My sister in law and my niece just stopped over for a Covid-safe gift exchange. They dropped off two gifts for my step kids and picked up two gifts for my niece and one of my nephews. I was able to extend a hearty HoHoHo as they were driving away. It was all super festive, 2020’s style.
Now I have to figure out how to do the same for my sister’s kids. There are still two nephews worth of gifts that Santa Rob needs to deliver! I have a day off next week. I’m hoping I can sneak over there and drop them off. HoHoHo and all that fun stuff!
I hereby declare that Christmas 2021 does not end until January 2022! You heard it here first, from Santa Rob himself.
The kids got here a couple of hours ago. That makes me very happy.
Lots going on at work. Changes coming. Small, low level reorganization. Good things on the way. I just can’t talk about it, not that I would say anything outside of the most vague references the English language will allow anyway.
The Book of Boba Fett is on tonight. I don’t know if anyone will want to watch it with me. I liked the first episode, but I think I might have been the only one in the house who did. A co-worker said the second episode is excellent. Fingers crossed. Hopefully it has Han Solo coming around for some pay back, you Boba Bitch. A boy can dream, right?
I did some music before work this morning. I put a MIDI bass part onto one of the two new January song ideas. No melody yet. Nothing to sing. I have a few re-records ready for vocals, but I want to have something new to sing before I go for the drive again.
The Bruins won last night. They are 3-0 since coming back from the Covid shut down. They play Minnesota tomorrow. Keep the streak going.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland gave a speech on the investigation into last year’s treasonous terrorist insurrection at the US Capital. Remember that? When a bunch of trump cult maga terrorists tried to violently overturn the 2020 presidential election? The speech boils down to this: We’re working on it. That’s all I wanted to hear, Merrick. Well… maybe that and you’re planning on picking up the pace. Fascist heads need to roll.
17 minutes until the end of the work day. I’m ready.
My CPAP machine pissed me right off last night. I went to bed at 11:00 and then woke up a little before 2:00am with the mask sliding all over my damn face and leaking like a… like a… like a something that leaks a lot, I don’t know. I sat up and screwed around with all of the harness straps and stuff and eventually was able to get back to sleep.
How much does it suck when the thing that is supposed to help you sleep stops you from sleeping? It sucks a lot.
Change of subject…
When the hell am I going to use all of this time off? My company changed the way they dish out time off, including taking a bunch of holidays that we used to have off and turning them into floating holidays and rolling that together with the couple of personal days and the huge pile of vacation days and renaming it all Personal Time Off. We accrue x number of hours each month and there is a cap on how much we can carry before we stop accruing more.
The good news is that we get a shit load of personal time off. The bad news is we actually have to use it if we want to keep getting more. Oh, the webs we weave. I am about a minute below the cap right now so I have to use some time this month… and next month… and every month. That’s a good thing, but it’s also a logistical struggle, you know? Times are tough. Anyway, what I really need to do is take a week off and get the accrual down a bit so I have some breathing room. Good idea! But when? The best time would be a time when kids are here. Bellana won’t be home for months because she’s going to be in Europe for the next semester. Harry will come home on breaks. Good idea! When is the next break? March 7-11! I’ll put in for that week!
Marjorie Taylor Greene has been permanently suspended from Twitter. Devin Nunes has left Congress. Monday has arrived and the holiday season is over. Back to work with us.
That’s the news and I am outa here.
I don’t want to go to work today. I am sitting at my desk, looking at my computer and just thinking over and over again, I don’t want to go to work today. Really, once I punch in I will be over it and everything will be normal again, but right now? Damn it, I don’t want to go to work today.
There isn’t much else going on. I think we’re a little burned out from Christmas/New Years and are sort of ready to settle back into life. Not work though. I don’t want to go to work today. The kids will be going to their father’s tonight and staying there until some point on Wednesday. Bellana leaves for her study abroad program next week and Harry returns to school the following weekend.
For me personally, I have super shaggy Covid hair again. Back when the pandemic started, about 22 months ago, my hair was in need of a cut. Everything shut down though so I had to deal. After a month or so it was so long it was insane and Jen cut it for me. Now here we are, two years later. I was planning on getting a hair cut at the beginning of December, but that little omicron bitch came along and messed that up. I know I have three vaccine shots and everyone will be masked up, but I still don’t want to risk getting something and passing it on to the kids and screwing up their plans. Once Harry moves back to school I’ll get a hair cut. Until then… super shaggy Covid hair. Again.
There is only one other item of blog-worthy note today. It feels like it’s kicking off quite a bit early this year but…
It’s getting nearer and nearer to bedtime on Sunday January 2nd. When today ends, the holiday season ends with it. You know what that means, right? That means we go back to work tomorrow. Ugh.
