La Bene Vita

Sophisticated Procrastination

Is it me, or are Sundays a little emptier around here than the other days?

First, my progress against writing goals. Then I'll tackle the "Self Sundays" list: Family, Leisure, Work, and Health.

Writing Goals
Blogged 5 of 7 days on WDC, but missed the topic "Writing Wednesdays"
Novel progress - wrote a little earlier in the week, but I do seem to be avoiding* it
Blogged Music Mondays topic at michelletuesday.com/blog
Wrote and submitted short story for "The Bradbury"  - submitted to "The Writer's Cramp 24th Birthday" 
Completed "26 Paychecks "  2nd biweekly assignment
Wrote and submitted a public short story review
Extra Credit: Cleaned up my portfolio for several hours over three days
Extra Credit: Randomly* wrote and submitted two poems for "PromptMaster !"  and "The Contest Challenge" , so I guess I'm playing those games now, too
                              "Arctic Wind" 
                              "Respite" 

* I suspect these two things might be related...? I'm calling this "sophisticated procrastination" - I make it look like I'm doing fancy things to avoid grunt work.

Family
- Keith starts a new job in a week. It's an internal lateral move with hopefully less stress.

Leisure
- Played entirely too much solitaire on my new Windows laptop. I don't even like solitaire. What wizardry is this? It's just another algorithm optimized to induce addiction. I have three of the five books I checked out at the library two extensions ago, but I'm too busy with writing projects and solitaire to read them.

Work
- It's January. We're working on taxes and enrolling like crazy, due to all the New Year's resolutions to "learn piano this year" and guitars received as holiday gifts that the recipients don't know how to play.

- Our Winter Benefit Concert for GRIN (the local food pantry) is next Saturday afternoon, so we're busy with planning and extra rehearsals.

- Just hired a new music theory teacher, so, resumes, interviews, and orientations happened.

- The Bureau of Workers Comp has notifies us of their intention to audit us. We changed payroll companies last June, and initially our employees were set up with the wrong BWC job codes. The codes are important because they indicate the risk level, and therefore, workers' comp insurance premiums. My employees are all receptionists and teachers (code 8868, for "College/Schools - Professors/Teacher/Clerical Professional & Clerical"), but they were incorrectly set up with higher-risk job codes. I caught it because we were over budget, and the payroll company fixed the codes. I'm guessing that triggered an audit. So, that's fun.

Health
- Exercise: I have not stepped on the recumbent bike or treadmill at all this week. Exercise is the one and only thing that stymies Parkinson's. PD and Type 1 diabetes generally don't play nice with each other - Parkinson's causes tremor, which can disguise low blood sugar symptoms; low carb is ideal for diabetes, while protein interferes with levadopa (a key PD drug) absorption; and have you ever tried injecting yourself with a needle with shaky hands and uncontrolled tension in your muscles? Yet, for all that, PD and T1D both love exercise.

- Diabetes: Had an endocrinologist (diabetes doc) appointment (virtual - I'm a big fan of "televisits") on Monday. I needed to get my A1C tested. I asked the doc to fax over the order. Meanwhile, I also had an array of blood and urine tests for my PCP in the form of a paper order, which I don't need for a month, but I'm not one to waste a trip. So I get to the lab, hand them my paper order and tell them I have an order from another doc on the fax machine. Reception desk says, "Make sure you tell them at the window that you have a fax order, too." I take the paper to the window, tell her I have a fax order, too, and she gives me a number. I wait to be called. Then I go in, get stuck, the phlebotemist draws three vials and give me a cup to pee in. Then I go home and wait as the results start pouring in - urinalysis results, cholesterol... but guess what result I did NOT receive? That's right: A1C. The one I went there for. The good news is, the doc didn't have my result and couldn't yell at me for being over 7.0 again.

- Parkinson's Disease: Had Botox in my larynx  on Wednesday for vocal dystonia. Today I can't speak above a whisper, and that will last hopefully no more than a week. Yes, it's ironic, but here's what's happening: Dystonia is a neuromuscular disorder that cause involuntary muscle tension. Ask any voice teacher: tension is a singer's enemy. Botox paralyzes the target muscle, forcing it to relax. As you can see in my nerdy graph, the Botox paralyzes the crap out of my voice for a few days (where the graph spikes up in a sharp, skinny point), then it settles down and lasts for a few months before it starts wearing off. Hence, I get the injections quarterly.

That's what's up, y'all. Catch you tomorrow for Music Mondays. Hope to see you then!