Gamifying my Agendas

I'm a big fan of to-do lists, and I make one practically every day on my Kindle Scribe, especially on weekends. But, once upon a time, I used to use an app that made me very happy, called Habitica (it's also a website). It gamifies to-do lists, habits, daily tasks, etc., so that instead of just checking them off, you are rewarded, not with points, but with something fun. It's a throwback to Dungeons and Dragons-style role-playing games. You have a little avatar with health, experience, and mana (magic). You have a class (mage, warrior, healer, and rogue). When you do your tasks, you are rewarded with gold to buy equipment, but you also gain points that go towards the health, experience, and mana, and you level up. Your equipment can affect your basic stats, and buff them up. It's just like a role-playing game, tabletop or video. I was on it for five years straight and took a break for a while, but I'm back on it. I've joined a party, which adventures together, taking on quests, where as long as everyone keeps up with their tasks, we do well. Those tasks do damage to the bosses when completed. This party is no-nonsense. We are expected to do over 300 points of damage per day and there's a script they had me create and run (with directions) to automatically accept quests because they do about 15 a day. There are 28 people in the party as of today. I have spells that help the party against the bosses and finish the quests as well, and I cast those throughout the day when I have a moment. It actually takes only a little bit of my time; it's just a matter of going in occasionally and checking off my tasks and hitting the magic spells (I'm playing a mage, of course; others would have other abilities). But it's been fun. You can also do challenges and win gems. You can subscribe and get gems to buy special equipment, too. I used to subscribe. I can't right now. I have a ton of gold right now, and eggs and food to hatch more pets and mounts. Yes, you can make dragons and or ride wolves. There are backgrounds to customise your avatar square. Lots of equipment to change your stats, but at the same time, you can wear a costume to look a certain way. Here's my profile; I just realised I've been on Habitica for almost 10 years. You can find it at www.habitica.com :

I have been a very busy girl today

 

Originally I had planned to take some things to my storage unit, as it was a pretty day, but I ran out of steam. Unfortunately it's going to rain the next three days, so my next opportunity is Thursday, but I get off at 4:30 PM, so I think that's doable. They're winter clothes and photographs, mainly. My stepmother sent me five boxes of photos, some in frames, from my father's side of the family. I just don't have the room here; I live in my friend's library, essentially. But I got everything else, small and large, accomplished. Go, me. [I didn't make a list yesterday, but it was fairly decent in terms of being productive but balanced with rest, too.]

Time for bed. Good night.

By 1 PM

1. Studied Duolingo
2. Went through bed cubbies
3. Went through library books
4. Charged earbuds
5. Charged continuous glucose monitor receiver
6. Charged razor
7. Set up SAD light for seasonal depression
8. Got rid of honey, oil, and moss*
9. Cleaned out the bags from the utility room
10. Consolidated bills/opened all the envelopes
11. Took midday insulin
12. Ate lunch

By 3 PM:

1. Took the books to the library
2. Got more soda
3. Took reusable bags to the car
4. Took my religious items to the car to go to storage
5. Threw away items on the refrigerator, got rid of the soda bottles, threw away moss*

Still need to:

1. Fold laundry and put it away
2. Help my friend write out his bills
3. Take a shower tonight
4. Eat dinner
5. Take evening meds
6. Change my CPAP mask, etc. 

*It's orchid potting moss. I have two packages. One was still unopened. The other, when I re-potted fifteen orchids years ago because the kitten was digging out and playing with the fir bark, had engendered fungous gnats and I just wanted to make sure it was gone so I wouldn't confuse the two. There may be eggs, and I took awhile to get rid of it, but it's gone now.

That is a lot in eight hours, and I've only paused to eat and take my meds. I haven't doomscrolled. Just the blog posts. So...I'm going to nap now.  In fact, I'll put that on my list.

