June 2022

 Ooof. June was a busy, busy month. Lots of stuff happened, much of which is deeply personal and doesn't have a specific connection to the purpose for this blog, but I also managed to check off a lot of stuff from the #allthethingsididnthavetimetodolist

I posted this on Instagram

✅ #KPUGrad2022

The big congratulations to me moment came in the form of my university convocation ceremony. When I filled out the application for graduation back in September 2021, I checked the box that said I wanted to participate in the live ceremony in June 2022 if they were able to have one. After receiving my Bachelor of Arts credentials in the mail in January felt rather lackluster and, frankly, disappointing (it was as if all my work over 5 years culminated in a single piece of paper), I was really looking forward to the actually cap and gown ceremony. That was the moment. It felt pretty fucking fantastic to sit there with the other graduates, all dressed up, and switch the tassel from the right to the left before walking across the stage
and having our names and degrees announced. It was fantastic! Now I feel like a university graduate.

✅ Mid-year Self Check-in

We're halfway through 2022 now and I'm realizing quite a few things about myself, mainly when it comes to how I prioritize my time. I'm not fully convinced that I'm allocating time where it will be most effective for me. I'm trying to take it one month at a time. Short-term goals and allowing myself to understand that some tasks either take longer to complete or will need to wait to start is something that I'm still working on.

✅ Gardening

I completed my front garden before my husband and I hosted his family for a June events celebration party (3 birthdays and father's day all combined in one). That was the deadline that I had set for myself and I made it, so I'm happy. The "before" and "mid-point" photos are in the April 2022 post, but this is what it looks like now.

My mother's day gifts were gardening-related and one of the gifts was this lovely planter pot. Naturally, that meant that I needed to get some plants, so we went off to the nursery again (such a hard ship lol) and I was apparently feeling an affinity for pink flowers that day, because this is what I ended up putting together.

I've also started weeding the back garden, though I expect it may be a project that I handle in smaller batches over the course of the summer. I may have to wait until next spring to plant anything new, but I feel confident that I can tidy up the weedy jungle that it's turned into over the last few years.

✅ TBR pile

I've read a lot this month. 7 more Patricia Briggs books and a lot more fanfiction than I intended to read. I'm just happy that I'm able to do the reading guilt-free and knowing that I can read what I want, when I want, for as long as I want. It's helping to feed my muse, which has been pretty good too.

✅ Writing

I'm kind of just doing what seems to be making sense to me, which is jotting down ideas and scribbling out half-scenes or brief outlines of plot points. I also happen to be switching back and forth between two different projects. I'm just following my brain and writing what feels right in that moment. It's still sporadic, but in a more consistent manner than before.

A Brief Word

No, this next part doesn't really "fit in" with the context of this blog. After all, what does a Supreme Court decision (in another country, no less) have to do with the lengthy list of projects that I've been setting aside and putting off while obtaining my bachelor's degree? Well, I am a human being and, as such, I cannot in good conscience just sit by and not acknowledge how absolutely fucked up it is that the Supreme Court of the the United States overturned Roe v. Wade.

I am absolutely, positively livid.

Anger is an old friend. It often is for those who have been in a position of powerlessness. Anger keeps us warm. 

Anger can be an extremely useful emotion right now. I hope that you are angry and that you use that anger to fuel action. 

I don't care where you live or who you are or whether you think that this will have any impact on you as an individual. No person should have control over their own medical needs stripped away from them. This loss of bodily autonomy is morally reprehensible.

Take care. Be safe.