😭 That story destroys me every time! 😭 Excellently done, though, you really captured the slouchy, loved to pieces, feel of an old stuffed animal.

Friday October 18 Katabasis, by Alexi Marshall   Welcome to almost the end. The oak king, the sun, and Persephone herself are saying their first round of goodbyes, and Halloween is barely two weeks away. I've spent most of 0 week tinkering with a structure for what I'll be observing and asking of myself for this challenge. The answer? Mostly nothing. Mostly I want me to thrive. Mostly I want my days to be a gift to myself and a blessing to my future selves. In the name of life and gentle thriving, I have a weekly punch list that I'll continue using on this challenge to externalize my own self-observations. No failure states possible. I'll also be abusing using you lovely folks by play a game called "can laghail enjoy 3d modeling projects without hyper-focus if the assignments are creepy and fun and incremental??" Expect weekly/daily assignments but they aren't touching the observational punch list because assignments can be failed. Also I'll be posting art and music related to the theme of katabasis, or journeying to the underworld. Audience submissions are cherished.   Emoji Key

A fair response. Even more fair considering the issues I've been dealing with with people that DO have a problem with my appearance. 

today is the 18th of October day of the waning moon         Solvitur ambulando   ⬤ 30-60 Min exercise   ⬤ 30 Min walking Malleum non temnit     Hindu pushups ⬤   Hindu squats ⬤   Bridge ⬤       Vestis viram facit   ⬤ Jacket & tie   ⬤ A smooth shave Aurora musis amica     Start timer on alarm ⬤   One magical working per hour ⬤   30 min vampire training ⬤   One co-working session ⬤   Reflective practice TBD ⬤       Optimum quies est   ⬤ In bed by midnight   ⬤ 6-8 hours sleep   ⬤ 20 min meditation   ⬤ Interroception meditation   ⬤ One therapy writing session     I got a late start today, and also finished my template late, so today won't have great numbers. Or maybe I'll grade on a curve. We'll see.

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Welcome back!  I'm glad you're not dead 🤪

I'm not dead, I swear! It only feels like I am...   My apologies for missing the last challenge - the whole household got wiped out with a bad case of Covid, then the school year hit for real and my workload was so insane that I was crying from stress almost every day and on the verge of quitting before a friend talked me out of it (for this contract year at least). Now, granted, my workload technically hasn't changed, but my principal did give me a sub for one day to try to get on top of my insane to do list and that helped - at least for a while, the effects are starting to wear off now since it's been about two weeks 🥴   But I have started keeping 4 corn kernels in my sweater pocket to help keep me grounded. I know that sounds weird, but 2 weekends ago I took an entire day "off" (it was a Sunday, so I wasn't at school anyway, but my workload is so heavy I've been working every day anyway) to take my kids to the pumpkin patch. My daughter freaked out at the corn pit, so I sat in there with her and we had so much fun! It ended up being a really relaxing, awesome day, the kind of outing that ends up being balm for your soul. Well the next day at work, while grumbling about a bunch of surprise meetings taking up my day and leaving me no time to do actually useful stuff instead, I put on my normal fall cardigan to discover 4 dried kernels from the corn pit had snuck into my pocket. It made me smile and think about my kids and the pumpkin patch and helped bring a tiny bit of that joy back. So I kept them in there and now I try to look at them once a day or so when I'm in need of a small mental escape hatch. I need more of that energy in my life!!   So my challenge is going to be designed to try to embody the lessons and feelings of those little corn kernels in other places in my life as best as I can. Quests to come in the next post because I felt like this was getting silly long - what can I say, I'm verbose 😅

Here for all the stuff!

Ribs were delicious this evening. Slow-cooked them (1 hour in the oven at 150°C - 45 minutes under tin foil, the last 15 open) and they were so tender and practically fell off the bone. TimovieSon tried one as well... and consequently left half of the meat on it with a credulous "how do you do that?" at the clean-picked ribs that I leave behind... 😋     In random news: brother-in-law had taken a picture of Floeffie, our oldest cat, a while ago. A picture that wound up becoming something of a running gag here, as it could give "grumpy cat" a run for its money. He now had a shopping bag made with the picture on it, as well as a T-shirt he intends to wear at metal concerts... 🤣   This is the picture:   Even now, the kids are in stitches by seeing this picture on my screen... 😁

Credit for the framework goes to @Artemis Prime   Welcome!   That's the plan!   I like your interpretation! Much better than reality which was that I just don't take all that many pictures and a significant percentage of them are from the tops of mountains which really limits my options for ones that fit the theme of this challenge.   Glad to have you!