That’s why I never set “clean this room” as my goal. I always use “clean this room a bit” because doing a bit once a week has been far more successful (until now, at least). But then it gets messy again and I have to find the will to start my weekly bits again, which is hard q-q

I wrote a novel-length story once that I published chapter by chapter as I was writing it, and I’m still incredibly proud of that feat. It’s still in its beta stage, I think. There are plot holes and loose ends because I changed my mind about the story multiple times, which makes some foreshadowing in earlier chapters useless, and so on. It’s been in its beta stage for about two years and I doubt I’ll ever revise it, but it was a nice distraction while I was working on my Master’s thesis.

That’s a good point, and I agree that it can be fun to figure them out sometimes. For me, it’s the rather strict enforcement of these often arbitrary rules by society in so many importants parts of life that makes me miserable.

Depends on who made the secret rules. If they’re my own secret rules that only I need/want to follow, they’re obviously great and a lot of fun, but if they’re secret rules by others and they expect you to know them, then those are the kind of secret rules that suck.

But if I start doing it at 5:37, I’ll always have to do it at that exact time.

AAWOOOOOO

Aren’t there people who’ll write CVs and cover letters for you? Maybe I could do that. Okay, new career plan!

I’m sending out applications for a serious career change. I’d have to go through a bunch of training and stuff (again), but this time, it’ll be the right career for me. I can feel it.

I hope 2025 will be a great year for you, too, and that you can achieve the things you set out to do <3

That’s true, it’s definitely better to play it badly than not at all. And I’m really glad I finally got a guitar instead of spending months looking at them online but never buying one.

It’s not all that wacky, but I bought a guitar (my first one! I’m usually a bassist) last week. It’s a seven-string, and now I’m learning to play Breaking the Law by Judas Priest. It feels a bit like this instrument is wasted on me because it’s a very nice one, but it’s kinda fun! And every time I play the guitar, put it down after a while, and go back to my bass, playing the bass feels new and exciting again <3

Some of my sunflowers are getting to the point where I can harvest their seeds. That’s super exciting because it’s my first time collecting seeds. This’ll sound very dumb, but until earlier this year, I thought sunflower seeds were a bit like apples and grew out of the little things that bees collect pollen from, but then I saw that the seeds grew underneath the pollen. I always thought I had seedless sunflowers. I’ll leave plenty of seeds for the birds, but growing sunflowers from seeds that I harvested myself sounds so cool, and I’m really looking forward to spring now.

My GP has an online tool to make appointments, and it’s great. I wouldn’t use it for genuinely private stuff because the company behind it is a bit shady, but booking an appointment to get vaccinated is generic enough for me to pick convenience over privacy. It’d be great if they could use open-source, privacy-respecting software, though.

It’s amazing how plants can recover from what looks like a major injury. Last year, I had a sunflower seedling in a small cup, and something bit off its head. Might’ve been a bug, or a bird, we’ll never know, but all that was left was a thin stem, just like in your photo. I kept watering it, and after a while, it started growing new leaves, then a second head, and although it was much smaller than the other sunflowers, it still bloomed.

Animals and plants that glow like that are so cool! We live in such a magical world, and photos like this remind me that the magic starts right at our doorsteps.

😒 ✋ Filing my taxes

😎 👉 Reading Wikipedia articles about different tax systems and how they are enforced, including the consequences of not filing your taxes

My favourite part about growing flowers is when all the little pollinators show up and get their legs covered in pollen. I could watch them for hours :3

“I just need to sit down, focus, skim a few chapters in this book, and take notes. It’ll take twenty minutes, maybe even less. Easy.”

stares at a blank document for ten minutes

“Let’s watch a one-hour video essay on a completely unrelated topic, maybe that’ll motivate me.” (it won’t)

That sounds lovely! Thank you for your insight, it’s already taught me something new (I didn’t know that woodchips prevent compaction, or that it was an issue in the first place). And if your garden looks this pretty in the winter, it must be absolutely stunning in the summer <3

Oh, I’m SO jealous because having a forest garden is my dream. Do you have to put in a lot of work to keep it in shape?