Recognizing that I sleep better when I take a gummy before bed, I took these apple cider gummies for my recent bout with insomnia. Here’s how they hit.
As I have mentioned before, I’m a lightweight when it comes to weed. I only took about 5mg. This was my experience. TL;DR: reasonably priced and worth it.
Today’s review is for apple cider flavored gummies from The Botanist. Check out my other edible reviews.
Cannabis Type: The bottle doesn’t say, but I’m guessing Indica.
Price: $18
Dose: 10 mg
THC: 10 mg each gummy
Taste: Delicious apple flavor with no weedy aftertaste. So look out if good-tasting edibles are your weakness. Mindfulness of your THC consumption is a requirement for these edibles unless you like getting too high.
Not as chewy or sticky as some gummies. More of a dissolvable texture that doesn’t stick to your teeth. Quit pleasant, actually.
Overall High: 8/10
I only took half a gummy and woke up and needed to pee a little after midnight, the time the THC hit its peak. Getting to the toilet was fine, but I was dizzy and had to call my husband to help me get from the toilet back to bed. (I have balance issues and have taken a few falls, so I err on the side of caution due to anxiety.)
Time to Relief: I was asleep within 30 minutes. That’s good for an insomniac!
Duration of Relief: 9 hours
I slept pretty well, just got up the one time and otherwise out like a light. I didn’t wake up feeling groggy or hungover in the morning, but got dizzy and felt faint about 2 hours in.
Pain Relief: 8/10
I slept soundly when pain and discomfort were high, so this gummy had to be good. Giving it 8/10 is a best guess at how well it actually did though because I was not consciously aware of my pain. All I can say with certainty is that, like with the 1906 pills, I got 9 hours of sleep.
Munchies (Intensity): 0/10
I was asleep. I didn’t crave any food, and I wasn’t tempted to sabotage my non-flared IBS by eating more than my digestive tract could process.
Couchlock (Intensity): 0/10
I was asleep. So that feeling that I should get up and do something fighting the feeling that I can’t get up and do something wasn’t an issue again.
Time Dilation (Intensity) 6/10
When I woke up I thought it had to be at least 4 am, and when I told Dan I tried to wait out the dizzyness rather than wake him? There’s a solid chance I experienced 5 seconds as 5 minutes.
After a nerve pain flare (I have had brain surgery and the muscles in my neck are finicky) I’ve been living in a world of hurt for the last few days and unable to sleep because of it. That’s the context for my review of 1906 brand Sleep Drops Plant-Based Pills.
Technically an edible, these medical cannabis pills do the trick for my painsomnia though pills aren’t really of any use to my taste buds.
I paired one pill with Nervive Roll-On*, turned on the Sleep with Me podcast**, and slept very well. These will definitely be restocked in my medicine cabinet.
As I have mentioned before, I’m a lightweight when it comes to weed. I only took one pill (a half dose) and these were my results.
Today’s review is for 1906’s Sleep Drops. Check out my other edible reviews.
Cannabis Type: I don’t know, honestly, but I’m guessing Indica.
Price: $5
Dose: 10 mg
THC: 5 mg each
CBD: 5 mg each
CBN: 2 mg each
Taste: There is none, and coming from a cancered pill-taker that’s the highest of compliments. Many traditional medicines taste awful after they’ve briefly touched the tongue. But these taste like nothing at all, which I sincerely appreciate.
As pictured below, these pills have a special coating and are shaped like a teardrop. (I wondered why they were called Sleep Drops. Mystery solved.)
Overall High: 1/10
Or should this be 10/10? I don’t know because I was sleeping, and it was glorious.
Time to Relief: 35 minutes. I know the package says 20 minutes but my metabolism is slow sometimes. Thirty-five minutes is still lightning fast in my book, and I like the idea of not needing to set a timer two hours before bedtime.
Duration of Relief: 10 hours
I slept through the night, otherwise an impossibility. I got up at my usual 2 am timeslot to go to the bathroom, but I fell back to sleep right away. Also not possible these days without medication.
