Went to Kitsap Pride, and helped out at the local trans group's booth. At most we had 5 people show up to help. At times, I was the only one there. We had info brochures, hi-chew candy, and a clothing exchange behind the booth. It probably would have been better if the clothes were in front of it. Made it a little more difficult to get to, and some people didn't even notice it. I made sure to tell them when I was there. Despite that, people still managed to take some things. Also, it didn't help much that we didn't have a banner. People didn't know who we were at first.
There were a couple of people that asked: "So, does that mean a man wanting to be a woman, and a woman wanting to be a man?" This was gross. No, trans women are women, and trans men are men. They are not 'wanting' to be something they already are. Not to mention, they kept up the binary stuff. They didn't even think about non-binary people. We tried to explain a little, but mainly directed them to the info brochures. Some people seemed confused by it. There were quite a few people that seemed interested in the group. That was great to see.
I felt a little uneasy that there were so many church groups there. It's great that they're supportive, and Christian LGBTQ+ people know that they have options with congregations. However...it almost seemed like they were trying to coerce people to become members or convert them. I'm a little paranoid of churches anyways. They haven't been kind to any of my communities (Jews, LGBTQ+, etc.) in the past. Many of them are very ignorant of other religions and people. Cool that things are changing, but it doesn't change that feeling I get. Even meeting with a group (unrelated to a religion) at a church is difficult for me.
I was wearing my aro ace pride shirt. There were a surprising amount of other aros and/or aces. When they saw my shirt, the reactions were great. Some loved it and wanted it, and asked where I got it. Others were so emotional and happy. Yay! Last year there were hardly any of us there. This year I also saw a lot of the big ace flags worn as capes. There were a lot of non-binary and non-binary specific identity flags, too. So many more trans flags than usual. Amazing to see.
I had a cheeseburger with chips for lunch. I like that that food booth seasons their burgers well. A lot of places make the patty plain. I went back a little later and got their Dutch apple pie. That was really good, too. It was a thick slice.
I looked at all the booths, saw some of the headliner's performance on the main stage, and a little of the drag stuff at a stage in front of our booth. The booths were interesting. That creepy flag guy's booth was there again. He actually had a huge aro flag hanging on the outside of his booth. That was good to see, but I wasn't going to get one from him. Good for other people. There are about 5 different designs for the aro flag, and he had the newest one. I would like the first design. It doesn't seem very popular, though. The symbolism makes the most sense and looks better to me. For instance, the yellow stripe is for yellow roses which symbolize friendship, but also other forms of love besides the romantic kind. They turned that stripe white in the current one, and kept the meaning for it. But, it loses it if it's not yellow...The current one seems more based on the ace flag, and yet we're trying to separate from that community. Doesn't make sense that way, and probably makes aro allosexuals feel left out. Most aros are actually allosexual. Allosexual or allo is what aces call someone who isn't ace. Aros use alloromantic or allo for those who aren't aro, too. The flag should be different. Anyways, I mostly had fun there.
A little while ago, Dad and I went to the dump. She had rented a U-Haul truck this time. The dump is pretty far from where we are, and we made 2 trips there. Most of it was stuff from the garage. A little of it was from outdoor stuff. I added up how much it weighed from the receipts. 1,040 pounds! So much! I didn't realize there was that much junk in the garage.
One of the biggest things we got rid of was the couch sitting in the garage. It had been there for about 17 years. I tried to help load it into the truck. I ended up dropping it on my upper left leg and part of my knee. It felt like I had punctured holes in my leg. I thought I had ripped my jeans, too. It badly bruised it in those areas instead. It's still there. Those bruises have changed colors and seem to look worse now. Anything that lands/sits on my left leg hurts. Not only that, but it strained my already badly strained shoulder even more. So, that couch and other junk beat me up. Great.
We also took 2 of my mom's paintings to a storage unit. One was really big and had been hanging over my head for years while I slept. I used to worry that it would fall on my head at night. She did that one in high school and it's of one of her friends. She's playing the guitar on the floor with a couch behind her. (Presumably the same one we had in the garage for a while. It was originally my grandparents', I think.) It's at a weird perspective. It's not that great a painting either. She painted my room's walls in 2 of the colors she used in the painting. One's baby blue, and the other three are 'fortune cookie'. So, it's all based on that painting. It's a little much. I have a mirror that was on the wall facing the painting, and it was creepy at night sometimes. Without the lights, it looked like someone else was in my room. Now the wall that had the painting looks too bare...I might put flags up in that area.
