everything will be alright

Oh hello there~

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 04:12:38 GMT

How many times have I opened a journal (GJ waaaay back in the day, LJ also way back now I guess, IJ, and now DW) and said 'hey it's been a long time but I'll try to write more often!' and didn't follow up on that? This may end up being that many times plus 1 but we'll see.

Life goes on; work is work. Nothing new on that front and I've never been one to talk about work stuff online anyway, and that hasn't changed.

As for pastimes, they still come and go too. Currently I'm trying to jumpstart my writing with another writing class... I did several pre-COVID, found a group online shortly after the pandemic, but it died off again about a year or so ago. I did more online classes in April or so, and another round that's happening now and ending in a few weeks, which has been helpful. I'm about caught up with my WIP to where I was before, with revisions and edits, and the goal is to finish an extremely rough draft in the not-too-distant future. How far into the future, you ask? That's to be determined, but I'd love to be optimistic and say by year's end. Time will tell.

Reading usually goes along well with reading, and I've been doing more of that this year. I'm currently enjoying the first of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which just put out its seventh and (I think?) final volume, so that's a lot to work on. Not to mention the 3427623847 books kicking around the house, but as someone once told me, book purchasing is a completely different hobby from book reading. Guess which one I excel at the most?

Gaming is still a big part of things for me... Final Fantasy XIV is the largest part of that too. I've finished all the main story quests, but haven't gotten into the raiding scene and never will again I don't think. I roleplayed there pretty hard for awhile, but that's pretty much died off these days too. I still play it daily, working on leveling up jobs and things like that, which is still fun at least. Other than that, I enjoy Fortnite too and collecting skins / doing battle pass things there. Marvel Rivals comes out December 6th and I think that'll get some playtime from me too.

Guitar playing has almost ceased entirely, and I stare at my acoustic almost every day but still haven't changed the strings on it yet. My brother-in-law Nik was the last to do so in... 2015? Eep. I do have a newer electric from ~2-3 years ago but haven't taken that out in ages either. Maybe during my Christmas break, as I'm taking a few weeks off at my boss's insistance (he may be retired this time next year so he suggested I take the break while I can, haha). We will see.

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Sunday, Sunday

Mon, 08 Nov 2021 03:26:15 GMT

This is the first thing I've posted here that's not a Dear Author letter in... quite some time now. I could go and check but I don't wanna. Plus I don't really want to know how long either.

I've been meaning to start NaNo this year but haven't, and this is my concession to myself; start writing something here, even if it's just nonsense, and then maybe you'll start writing elsewhere. I don't know if that's going to be true or not but hey, we'll see.

In the meantime, most of my free time has been taken up with FFXIV lately. Dear lord, that game has its hooks into me but good. I actually pre-ordered the 1.0 edition way, way, way back, played it for a short time, then didn't touch it again until February of this year. My wife got into it last year and I joined in, and, aside from a good chunk of the summer when I didn't do much, I've been playing a lot ever since. It's a good time, and I'm really looking forward to the next DLC, which is set for December now.

Other than that, I've been sick for the better part of a week, but am back to work tomorrow. It's a day in the city so that'll make for an easier return, or so I hope. Wish me well!

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Long time, no post, wow

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 02:04:17 GMT

What the subject says, yikes. I know it's been a while but I was very surprised to see just how long. Huh.

I don't think anyone is really using this any more, at least not the people I used to write/read with, but who knows? I do have a blog elsewhere that I also don't use, haha, so I can't say much I suppose.

But! I just signed up for the Yuletide swaps for this year, which is always exciting, so that's a good thing. And I think the actual Yuletide signups start this Friday, so that's good too. Hopefully that'll give me something else to work on writing-wise, and might get the ball rolling again. Time will tell! :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 15

Tue, 16 Jan 2018 03:59:33 GMT

Day 15

In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist/circle/followers. Share your love and squee as loud as you want to. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I have to give all of my fandom/RP love to x_project. This May marks fifteen (15) years since the game first started on LJ, having moved here last year. I've not been there that whole time, having joined in 2011, but it's still been a huge part of my life, and still is. I've made many awesome friends there and I'm extremely grateful for my time there. And we're still going strong! <3

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 14

Mon, 15 Jan 2018 02:16:14 GMT

Day 14

In your own space, create your own challenge. Whatever your challenge is, and have fun with it! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I don't know if it counts as a challenge, but for a long time now I've wanted to run a fic exchange on AO3 centered around fic that meets the Bechdel test. I even made a collection there, but I have no real idea on how to organize or run an exchange, so that's as far as I've gotten with it. Which is to say nowhere.

