I’m spending time with family this weekend, so in theory this missive will be brief. I’m writing this on a bus/sitting on the guest bed/in a quiet room at the library, tapping things out on my iPad. I’m enjoying working on this device; yes I have a big ass gaming/editing rig on my desk that I look forward to getting back to eventually but also I can see why people use iPads as a primary work machine. Especially whilst traveling. I’m not working too much this weekend though… at least, not on my own works. Plenty of home projects to help out on, plenty of IT expertise to provide. But it’s been good to have some enforced AFK time. I’m playing around in my Notes app in between obligations, thinking thoughts; plotting.

I’m looking forward to heading home tomorrow. This trip was long overdue, it’s always good to spend time with family, etc. But. I miss my peace and solitude, my willy-nilly work schedule, my fruits and vegetables, my whole bean pourover coffee, my daylight-flooded apartment in a busy, flawed neighborhood. I miss my dog(!). And I guess the cat, too, chaos goblin that she is.

Hometown visits are never the whimsical magic all those romcoms make them out to be, are they? Though I’ve got one more day… maybe I’ll chance to run into a former classmate-turned-silent partner business mogul who wants to invest in my startup, which he reveals unexpectedly over some “let’s catch up!” beers and quaintly local cuisine. Though I guess he’ll have to serendipitously meet up with me at the train station on my way out of town because otherwise it’s too flippin’ hot to go outside. 😂

Not for nothing, I celebrated my 5-year Duolingo anniversary this past week. As of today, my streak is 1725 days. Ridiculous! Alright, let’s get into it.

✅ Done and Done - Continued refining my new scheduling flow, did work promo and light editing, had one Real Sad Day, trimmed my bangs, packed and prepped for the weekend’s travel, did a bunch of parental tech support, built a huge rotating DVD shelf, ate half a BBQed chicken in under 10 minutes, watched a lot of rebroadcast television of old B&W westerns.

🗓️ Coming up - At least one (01) day of post-travel recovery, set up dental and optometry appointments while I still have health insurance, have a writing-focused day, have lunch with a friend, do some blog/newsletter work for H2H. In addition to all the usual stuff.

Do you ever feel like you’re on the precipice of change? For months I’ve felt like something was about to happen… almost there… like a sneeze that just won’t go. For months, nothing has happened, but the feeling persists. It feels like there’s some kind of unknown trigger, Peewee’s secret Word of the Day, and if only I could say or do the Right Thing—whatever that is—The Change will happen and I’ll know it’s happened and I can stop waiting for it.

Maybe I’ve mentioned this before, but it does feel like Things (in the world) keep happening so much, so frequently, that it’s all I can do to keep up in how I respond. No time to grow, or fortify, just keep up. If change is forever on the horizon, is it actually just a mirage? A carrot on a stick? I remain hopeful that my plan is still achievable, despite the Everything.

In recent conversation with a friend, she mused out loud as to whether a propagation of an unwell plant is still “the same plant,” as its intent is to replace its ailing parent plant, or if the propagation is something new. She was speaking to her experiences with her own business and its evolution, but this concept and framing certainly got me thinking.

For months (years, one could argue) I’ve been torn between upholding and building upon the original premise and structure of Hustle to Hire, and/or adapting another person’s premise into my own vision of what it could be.

While the convo with my friend did not land on a definitive answer of whether a propagated plant is the same plant or something new (I would think it depends…?) I did feel like this new framing unlocked something for me. Like, maybe I’m not merely “rebranding” at all… maybe I’m propagating a struggling plant so that it has a fresh opportunity to restart with better resources.

This reframing was really valuable for me. It helped remove some of the guilt I’ve felt over taking over an existing business and not doing a terribly great job upholding it “as is,” that being “functional but flawed”; I always intended to evolve it into a version thereof. My timeline has not been terribly linear, but, that’s life. Good things take time; doing things well takes intention, and intention requires understanding.

At least I’m no longer trying to “do things Right the first time”… I am maybe actually learning and implementing that you don’t actually need to do everything “right” the first time. Sometimes you just need to do them as best you can, and build from there. Not my favorite lesson to learn but here we are! 😅

🍿 Watching - Okay, I too watched KPop Demon Hunters (2025) and yeah, it’s pretty great. Magical girls fighting demons (and shame) through the power of friendship and by embracing what makes us “different”. A guilt-free feel good flick with a great original soundtrack. Further reading: Jakho-do and the origins of the tiger + magpie duo.

🍿 More Watching - I convinced my mom to watch How to Train Your Dragon (2010) with me, and of course she really liked it. How could you not? It’s a great movie! We checked it out from the library and while she was at first embarrassed to ask where the kids movies were, she was bolstered by her fave librarian’s shared love of the movie. Plus now I have a reason to rewatch 2 and 3, and maybe sneak out to see the live action one while it’s still in theaters?

🎵 Listening - No really, KPop Demon Hunters has a great soundtrack…

👾 Gaming - There’s an iOS game I actually paid real money for many years ago: Frost (dev site). While it hasn’t been updated in 3 years, it still looks and plays great… and to stupid gorgeous even on my large iPad. Good for sensory-soothing downtime in any environment, and fun outside-the-box problem solving. Frost is available in the iTunes Store (still iOS-only sadly) for an amount of money ($5? Idk).

🦋 To my knowledge, Bluesky is the first social media site to transparently announce their intentions to comply with age verification measures—tho it’s just limited to the UK… for now. Interesting, even if I do find this hastening slide into a monitored Internet troubling. (I’m still working on a longer piece about age verification, please bear with me as there’s a lot to it.)

👤 Speaking of responsible Internet hygiene… (source)

👩‍💻 I really enjoyed this lengthy and detailed write-up from Nicole Carpenter about her article pitch process as a freelance writer and journalist. One of my goals with Hustle to Hire is accepting article submissions, so it’s good to hear about the various ways that can work, from the writer’s side.

✍️ A friend of mine is doing more short story writing on her Patreon, and I enjoyed this horror/thriller piece about a reporter who’s Fitbit starts logging runs he doesn’t remember, in the midst of an ongoing missing person investigation. Read 2500 Steps (for free) on Patreon.

If you have any choice plant-based euphemisms, aphorisms, or hell, even idioms (axioms?) please share them with me! I love my little house jungle and sometimes these seemingly frivolous metaphors really fill in the gaps. Also consider this a call to send me pics of your fave houseplants/plant collections; if I get enough in maybe I can share them with the class?

Good luck out there this week. I hope you get to make some unexpected connections, perhaps even an unplanned “ah ha!” Until next time!

xox,