weekly retro #72: cone's off, cramps on
when i was in college learning software engineering, my professor told us that there's no way to say with 100% certainty that your software is bug-free. even if everything is working perfectly now, there's always a chance that some kind of race condition or memory leak will rear its ugly head down the line. that doesn't mean you should never celebrate a release, just that there's a level of humility needed to align with reality. i bring that up to show that i know that there are caveats when i say that pumagreg is cancer-free. as far as the sarcoma in his leg is concerned, he's all clear, and that's a huge win!
one of my symptoms of depression is not celebrating wins or taking credit for when i had a significant hand in a win, so it's a pretty big deal for me when i say that i crushed it as pumagreg's caretaker. how i can improve is not letting so much of my own self-care go when i'm taking care of others. my focus this week was to get back into my fitness and my art.
pumagreg is doing great, especially after he got his stitches out this week. and no more cone! like me, he's easing back into his usual routines after months of disruptions. there are times where i see him testing out the limits of having one hind leg, like trying to jump from his tree to the table. while he's still adjusting to jumps, he can run just as fast as before the surgery, that's for sure.
this was my last week of color expressions class. next week i go back to wheel throwing with my prior instructor. i learned so much about different kinds of clays and glazes, but i'm excited to get back to throwing clay regularly. because it's the summer, the studio runs a lot of kids camps, so i'm not sure how much open studio space there will be over the next couple of months. we'll see!
my next big focus is on my physical health. i'm adjusting to an increased dose on a medicine that impacts my sleeping, so i've been going to the gym and lifting more so i can get into a deeper sleep and sooner. i also need to stay off my fucking phone if i'm going to be totally honest lol. fortunately i live in and next to two of the greatest, walkable cities in the world!
things i enjoyed this week
- i grabbed writing is my drink off my book shelf, i think i got it off someones stoop, i forget. anyway i'm one chapter away from finishing it and it's helping to pull me out of a creative rut that the last few months of chaos management has got me in.
- andy baio discovered an egregious instance of plagiarism
- i wrote a whole nice thing about my youtube account turning 20 years old and immediately got a rude comment from a stranger in true youtube fashion lol
- my grocery store started carrying beyond sausages with avocado oil instead of coconut oil and the brats are pretty good. i do think they need to rethink the packaging though, as the paper comes off on the food when it's defrosted.
while i type this and edit the latest vlog, i am feeling both cramps and also the accomplishment of closing up my sunday tasks after a week of closing the chapter of pumagreg's cancer. there will be more chaos to managed in the future, be it at home or at work, but every day i am reminded that i can and do get shit done.
xoxo jenn