So I guess my challenge would be for someone to do that, haha, or just to write more female-centric fic in general. I love the Misses Clause challenge in Yuletide for that very reason, and love to browse through that tag in the collection each year.

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 13

Sun, 14 Jan 2018 00:54:04 GMT

Day 13:
In your own space, set some goals for the coming year. They can be fannish or not, public or private. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Here are some writing goals I want to accomplish this year:

· Write 75,000 in 2018 (signed up for GYWO to help with this)

· Create and submit a short story for submissions ending Oct. 31st this year

· Take part in the 2018 NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge

· Continue to meet with my cousin on a weekly basis (as we did starting Feb. 2017)

· Win at NaNo 2018

Those are pretty big and broad goals, but I know I'll be able to at least take part in all of them. I'm hoping to succeed at all of them too, and a lot of them will feed into each other (i.e. word count goes up for things I take part in, meetings encourage keeping up with writing, etc.). So here goes nothing, 2018.

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 12

Sat, 13 Jan 2018 04:01:02 GMT

Day 12

In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a podfic, an icon, a sketch, a meta, or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Cross stitch. Draft an essay about a particular medium. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of book you love, a ship manifesto, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Not sure if this link will work or not, but posted a review of the latest book I've read, The Disaster Artist, here. Hopefully it works! :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 11

Fri, 12 Jan 2018 01:53:17 GMT

Day 11

Share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Unfortunately I can't share the fanwork(s) that most changed my life. That'd be an old, old RPG that used to exist on GreatestJournal (RIP). It changed my life in two major ways: first and foremost, it's how I met my wife, and second, it got me back into writing in a big way. I think I still have a bunch of the old logs saved on my computer somewhere, but the site is forever lost in time like GeoCities and Netscape. Good memories though, and I'll be forever grateful for it. :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 10

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 21:13:05 GMT

Day 10
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) Tell us what makes it work for you, and why it appeals to you so much. Talk about what you like to see in fanworks featuring that theme most. Feel free to include recs and examples! Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I don't really have a lot of these, to be honest. I suppose if I had to pick one, it'd be the classic slow burn situation. I like to write (and read) longform fic that builds things up over time rather than just jumping into things.

Other than that I read a little bit of everything, I suppose. :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 9

Wed, 10 Jan 2018 02:44:23 GMT

Day 9

In your own space, post a rec for at least three fanworks that you have created. It can be your favorite fanworks that you've created, or fanworks you feel no one ever saw, or fanworks you say would define you as a creator. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Will You Call My Name? - My first fic of any decent length, really. It was an assignment for Yuletide, and I was extremely happy with what I was able to come up with for the recipient. It was the first of many fics I'd write in this fandom, actually, and it's one of my favourite things I've ever done. Very fluffy and slice-of-life/meet cute, but I still like it.

Dungeons and Dungeons - Another Yuletide gift, I'm fond of this one because it was so fun to write. It was also better received than I expected, which is always a nice surprise. Archer is such a fun show, and writing in that universe is an extremely fun experience. This one is one of my favourite humourous works.

A Blank Slate - Ok, this is also a Yuletide gift. It seems my favourite things are all things I write for other people for Yuletide, hah. This one eclipsed Will You Call My Name? for my longest fic, I do believe, and it's probably the one fic I've worked the hardest on from start to finish. I even went to a beta for help throughout writing it, and I think that shows. It's a slow burn, which has become my favourite thing to write, and I'm very proud of how it all turned out.

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 8

Tue, 09 Jan 2018 02:56:26 GMT

Day 8

In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

This clip from Pitch Perfect was the scene that launched a thousand ships, hah. Or, well, at least a thousand fic ideas for one ship, for me at least. It was a movie I went to see with my wife and sister, with no expectations at all going in, and I left wanting to write all the fic for it. In many ways it jump started my desire to write again period, especially with respect to fanfiction, so it'll always hold a special place in my heart. :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 7

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 20:43:34 GMT

Day 7:

In your own space, create a love meme for yourself. Let people tell you how amazing and awesome and loveable you really are. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. Surf the comments and find people to give love to.