Worth noting, too, that I didn’t wake up feeling groggy or hungover.
Pain Relief: 8/10
I slept soundly, so it had to be good. This is a best guess at how well it actually did though because I was not consciously aware of my pain. All I can say with certainty is that I got 9 hours of sleep (10:00pm to 7:00am) and that never happens. I woke up with diminished pain too.
Munchies (Intensity): 0/10
I was asleep. I didn’t crave any food, and I wasn’t tempted to sabotage my non-flared IBS by eating more than my digestive tract could process.
Couchlock (Intensity): 0/10
I was asleep. So that feeling that I should get up and do something fighting the feeling that I can’t get up and do something wasn’t an issue.
Time Dilation (Intensity) 0/10
Did I mention these Sleep Drops put me to sleep?
Additional Notes:
These pills are made with RSO and hemp extract. Full-spectrum cannabis oil (RSO) seems to produce superior results for me, and I know others who consume edibles say the same thing. I think they are definitely worth trying, especially if you can get your hands on the sample packs. No long-term commitment or huge expense if they don’t work for you.
I think they make a version of these that are all-hemp and therefore would be federally legal and available for shipment. These were purchased from my dispensary in a legal state (Illinois) so I can’t vouch for the non-weed stuff.
For several reasons, the election results triggered my generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) causing me neck and shoulder tension that made me feel like I couldn’t breathe and caused severe, immobilizing pain. I reached for a new edible, the NGW Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar.
Anxiety is something I deal with persistently since my cancer diagnosis, so I thought I’d write this edible review in that context, deviating somewhat from how I’ve approached earlier reviews.
Today’s review is for NGW’s Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar. Check out my other edible reviews.
Taste: Good. I prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate, but I didn’t find this too bitter and it wasn’t heavy on that weed taste at all. There were real raspberry pieces with those seeds you experience when you eat fresh berries.
Overall High: 1/10
I kept taking bites of this hoping for something to work. It did help with my pain, finally, but it took a while and I never really felt high. It did eventually make me sleepy.
Time to Relief: 165 minutes
I tried this edible on an empty stomach, how I usually take edibles. However, I had been taking Betty’s Eddies chews for several days prior. There was no tolerance break, which may have influenced my experience with this product.
Duration of Relief: 8 hours
I slept through the night, which I count a win.
Pain Relief: 6/10
Worth taking, but the price is high when I factor in I had to consume about 12.5g of this bar to get any noticeable relief.
(The bar is smaller than others I have tried with only four 25mg sections. From approximately 5:30 pm to 8:15 pm, I ate about half of one section.)
Munchies (Intensity): 1/10
I ate a square piece of leftover pizza, and it tasted better than usual. I didn’t overeat or feel too hungry to sleep, and I didn’t have any specific cravings.
Couchlock (Intensity): 0/10
I didn’t experience couchlock at all.
Time Dilation (Intensity) 1/10
At one point I had a thought time was moving pretty slowly, but it barely registered. Since I was relaxed and ended up sleeping, I don’t know whether I simply missed the more intense time dilation sensations or if they were extremely mild with this dark chocolate raspberry bar.
Additional Notes:
The packaging mentions that their process involves less weed-y tasting extraction methods. I found that to be true, but wonder now if that process affects potency at all.
I randomly caught a glimpse of the label for the levothyroxine bottle my old primary doctor refilled, and in the field for the instructions on taking the medicine, it says “appointments required for refill.”
Not today, Satan. I’m done with you. Stop trying to piss me off.
Let’s try thinking happy thoughts instead.
Today it’s supposed to be cold and rainy, so I’m gonna blog about stuff that feels like sunshine and rainbows instead of the actual weather. Here’s a bunch of random happy-ish stuff you might like to know and I want to ruminate over instead of cancer stuff:
Site Stats Go Boom!
If anything good came out of my fundamalist upbringing, it’s that whole “ye have not because ye ask not” thing.