1. Take nap.

By 11 AM I had:

1. Run the dishwasher
2. Washed one big load of laundry and put it in the dryer
3. Listened to music
4. Eaten breakfast
5. Organised my crafting supplies (mainly beads and watercolour materials)
6. Organised my home gym items (handheld weights, ankle weights, balls, bands--small stuff I use for PT and exercise sometimes)
7. Charged my earbuds
8. Charged my glucose monitor receiver
9. Tweaked the pumpkin diorama
10. Blogged
11. Go through a shelf next to the power station I charged the other day
12. Cleaned out the drawers of both nightstands
13. Let the dogs out and fed the animals
14. Organised the herb cabinet I keep dishes and my own non-refrigerated foods in
15. Taken all of my morning medications

Still on my list:

1. Organise the bed cubbies (there are two in the footboard)(
2. Study Duolingo
3. Go through the library books
4. Start re-reading Jim Butcher's Storm Front
5. Help my friend write out his bills
6. Take a shower (tonight)

Whew! I am really thinking of lying down for a bit. :)

Plans today

1. Wake up at 8:30 AM
2. Fill up toilet paper
3. Run dishwasher
4. Make coffee
5. Call UK Chandler pharmacy to refill meds
6. Eat breakfast
7. Listen to music
8. Take oral meds
9. Take insulin
10. Take weekly injectable
11. Check e-mail
12. Caffeinate/check Facebook
13. Wake roommate up at 10 AM [he didn't actually get up till after noon
14. Pick up meds from Corner pharmacy before noon, including folic acid
15. Pay bill at credit union by 1 PM
16. Withdraw rent money and deposit it into account by 1 PM
17. Withdraw rest of food money
18. Give blood at 12:10 PM
19. Order materials for pumpkin-decorating contest for work
20. Pick up meds from Chandler pharmacy
21. Repot bamboo
22. Make bed
23. Fold and put laundry away
24. Straighten room
25. Transcribe notes from last game
26. Watch ‘Agatha All Along’ 

Well, that's all but two. Not bad at all. 🙂

Things I have to do in the next 24 hours:

• Go into work early
• Get some cash on the way
• See if I can get the keys made before work, as Home Depot opens at 6 am (did it after work)
• Send my mom a birthday card (I forgot to get A to get it out of the car glove compartment so I could send it today; but her birthday isn't till next month, so I have some time)
• Fill an interlibrary loan request
• Take some children's books to our laboratory
• Take a couple of boxes of stuff that's accumulated in my cubicle to the car (I'll do that next Wednesdsay if I can)
• Recycle some withdrawn journals I can't find homes for (I'll do that next Wednesdsay if I can)
• Shelve new journals (I'll do that next Wednesdsay if I can)
• Re-shelve things in the library (I'll do that next Wednesdsay if I can)
• Straighten up the library (I'll do that next Wednesdsay if I can)
• Fill paper and supplies for the copiers
• Work on referrals, including removing unnecessary ones from the queue and starting others that are needed, and send names that won't come off the list so they won't be included in Monday's report
• Put in my charge entry sheets
• Reconcile the operating room charges
• Ask about an unusual data entry case
• Deal with anything that might come up tomorrow at work
• Set up an autoreply for the e-mail at work
• Check with the organisers of a mobile conference from a few months ago for speaker ideas in their area for a forum being done at a forum I'm helping with at another conference (I'll do that next Wednesdsay if I can)
• Call my endocrinologist for a prescription for a medicine that I've had from samples that's been working well
• Take a friend to an appointment
• Have keys made if I couldn't that morning
• Give keys to friends
• Show a friend how to find my apartment from the bus stop
• Pay bills
• Go to the grocery store
• >Clean out the refrigerator
• Do dishes
• Set up bedroom and bathroom for recovery
• Water all plants, inside and out
• Straighten up living room
• Pull out air mattress, inflate, and put sheets and pillows on it
• Pull out the assistive items such as the shower chair and bedside commode in case they're needed
• Get the medical surrogate/advanced directives paperwork together, etc., just in case it's needed
• Put together loose, comfortable clothing for the next day
• Pare down my backpack to what's necessary
• Put my walker by the door to take just in case it's necessary
• Stop all food and drink by midnight

I'm not 100% sure I can get all of that completed, but I'm going to do my best.

