weekly retro #55:
i come to you from the first blizzard here in the jc/nyc area in like a decade. it's coming down really hard, and it's going to be quite a week for all of us.
local dog owners lower backs are gonna atrophy from another 4 weeks of not picking up their shit
— jenn schiffer 🕷️🕯️ (@jennschiffer.com) February 21, 2026 at 11:35 AM
the week started out quite warm - one of the days was like 50 F. this is how i knew the blizzard everyone was reporting about was going to be crazy, nature was like "i'll give you a few good days to get all the shit you need done, done." and i did, including shipping out all the candles and paintings ordered over the prior week. my routine when shipping is drop the boxes off and then go right to the gym. i took this photo after my workout, showing off the cool contrast between my elder, brown hair and my newer, gray hair.
this was supposed to be my last full week of aerial, with my final class tomorrow on monday, but now i fear that it will be cancelled and i won't get the closure i anticipated. i guess growth is adapting to not getting closure because closure is kind of a fake idea, like trouble is. anyway, in monday's class i did a pretty insane back flip and tuesday i woke up with a popped blood vessel in my eye lol.
in ceramics this week we did glazing. i was so caught up in socializing with everyone and looking at what other folks were doing, i fear i did a shit job at glazing my first few pieces - we'll see maybe this week if they're out by then. i think we have one more class left in this semester but the following week is when the next semester starts up again.
i had to bring pumagreg to the vet because he had a weird bump on his ankle. the doctor said it's probably a benign cyst, so we're waiting on the results of that. she also said he has a slight heart murmur, so we'll have to get a cardiologist to do a consult. otherwise, he's a healthy boy who did a very good job and all the staff absolutely loved him and he loved all the treats he got. i've always had an at-home vet service but it shut down and so this was his first out-of-home visit. it's funny how he came home and acted like it was nothing, meanwhile i had to box breathe through a silent panic attack from the anxiety of the entire production.
i took the train down yesterday to see my dad, who is in the same place but has transitioned from short-term care to long-term care Because Of Insurance. i think he's lived in 3 of 4 wings of the place at this point and he's adapting well to the changes considering. everyone there loves my dad including staff - i can see where i got the gift of making friends and turning small talk into meaningful connections. he's also told every single person he's encountered over the past 5 months that i have been to college and have never smoked a cigarette.
things i enjoyed this week
- last week i mentioned we were playing dispatch. we finished it and i already miss some of the characters. because part of the game play is CYOA-style, our ending was different from others so now we've been watching the different endings on youtube.
- boom na da noom na namena 🎶
- you've probably already watched alysa liu's gold-medal winning free skate but so have i and here i am watching it again as i type this. figure skating is so cool - i am pretty good at ice skating forward and backward but never learned turns. cold sports rock.
ok i took a quick break from finishing this to update the bugs rock header to note that the blizzard is blizzarding. these next few days are going to be quite a journey, probably mostly indoors. fortunately for me, this week i need to go heads-down to work on candles and paintings to sell in march!
xoxo jenn