busybee fluffy rambles

2024 checkup

First, let’s do a checkup on last year’s stated goals:

• Successfully get on disability benefits: Not yet, but I’ve done everything I can to move forward on it
• Find a reasonable level of sustainable productivity on things that I care about, without languishing but also without burning the hell out: I feel like 2024 had better balance but I’m still figuring it out
• Finally finish at least one of my three backburnered albums: Yes, and then some!
• Finish organizing my basement: Not particularly, but it’s still better off
• Get back into making pottery, and produce a line of items to sell on Etsy: Technically accomplished, although I never got around to actually putting it on Etsy

Wins

Music

I released several albums: Strawberry Jams I Ate, Instrumental, Notions, Transitions, and Deadnames. Instrumental and Transitions were two of my backburnered albums, Notions was originally part of Transitions but ended up being better as its own thing, and Deadnames was a companion to Transitions. Strawberry Jams I Ate was just a normal part of my annual game jam cadence.

This year I opted not to do a Novembeat (aside from a few tracks but they were specifically just for fun and not for a release intention) nor did I participate in the Seattle Indies Slow Jam (I’m not sure if it even happened this year?) or Global Game Jam. I count that as a win because I was deliberate in these decisions, as part of maintaining my work/passion/productivity balance.

I also finally made a new music website which does a much better job of showcasing my work! There’s still a lot that I’d like to do to improve it and I still need to finish tagging all of the songs (currently I’m at around 55% complete) but it’s already so much better than being reliant on Bandcamp for my entire web presence.

I also started doing more live performances in VRChat, which has helped me to grow my audience considerably! Highlights include:

• Several open-mic type events
• Several short-set performances, especially at Trans Academy
• A few large concerts of my own
• Two large concerts as part of greater music festivals (Aga’s Toys for Tots, Furry Hideout New Years Countdown), both of which went pretty well all things considered!

And of course, I continued to perform with the choir, both at our large concerts and at our small talent shows. And I got to perform at motherfucking Benaroya Hall, holy fuck I still can’t believe that was real.

Oh and Song Fight! Live! was back in-person, and it went well.

House

I greatly improved my kitchen organization.

I have made a lot of progress on organizing my office.

I took care of some more deferred maintenance on my house.

I finally put up a defiant pride flag that I intend to fly year-round (at least when it isn’t super windy; currently it’s down because of heavy wind storms).

Other projects

I designed my own slipcasting molds for a number of different espresso cups, and used them to make a bunch of espresso cups. They’re pretty nice!

I was able to successfully do a large rush 3D printing job for a local artist, which went well and hopefully helps get my name out there in the community as someone who can help out with things like that.

I made a whole-ass VRChat avatar from scratch in 5 days, and ended up using it to star in an ad.

Oh and I had a bunch of my work in a gallery show.

Things that could have gone better

I wanted to start doing more of my podcast but I just didn’t have it in me.

I wanted to start doing comics again but I also just didn’t have it in me.

I never got around to selling my espresso cups on Etsy. I think they’d do well.

Both of my cats have had health concerns; Fiona’s fully recovered from hers, but Tyler’s has just started.

Setbacks

My panic disorder came back in a big way.

I also got COVID (along with most of my choir) in June, which has had some lasting effects.

My vertigo has gotten a lot worse, especially while driving, which feeds into the panic disorder.

My chronic pain has gotten worse, as has my hypermobility spectrum disorder.

2025 aspirations

So, here’s what I am hoping to accomplish in the next year.

Music

As always I have a bunch of music projects planned. Here’s my current set of expected musical projects:

• Strawberry Jam 9 will almost certainly be happening, and I hope to do a lot of music for it
• Recombinant: an album where I revisit some of my favorite songs and redo them in different styles and with updated sensibilities
• Misfits: an album where I finally record/release some of the random knick-knacks that never really fit into anything else
• Maximum Coverage: where I spend a lot of money on cover song license fees

I also hope this to be a year when I finally get people hiring me with paid soundtrack work, and of course I want to do even more performing.

House

I need to finally get the workshop area of my basement organized.

I also want to organize my tool cabinet, and get a separate tool shed in the back yard for my gardening tools.

I would like to improve the organization in my living room.

I hope to finish organizing my office.

I absolutely need to get rid of a bunch of clutter.

Arts and crafts

I’d like to finally start selling my pottery somewhere, be it on Etsy or somewhere else. I’d also like to expand my pottery offerings.

It’d be nice to be able to work on comics again, either in the form of working up the energy to draw them myself, or by finding a reliable artist I can work with.

I have a bunch of other art projects and ideas thereof which have fallen to the wayside, and bringing those back would be nice.

I also have a bunch of VRChat avatar ideas that I never got around to building. Also an idea for a world or two.

Programming

I want to address two major bits of tech debt in Publ, namely getting away from PonyORM, and getting away from Misaka. Both of those libraries have caused an accumulation of frustration and tech debt.

Similarly, I’m pretty unhappy with Qt when it comes to the GUI for Bandcrash, and I’d like to figure out a better way to handle that as well.

I’d like to finally support Bluesky SSO in Authl. That’s kind of dependent on external factors though; it’s technically possible to do now but the functionality would be much better if it were encapsulated into its own library, and I don’t want to be the one to maintain that library on top of everything else.

I’d also like to finally make a proper comment and webmention system for Publ, getting away from the Isso+webmention.io mess I have currently (but I’ve talked about that plenty).

Health

I hope to get my vertigo under control.

I want to get to a place where I feel comfortable driving again.

I’d like to find a sustainable pain-management strategy.

I’d like to get better at acknowledging when things have gone well in the moment, being better at controlling the things I’m able to, and more accepting about the things I can’t.

Basically I’d like to internalize a secular version of the serenity prayer, and everything else goes from there.