I have no way of tracking if or who shared links from this round-up post a few days ago, but based on site reports, I think more than a few of you did. I’m really grateful for the help.
My website traffic saw a boost this weekend. And then yesterday (Monday of all days) I hit an all-time record number of pageviews.
I usually see a spike in traffic on the weekend because of my cannabutter and weed posts, and then tank on Monday. But this is sustained, and I’m excited!
As you may or may not know, if this website pays for itself (or—even better—also covers a medical bill or two) my life will be less stressful.
It Was Agatha All Along
I got a purple upright walker a couple days ago that we have named Agatha, and it’s helping me walk around with better posture.
I’ll do a full review post on it in the future, but bottom line for now: I’m so grateful to have this stinking thing.
I Can Help People!
Dan has a new primary physician, too, because of an insurance change, and I got to research, switch providers, and schedule an appointment for him. I’m geeked that I can actually do things for other people. I feel like I’m always asking for stuff, and that’s depressing. Go me!
Ramping Happy Things Up
There’s a new accessibility ramp in the garage that I haven’t used yet but is mostly complete. Here’s a picture of it in progress:
Anything that makes going to a doctor’s appointment less traumatic for me is very much appreciated.
I voted!
I voted, and I don’t think there’s any question about who for. (Not a single Republican. Again.) It’s empowering to have a choice, though I could dream up a better choice than Trump easily.
Also? I wanted to be a part of this historical election and would have paid an illegal poll tax to vote. Seeing a woman as President is on my bucket list.
Pecan Snickers
Imagine if a Snickers and a Demet’s turtle had a love child. Yum. Dan came home with a couple of Pecan Snickers for me the other day, and I am hooked.
Mars, Incorporated if you’re listening: I would like to be an influencer. You can compensate me with free candy bars. Thank you.
Lemon Sugar Cookie Edible Review
The dispensary had a sale, and I bought a lot of edibles for reviewing on the blog. I wrote a review for some lemon sugar cookies on Sunday if you’re interested. Not surprisingly this kind of content gets a lot of traffic and I get to be high to boot, so I guess what I’m saying is expect more.
Anyway, tell me something good that happened to you recently.
I sent Dan on an expedition to hunt medical marijuana edibles this morning after waking up extremely achy. I picked out several new-to-me products, including some sample sizes. Here’s how this cancer and anxiety patient experienced the Enliven Lemon Sugar Cookie.
Taste: Freaking delicious. The budtender said these were good and that we’d be back. No lie detected.
These cookies are the first edible I’ve tried that taste nothing like weed to me. There was a pleasant lemon aroma and the faintest smell of weed when I opened the package, but no lingering aftertaste at all.
This is just a one-cookie sample, but they sell multiples too. I wanted to make sure that I like them first, being on a budget and all. Now that I know they are so good, though, I might be too tempted to eat more than one at a time.
Overall High: 9/10
At one point I turned and said to Dan, “Man, I’m fucked up.” Like the Ache Away Eddies, the high was intensely pleasant. There were times I felt darn near abled and wanted to dance along with Moana and her grandmother. I was always cognizant of my reality, however.
Time to High: 30 minutes
Again, I tried this cookie on an empty stomach, how I usually take edibles. It’s easier to compare if I don’t do these reviews with too many variables.
Duration of High: 3 hours
I find that most edibles labeled “relaxed” or “calm” make me sleepy. This was no exception. Which is kind of why I picked it. I wanted something cozy to help me nap after crummy sleep last night.
Pain Relief: 5/10
Worth taking, but the pain wasn’t relieved so much as I felt empowered to feel other things for a little while. I was like, “Gee, this bed is really comfy! Who knew?”
Munchies (Intensity): 7/10
I had a cheeseburger for lunch, and it was so good even the crunch of the pickles was mind-blowing. Later I couldn’t get the idea of eating mozzarella sticks out of my head.
This is a potentially good one for when chemo and other treatments make nausea intense.
Couchlock (Intensity): 7/10
I call it bedlock for potentially obvious reasons.
