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Some assorted life updates:

• As mentioned the other week, my bicycle chain snapped while I was riding it. I’ve now had the chain (and some other parts) replaced, and got the bike a general tune-up. The work was done by Mobile Bicycle Repair; they came and picked up my bike, then delivered it back to me when they were done. Recommended.
• I’ve purchased a countertop microwave instead of trying to get my old built-in one repaired. I haven’t yet disposed of the old one, nor decided whether to install the new one in that built-in space. I like the new one so far.
• As mentioned the other day, my suitcase and duffel bag and Bag of Holding have all been repaired. I’m unhappy about one aspect of the suitcase repair, and about how long the whole thing took, but the repairs seem good and solid and I’m glad not to have holes in my luggage any more.
• I’ve made only a little progress on my unread-books shelves lately, because almost all of my reading has been Hugo finalists. But the main non-Hugo-finalist book I’ve been reading is Voices of Resistance: Muslim Women on War, Faith & Sexuality, ed. Sarah Husain, published in 2006. It’s very good.
• Speaking of Hugo finalists, I’m done or nearly done with about a dozen of the categories. I’ll probably end up looking at least briefly at all of the categories, but I suspect I won’t have enough of a preference to vote in most of the categories toward the end of my list. We’ll see.
• I’ve mailed off promised-but-long-delayed packages to three people in the past week or two.
• I attended an in-person party for the first time since the pandemic began. Everyone had been asked to test beforehand, but I suspected that some attendees wouldn’t, so I stayed in the outdoor area, masked. Got to catch up with an old friend who I hadn’t seen in person in years, and had brief interactions with a couple of other old friends who I hadn’t seen in person in even longer.
• Didn’t attend a couple of other in-person gatherings of old friends lately, mostly due to expecting that other people’s COVID precautions wouldn’t match my comfort levels. Sad not to get to see people.
• My work on this year’s Hugo Voter Packet is largely done at this point. I really enjoyed working on it; a good fit for my skills and interests, and very satisfying/rewarding in a lot of ways. My next step is to finish the draft of the “How to create a Hugo Voter Packet” documentation that I’ve been intermittently working on, and send it out for review. I’m also keeping an eye on the amount of data being downloaded over time, to help inform future Packet groups about what patterns to expect.
• The Hugo Packet work was a significant contributor to improving my mental health and mood. Other things that have been contributing: talk therapy, Lexapro, making sure to get some sunshine every day or two, spending time (in person and/or on calls and text chats) with Kam and others, going sailing occasionally with a friend, having the opportunity to help out a couple of friends in relatively minor ways, etc.
• I recently tried making granola for the first time. That gave me some ideas about how to do it better next time, but before I could implement those, I found out that the brand of commercial granola that I like is still available, just not at my usual store. But I’ll still probably try again with making my own sometime soonish.
• Otherwise Award Motherboard work continues apace.
• As do my usual ongoing projects, like learning piano and learning Spanish. I haven’t done any guitar practice in quite a while, but hoping to get back to that sometime soon.
• Also making gradual progress on my backlog of links to post and of email to deal with.
• TV I’ve liked lately includes (in alphabetical order): Bridgerton s3 (first half); The Equalizer (2021 Queen Latifah version) s1 so far (I’m only partway through); Sharpe s1; Sugar s1; 3 Body Problem (Netflix version) s1. I haven’t quite clicked with the new Dr. Who episodes yet. I was sadly disappointed in Discovery s5. Haven’t yet tried The Acolyte, Dark Matter, or Franklin.
• Received my first batch of Metrix COVID tests, but haven’t used any yet.
• I’m edging closer to starting a job search for real, but haven’t done so yet.
• A couple of Joanna Russ-related projects have been mostly on hold while I’ve been focused on Hugo Packet stuff, but I’m hoping to return to those soon.