Crafting, mostly

I haven't posted since January?

Oof.

So I got fired in February. But then I got a great job that is actually within my experience (estate planning and probate), and it pays better. Net win, even if that was a very stressful time.

I passed the one year mark with the cats over Memorial Day weekend. They really are the best.

I live in Texas and I'm scared of what the future holds. So scared.

Okay. more semi- than regular, but hey.

I've been planning for a new D&D campaign that I am running. And that seems to have kicked off inspiration for other stories. Which is great!

But it also means that I've more than once opened a document to find that I'd written far more of the story in my head than I'd managed to get on the page. :( I need to spend time brain dumping, I suppose. Napkin math has me at ~75000 words at the end of a year if I write ~200 words per day. 200 words per day seems like a much more reasonable goal than the larger ones I've seen more regularly. And by not committing to a particular project, that allows me to balance D&D writing with other stories. I'll give inkingitout a shot.

Some friends have a group where they share things they're working on, but they meet during my workday. So maybe the encouragement of a community might help?

3 months later, and I have been at my job almost 2 months (7 weeks). I'm at the point where I understand the things I am expected to do, I can identify the people I work with, and I feel like I have a handle on things. So it's all gonna break soon, yeah? :P

Still loving the short hair, and I've been able to get it cut at a salon! Masks on, one person in each of three separate areas at a time (four empty chairs up front, two empty in the back, and one empty at the coloring station), and a basic verbal "do you feel unwell or have you recently?" CYA convo before entering.

Gotta say, TTRPGs have been sanity-saving touchstones. Continuity and a chance for escape through playing pretend with friends.

Lots of big emotions all over right now. Lots of uncertainty.

But there are four cats in this household, three voids and one brown tabby potato. The boy voids are generally happy to be lap cats, the potato is learning to be one, and the girl void has important cat business and cannot be contained. (but she does love pets) Of course, the cat who demands the most cuddle time is also the one with the worst breath. He's a good buddy and made of love but his breath will knock you over. A good stinky man, I call him. He doesn't seem to mind.

Partner is meant to be returning to work on Monday. *fingers crossed* T is jobseeking like a machine. I am feeling inadequate but still jobseeking. He was the "breadwinner" so the loss of his income is really hard. J and me getting income would certainly help some, though.

Dragon Age is so good. I've picked up the video game again with a Qunari warrior and I'm excited for Josephine to have a tol gf. The TTRPG I'm in is also doing fun things (even if my character is frantic with worry for loved ones). We hit the end of "chapter 1" and the GM has commissioned art of the party! We're going to have some one-shots for a few sessions before we pick up Chapter 2, so hopefully our valiant GM will get to play some.

My D&D game is weekly now. Since everyone is quarantined, there are far fewer impediments to regular games. :)? :/. So we're running around, talking to gods, looking for our blacksmith bud, and generally having a good time as D&D hooligans.

The household has been watching The Witcher and we've got the last episode of the first season left. It's an enjoyable show. I don't have a lot of thinky thoughts about it at this time. The ladies are really pretty and Henry Cavill looks like he gives good hugs.

So, yeah. It's stressful but there are bright spots in the gloom.

I did not mean to fall off of the internet for a month. But here we are, I guess?

Jobseeking is stressful and ongoing. Living with people is stressful and wonderful as we all adjust to my unmedicated ass being here. Cats remain delightful, adorable shitheads.

I have started a new quilt top. I pulled out Queers in Space and realized I was missing some key skills, so I paged through quilt magazines to find something I liked and could use to build those skills. So far, so good. Much practice on the 1/4in seams I need as well as more accurate methods of cutting. Also, I keep reminding myself that I'm making something I would like to be able to use for a very long time and that taking time in the creation will (hopefully) make it last longer. Hopefully.

US politics are terrifying garbage, the COVID-19 pandemic is terrifying, and I just qualified for Medicare. Which is a whole bundle of feels I do not want to unpack.

That said, I've been watching both the partner and the metamour play video games on the downstairs TV and it's great to watch games happen that I could not play for myself. The Last of Us, which J is playing, is too scary and intense for me, which is why I stopped playing it. And Persona 5 has long stretches of tedium as well as specific weirdnesses I associate with Japanese visual novels (pervy characters, gross romance options, etc). But both games are really fun to watch! Except when I have to look away from TLOU because horrifying zombie things happen or when The Cat in P5 gets all pervy over a high school girl again.

I am myself running around in Skyrim again. Playing the real estate market while the Empire fights Stormcloaks. Also going to join and take over the mage's college soon. I have children to look after, you know.

So it's not been great, but it has been solidly okay. Onward to more okay days than not-okay ones.

I am waiting on my bed frame and mattress to be delivered from IKEA and I am the embodiment of the packidge comic. IKEA's delivery folks are meant to call ahead but what if they don't? Or what if they call J instead of me? There are four cats to wrangle before large items can be moved in.

pls to have bed?

And of course I'm also trying to figure out how the furniture I packed will fit and where the new dresser will go and which dresser I should get and do I need another bookshelf or should I try to reserve space for a new sewing table. :/

This end of the moving journey is hard because waiting is hard.

And sometimes you come across a Bad Take and you have to just... walk away. Because that person's opinion on a video game is really just an opinion on a video game.

Yeah, still head down in Dragon Age Inquisition. I took BFF Iron Bull to fight a dragon last night. Also had Cassandra in the party and I had to stop and think. Because her backstory about her brother the dragon hunter is super tragic, and also now that she's a dragon hunter of the Pentaghast line she should therefore be highly sought after for marriage. Is she? Does Josephine have to deal with those alongside the proposals for Cullen? Inquiring minds want to know.

I'm enjoying playing as a dude elf, but I miss the bit where Cullen joins a girl gang comprised of the Right Hand of the Divine (Seeker), the Left Hand of the Divine (assassin), the Ambassador to Orlais from Antiva, and some loser they found in a ditch outside the exploded temple with a glowy mark on her hand.

Today's challenge is to promote at least one canon (or cannon :P). I know very little about cannons, so canon it is!

But which do I choose? Decisions are hard.

( Flashpoint )

( Dune )

( The Old Kingdom )

Dang, snowflake_challenge hitting us with the hard stuff this time. Promote myself? What do I say that isn't in my introduction?

I mostly lurk in fannish spaces. I'll comment on posts but don't typically make my own, which makes interaction difficult. I realize this and I'm trying to be more active, hence the participation in this challenge. :)

I like listening to people be excited about a thing! Even when I don't share their enthusiasm for a subject. You wanna talk about [new hotness] but don't have anyone to smile and nod? I'll do it. I might even ask questions about it and (no promises) might even develop an interest in the new thing myself.

Goalsetting! I can do that. I usually do about this time of year anyway. And check on how much I did not do of last year's goals. :P

Soft goals:
serious progress on Queers in Space quilt
finish the sweater-on-needles
frog the pink sock
words on the page (i have a 75,000 word goal for the year after all)

Firm Goals:
Move to PA (end of Jan)
Get job
Play TTRPGs in person