The other painting was also something she did in high school. It was a match striking a matchbox. However, no one guessed it correctly. I thought as a kid that it was the moon, the smoke was actually it's face, and there was the night sky at the top. I couldn't come up with something for the strip it was striking. It just seemed odd. This one is big too, although not as big. It was on a wall in the living room.
I was trying to get back into walking the day before I badly strained my shoulder. I was all hyped up for it. After going to Urgent Care for my shoulder, I focused more on healing it. Then, the heat hit. I can't stand walking outside in this weather. Certainly not for 2 miles. I thought of an exercise I could do inside: climbing stairs at home. Running up and down them for a few minutes, then taking a break, then going back to it for a few minutes, etc. Haven't gotten to it yet. We don't have air conditioning, so this would actually make me feel hotter. I'm trying to keep as cool as possible. I love when I brought this exercise option up with someone they were surprised I try to exercise normally. It's like they completely forgot. I think the heat had gotten to them. It just surprised me. I've talked about my walks and motivating myself to do them on here, fb, and in person with them in the past. I used to do 3 of those 2-mile walks, and would like to work my way back to that. I figure starting with one until I get used to it, then adding another, is best. I'd like to do that one right after dinner. Easy to remember, and helps with digestion. Hopefully, when it gets cooler out, I'll get back to it. It's important to get some form of exercise. I feel awful when I don't have something like that walk. I also have to be careful not to do too much, because my colitis symptoms feel worse afterwards. I also tend to walk at a 'very brisk pace' according to MyFitnessPal. Many people have come up to me during my walks telling me I walk too fast.
Barnes & Noble now has 4 out of the 5 paperback versions of my books. All but the memoir. The memoir couldn't go into expanded distribution through Amazon, because the size might be slightly too big. Still, 4 of them isn't bad. First time I've had any paperback versions on B&N. (I've had 2 ebook versions on there in the past, but this is different.) Yay! I'm not exactly sure but it seems that in a couple of weeks they'll have it at their brick-and-mortar stores. They won't report the sales until a couple of weeks after that. Amazon, really kdp, isn't very clear on the specifics of their expanded distribution program. It's new for their kdp paperback authors. Not new for CreateSpace authors, but it might be a different way of doing it. (Amazon's slowly phasing out CS.) I've never used CS, so it's new to me. They mentioned that it's not definite that your books will be picked up by other retailers. When they do pick them, it'll take a few weeks for the shipments to come in for brick-and-mortar stores. Then, they'll report once they get them. It's weird. It'll be cool to see 4 of my books on the shelves at our local B&N. I did a search yesterday, and these are the other retailers that have picked them up so far: eBay (UK and Australia sites), Books-a-Million aka BAM, Alibris, the Book Depository (UK), AbeBooks (have 2 sellers, one from the UK the other from the US, selling just my cookbook), Valore Books, and Chegg Books. Most of these I haven't heard of. There are many sellers on Amazon and it's various international marketplaces, too. Interesting. I was worried I wouldn't get my paperback versions distributed to other places. Glad they started this recently. Sad the paperback version of my memoir won't get as much exposure, though.
After the ebook versions of Alliance, Alliance: Dawn, and Sweet Endless Terror end their Select terms, I'll publish them through Smashwords, too. They'll still be on Amazon. Once they're approved for Smashwords' Premium Catalog, they'll be distributed to many different retailers. More than their paperback versions through Amazon. Retailers like Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble (Amazon doesn't do this with their ebooks), libraries, etc. So, I'll end up boosting exposure even more. Smashwords also has a new thing with promoting a series more than a single book. I could use that as well. Once I finish and publish Alliance 3, I'll take my memoir out of Select and publish it through Smashwords, too.
It's been difficult sticking to my daily calorie range and keeping track of certain nutrients lately, because of the heat. I'm going to do my best, though. Today's been good with that. I'll finish the day at 1423 calories. Pretty close to middle of my range. My range is 1200 to 1600. Got over the halfway mark for my recommended daily intake of protein. I never make my full amount. Usually end up barely halfway. So, yay! Did pretty well with my other nutrients. MyFitnessPal's so handy for this sort of thing. Plus, I can always go back to see what has been a trigger for my colitis symptoms. So much to it. I could record my exercise, too.
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