Haha, ok. Here it is! Now to post this and go leave some comments for other people. :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 6

Sat, 06 Jan 2018 21:44:31 GMT

Day 6

Leave feedback for a fanwork. Or multiple fanworks. It can be as simple as I liked this to a detailed list of all the things you loved about the fanwork. The key is to leave some sort of feedback.

If you've already left feedback in the course of a previous challenge, it totally counts. But you're free to leave more feedback.

Afterwards, leave a comment in this post with the equivalent of "I did it!" If you feel so inclined, leave a link to the fanwork you left feedback for so others can check it out.

I'm going to cheat here a little bit at first and pimp the gift I received for Yuletide this year, for which I've already left feedback. It's a fic from the movie Mr. Right, starring Anna Kendrick and Sam Rockwell, which you can read here, and I highly suggest you all go read it. If you haven't seen the movie it's based on, then go see that first, then read it. You won't be sorry, I promise, especially if you're a fan of surreal films, Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell, or any combination thereof.

Also, here's another fic I highly recommend, also from Yuletide, and I left a comment on it today: it's titled 'i'll sing a song for you (singe ich ein lied für dich)', based on the movie Atomic Blonde, and is located here. It's rated Mature and has some sexual content in it, fyi, but it's so beautifully well-written and gives much more breadth and depth to one of the film's most interesting characters. Definitely check it out if you enjoyed the movie, or great fic in general. :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 5

Sat, 06 Jan 2018 03:00:01 GMT

Day 5

Recommend a fannish or creative resource. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

So years ago, my wife and I spent an inordinate amount of time playing Lord of the Rings Online (aka LOTRO). This was pre-marriage, and we were still long distance then, so playing the game online was way for us to regularly interact as well as have fun and hang out with other people.

One of the things you can do in the game is forge legendary weapons - at least you used to be able to, I'm assuming you still can now? Anyway, whenever I'd make a good one, I'd go to this site to come up with a Sindarin name for my newest, coolest weapons, haha. I spent a lot of time agonizing over picking the perfect names for my items, which would only be replaced within a short amount of time, as such is the nature of MMOs, but it was always fun to play around with in the meantime.

The page looks like it still works, at least the pre- and post-fix translations are there, which is awesome. Hopefully this resource, albeit a very specific one, can be useful to someone else out there, and I know I'm bookmarking it now that I've found it again. :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 4

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 01:17:26 GMT

Day 4

In your own space, create a fannish wishlist. No limits on size or type of fanwork; just tell us what you’d like to see. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so. And if you grant a wish, do the same thing!

· More We're The Millers fanfic. Not in a shippy way, even though none of them are related, but just more fun adventures that pick up where the movie left off. Or before, even, I suppose.

· I read something somewhere once about how well Buffy Summers and Dean Winchester would get along. I wrote a little something about that once, and I'd love to see more crossover between the two of them in particular.

· More Zombieland fic in general. It's a perennial Yuletide nom/request for me, because it really does need more love.

· If I'm really being selfish, I'd love to read more MCU fics about Darcy/Jane and Natasha/Maria.

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 3

Thu, 04 Jan 2018 02:40:06 GMT

Day 3

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Cheating a little bit here, but I posted a list of recs from Yuletide 2017 to my journal not too long ago, which you can find here.

There are six (6) fics listed there, with a summary and/or comments added to each one. They're all worth checking out if you're into those fandoms and/or genres, so go and have a look! :)

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 2

Wed, 03 Jan 2018 02:55:46 GMT

Day 2

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, crazy times with fellow fans (whether on-line or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

If I'm being honest, the best thing to come from fandom for me was meeting my wife, through an old GJ role-playing game. That takes the cake, obviously. :)

Other than that, I'd have to say my favourite memory was playing an OC game that inspired me to try my first ever female character (I'm male). It was really intimidating, but I'm glad that I tried it for so many reasons. It lead to me joining another game (with another female OC) where I met my aforementioned wife, it also lead me to play many other similar characters over the year, and to write a lot of fanfiction with female characters too.