I don’t want to go back to work tomorrow. I should have taken this whole upcoming week off. I have so much vacation time banked that I am going to stop accruing more if I don’t start using it. I have one day off booked already mid-month, but I really should have taken January 3-7 off.
Change of subject…
Homework assignment for myself: Research Maastricht University, including the city it lives in, and everything about The Netherlands that relates to it that I can find.
Most New Years I try to do a recap of the previous year by pulling one photo per month from my Flickr account. Here’s the post for 2021.
Given the circumstances there wasn’t much to choose from, and much of it was less than happy. I did my best to stay positive though.
January: what started as an attempt to redesign Jen’s bedroom closet turned into a major redesign of the whole bedroom.
February: when the bedroom redesign was done we moved to the kitchen. We didn’t finish until well into March, but it was a huge part of our February. Harry helped a ton with all of the new pre-fab furniture.
March: It wasn’t enough to lift the lock down, but I got my first vaccine shot. Team Pfizer, babie.
April: I got my second vaccine dose in April, and that did partly lift my personal lock down, but I’m not going for that this time. Instead I’m going with finally getting out from under the cellar flooding. Words can’t describe the relief I felt, though it did end up being short lived.
May: I turned 50 and my wife shocked me with a colossal birthday present.
June: One of the best days I’ve ever had. Harry graduated from high school.
July: It might not seem like a big deal, but I braved the pandemic and went to the eye doctor and got new glasses. What should have been a routine event was made stressful and difficult by Covid. My full vaccine dosage came through for me though.
August: Another huge landmark day. Harry moved into his dorm. The empty nest was in full swing and I’m still having a hard time with it, but his Fall Semester grades were excellent.
September: Remember that thing about the cellar flood? September was the month where we found the source of the second flood and got that jerk taken care of too.
October: Shot number three. I got my booster.
November: There were many drives to Vermont this year. November was one of two that I made alone.
December: There is only one moment I could use for December. The best moment of the entire year. The Christmas miracle.
And there it is, my readers and only friends. The Flickr Year in Review.
Let’s hope 2022 gives us fewer awful moments, and many more excuses for happy bad photographs.
The New Year has arrived. Happy January 1, 2022 (2020 too, and yes I expect to write it that way forever).
2020 was the most difficult year of my life, thanks to Covid-19, and when it ended I was elated and hopeful for the future. There was a vaccine and soon enough we’d all have it and Covid-19 would be over.
2021 turned out worse. All of that elation was for nothing. We are in a worse situation than ever, Covid-ily speaking, and my parents had such a terrible time health wise that I spent most of the year cycling through feelings of heartbreak, anxiety, frustration, anger (at myself), and crushingly crippling guilt. I managed to make life worse for pretty much everyone I care about.
So if you’re wondering why I am so happy to put 2021 behind us… there you go.
2022 (2020 too) is a welcome change, even though it is literally meaningless, but I don’t feel the optimism I felt last year. Right now I feel a sense of impending doom. How much worse can things get? What will the next nightmare turn out to be? Will Covid-19 mutate into something worse, like a zombie virus? Will Aliens invade and turn us into gourmet meals? Will Bill Gates activate the microchips and melt what’s left of our brains?
I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
I have a few resolution-type things. More like goals than resolutions.
Weight. In a couple of weeks I will go to Lowell General Hospital to drop off some paperwork. Next month I will have a Zoom appointment to start the weight loss surgery process. I am utterly terrified of this. I tried to do it once before and cancelled the first appointment out of fear. I couldn’t deal with it. The difference this time is I am more terrified of not doing it. It’s time. I can’t keep living like this. The goal then is to get to the end and have the surgery and then follow the proper post-surgical requirements. We postponed Harry’s graduation present/trip to Disney World that was supposed to happen during the summer of 2020. It is now planned for January 2023. I want all of this to be behind me by then. If it’s not then I’ll deal, but that’s my hope.
Get my parents’ house ready to sell. I had planned on chipping away at this over the last few months but my back has been in such bad shape I haven’t had it in me (see the previous entry on the list). Also, Covid. Shit. I don’t want to let anyone down again. I want to do this right.
Play with the band again. It’s not a want. It’s a need. It’s a mental health thing. I need this. We were talking about the possibility of a get together a month or so ago, but then omicron ass fucked everything. Now? I don’t know.
See the Harry Potter reunion special. This one is totally attainable. In fact, I am going to hit post and go watch it now.
As the clock struck midnight I gave my beautiful wife a kiss and then we opened the front door and booted 2021’s ass out to the street while the kids opened the side door and welcomed 2022 in. Then we all hugged out our relief at the end of the shit year that was 2021.
Inside the Red Head's Head 