shanaqui's Beeminder Journal: 2021

Derailments:

  • /clockoff - Well, ouch. This is at $30 now and I was not happy about swallowing the cost, but here we are. I just didn’t stop work in time, and I knew I hadn’t.

New goals:

  • /freshdocs - Along the lines of @dreev’s github issue freshening plans, this goal will make me go through our help docs. Each day (apart from Saturdays and Sundays) I’ll pick the oldest of the help docs and tweak it, replace screenshots, reword it, whatever it needs to polish it up.
  • /freshsupport - Same, but for the behind-the-scenes support documentation.

Changes to existing goals:

  • N/a, I think?

Project Bookminder:

Definitions: flat-forever goal = a goal made to remind me that I have this book and want to read it someday, with a rate of 0; standard reading goal = rate of 5/day, autoratchet to 1 day of safety. All reading goals have public datapoints with daily comments describing how I’m getting along with the book… or not even starting it, if the goal is still flat-forever!

Notes:

  • I think that’s everything! Don’t forget to put in your breaks for Christmas/New Year if you celebrate, folks!
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Derailments:

  • /thesilenceofbones - Gah. I asked support to put this off by a day because of a tension headache, then forgot I was back in the red and ran it off the rails…
  • /thebookofthelion - Samesies.
  • /deaddeadgirls - And again here, except one of them didn’t get a break and I can’t remember which right now. Anyway, pretty much the same situation!
  • /fruit - It got low on buffer and I got tired of fighting that… so off it went again.

New goals:

  • N/a

Changes to existing goals:

  • As you can see from all the derails above, I’ve been struggling a bit lately. So, I’ve put in some more breaks on my goals, not just for the Christmas period but to help me get a bit more buffer.

Project Bookminder:

Most new goals are “flat-forever” goals. Flat-forever goal = a goal made to remind me that I have this book and want to read it someday, with a rate of 0; standard reading goal = rate of 5/day, autoratchet to 1 day of safety. All reading goals have public datapoints with daily comments describing how I’m getting along with the book… or not even starting it, if the goal is still flat-forever!

Notes:

  • As you can see above, I’m struggling a bit and all my markers of “way too stressed out” are out in force. That, and it’s just a week to Christmas, so it’s time for me to take it a little easier for a bit!

Derailments:

  • /neckstreeeetch - Just couldn’t be bothered. Which is a bad idea, with a physio goal, and silly when it’s so easy. Still, if I wasn’t akratic I wouldn’t need Beeminder.

New goals:

  • /pileminding - Related to my comments below (in the Project Bookminder section) about the number of Beeminder goals I have for books right now, this goal was brainstormed by Beeminder folks behind the scenes (thanks, @clivemeister and @dreev!) to help make sure the pile keeps turning over… and that I eventually, you know, read the books on it. To count for this goal, a book must have had a flat-forever reading goal created at least one day before – I can’t create a goal and then immediately start it, and then count it for this goal. Right now, the rate is set to a rate of 1/week. I’m reading more than that at the moment, but I have just had a light week work-wise, so I expect to slow down again. I wonder if this is a good case for @narthur’s autodialer

Changes to existing goals:

  • I’ve made a bunch of changes and tweaks to breaks and buffer so I don’t have too much or too little!

Project Bookminder:

Most new goals are “flat-forever” goals. Flat-forever goal = a goal made to remind me that I have this book and want to read it someday, with a rate of 0; standard reading goal = rate of 5/day, autoratchet to 1 day of safety. All reading goals have public datapoints with daily comments describing how I’m getting along with the book… or not even starting it, if the goal is still flat-forever!

  • New goals for ARCs: n/a
  • New flat-forever goals for backlog books: n/a
  • New flat-forever goals for new books: I got a lot for Christmas, and I’m already finding the number of goals a bit much to handle. So, for now the deal is “one in, one out”. Whenever I turn a flat-forever goal into a standard reading goal, I’ll create a new flat-forever goal for one of the books I got for Christmas, starting from today. ARCs are exempt from this, though: they get a goal created right away, because I have more obligation to read them in a timely manner.
  • /riverkings - Finished and archived! The chosen format made it a bit limited in terms of the breadth of Viking history, but it worked well for what it was.
  • /thebookofthelion - Also finished and archived! It was interesting, a corner of Golden Age crime fiction I haven’t touched yet. I’d be curious to read more by the author.
  • /thesilenceofbones - Finally finished! I found this very readable, but also very putdownable. Enjoyable to read about a period/area that I don’t know much about.
  • /thedarkeningage - I made this into a standard reading goal and then sped through it so fast that it’s also now finished and archived! A depressing and sometimes repetitive read about all the things Christians destroyed as Christianity became mainstream, and an excellent counterpoint to people’s claims that monks saved the texts of the classical world. They deliberately destroyed far more than they kept.
  • /theuntoldstory - Made into a standard reading goal, then read, finished and archived! Very enjoyable finale-for-now to the series.
  • /tdir1_oversea - My seasonal reread of The Dark is Rising started, of course, with Over Sea, Under Stone. I had trouble making time for it at first, so then I made it a goal and promptly finished it in one or two gulps.
  • /tdir2_rising - I’ve been slacking on said reread, but now I have a goal ready for the second book! Bit late to read it all on the right days (ideally I like to read the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day sections on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day), so I’d better catch up…
  • /crimeatchristmas - Got this in my advent calendar and figured I’d better start right away. Ended up reading it in just one day! It’s okay, but the narrator is a bit rambly and self-absorbed at times.
  • /deaddeadgirls - All finished! It was enjoyable enough, but didn’t bowl me over.
  • /comeuppance - Started and finished in one day, on Christmas Eve! Very enjoyable heist story. Comeuppance Served Cold is out in March 2022, and I recommend it (NB: I received an advance reader’s copy for free, in exchange for a review).
  • /la3_killedhimonce - Started this on Christmas Eve and finished it on Boxing Day, and now I’ve finally read the full trilogy! A satisfying ending that tied up some loose ends.

Notes:

  • I guess this is the final Beeminder journal post of 2021 – I think it makes sense for me to make a new thread for a new year. While I’m thinking of that, is there anything people would be curious to see me reporting on weekly? Like, you read this post and think “cool, but I want to know [xyz] about Nicky’s goals?” Let me know!
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