Hello, friends!

With the end of September comes the beginning of fall, aka the best season of the year. While it doesn’t feel nice and crisp out in Florida yet, it’s the promise of a few 70 degree days that keeps me going.

to create

This month, I finished reading act 2 of my novel and got halfway through act 3. It’s been a challenge for me to use my now-sparse free time to work on writing, but I’m hoping to finish soon. This October, I want to finish my reread, mark changes I need to make on my digital copy, and hopefully work on my spreadsheet of character threads, so I know what needs to be updated in the next draft. Then I can maybe participate in NaNoWriMo when I start writing again.

No videos and only one blog post this month, but at least there’s more writing than usual.

to work

As you know, I started working as an instructional assistant at a school in August. September was my first full month of work, and it was a very new experience. I’m still struggling to figure out the whole work/life balance thing: going to sleep at a good time, cooking dinner every night, taking care of dishes regularly, not napping every single day when I get home. It’s a process.

My job description also varies every day. Most of the time, I have a set schedule of classes I work in, mostly fifth grade, with some third and second thrown in. But more often than I expected, I’ve had to substitute classes, varying from specials (music, tech, and even PE), to whole class instruction in both elementary and middle school. There’s a lot to keep up with, and it changes every day, but I’m definitely learning a lot!

to live

September 5-7: Labor Day Weekend

This was my first Labor Day off since I finished high school. Flagler didn’t take Labor Days so it’s been 4 years since I’ve had one. In high school, I used to go to Dragon*Con in Atlanta with my mom during Labor Day weekend, and I had hoped to attend again after graduating, but this pandemic had other ideas. Instead, I enjoyed a weekend of shopping and leisure, and I even took my dog on a hike, which is more exercise than I’ve had in a while.

September 18: Charlie moves out 😦

As you might remember, we accepted a new member into our household last month: Charlie Poof the cat. However, she had a horrible habit of peeing on the furniture. After a month of trying different methods to get her to stop (including, but not limited to, a scat mat, a Feliway plug-in, daytime crating, new litter pans, and more), we determined she wasn’t right for our household.

She now lives back with Ray’s mom, spending her time between indoor and outdoor enclosures. It’s been hard to accommodate her indoor wants with her outdoor behaviors, but she has a pretty solid setup now.

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September 19-21: Cabana Bay Anniversary Getaway

This September 21st marked 2 years since Ray and I got together, so we decided to celebrate with a little staycation. We went to the Cabana Bay resort at Universal and enjoyed a few days split between the parks and the resort’s lazy river. Universal was test-running some haunted houses so the parks got really full, really fast, but with early admission, we were able to get in and enjoy ourselves for a few hours, then leave when things got crowded. We ate at Cinnabon a couple times and even Toothsome’s Chocolate Emporium, a steampunk sight to behold. We got plenty rained on, but it was totally worth it for all the fun we had.

September 21: Domestic Partnership

On the 21st, we went to downtown Orlando to register for a domestic partnership in Orange County. Throughout the day, we ended up visiting 4 government buildings, 2 of which were closed, and 2 of which didn’t know what a domestic partnership was. There were a couple times when we almost ended up with marriage paperwork and had to clarify we were NOT getting married. We finally got the correct paperwork at the final place we visited and took it to UPS to get it notarized, before mailing it off to the comptroller. It wasn’t the exciting, official process we were hoping for, and we both ended up with a headache by the end of the day, but by September 24, we got our certificate, making us official domestic partners in Orange County.

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That’s all for September! Here’s hoping for a chillier October.

By the way, don’t forget to vote.