☆❀☆

+ Washed my car. I really should do it more often. It doesn't take that much time to do, and honestly, even just spraying it down makes it come out pretty good. It's kind of a rustbucket, so I guess there is a part of me that thinks "Eh, what's the point?" when it comes to washing it, but... thee dirt was getting pretty ridiculous, and I should at least make sure the windows are clean. We've got a couple of muddy months to go.

+ Took some extra books to the nearest Little Library. Two of the books that I took there last time, over a month ago, are still there. Disappointing; it's much nicer when someone picks them up. Oh, well. Maybe once more of the snow is gone things will circulate more.

+ Took myself out for sushi because I was craving sushi. It's not something that I would want to make a habit of, but I'm glad I indulged it. I had wanted nigiri for some reason, even though it's not my usual choice, so I got one of their variety deals. Now I've probably had enough of it to satisfy myself for a while.

+ Worked on Norwegian a little. And by that I mean I tried to do some reading. It's... challenging, like walking through knee-high snow. I have this one novel in Norwegian, and I tried reading the first page. It was kind of challenging; I got the gist but there were a lot of words I don't know. I think I might start a project where I read through just a page, and write down the words that I don't know in a notebook. That might help.

+ There have been times when I thought that my interest in Norwegian was primarily fuelled by my fondness for the Hetalia character, but I think now I can safely say that this isn't the case. I just really like it. The sentence structure, the way the words sound. It's nice. It's really nice.

+ I spent some time today not feeling great. I think the depression is getting to me again. I'm just not feeling very good. Kind of listless and, like, it's hard to find motivation to do anything. All the things that I have to do still get done, but it's hard to find, like, joy. Spark. That kind of thing.

Was able to clear a lot of things off my to-do list. Pretty happy about that.

Feeling kind of exhausted. My coworker is away until the 26th and until then, I'm doing everything myself. I'm managing okay, but it's a lot.

All the ironing is done.

I received my Applied Accounting certificate from Bow Valley College. It doesn't really qualify me for much, but I feel kind of proud of myself anyway. I put a lot of work into it, and I deliberately set out to Learn A Thing for work-related purposes, and I guess I just feel very accomplished.

- No judo class
- Went to get a blood draw, will have to make doctor appointment
- Had lunch at Fuji Fuji. It was VERY good, will go again. Though it is weird to have a combination Newfoundlander/Japanese restaurant. The sushi was so good tho.
- Planned to get my hair cut. Turns out the salon I used to go to has closed. Will make an appointment elsewhere.
- Came home, was tired, felt like I was spinning my wheels
- Stayed up too late watching highlights from the Crufts dog show
- Took way too long to do the Sunday cleaning. Probably partly because I was tired but I also felt a little burnt out.
- Went to mom's place to drop up some stuff
- Had planned to watch a movie tonight. Did not do that.
- Fished reading horror anthology Out There Screaming, edited by Jordan Peele. It was very good.
- There is a yoga class that I want to go to next week, but at the same time, I want to get my hair cut. And also I have judo in the morning. Will I really be up for a 90-minute yoga class only an hour later? (no)
- I feel like I really need an extended vacation. But it would not be wise for me to take a vacation until like... later on. And I can't decide if I actually want to go somewhere or if I just want to stay home and sleep in and watch movies all day.

I had to drive to work today because I had to do an errand over lunch.

Had to go pick up a package at Purolator, grumble grumble. They aren't open on weekends, so I had to drive all the way to the far side of the city to do it, ugh. Their hours are absolutely insane for anybody who words, I swear to fuck. And normally I would have just asked a relative to pick it up, but the pickup policies listed on their website are kinda draconian and don't seem to be flexible enough to allow that.

On the upside, I did need to pick something else up before going home, so at least I could do that. (Well, I didn't have to, but I did want to pick up some cider at some point, so....)

This weekend is going to be so busy. I kind of want to skip out on the pride meetup, but I did that last time too, and couldn't go to the more recent meeting because of a schedule conflict, and... yeah, I figure I should.

And I just found out that the Ukrainian cultural society is holding a solidarity meetup on Saturday. I feel like I should go. I haven't made it to any of the other cultural society meetups. But I feel like I should go. ...We'll see.

Things I did this past weekend - because my memory is terrible.

Saturday:
- Went to judo (excellent class)
- Went shopping
- Picked up library books, including Josephine Baker's memoir, Fearless and Free (Looking forward to it)
- Yoga class (5/6, next week is last one)
- Made soup with tofu and soba noodles

Sunday:
- Cleaned everything
- Went to mom's for coffee
- Worked out for an hour
- Watched Hideo Gosha's Three Outlaw Samurai (it was very good)
- Painted my nails

It's not a lot, and some of it is very routine, but it looks like a lot when I list it out like this. :Va

Hopefully next week will involve some writing - Monday the 17th is a stat holiday so there will probably be room to fit it in. (Or maybe I'll just sleep all day, who knows.)

I got a lot done today. I'm feeling really pleased with myself.

Work kind of sucked because we were internet-less for a while, so I couldn't complete all my tasks, but at least I got a lot of things done when I got home.

I feel like a Functional Adult.

Aside from tech issues, work has been going pretty well. I really like my job. And it seems like it actually does something useful. So that's great. There are still a few wrinkles that we're trying to iron out, but that's okay. We'll figure it out.

Came down with a cold. Feeling horrible. Won't be able to go to judo tomorrow. Disappointed.

