Spooooky Season...

Who ever was in charge of waking up Billie Joe you're on. September has come to an end.

So let's wrap it all up.

Nationally: Hey! Guess what! We are still at war with Iran. Our little two week incursion is now seven months along. My how time flies when you're incompetent and fighting wars of choice. Or it drags. It's one of those.

He's back on his tariff bullshit again. Fighting with Canada (CANADA!) and loving on Xi Jinping, threw Xi a state dinner and offered to sell him weapons. The man loves his autocratic dictators for sure. Squad goals I guess. Or he's just a fucking idiot. Which is always on the table.

We are 33 days away from midterms. I'm not optimistic that that will be the end of this, but I am hopeful (the slightly depressed version of optimism in my opinion) that it will be the beginning of the end. Though, I guess, no matter how it turns out it will be the beginning of the end. Either they will stay in full power and we are fucked, or they will lose some power, freak out, and we are fucked but maybe a little less fucked. Who knows? Is that optimism? Maybe...

Personal!

Okay, so I really did try last month to not worry about the numbers. To start that progression away from tracking. And as Brent pointed out, "How's that working out for you?"

So yeah, I'm still tracking, I'm just not hitting them all. And I'm trying to let that be okay. Though we all know it's not, not really. So I still have to figure it out.

Writing: I posted 13 blogs, 4 of them being fiction. I wrote two things for Dana so altogether that's half of the days of September writing. So not more days than not, which is a first totally missed goal. If one day is totally missed. I think so. And I'm okay with it. As you all know I've been struggling with writing lately. I have run out of things to say. Sort of. More like I've run out of the drive to say them. I'm starting to think about just putting it all aside and calling this chapter (pun not intended but I'm not mad at it) of my life over. I haven't decided for sure just yet, and who knows, I might find another creative gust, but it is something I'm thinking about.

Reading: So this was the one where Brent made the comment because I told him that the nonfiction I had for September ended up being a DNF but that was okay because I'd read two nonfiction in August so there was splash over. He pointed out that I was not supposed to be tracking and I said I wasn't, not really. And...well...Okay, it's a work in progress.

The funny thing (to me) is that I actually read three nonfiction books in September, the one I did not finish and then books one and two of MAUS. I just hadn't been thinking of them as nonfiction because, well, graphic novel. So...September I started 6 books, finish five. The one DNF was Ben Wikler's book This Is the Plan. Now, I like Ben Wikler. I think he's interesting, smart, driven. I wish he had won the election to be head of the DNC. But...he's a lot. Like a LOT. He speaks very fast and goes off on tangents and hits you with a firehose of Wisconsin back story and...he writes just like he speaks.

Writing in your own voice is a skill. It really is. Anyone who knows me off line can tell you that reading my blog is very much like listening to me speak. The cadence and the word choices, the randomness. All of it. Ben Wikler writes in his voice. And that's great. But it's too much for me. At least right now. I needed his editor to step in and do some cutting. I read the first three chapters, skipped ahead to the last chapter where he was going to "put it all together" and still only skimmed it. If you are interested in how Wisconsin pulled themselves back from the brink of Republican illiberal rule, and how we need to apply that to the Nation, I'd recommend it. But know it's going to be A LOT.

I read 3 fiction books as well. Liane Moriarty's new book, Big Little Truths, which I really liked, but I really like everything that she writes so that wasn't a big surprise. I tried the second book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and yeah, it's just not for me. I can see threads of a story that I might enjoy in there but it's wrapped up in a lot that I just don't. Which, good news, that means I don't have to worry about adding the next six into my TBR list. Yay! I also read Palm Meridian which I wasn't sure what to expect, and cannot remember who recommended it to me, it had been on the TBR list for so long, but it was so good. So if whoever recommended it is reading this right now, thank you!

Also, I own the MAUS books so that's my read something you already own check mark. Not that I'm doing the check marks, but you know...

Workouts. September ended up being the last month working out strictly from the home gym. I did increase my lifting, and I gained about a pound of muscle and lost a little over a pound of fat so that's good. Like I mentioned earlier this week with going back to the gym and starting to lift a lot more I expect my weight to go up a bit this month. I'll be doing my "official" weights and measures before we go to Disneyland though so... In fact the next few months the official end of month will not be the end of the month but a little before. Before Disney, before Thanksgiving, before Christmas. I'm dedicated to my health, but I'm also dedicated to churros, pumpkin pie and stuffing and candy.

The good news is that the changes I made in my diet actually did make changes in my cholesterol levels. I'll probably do one more spot check sometime early next year and see if that's still heading in the right direction or if I need to do more. (Aside from the heavier weights, which should, theoretically, lower the bad and raise the good)

Still doing language but I'm seeing the end of that possibly coming as well. We will see how the midterms turnout but I could see dropping that at the end of the year. Still doing the daily meditation book, but I haven't been as happy with this book as I was with last year's book so it's been a challenge. I'll finish the year with it, but I don't think I'll pick it back up next year.

And yes, as you can see it's fall so my thoughts are already turning to what I want for next year. You know, the year I'm not going to track. Yeah...how's that working out for me?

But here we are now. October. OCTOBER! Brent's last month. Today he is in the teens of work days left. Three full weeks and two little partial weeks. Yay!

For me? I'll keep doing my stuff while trying to figure out how much of it I want to keep doing.

Welcome to Spooky Season. The start of the most wonderful quarter of the year. Honestly. October is the best month overall. November has the best holiday. December is the most magical. Though this is the downhill portion of the year. Hold on tight, we're coming in hot and fast.

Boo!