Septemblog Post 2: Writing stuff

I'm writing here now. But I do other writing.

I write for the Democratic Farm & Labor Party, specifically for my local organizing unit (Senate District 59), which is comprised of several wards in Minneapolis. Our communications officer has had to deal with a lot of things and hasn't been active, so that work has ended up in my lap some of the time. I wrote on here about a pamphlet I wrote. 

But I've been writing missives to folks in SD59 to recruit volunteers mostly for the events we're organizing. People have been responding well. Someone in a meeting recently said "it's not like we have volunteers dropping out of the trees--last year at X event, there were only four of us." At our last event, despite it being 100F, we had at least four people per two-hour shift. At the upcoming event, the X event he referenced in fact, it looks like we have many people for each shift. People are activated, and more people are activated because we're writing to them to tell them how to get connected

I write postcards! I'm part of Postcrossing, where you sign up to send postcards to people, and when they register your postcard, someone else will be given your name and address and you get a postcard sent to you. It's quite fun. But early on, you don't get many postcards to send, just five. And you have to wait for your card to arrive, then wait for someone to send you one. 

So I joined what's called a Round Robin, where a group decides to send postcards to each other. I'm in a US to US one. People sign up for a five person group, a ten person group, or a big group each time one of the numbered groups reaches a 1000 number. Anyone can sign up for that "millennial" group. In that group, I've gotten to know some of the people in the group, which has been nice. It's like having a big group of penpals.

I love reading people's profiles on Postcrossing, and finding the perfect postcard. Some people on that site write little, but I like to respond to their profiles and write about something going on in my life they might be interested. And that's in part because I love getting postcards that tell me they've read my rather extensive profile. I feel seen when they do that.

I am writing a novel, though I haven't been at it lately. I've been so busy with the DFL, especially with the election coming up. It's a YA novel about a person coming into their understanding of their sexuality and gender expression. These characters are alive in my head. I've probably gotten thirty or forty pages written.

I'll get back to you young folks. I promise.

And of course, I write in the Fediverse. My connection with Hollie is through the Fediverse. As a social media platform, it's a gentle, fun, tender, serious place, without acrimony. If you're there, you can follow me here. If you want to know more about how and why it's better than other social media, maybe I'll write about that too. 

Septemblog Post 1: I'm a writer

I write.

I just don't write regularly. I like to have a project. And now I kind-of-have-one.

I've been reading Hollie's Small Good Things blog daily and part way through the month of August I noticed all the posts had a hashtag of #Blaugust. A week ago, I wondered if I would do it next year. Then in her last August post, she said goodbye to Blaugust, and said hello to Septemblog. 

YES! I will do that.

Today was my third day at the Minnesota State Fair, which started last Thursday. I went on Friday which had a record attendance that day, and I went on Sunday. Today I finally got to try one of the new fair food options: strawberries and blueberry cream. It was delicious! I did have one of the strawberry mini donuts Liz got, which tasted like a mouthful of soft strawberry flavored sugar. And a couple of bites of the beignets she got, which were good.

In March I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and I attacked this disease with rigor and discipline. I use slow-acting insulin twice a day. I cut carbohydrates down and balanced what carbs I did eat with protein and vegetables. My snacks are walnuts and fruit. I eat almost no sugar. I added not exercise but activity to my life. I park at the back of the parking lot, I take stairs when I can, I take short walks in the neighborhood. And sometimes I take longer walks.

Being at the fair means longer walks. A lot longer. I forgot to wear my watch today, but the last two times, my watch says I got 90+ minutes of exercise each of those days. It also means I can stray a little from the discipline I've had. We got home about an hour ago and I checked my blood sugar. Despite having more sugar in a day than I've had in a long time, my blood sugar just as I'm writing this, is 87. A healthy range is 70-180.

One thing I've learned is how much activity can impact my blood sugar. On days when I'm very active, my blood sugar stays on the low end of the healthy scale. When I'm not, it's 20-30 points higher, which is still in the healthy range.

When I was diagnosed, my A1C was 11. It is now 6.1, which is still barely officially diabetes (it should be below 5.7), but no longer is associated with all the negative health impacts of diabetes.

I made all these changes in my life because I want to live longer. My bucket list isn't finished yet.

Here's a breakfast or anytime recipe that feels like cheating but isn't.

Peanut Butter Cup Smoothie

Ingredients

2 heaping tbsp plain peanut butter

1 tbsp unsweetened dark cocoa powder

1 chocolate protein drink*

Optional:

2 tbsp hemp hearts

A couple of quick squirts of stevia or other 0 carb sugar alternative

Ice

Instructions

Place everything in the blender and blend on high for up to two minutes.

Enjoy

*I use fairlife chocolate protein drink with 30g of protein. I get it from Costco.