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Snowflake Challenge - Day 1

Tue, 02 Jan 2018 01:23:19 GMT

Day 1

In your own space, talk about why you're participating in Snowflake and, if you’ve participated in the past, how the challenge has affected you. What drew you to it? What did you take away from it? What do you hope to accomplish this year? Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

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I'm participating this year because I want to try and jump start my writing efforts for 2018. I've taken part before, but it's been a few years I believe, and I don't know that I've ever actually completed the whole thing. I know that's not required, but still.

I was drawn to it from seeing someone else take part years ago, and it made me want to give it a shot. Not enough to finish it, apparently, hah, but it looks like fun. And that's what drew me back to it this year, to see if I can have some fun with it.

I hope to improve both the consistency and the quality of my writing this year, which is probably what 99.9% of the participants want to do, I'm sure. I did take some steps toward this last year, mainly by pairing up with my cousin who is also trying to write consistently. We meet on a weekly basis to exchange tips, advice, and to review each other's writing. My plan for 2018 is to keep that up, and to enter more exchanges/contests over the year. We'll see how it goes.

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Yuletide 2017 Recs

Thu, 28 Dec 2017 03:51:20 GMT

( Yuletide 2017 Recs )

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The Fifteen Characters Meme

Sun, 08 Feb 2015 22:49:45 GMT

Taken from calliopes_pen!

1) Make a list of fifteen characters first, and keep it to yourself for the moment.

2) Ask your f-list to post questions in the comments. For example: "One, nine, and fifteen are chosen by a prophecy to save the world from four. Do they succeed?", "Under what circumstances might five and fourteen fall in love?", "Which character on the list would you most want on your side in a zombie invasion?"

3) After your f-list has stopped asking questions, round them up and answer them using the fifteen characters you selected beforehand, then post them.

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Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Day 2

Sat, 03 Jan 2015 02:47:56 GMT

Day 2 of the challenge is as follows:

In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts.

So! In that vein, and wow, asking for things is hard, I think I'd ask for:

· Fanfic, of course! Main fandoms at the moment are MCU, Carmilla, and Assassin's Creed, though see my AO3 for any and everything else I suppose. :)

· Icons maybe? I have a few new PBs for whom I need to make/find icons, namely AJ Cook and Dylan O'Brien, so some of them or links to some would be awesome!

· Music recs! I only recently discovered Hosier from reading someone else's blogs, so it's safe to say I'm kinda behind the times on this front. I mainly listen to a local classic rock station when I'm driving (and get outraged at what's considered 'classic' these days, i.e. stuff I listened to in high school and uni omg), so anything new and/or indie that I can check out would be great. I listen to mostly everything, honestly - rock, rap, jazz, country, pop, blues, whatever. :)

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Fandom Snowflake Challenge: Day 1

Fri, 02 Jan 2015 01:58:10 GMT

So, I'm decided that I'm going to participate in this year's Fandom Snowflake Challenge! Today's challenge is to write a rec for three or more of your own fanworks, so here you go:

Will You Call My Name?

A Beca/Chloe Pitch Perfect fic I wrote for Yuletide. It's the longest thing I've ever posted there, clocking in at just over 12k, and I had such a fun time writing it you guys. It's far from perfect, it's not really that good even looking back, but I wrote it not too long after seeing the movie and getting into the fandom and was so excited as I wrote it.

That wasn't my first Yuletide (it was my second though haha) but it really cemented my love for the exchange and for posting on AO3 in general - I wrote a lot more frequently after that.

Preach and Desist

A little Father Ted fic I wrote as a treat for someone last Yuletide. It didn't take me all that long, as the inspiration fortunately came to me fairly quickly and I just blurbed the whole thing out in one sitting. I know they say only a fool laughs at his own jokes but I still giggle my ass off when I reread this, heh. I just love the show so much and it was very fun to write the characters, I don't think I could do them justice in anything longer than something like this though.

The 'New' Roommate

My assignment for this year's Yuletide (sensing a theme here, hmm), and another comedic piece. I think I fare better with those than I do with anything else I write, or so it seems. I'm a huge fan of this show and have written a couple of things now for it, and I love writing each of the characters in it for different reasons. Nick in particular is a blast to write, I really had fun coming up with his dialogue.

The main reason I think I like writing comedy, now that I think about it, is that it tends to focus on dialogue more so than other genres, and I think I'm much better with dialogue than I am with descriptive writing.

Mrry Crisms.