Time Dilation (Intensity) 5/10
I had moments for sure, but it was tolerable and my brain was aware that I was experiencing time differently.
Additional Notes:
I also have the Enliven Snickerdoodle Cookie that I look forward to trying.
Cannabis Type: Indica? Maybe? I looked up indica edibles when browsing the Cloud9 website, but it’s not specified on the box or the product listing now that I’m trying to verify my assumptions.
Price: $20
Dose: 10 mg ea. Piece / 100 mg total
THC: 10 mg
Taste: It’s just okay. I think white chocolate is pretty boring. It’s sweet without much texture or flavor. The crispy rice seems sparse.
Certainly not gross but also not what I’d call good. Maybe that’s ideal? If I like it too much, I might struggle to pace myself.
Overall High: 7/10
The high was noticeable and good, but one-dimensional feeling because I had the Ache Away Eddies for comparison.
Time to High: 70 minutes
That was on an empty stomach, how I usually take edibles. Unless the pain is dire, I like to eat after I’ve had an edible. Food tastes better. If you know, you know.
Duration of High: 3 hours 20 minutes
I was mostly just sleepy, but also acutely aware that I didn’t feel as miserable. Always a win.
Pain Relief: 8/10
Definitely worth taking. I’m not sure if the back-to-back days of having edibles impacted the pain relief or not. It seemed what I might expect in pain relief from a THC-only indica strain. Reliable relief that I wish was just a little better.
Munchies (Intensity): 6/10
I was on the lookout for food in general, but I was hungry when the show started. No specific food cravings.
Couchlock (Intensity): 5/10
I wasn’t what you’d call motivated, Bob.
Time Dilation (Intensity) 8/10
I had to look at the clock frequently or lose myself to time.
Notes on Packaging:
It looks pretty and is designed to be childproof, but in this disabled household it’s not convenient. I had a hard time gripping the tray. Also i didn’t want to ruin the box, for reasons I cannot explain but others can probably relate to.
My Betty’s Eddies Ache Away Review bottom line: worth it.
Thursday I experienced the kind of migraine that had me losing feeling in my arm, pulling window shades down to protect my eyes, smelling the hickory in bacon two thousand times stronger than the average human, and forgetting common words.
I tried relieving the monster headache part with caffeine and acetaminophen, but it didn’t help enough. So I asked Dan if he’d run to Cloud 9 for me and pick up what I’d picked out online.
I picked out two new-to-me edibles and tried one immediately yesterday. Thought I’d review the first—cherry chews edibles from Betty’s Eddies—today. There was no way I was typing up a coherent review while high yesterday.
And, girl, was I high. This review should be fun.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5/5)
Product: Betty’s Eddies Ache Away Eddies cherry fruit chews
Taste: Surprisingly delicious. Reminiscent of a Now & Later in tartness and flavor, but much softer to chew. I could taste the weed, but I’ve yet to come across an edible that doesn’t have that distinctive flavor.
Maybe that’s on purpose.
Overall High: 13/10
Now, I am more sensitive to THC than some, what Dan calls a cheap date. So the fact that I took one chew and it melted my face probably boils down to two things: 1.) I hadn’t consumed an edible in a while, and 2.) a more conservative dose for me would be 5 mg.
But the chew was wrapped so cutely like saltwater taffy at 10 mg! Who was I to cut it in half?
Time to High: 30 minutes
I thought the “fast acting” bit on the package was probably overstated marketing baloney before I took one, but half an hour to kick in is faster than most of the other edibles I’ve tried. It usually takes me about 90 minutes to hit peak.
Duration of High: 2 hours
I was unable to stop smiling, repeatedly asking Dan to remind me I’d taken drugs in case I got scared (I was worried about me, d’aww), and generally euphoric for two hours.
Pain Relief: 9/10
I’m still running on reduced pain today. Yes, I know the pain is there, but it’s possible to get comfortable and forget about it for 30 minutes at a time this morning. I like that!
