Let’s get caught up. I’ll go first and you can listen to me ramble.
Think of this post like one of those vignette shows where each segment is tangentially inspired by or related to the previous segment.
Autumnal blessings to you all, dear internet friends! Perhaps you noticed my absence in the blogosphere for the past month – or has it been longer? Trust me, it wasn’t for lack of trying. I had grand plans to write something at least once a week, but every time I sat down to do it, my anxiety decided to stage a takeover and I found myself lost in an endless TikTok scroll. But at this exact moment at least I’m here, armed with photos and a list and a determination to get something out to you.
Since I last wrote, here’s what’s happened:
Hurricane Ophelia came and went. We had lots of localized flooding that closed many area businesses and gave both Krystal and I a day off from work. We sheltered from the storm and didn’t lose power, and for that we are thankful.
Over on ye olde book of faces, I asked my followers there to tell me what fictional character they associated with me, and I got many answers like Garrett (my long-running D&D character), Raine Whispers (The Owl House), Pusheen, Peter Pan, Tarzan, and Wirt (Over the Garden Wall).
Speaking of media posts, I also did a thing where everyone who commented got a random song from a random playlist on my Spotify. Here’s a non-linked list of the songs I handed out:
- God’s Dark Heaven | Those Poor Bastards
- Betty | Taylor Swift
- Swing Life Away | Rise Against
- American Eulogy: Mass Hysteria/Modern World | Green Day
- Season of the Witch | Lana Del Ray
- Hallelujah | Paramore
- Whiskey Lullaby | Brad Paisley (feat. Alison Krauss)
- Patient 139 | Tess Stevens
- Psycho Killer | Talking Heads
- Sons and Daughters | The Decemberists
- Killing Me Softly With His Song | Roberta Flack
- 21 Guns | Green Day (feat. Rebecca Naomi Jones, Christina Sajous, Mary Faber, Stark Sands, John Gallagher Jr., Michael Esper, The American Idiot Broadway Company) (Album Version)
- Various Storms and Saints | Florence + The Machine
- Save Rock and Roll | Fall Out Boy, Elton John
- Another Way to Die | Jack White, Alicia Keys
Speaking of playing songs on my phone, back at the end of September I was out and about doing some work things when my phone just mostly stopped working and I started getting a “SIM Card Failed” error with no signal or anything. I had quite the time trying to contact Support when the phone I was calling about wasn’t working, but eventually we got it figured out but despite their troubleshooting nothing was successful.
I went in to the store where they replaced the SIM card but still no luck – it seemed that the internal antenna simply gave up. With how interconnected everything is right now a phone is a necessity and so I had to purchasing a new phone if for no other reason than I need it to do my job. Thankfully the difference between the amount I owed and trade-in value was negligible and I was able to upgrade my phone with minimal change to my monthly bill. Silver linings and all that.
Speaking of unexpected things, I received this amazing orange hat crocheted by a friend – Krystal and she did a great job picking out the color. When worn correctly it should look similar to car ears up top, and another friend commented that it matched my “Orange Cat Energy”. If you’re unfamiliar with that term, in theory it refers to the idea that orange cats exhibit typically chaotically stupid behavior and/or share one brain cell among all orange cats. I don’t know how much I agree that my behavior is stupid, but I’ll gladly accept or acknowledge the other traits.
Speaking of cats, I picked up the new John Scalzi book Starter Villain. It’s a James Bond-esque parody complete with a lair built on a volcanic island. There are also cats, and no lasting harm comes to the cats. This was so important for me to know that I flipped to the end and then scanned backwards just looking for their names to make sure they were OK. Don’t worry, I didn’t spoil the ending for myself and I won’t spoil it for you, either. Suffice to say this is a quite enjoyable fun read and I highly recommend it.
Speaking of John Scalzi, it was five years ago today that I met John Scalzi and gave him a homemade apple pie which he later described as exquisite. This is still a highlight of both my author-meeting and pie-making experience. I doubt he remembers this, but I certainly do.
Speaking of anniversaries, there are other big anniversaries this month:
First, October 4 was the second anniversary of my dad’s passing. It was easier this year, and for that I am grateful. I did take the day off as I didn’t know how my mind would be – and I have plenty of time built up and it was a slow period at work, so . . .
The day included stroopwafel:
Second, as of last Thursday I have been officially out as nonbinary to everyone for an entire year. Most everyone knew before then, but October 19, 2022 is when I essentially said “screw it, I’m making sure everyone knows.”
You can read that initial post here.
Earlier in October there was a weeklong mental health initiative at work. I visited the Pride Club table and was given this amazing frog by my friend Theo – the frog’s name is Bean and he’s already been named and claimed by Krystal; here he is chillin’ with Lil Huck the Sasquatch.
But getting back to the anniversaries, on this day in 2006 My Chemical Romance released their third studio album Welcome to the Black Parade in the United States.
And speaking of My Chemical Romance, the other day I was in Spirit Halloween and one of the displays immediately brought to mind the secret/hidden/bonus track from that album, “Blood” :
I even made a TikTok video about it.
Speaking of My Chemical Romance, you might know that the lead singer of MCR is Gerard Way, and one of his more well-known solo songs is “Baby, You’re a Haunted House”. Friday, October 13, was National Haunted House day. So if you live in a haunted house or know of one, I hope you showed it some love.
Speaking of love, much earlier this month Krystal and I were able to meet up with friends visiting the area from Florida. We had a great time talking over brunch.
Of course, I have a few other food photos from over the past month:
Then there was the day we hosted 900 fifth graders for a Careers on Wheels event – charmingly named COW. I was working the early morning shift when my coworker bestie came by and asked “how are you? need anything?” and I quipped back “just coffee”
a short while later . . .
Today was one of those days my friends amazed me
And speaking of food, did you hear that there’s a new “hottest pepper in the world”? They’re calling it “pepper x” and this past weekend I came up with a right banger of a post, though it flopped even for me. I never, ever do big numbers on social media. Except for right when I first started blogging, that is. . .
Oh, I was also sick with norovirus somewhere in the last month, and that was not fun AT ALL
But speaking of fun, what has been fun is playing my Nosferatu vampire in our Spooky Season World of Darkness campaign. You can read all about her adventures to-date on her character wikia.
And now I think that brings us all up to speed . . .
What have you been doing?
Running In My Head 