Some more progress

 On a couple fronts, actually.

*First of all, the sock - I've added a decent amount to it since the last photo:

I think I've better got the rhythm of how to do the slipped-stitch pattern so maybe the second one will move a bit faster. 

* I got a little more done on the manuscript; I have decided tomorrow to make a provisional Literature Cited as that will feel like an accomplishment without having to smack my forehead against the wall of "okay how do I interpret these results to be meaningful"

* I got the monthly Gachapon box. A tiny keychain that is an anime-style drawing of Doc Brown, a couple other little oddball items, a miniature video game that plays Tetris (it's hard to play as it's so small). 

And this:

"Are you just gonna scroll by without sayin' 'Yee-haw'?"

I have a Doki Doki crate on the way, I am hoping it arrives before I travel but who knows? the mail is often slow these days and this is coming from Japan. 

* Trying to get back to more-normal - in a few minutes I am going to go to bed (trying to force my bedtime back to an earlier hour so I can get up at the normal time to work out, and just get an earlier start on the day. (I really want to get back to the early hours for fall, start going in at 7 am to work to deal with e-mail and the like). 

* Also doing more piano practice. I ordered a couple more books as I felt what I had was getting stale - either too easy, or too difficult, or pieces I'd done before. I noticed today that I can kind of get back in the "flow" of it, where I can kind of shut off part of my brain and just focus on playing. And I do think I'm getting better - these are "advanced intermediate/early advanced" level things and I can play the things with reasonable ease, even without a lot of practice.