One of my co-workers was right

My insurance company will not authorise the surgery at the ambulatory surgical centre that is at the orthopaedics practice. Therefore, it has been moved to a hospital that is just about a football field or two away. I should have to be there at the same time, but a nurse will call me tomorrow to confirm. My co-worker Bobbie had told me that this would most likely happen, as that has been her experience. But I'm surprised they waited to tell me until two days before the surgery.

I got quite a bit done today in preparation for being off at work. I think we have all the back-up issues settled. I have a to-do list a mile wide for tomorrow, but if there's anything I can't finish, I'll just have to let it go. I've put all my tasks into an application on my phone for work. I do still need to do a few things around home as well. And I should get a key made tomorrow evening so I can give it to A. I'll make sure YKWIA has one as well. I think I'll take him to his appointment tomorrow, drop him off, and then go over to Lowe's and have them made, which shouldn't take too long and then I can pick him up afterwards and give them the keys.

I've been too busy to really get nervous about the surgery, but I am starting to get a little anxious. I really hope all goes well. According to most people I've talked to who have experienced it or something similar, it should be fine. And I do feel a little better that I'll be at the hospital should anything go wrong.

Okay, I really need to clean some of my work space here up and get something to eat. I got my desktop up and running again, and the keyboard is terribly dusty (and slightly sticky, I'm not sure why), and I didn't realise until I was setting things up just how dusty my computer desk, computer, and printer are. I've been using the laptop for awhile instead. Then I need to straighten up around here in general, do some dishes, that sort of thing, and generally prepare for A staying the night on Friday. I'll probably write later, though.

I am the only person I know

who can twist an ankle trying to take off one's shoes. I don't think I did any damage, but it's the one foot that still hurts from when I had the stress fractures, and wow was it painful.

It's a beautiful day, considering it started out with rain. There's a nice breeze coming through the open windows, as well as happy sunlight. I was fortunate to get a ride to and from work today by two different co-workers, so I'm home a little earlier than I would be on the bus. Today was pretty decent, if a little hectic. I got some things crossed off my to-do lists (I have four lists, colour-coded, at work--one for the library, one for data entry, one for referrals, and one for personal/professional items outside of work. I'm getting it all finished one step at a time, but I'm glad it's Friday tomorrow. I suspect several people will be off tomorrow, as it's the last day of the Spring meet at the Keeneland race track. The Derby's coming up, of course, and people are gearing up for that.

Last night I wound up listening to the Old Time Radio application with a wartime (WWII) Sherlock Holmes story. It was entertaining. I love old radio shows. Then I listened to some music. I did really well until I put it over to classical, at which point I dozed off. But that was at nearly 10 pm, so not abnormally early. I accidentally found a channel (and I have no idea how to repeat it) with a jazz show on from a station in the south side of Chicago. It was very good. I got up at 11:30 to close the windows and take my medicine, then went to bed till about 7 am. I would have read on the Kindle for awhile but I went to do so and the poor thing's battery needed charging. I've been reading Kindle books on my SpringBoard instead. But I like the Kindle for the e-ink and also the text-to-speech. I like on the tablet how it will give me page numbers, whereas my version of the Kindle, the Kindle 2, doesn't do that. One other difference is that I find that on the tablet I download a book or two at one time, then remove it from the device. If I want to read something else, I have to page through all the different books, and I have almost 300 books. But on the Kindle, they're just on the device, all of them, and in nice little categories, so I can find them more easily. I don't always remember the title when trying to find one on the tablet. For example, I have several omnibus editions of various authors' works (such as Dickens, Hugo, Twain, Poe, Welles, Conan Doyle, Lovecraft, and Haggard, to name a few), and sometimes they're listed under 'Works of...' and sometimes 'Collected Works of...', etc. On the Kindle I just have them under their main genre. So there are good and bad points to each device.

Okay, I had some shrimp étouffée at work, an apple here, plus some lima beans. Time to go do something useful. I'll probably write later. YKWIA told me something that really was blogworthy, but I can't quite recall it. It'll come to me, or if not, I'll call him and find out. In the meantime, hope you're having a good week.