Munchies (Intensity): 4/10
What I ate during this period (a giant bowl of ice cream with strawberries) was exceptionally good, but my generalized desire to eat was shockingly mild.
Couchlock (Intensity): 8/10
Don’t make plans.
Time Dilation (Intensity) 9/10
I checked the clock at 12:42 pm convinced it was probably almost 7:00 pm.
Notes on CBC and Turmeric:
This was my first time trying anything labeled CBC along with the usual THC and CBD. It turns out CBC is something dispensaries and manufacturers are hyping for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Is it actually a thing, though? I don’t know.
From Wikipedia: “Cannabichromene (CBC), also called cannabichrome, cannanbichromene, pentylcannabichromene or cannabinochromene, exhibits anti-inflammatory properties in vitro, which may, theoretically, contribute to cannabis analgesic effects.”
This bag also notes that it contains turmeric. Which I’ve heard good things about, but again not scientific things.
Update 10/30/24: I’ve been taking half a cherry chew before bed for a couple of weeks during a flare of pain, and it is helping me sleep better and wake up in less pain.
Note to self: Don’t ask Dan to get chocolate from Sam’s when you’re having a craving and you’ve just taken weed.
Yesterday was my appointment with the surgeon for the consult. Surgery is happening.
The consult went okay, and Doctor S answered all the questions that I had. On February 2nd, I’ll be having a lymph node removed from either my groin or my armpit. Ultrasound will determine which one is easiest to get to, so TBD on that spec.
He did say that they will fully examine the tissue to find out what’s freaking going on, but if it’s a viral infection we might not find out which. Yay.
We’re not just looking for lymphoma this time, though. That makes this round feel like it could provide useful information. Lord knows I’m capital-d DONE with doctors and nurses punching my glands with their bony fingers though.
It hurts more every time they do it. I jokingly asked how many lymph nodes were needed for a human to survive and could they take all of them while they’re in there.
I asked if I was facing general or local anesthesia, and doc said he’d do either and it was my choice. I’m leaning local, just because I think getting myself to the bathroom after will be easier.
No pain meds will be prescribed. Just Tylenol if needed. (Which, let’s be real, means I need to save up for some edibles.)
We spent more time than should be allowable by law in the waiting room yesterday, so here are some terrible, non-HIPAA violating pictures I took to help pass the time.
To save money, I learned how to make crock pot cannabutter (weed butter or ‘budder,’ if you will) that I could use in homemade edibles. I’m not an expert, but I am a cancer patient with chronic pain, insomnia, and anxiety.
When it comes to medical marijuana, I prefer edibles. For me, the pain relief is better and lasts longer. The downside? Dispensary edibles cost a small fortune. So here’s my budget-friendly recipe for how to make cannabutter in a crockpot.
Crock Pot CannabutterRecipe
The first time I made slow cooker cannabutter, I was overwhelmed with advice. Everyone had a different recipe and a different method. My chemo brain just couldn’t handle all that. I needed a crockpot cannabutter recipe for dummies, so I whittled away until I could identify the most basic steps:
If you don’t decarb marijuana before making cannabutter, the effects could be really disappointing. The THC needs to be activated by this simple process, and a few minutes in the oven will do the trick. Here’s what to do:
Materials
Baking sheet
Parchment paper
6-7 grams of marijuana, ground
Oven
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 250 °F (120 °C). Place marijuana on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake on the middle oven rack for about 30 minutes.
FYI: Decarbing in your oven will make your house smell like weed.
Notes on Decarbing
The science-y details of decarboxylation can be found here for anyone curious.
Break up whole buds into smaller pieces first. This increases surface area and allows things to heat more evenly.
Some people are very particular about breaking bud, recommending you do it by hand or with a manual grinder. (Get your pieces too small and they might burn or be hard to strain later.)
But because of cancer fatigue, I’m from the School of Do Everything the Easiest Way Possible. I recommend giving whole buds a couple of quick pulses in a clean coffee or spice grinder, being careful not to overdo it.
