Apple's March 2024 Wrap-up

I hadn’t planned on skipping most of March. It just turned out to be one of those months where I felt overly burdened by what I should be doing or where I should be by now, but which I’m not. And that, like many things, kept me from showing up.

I even wanted to write about that. Blogging for me all these years has been an “open diary” format that cared f*ck all about SEO and domain authority. To soak a bit in my own saltwater wouldn’t have been so off-route, and yet. I’ve kept quiet. Funnily, I’ve got “Conceal, don’t feel” written under my March intentions.

Habits & Health This Month

Habit	Total Days This Month	Best Streak (Days in a Row)
Reading	10	5
Writing	9	3
Art	0	–
Journal	3	–
Exercise	3	–
Social	8	3
PKM	5	–
Coding	12	6

Table of eight trackable habits

I spent most of my time reading and coding, and unexpectedly found myself in the recesses of Reddit. I wish I’d taken note of my favorite story posts, but I can always start doing that now.

It was a pretty good month for coding, and like I mentioned in a Threads post, my current project is getting ahead of me. I like the idea that I’m being challenged and therefore growing, and I’ve found myself in more tech or industry-related subreddits, including one dedicated to side projects.

But it does make me feel small.

Line chart plotting my hours of sleep (0-12), mood rating (1-10) and energy rating (1-10), tracked every day of the month.

Average mood: 4 (out of 10)
Average energy: 4 (out of 10)
Average sleep: 8 (out of max 12)

As always, my moods remain low and my sleep remains average. I haven’t been experiencing insomnia, at least, but with the sudden heat spike I still tend to have uncomfortable wakings no matter how rested I am.

Books Read & Films Watched This Month

📕Dune Messiah, Frank Herbert

Rating: 🤦🏻‍♀️

I’m still currently reading, but so far it is disappointing. I’m finding everyone to be a bit of a mess: Paul spineless and Alia annoying. They are all terribly insufferable and not even in an interesting love-to-hate-you way. It feels like just a necessary transition to the rest of the series, which I am not sure I will continue reading after this book.

🎥 Dune Part Two (2024)

Rating: 🤔

This was a slight letdown for me as well, contrary to the high ratings across the board. I get that the direction changed to focus on Paul and Jessica, which makes me wish they then explore the Bene Gesserit more. I was especially disappointed that they skipped the poison transmutation scene, as well as Alia’s deviation.

🎥 Shutter Island (2010) & 🎥 The Outfit (2022)

Rating: 😀

These two movies are wildly different, obviously, but I’m grouping them together because I watched them both with my partner and have similar feelings about them. I really enjoyed both, Shutter Island more than The Outfit, but the acting and writing of both films were phenomenal. I was displeased with The Outfit‘s ending as I think they took the plot twists too far, and closed the story with one that wasn’t earned or set up at all.

Other Media This Month

I keep forgetting to make mention of my listening habits as part of the monthly wrap-up, so here’s my first attempt at it. I, unfortunately, went on a little Taylor Midnights relapse and just had the whole album on repeat for an evening. I’ve also been enjoying to FLETCHER’s new album In Search of the Antidote.

Yes, I’ve listened to eternal sunshine and I really want to like it; maybe it’s one of those things I’ll grow into six months after the fact (I was the same with Midnights).

Project Updates This Month

My most ambitious side project at the moment is a word count tracker / mini-project manager for writers. I’ve tried to pick it free of some of the more out-there features, including the ability to follow each other’s updates. Since it’s just me (and because I don’t know if I’m ever going to have the backbone to even show this to people) I thought I should keep it lightweight and stupid simple. Even so, I’m finding it overwhelming and therefore challenging and good for practice.
As for Stardust, I’ve sporadically given it some updates both in and out of text. I spent around two days updating my superpowers documentation, and then I tried actually picking up the draft. Not only did I not gain any momentum, I’m also deeply rethinking my choice of prose.

March Events

I spent most weekends of the month doing wedding planning things with L, though I did manage to have two girl time sessions. The first was the weekend of Women’s Day. I attended a Women Authors panel at Fully Booked and then had dinner and coffee with my brujo (brew + bruha + bujo) coven. And then on a separate weekday I had a catch-up Zoom call with some old colleagues.

I also attended a great show by two of Louie’s old college-mates. I haven’t been to a concert since the pandemonium, and it’s been even longer since I went to a live music event for local musicians.

And finally, I finally attended my first Poetry Orchard event, co-hosted by my friend Noey (@thenoeychu). I wrote a poem about writing about trauma/healing and the weird unfinished business of it, and I was blown away by the sweet support from the group. I hope to polish it a bit and eventually share it here.