I can't be his sole source of emotional support and he's started seeing a therapist and being better about self-interventions.
Wow I can't believe I'm 40!! Past self would think I'm SOOOO OLD, lol.
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<3 <3 <3 thank you! :D
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I do like being in my 40s, as it's the closest to mature and sensible I've ever gotten (still very very far off ahahahahah) and I am cheering for you to enjoy yours!
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<3 <3 <3 Thank you, darling!