That said, it’s even easier if you use shake. Shake is essentially just the debris left after trimming and handling buds. There’s no need to grind it because it’s already the perfect size.
Added bonus: because shake’s ugly and contains some stem pieces, it’s a lot cheaper than whole flower.
Warm 3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter in the slow cooker on the lowest heat setting until it is completely melted.
Put the decarbed weed in the reusable filter and place the filter in the melted butter. Steep for about three hours, on low stirring occasionally. The butter will turn murky and green as the THC magic happens.
Turn off the crock pot and let the cannabutter cool for about an hour. The goal is to cool it enough it won’t burn you, but not so much it becomes too thick to strain.
Lift the filter basket out of the cannabutter, letting the liquid drain completely back into the crock pot. If the cannabutter looks disgusting, you’re doing it right. Discard the used marijuana, unless you’ve got plans for the butter-soaked remains.
There may be fine bits of marijuana and really gross looking milk solids floating in your butter. To strain these, simply pour the cannabutter through the emptied filter basket and into a clean container.
After straining you’ll end up with about a 1/2 c. of cannabutter.
Strained cannabutter looks a lot like guacamole.
Potent Cannabutter Dosing
The most important thing to keep in mind if you’re new to slow cooker cannabutter or edibles in general: YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY. Start small, give it a couple of hours to kick in, and adjust as necessary.
Effects aren’t immediate. I usually feel them between 90 minutes and 2 hours after I’ve eaten. If, after only 15 minutes you think “this isn’t doing anything” and you keep eating food with really potent cannabutter, you could end up like the cop who made pot brownies and called 911 because he thought he and his wife were dead.
Personally, I find the cannabutter I make using these ratios to be nice and potent. But then I’m really sensitive to edibles. For example, if I use cannabuter as-is on an English muffin, I will only need a pat about the size of a pea. But this could also be suitable if you have a higher tolerance and are microdosing.
How to Portion Edibles
For example, if I make a 9 x 13 pan of brownies with this cannabutter, I will only need a brownie about the size of a mini candy bar (that’s right Mini—the smallest size, not to be confused with her big sister Fun Size).
Since I typically only take weed before bed, a pan of brownies can last 9 months—no exaggeration—saving me literally a thousand dollars over dispensary prices. (Pro-tip: Cut cooled brownies into portions for a full week of edibles, vac-seal, and freeze. I use a FoodSaver.)
Step 3: Use the Cannabutter in Your Favorite Recipe
Time: Varies by recipe
Cannabutter brownies
Cannabutter has a distinct flavor that you might find off-putting, especially if you’re a first-timer. I think it tastes the least offensive in things like brownies and peanut butter cookies.
You can use this crock pot cannabutter in any recipe you want, though, not just sweet treats. If it calls for more cannabutter than you have on hand, simply make up the difference with regular butter.
When I make a 9 x 13 pan of Cannabutter Brownies, I use 1/2 c. cannabutter and 1/2 c. regular butter.
You probably already know this, but just in case you don’t: you can replace most fats in your recipes at a 1:1 ratio. So you could swap 1 c. of vegetable oil with 1 c. of melted butter (and therefore cannabutter) if you wanted. What I’m trying to say is: you can also turn that boxed brownie mix in your pantry into something SPECTACULAR.
Happy New Year, everyone. Historically, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day have not been very big deals to me, but I felt like celebrating today with 9 goals for 2020 if for no other reason than I’m feeling a little optimistic. (Note these are not resolutions I’m doomed to fail, just little nudges for making 2020 more fun than 2019.)
Stream a video game on Twitch
My brother Ryan and I live a few hours apart, but we still manage to get together virtually once a week or so to play State of Decay 2. He and my sister-in-law brought up streaming on Twitch several months ago. The idea has been percolating in my brain for a while, and I want to give it a try. No commitments to anything more than seeing how it goes.
