list of things makes a post

• Yesterday my TL relayed some feedback from another team for me. According to the coordinator for one of my customers, I'm "a saint" for dealing with my lead analyst with patience and understanding and kindness in the face of her anger and attacks.

• Also yesterday, I got to lead an internal meeting. Part of being the leader includes listing out the customers you work with, your hobbies, your interests, and other stuff. Another TL was astonished by how many customers I have and seriously asked how I balance everything. I think I gave some good tips, but I've been doing this for a really long time and it's been really busy for a really long time, so it's hard for me to scale it back to think about how a newer person would see it.

• I'm starting to figure out how to draw knotwork. It requires more planning than my usual designs, so I should get a cheap eyeliner to sketch out on people, but it's a neat change.

• What's the best method to create a stacked casing? I want to have cuffs with three bands of elastic. I'm not sure how best to do this. It's not going to be a trainwreck, but I'm certainly going to have my seam ripper near to hand.

• I just have to hem my Mabel pencil skirt and I'm already planning my next one. I have some cream colored double knit and I was thinking that it would look boss with a stretch lace overlay on the side panels. That would mean finding some stretch lace. Hm.

• Ox is gaining words on a daily basis. Sure, they're mostly signs and not vocalization, but he's finally made the mental connection between concepts and words. It's amazing and I'm so grateful.

• Emi is going slowly stir-crazy. She misses school. We need to get her in a camp or lessons or something. Homegirl's brain needs occupation.

• In a fit of insanity, I started a Spanish course on Duolingo in addition to my German course. Spanish is lots easier, since it's so far all review of things I already knew. Also, since I learned grammar from a teacher, I understand the rules behind pronouns and declension. In German, I'm struggling with those because I don't know the rules - I'm just trying to fit in the words with the patterns they're showing me, but they're not explaining the "why" behind the patterns.

• I'm delighted with living in a future where I can have books or music read to me whenever I want. I can also pull up endless pages of reading material on a tiny device. And I can talk with people around the world and fix things or make things for them. It's pretty cool.