This thing that was supposed to last 6-8 weeks max is headed into its 19th week. The severe exhaustion, mild sore throat, and daily fevers persist. I still spend half of some days lying down. I've had to give up on expecting an end, and accept this as my reality for the time being. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to function with it, which I obviously need to continue doing.
Every day I wake up with a list of things I would like to get done, and every day I have to set my expectations to a much more realistic level. Some days, I get a lot done (relatively speaking), and almost feel like maybe things are getting better. I'm usually put in my place the following day when I get nothing done. I'm still working very hard on coming to terms with this variability, and allowing myself to feel good about the productive days while not getting down on myself for the rest.
My primary focus has been PyOhio. However, anytime I find myself in a holding pattern with the conference, I try to put my energy into working on content. Downtime is inconsistent, and therefore so is my publishing schedule. I have several things in progress, and I try to get a little done at a time. It means I have a better chance of completing things, and I can feel like I'm still moving forward, even if very slowly.
PyCon US is coming up in two weeks, and I am attending. I'll be in Pittsburgh 14-24 May. This is the first year I'll be attending for myself, and not sponsored by my employer. While Hallway Track is (and always will be!) my jam, I do have some plans this year. As it stands, I'll be giving two short talks. The first is for the Education Summit, titled "The Source of Change: Bettering Online Open Source Communities through Education". The second is for the Community Organisers Summit, titled "A Healthy and Balanced Approach to Building Online Communities". I submitted a proposal for a third to the Documentation Summit, titled "An Introduction to Writing Approachable and Thorough Documentation". I'll find out whether it was accepted on 3 May. I will try to record them if possible, but it may not happen for a lot of reasons. As far as I know, none of them are being recorded this year by the folks running the Summits.
Part of PyCon will also be spent talking to folks about PyOhio, encouraging folks to submit talks, and trying to secure sponsors. We're hosting a one-day Sprint to help anyone who is interested in submitting a talk, but would like some guidance through the process or with their submission.
I'm hoping to get one more post done before PyCon. I want to finish up the writeup of my air plant grow light setup. It's definitely working. There's new growth on a number of plants, and one of them is working on flowering. It's a relatively basic build, but, even documenting something basic needs to be thorough. I still have a lot to do on it, so realistically, it probably won't get done. Still, I'll be working on it over the next couple of weeks, as energy allows.
Also in the works, I intend to do a writeup of my solar eclipse experience, complete with the details of my photography setup. It was an amazing day for me (minus the construction traffic on the way home), and my photos turned out great. I'm looking forward to sharing it.
To my supporters: thank you for sticking with me. 2024 has not gone even remotely as planned, and while I absolutely agree everything rarely goes as planned, this has been a outright off-the-rails, unmitigated failure of plans. I'm not giving up on pursuing my passions full-time, and I am incredibly grateful to you for not giving up on me.