Write a crossword puzzle
With my brain being what it is, I do word and logic puzzles almost every day to try and keep the neurons firing. Recently while working on a crossword with a really weird answer to a horrible clue, I wondered if I could make a better one. Now I’m obsessed with noodling out how to create the pattern of squares, make a functioning grid of words, and write good clues.
Grow marijuana
Though I’ve had a medical license to consume marijuana for about three years, Illinois just made recreational use legal. The govenor is clearing thousands of convictions as we ring in the new year. (Halle-freakin-lujah! More criminal justice reform, please, Governor Pritzker!) We can now grow up to five plants for private, personal use. I have several seeds in my position, and intend to give it a try. No biggie if I fail, but it has the potential to help me save a lot of money. This is one medication that is 100% NOT covered by insurance.
Complete a 100 Things post
I started my first blog on AOL Journals circa 2006, and I made a ton of online friends through that platform. I still keep in touch with many of those bloggers to this day. In fact, AOL J-Land (as we affectionately called it) is how I met my husband Dan.
One of the fun things that swept J-Land back in the day was writing a 100 Things post. It’s where you cobble together 100 facts about yourself and post the list. It’s like an ice breaker for bloggers. I recently and randomly stumbled across the Twitter account of a name I recognized from the AOL days, Kelly Sedinger of Byzantium’s Shores. I saw he still had a One Hundred Things About Me post, and got sucker punched by the nostalgia.
I’m going to post a new one soon. Honestly, I’ve been working on it for a few days already, so it seemed like a good addition to my 9 goals for 2020 list. (Yes, I’m one of those people who writes shit in her to-do list that’s mostly done just so I can experience the pleasure of crossing it off.)
Make new Zentangle videos
It’s been a few months since I’ve created any new content for my YouTube channel, because life is just that way sometimes, you know? But the meditative aspect of creating the art and then watching the time-lapse playback is so good for me. It also seems to be something that others enjoy, because my channel keeps growing. I can’t commit to a schedule for health reasons, but I can promise myself to just make “more.”
Track Swagbucks for a year
Swagbucks is a cash back slash survey website where you participate in polls, submit receipts, watch videos, participate in special offers and other junk, and then earn “Swagbucks” which can be converted to gift cards and PayPal cash. The catch is that they collect your data and make use of affiliate links. But you know, data privacy is for the financially privileged, anyway.
Last year as a casual user, I earned about $150. Which isn’t much, unless you’re broke. In that case, it’s a tank of gas and Christmas presents for the family. This year I want to track how much I make in a full year from January 1 to Dec 31.
For reference, I’m starting today with 355 SB (roughly $3.55 when redeemed). If you want to try it, use my link and we both get 300 bonus Swagbucks if you reach 300 SB in your first 30 days. (FWIW, I got to 355 in just 3 days, so that is very doable.)
Learn Krita and make a printable coloring page
I gathered up the Amazon gift card money I collected and finally purchased this stylus for my computer so I can do some Zentangling and sketching without killing trees or using up all my Micron ink. Krita is the free drawing program I will be using, but it’s pretty complicated and will require setting aside some time to learn. It’s kind of like Photoshop. Except it’s totally free.
I think it would be really fun to draw a coloring page and maybe host a cheesy virtual coloring contest sort of like those ones I always participated in at the grocery store when I was a kid.
Reach 100 Patrons in 2020
My goal for Patreon this year is to reach 100 subscribers. I currently have 29. I chose a people-based goal as opposed to a money-based goal because despite our dire financial circumstances, I really just want to find and connect with people who want to read Who You Gonna Believe and watch my Zentangle videos.
Reach 1,000 YouTube subscribers in 2020
Speaking of those Zentangle videos… 1,000 subscribers seems like a lot, but I’m giving myself a whole year to get there, and as of this writing I’m already at 485. The One Zentangle a Day series I did in 2019 really helped me establish my channel. This year I want to focus on producing higher quality videos. It should be doable now that I’ve got some of the basics sorted out.
So those are my 9 goals for 2020. What are yours? What are you looking forward to in the new year?