Another Yuletide treat, this time from this year, and one of the few comic pieces I've attempted to create. I only recently started reading the current Hawkeye run and am a huge fan, especially of Kate Bishop who is amazing. I'm not caught up with it yet but I really want to be, and when I saw someone requesting this I just had to take a shot (ZING!) at it.

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Random but...

Mon, 15 Dec 2014 03:00:20 GMT

...there's this scene in Punch-Drunk Love, after Adam Sandler's character flies to Hawaii to meet Emily Watson's character, not too long after they meet (which is the picture on the cover/poster to the film actually), when they're on a beach in the evening.

It's just a short one but the music, the lighting, for some reason it translates really well for me. Before I went to Mexico back in June I had no real basis for comparison to that kind of humidity, how it could feel, but I imagined it.

Now, having been to Mexico and having experienced warmth like that, that scene speaks to me even more. Bottom line is I wanna be somewhere warm, haha. That scene just came to mind and reminds me of that desire, which is weird because I don't normally mind the cold. I'm chalking it up to being burned out at work and just needing a rest, I think, but yeah.

Random!

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venting

Fri, 28 Nov 2014 02:52:53 GMT

So, while browsing through Facebook I saw someone share a meme, featuring a picture of OJ Simpson receiving his verdict, with text saying something like 'Remember when all the white people rioted after the OJ acquittal? ME NEITHER' on it. I can't remember exactly, I've closed the page and don't want to look it up again, but yeah.

I bit my lip and scrolled on, not wanting to say anything, but then thought about the links and tweets I've seen about what it means to be an ally, what people can do to help, etc. I'm far from an activist or anything like that but I did go back and made a comment on the post to clarify the differences as politely as possible: at least there was a trial for OJ, which was made public and televised even, and the decision was released at an appropriate time, etc. And added a link to an article about the pumpkin riots too because, well. Ugh.

Hopefully the person will consider what I wrote, even if they don't agree with it, though it'd make me sad to think this person really does feel that way. :/

Right. Off to bed, early rise in the morning for me.

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how do you even write?

Wed, 12 Nov 2014 02:51:10 GMT

So, it's November, which means NaNo and Yuletide are on the go. I found inspiration for both, kind of, by perusing the Dear Author letters for Yuletide prior to November, finding an awesome suggestion for something that I think could work as a long story. It's not to whom I was assigned in the end, not even the same fandom, but how awesome would it be to get a 50k+ treat for Yuletide, haha? So I went with it, but have stalled out very early on at like, what, 1300 words or so. :/

I haven't even started my main assignment yet, which requires catching up a bit on the fandom - I knew that'd be likely when I offered it and yet I still did, and now can't find the DVDs which I'm sure I previously bought to watch grr arg - and I have apps for XP to do too, and yet. Nothing is coming out.

I've been at my desktop for the last bit, which has a whole host of other issues: the computer chair I use is broke-ish, meaning I can't lean back or else I'll fall out, which bothers my back after awhile (and has indirectly lead to me gaming more on the consoles as they're used while I'm on the couch, now that I think about it), and the effing wireless headset I have is pretty much dead now. I broke one of the sides of it awhile ago but taped it up and have still been using it, but now it cuts out way too often, a few times a minute even, grrr. Going to have to get a cheap pair of plug in ones instead I think, completely unplugged it and cast it aside tonight, so fed up in general so that was the breaking point hah. I need a new set anyway, but yeah.

Also I've had a bad foot for like the last week now, which it looks like it may be gout. Both sides of my family have diabetes so I wasn't sure what was going on, and I had a great aunt who actually had her legs amputated because of it, so I was a little freaked out last week and made Sara take me to the ER at like 1 in the morning last Tuesday. It was nothing like that thankfully but they said it could be gout. It got better for awhile but over the weekend it's flared up again and today it was still sore and painful at times. I popped some more Tylenol and need to make a doctor's appointment but I have no idea when I'll actually get time to see someone. Work is so effing busy still, even with three of us there now, and that's a whole 'nother rant I don't want to have now, ugh.

Ok, off for bed, because it's ok I don't have my apps finished and it's ok that I have very little done for NaNo or Yuletide, and it's ok I can't play all the games I keep buying but don't get around to playing for awhile, etc. etc. So easy to get down on myself but I know I shouldn't, but still. Mreh. Sleep will help, as will some time off which I should remind myself to look into tomorrow, even if it's just a long weekend or something, because I think I really need it.

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