I'm feeling very worn out and I kind of want to go on a vacation but kind of not. Going on vacation would probably be more stressful than restful. But at least there is a stat this month. And there are two more of those special posture yoga classes that I signed up for, and then I'm done with that. Which is good because even though they've been interesting, it sucks up too much of my time (well more specifically the homework sucks up a lot of my time).

These times sure are Interesting re: tariffs and the USA shitting the bed. I do appreciate that people are starting conversations about buying Canadian, because it's something that I do feel strongly about and support when possible, but I hate that it took these circumstances for it to happen.

Watched the 2005 adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I think someone purchased it for me back when it was relevant, and I watched it once and then never again, because I have no recollection of it. Anyway, it was much more entertaining than I expected; I'd been anticipating putting it in the donation bin, but I think I'll keep it. It probably helps that my feelings about the novel are basically "I read it a couple of decades ago and thought it was all right" - if I had a much stronger opinion on it, I probably wouldn't have liked the movie as much.

I've been feeling so blah style-wise lately. It would be nice to dress up, but it's hard to find the opportunity and motivation. Aside from work, I've been spending a lot of time in active wear due to being... active... so there is that. Basically if I'm not at work, I'm either grungy and sweaty or preparing to be so. But I really should find something to go out to, some reason to dress up. There might be an event. I'll have to keep an eye out.

I've been poking around Sephora, feeling like shopping. But now that I think of it, what I should do is go through my makeup drawer. The last time I did that, I found some really nice things that I enjoyed a lot but hadn't used recently. It was just as much fun as shopping, and it meant that I got to try out some new things, test them out, see if I still liked them. In some cases, my tastes had changed since I bought it. In other cases, the colour didn't look as nice on me as I thought it would. And there are some things where the formula just wasn't very good. But there were a lot of hits, too. ...Yeah, I really should do that. I have so much eye makeup. And nail polish. It would be good to get a look at it.

I wish I could meet up with Bea, but currently the only time I can do that is on Sundays, and the Pocket Heart cafe is closed on Sundays. The last time we tried to go to the Eagle Ridge cafe, there wasn't a single seat and we ended up going back to my apartment instead. And that's fine, I guess, but I think I would prefer to hang out somewhere other than my living space, partly because it's nice to have a degree of separation, but also because on Sundays it typically smells like cleaning supplies because the ventilation is so poor in here.

...Technically I guess we could meet up on Saturday, but see above re: being grungy and sweaty. The only time I have available would be after judo!

NGL, even though I've been enjoying the yoga class I've signed up for, it's kind of making it hard to find time for things. I'm glad that it's just a 6-week course. Though I'm kind of considering getting a punch pass for that studio and coming in on Thursday nights or something. Problem is, it seems there's always a waiting list. So I might wait until February or March, when people have started kind of slacking on their new years resolutions, and see if there is more room then. Who knows. They have a very nice setup in there, though.

+ My job is going very well. I'm learning a lot and getting more comfortable with it. My department partner (remote, in another city) is great to work with, and the people in my office (unrelated to my position) are really nice.

+ Had a very productive judo lesson today. It was just me and the instructor, so it was basically a private lesson at no extra cost. We went over some things I'll (eventually) have to know for kata.

+ Went out for lunch with mom. It was nice!

+ Tried cooking with tofu for the first time (in a soup). It turned out pretty good. Will use it more in the future.

+ I finished my Quickbooks course. It's the last one I needed for the accounting certificate, so now that's all gone. I'm very glad to be finished with it, and pleased with myself for doing something useful with my time.

+ I haven't had time to write lately, but I have some ideas and goals, so when time opens up (...hopefully toward the end of the month maybe) I'll be able to jump right in.

I've been in such a horrible mood lately, and I don't know why. I keep getting really horribly angry and thinking mean and angry things all the time.

It's possible that one of my needs isn't being met, but I'm not sure what it is. It isn't like people have stat bars indicating what needs to be refilled. I can only make guesses. Maybe I'm just generally stressed out.

Over the christmas break, I took out way too many library books. I had plans to do a lot of reading, but then I got sick and wasn't able to concentrate on it much at all, not even with easy material like manga and kidlit. Today I went through the stack and sorted them into "things I do want to read in the next couple of weeks" and "things to return". Some of the returns were things I don't actually want to read any more, and some were "eventually, but not right now". It felt weirdly good to narrow it down like that. The pile is more manageable now.

I'm going to take a hot lunch to work tomorrow. I don't generally prefer that, because I'd rather save leftovers for supper - it fits into my budget better - but there is no more room left in my freezer. I wish I'd picked out a slightly larger fridge when I was shopping for one a while back; this one is smaller than my previous and I didn't realize how much difference a couple of inches can make with regard to how much I can stuff in the freezer.

I really need to finish the Quickbooks course. But there are so many things that I need to do, I don't think I'll be able to complete the final chapter today. Maybe I'll get halfway through it and then finish on Tuesday night. And... maybe I will skip Saturday judo and do the final exam then. I'd rather not skip judo, but I do want to get this course done so that I won't have to worry about it any more and I will have time for other things, like writing. Or resting.

There is a Pride meeting on Thursday. I don't really want to go, but I think having some social interaction unrelated to work or judo class would be beneficial for me. Plus, one of the members who comes regularly-ish is going to be moving down south sometime this year, not quite sure when, so if he's there on Thursday it will be nice to see him, 'cause I won't have many other opportunities to do so. I don't know him very well, but he's nice.

I should go finish vacuuming.