Indian Creek Zoo, August 2018


[Taken 14 August 2018]

The week before First Grade started, Connor and I enjoyed a bit of a staycation. On Tuesday of that week, we made our very first trip to the Indian Creek Zoo in Lambertville, Michigan. It’s basically a very large petting zoo with some exotic animals like giraffes, monkeys, and zebras.

That morning, I loaded up my modified Holga 120N (which I affectionately call my Holgamod) with Ektar 100, since I hadn’t taken the Holga for a spin in a few years. This was the best photo of the roll — most frames turned out underexposed, since much of the zoo was in heavy shade.

2018 Year In Review

One of these years, I’ll get my annual Year In Review polished up and ready to publish before the last week of January. This is not that year.

This year, I had initially planned a slight departure from my normal, categorical method of cataloging the past year and wanted to try a My Life In Weeks style retrospective. Alas, after I typed in everything I’d cataloged weekly in my bullet journal, I discovered that it was long and unengaging — even for me.

So, I’ll include the weekly breakdown at the end of this post, replete with hyperlinks, but I’ll summarize as per usual.

Speaking of summaries… this year was the year I got medicated for my depression and started sewing (and no, I don’t think one was necessarily due to the other). Also, this was the year we went on our first family vacation (which, at the time of this writing, is only partially finally documented online via photos, but not reviews).

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Getting My Feet Under Me

Lately, I’ve been taking one lunch hour per week at The Bux next door, toting my Bluetooth keyboard with me to write. I didn’t really feel like coffee today, though, so today I’m sitting in the 6th floor cafeteria in my office building, trying super hard to ignore the conversations around me.

Yesterday morning, I took a pretty good spill downtown while crossing the street. I thought I was fine at the time — honestly, I still think I’m mostly fine — but I do have some aches and stiffness that I might not have gotten from a fall like that when I was younger. I took some strongish drugs for the aches, and I’m still wearing the anti-nausea patch I put on last night. (I’ll keep it on until I reach the three-day mark or it starts to dilate my eyes, whichever comes first.)

I kinda feel like that overall. I need to get my feet back under me and move forward. I have lots of outstanding, almost-done projects at work; my personal clutter is strewn all over the house; my clothes don’t fit right anymore; and my throat and eyes have that dry, scratchy, I’m Getting Sick kind of feeling. I can’t really focus on just one thing and fix it — I have to continue my triage and keep chipping away at things.

It probably doesn’t help that I’m also behind on my self-imposed January deadlines: posting my 2018 Year In Review, posting a roll of photos to my blog, and sewing a piece of clothing from a commercial pattern. I’ve gotten some things done, like creating a 2019 calendar, making a present for Connor’s friend, Harper, and tracking all of my meals in WW eTools. January is not a total wash by any means.

I really just feel tired, which manifests as feeling depressed and unmotivated. If I can turn things around and get my head in the right place, my brain meds can help me from continuing the spiral.

I’ll bet I can get myself out of this thing if I just focus on getting to bed earlier and being just a little more active every day. That, plus distracting myself from after-dinner snacking, which has been A Major Thing this week. Maybe I can do some meditation during my usual snack time.

I’ve got this. No worries.

Status: One of Those Days

Icy roads means no school today, so my son is in all-day care. After shenanigans at home and slow traffic, I got to work 45 minutes late.

The topper? I totally bit it on the ice crossing the street downtown. Knocked my hat off… but somehow I didn’t spill my coffee.

The day can only get better, right?

Edit to add: Oh, right. I get nausea when I spin around — or, apparently, when I go quickly from vertical to horizontal.