Scaly Freak

It was. I still need more sleep, but I feel a lot less stressed. We call it "alone-time". We've unintentionally developed a rule through the years that if one of us asks for alone-time, they immediately get it, no questions asked. And to be able to go off and have that solitude and know that it won't be taken as a negative, or misunderstood, is something I am grateful for. Any introvert who needs this in their life, deserves to have it.

That is an awesome and badass shirt. (Also, those frames look great on you.)

I was so excited when I saw her in Bill & Ted Face the Music. George Carlin is not an easy act to follow, and she not only fully owned that role, she killed it. 🤘🏻 One of the reasons I enjoy volunteering is the special kind of comfort that can only ever be felt when in the company of people who understand why a certain piece of political news is devastating, without needing it explained to them. That they also are devastated is secondary. The important thing is that they get it.

That is genuinely impressive. That length of time requires a level of stubbornness, restraint, and sheer endurance that I can only hope to aspire to. I hope you had more good days than bad and that you have many, many more good days together from here on.

My Genesys GM uses World Anvil to document the campaign setting and all the worldbuilding (and it is awesome - I've encountered fantasy writers who could learn from this) and I have noticed that trying to access some of the pages on my phone or chrome book is painful. My working theory is that the world anvil site is horrifically bad at adapting to mobile devices, and that might be what you're running into on the iPad. If that's the case, you might be able to save yourself some headaches by sticking to the computer? While it generally is a bad idea to completely ignore most of one's surroundings, there's a peaceful kind of stillness in focusing on that one single metaphorical tree that is standing so close it blocks out everything else. Scrutinize the imaginary bark, touch the non-existing leaves and enjoy the fact that you have a moment to really look closely at something for once. The moment will end, eventually at some point, but until it does, there's nothing wrong with embracing it.

We'll add this to the list of indicators that Spinoza was a genius.

Overall feeling considerably better about everything today, despite not sleeping as much as I should have. Good quality sleep, just not enough of it, which is my standard these days. I had a surprisingly good day at work. Had a brief encounter with the Drama Llama in an early afternoon meeting, and handled it much better than last time (admittedly not difficult to do), and genuinely shrugged it off immediately after. Last week, after my little meltdown, H. patiently reminded me that since Drama Llama isn't actually above me in the hierarchy, I don't actually have to do what she wants, or even respond in kind when she pushes back against what I want to do. I can simply do what I'm supposed to do and leave it to her to figure out how to deal with it. So I'm testing that approach now. I'm also deliberately skipping the gym visit this evening to save energy and to do other mental-health things. Right as I left work, H mentioned that he really wants to have a quiet evening by himself, with as few interruptions as possible, since he also feels drained and needs to recover after the large amounts of socializing this weekend. So now he's sitting with his gaming PC in his room and I'm sitting with mine in my room, and he will let me know when our dinner gets here, and we will both have as much solitude as we can for the rest of the evening. Rivendell, here I come!

This sounds amazing and wonderful. Disconnect from everything, as much as you can, and enjoy the break! We'll be here when you get back

This is the clip I actually wanted to find for you. Took me a while, but here it is.

The third of fourth time someone approached me unnoticed and tapped me on the shoulder, I accidentally shoved my chair backwards, hard, from being startled. Pure coincidence. Absolutely unintentional. I was startled and embarrassed at how close I came to cause someone injury. That's how the IM habit got started. 😇

Mana (mindfulness/mental health) Meditated while drinking morning tea, before heading over to family event. Stamina (emotional energy) Colored a couple of pictures and did breathing exercises through the day.

It was definitely in the latter. My hair stylist's scalp massage skills might be a big factor there. 😇 The family time was nice and fun, since this is family that we like. It was energy draining none the less, but not in a bad way, just in a tiring one.

Noise canceling headphones plus this, set to Speech Blocker, was very effective for blocking out human voices and conversations when I worked in an office. My co-workers learned to send me an IM saying "I'm coming to your desk" before coming over, as I often didn't hear them talking while standing next to me.

I am not sure yet.

From the last trial of the episode. Fan favorite, because Picard speech. And the last scene of the episode, with the line about villains who clothe themselves in good deeds.

You need clips from the Drumhead and Wrath of Khan.

Dracula Daily starts in two weeks. The project describes itself like this, on their website: Sign-up available here: https://draculadaily.substack.com/about

Hatter already said what I was going to say -- there is nothing wrong with setting a goal that involves your appearance as long as you're doing it in a healthy way, and as far as I can tell you're doing that. I have used "lose inches so my pants fit better and feel better" as a goal multiple times, and I really like how easy it is to assess progress for a goal like that.

Not to mention... the stress from having debt will go away when the debt does and that quality of life improvement is impossible to put a monetary value on. It's worth the effort. Plus, the other things you will like are bound to be more shiny when they becomes available in the future, because that is also in the nature of capitalism Crossing my fingers and wishing you all the good fortune and success you need to get money from the application forms. A permanent tax credit would be incredible and so helpful!

Please define what constitutes "ordinary" murder-y-ness in your neighborhood....

Well, I've recently graduated from whiskey to chocolate... which I firmly believe is a step in a healthy direction. I refuse to give up the ice cream though. I have however made efforts to eat less of it, and less often. This became surprisingly easy once I realized that I can simply opt not purchase ice cream when we place our grocery orders. That would make you human then. HP (physical health) Preparing for gym later today... chest and upper back day today. There will be bench pressing and there will be barbell rowing, and possibly some accessories if there is time and energy for them. Mana (mindfulness/mental health) Finished meditating before coming here to check challenges. Stamina (emotional energy) Attended the weekly musical event again last night. Also did lots of breathing exercises and lots of coloring. Colored before meditating today, and will do more meditation later, because we have a busy weekend this weekend. This evening there is a family dinner for someone's birthday. Tomorrow there is brunch with family visiting from out-of-town, and after brunch I have a hair appointment. My cousin's funeral service was yesterday, and emotional margins and resilience reman gone. Gym will be helpful.

One of the best TNG Episodes, and also one of the most frustrating ones. We could have had this Wesley all along? 🤦🏻‍♀️ What other offerings are you planning? Suggestion: Grab a frame from the episode, one from the lecture above if you can. Casual fans won't notice and the hardcore fans will love it.

I'm re-reading a fantasy romance series by Rena Marks. The job frustrations have faded considerably, which support the theory I formed back on Tuesday, that the frustrating incident on Tuesday was actually very minor. It just became that famous very last drop that cause the water glass to spill over. I'm trying to learn from mistakes I've made in the past, when I "managed" stress by hiding from it, and self-medicated with ice cream and whiskey. shockingly, this doesn't actually make the stress go away. Gym again tonight. I is leg day!

😍 With diamond teeth? Toxic fumes breath weapon? I want in on this boss fight!