150. Alive and recovering

In 2024 I sought out and experienced a lot of new-to-me parts of life. Along the way I found out how low my self-confidence and self-esteem are, and that my typical coping mechanisms were routinely overwhelmed or not working as well. Over the winter I almost lost myself (i.e. died) to major depression. Unfortunately, I have more than that going on, but fortunately, with a lot of help, I'm feeling hope again and steadily working back to stability.

I write and share this publicly in the hopes that it may help even one other person. I also write this selfishly for the purpose of strengthening one of my self-care habits.

The Norfolk, VA meetup everywhere today at 3pm has been cancelled due to rain & not receiving any rsvps.

149. Solve easy problems & what's your default query tool?

I am committing to solving at least five problems in my life per week that aren't just regular chores. Here's the current list: (most of this list is: I am tired of seeing my deadname around too frequently)

1. Done: requested name change with US Department of Education
2. Done: requested new card from $bank1 so my name is correct on it
3. Partial: Called $bank2 about name change and they are snail-mailing me the paperwork for that.
4. To do: Call $university1 & $college1 to do name change at both places and get updated diplomas
5. To do: Purchase decorative but functional window privacy film so I can raise blinds halfway on most of my windows and line the sills with plaaaaaaants!

Bonus: picked up my car from a local automotive electrician today, it now has working air conditioning again!

Challenge: switch my default informational query tool from a web browser search engine to ChatGPT (gpt4) and see how that goes. exceptions for local or timely or emergency info apply, of course.

• I started this today, was very useful for some Excel specific keyboard shortcuts I needed during the workday.

Note: I did not comment about publicizing events via Facebook, Twitter, nor Meetup.com, because I do not have much experience using those platforms for doing that. I also don't really use Facebook and my Twitter is basically a read-only feed I check once every few months. Would love to hear from anyone who regularly publicizes, promotes, or otherwise advertises meetups via those platforms.

Thanks for coming out all! The meet-up has concluded. Until next time 🙂

I have made it to fair grounds and claimed the big table. I brought a dry erase board for the sign, someone with artistic capabilities should probably redo it once they get here.

Tomorrow's ACX Meetup will take place at Fair Grounds starting at 10:30am instead of the Pagoda due to inclement weather. Address: 806 Baldwin Ave # 2, Norfolk, VA 23517

I will get there early to secure the round table.

So, there are supposed to be thunderstorms much of Sunday including during the meetup time according to a few different weather sites + the National Weather Service. The Pagoda is fine (very well covered) for drizzles or light rain, but might not be a great spot for heavy rain or thunderstorms. If the forecast hasn't improved by 2pm tomorrow I'll send an update out, we can meet at Fair Grounds instead (might be a bit cramped cause it's a Sunday, but I can get there earlier to try to secure a good spot).

We are on the William and Mary campus: (37.2712247, -76.7129380)

We are heading outside to walk around, message on Discord to reach us.