Category: Life

The Joys of Starting Kicks

“Hey, that video channel I like is making a calendar for next year,” I thought, back in August of last year. “I should throw some money at that.” The estimated shipping date was November, that’d be plenty of time (even accounting for the holiday shipping rush) to make it here in time for 2026, right?

Hmm. So, about that.

November came and went, no shipping news. December came and a week or so in, backers received a “shipping soon” message. Another week or so after that we received a “shipping is happening” notification. On the 30th, the project told everyone that “shipping is complete.”

Huh. Well, that’s funny, because a bunch of us never got our promised packages. Or even tracking info. Grumpy comments accumulated on the Kickstarter project notifications.

Come January 2nd, they posted a “whoopsy-daisy” message: A “small percentage (between 5-7%)” of backers’ shipments just… didn’t. Communication issue of some sort, apparently. We were told we’d have tracking info by Monday the 5th. My calendar arrived, intact (thank goodness), on the 6th. Never did get a tracking number but I guess that’s irrelevant now.

That’s the “fun” of crowdfunded goodies: You place your bets and you take your chances. It’s a great-looking calendar, at least.

[edit, 1pm the day of posting – The ticket I opened on Dec 31 asking “where’s my tracking info” received a response… a few minutes ago, saying “looks like it was delivered.” Yes, thanks so very much, that’s great.]

7 January, 2026
So Long To Twenty Twenty Five

I spent several days over the last few weeks ruminating on what to write about the year gone past. Music? Didn’t really buy much. Shows? Didn’t watch very many, and the only one of note I already wrote about. Games? Mostly the same games I’d been playing, or the return of really old games I’d given up years prior. Movies? A few, they were okay I guess.

Life wasn’t even that bad, honestly. My health’s fine, work’s fine, home life is fine. But the oppressive pall hanging over every waking moment? That’s nowhere near fine.

And so, I shall leave this year with the following heartfelt (yet delightful) image, courtesy of the cast (and presumably crew) of one of my all-time favorite TV shows.

Let’s enjoy the visual and pointedly not think about exactly how many of those pictured above are still with us today.

For the sake of us all I hope that ’26 treats us better. Maybe we could get a crab rave or two, as a treat.

31 December, 2025
Cruel Summer

I only managed three posts in August. Whoops.

Look. The Box o’ Fun transformed me into a moa bird, then we triggered the post-battle cutscene, and… well, this isn’t entirely my fault okay?

Let’s catch up a bit.
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4 September, 2025
Astoria, 19 Years Later

In a recent work “hangout” chat, I mentioned in passing that some day I’d like to get out to the Oregon Coast again. As someone who neither owns or operates a motor vehicle I’m reliant upon tourism services, twice-daily bus service, or the kindness of friends to see the ocean so it doesn’t happen very often. One of my coworkers noted in the chat that, in fact, they had an Astoria trip planned for late July and would I be interested in a lift to & from?

Sure I would!

Thus preparations began and so, yesterday, I went on a little tourism adventure.

This model, available for viewing at the Heritage Museum in Astoria, Oregon, depicts a mockup of a dog-powered wheel used to churn butter. No, I am not making this up.

Commence a lot of walking punctuated by museum visits and stone benches.
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27 July, 2025
Safety, On The Off Chance

When I moved into my new bedroom in the rental house last year I saw that the room came with a neat knickknack shelf right over where the bed goes. How delightful! So I put some things on it.

Please pay no attention to how incredibly dusty that mini Mini has become over the past year.

Then, one night last week, my brain decided it would be fun to ponder what would happen if… oh, let’s say, there was an earthquake. Would I want a solid chunk of LEGO to land on me from that height? What about the gooseneck reading lamp with the metal base? Or the Zentraedi Officer’s Pod?

Why did it take this long to even ponder the question? Because I’m not always terribly bright, that’s why. But once the realization occurred to me at all, I couldn’t let go of it. So I had a rethink. Now the lamp is gone (I rarely used it anyway), the heavy plastic items are in the glass display case (remember that?), and the overhead shelf is populated by much, much softer objects.

The lizard doggo, the Ruan Mei “creations,” and the quaggan should be much, much less likely to do physical damage to me if they fall off the shelf for some reason.

And so I sleep just that little bit easier at night now.

22 July, 2025
Slow News Month – June ’25

Only four posts all month long, and one of them is “sorry I haven’t been posting much this month?” Hmm. Backsliding, apparently.

On the shows-to-watch front, Murderbot remains excellent, the “RockLady” anime was a delight, the “Girlilla” and the “Ninja+Assassin” anime much less so, and I still need to work up the oomph to finish off Apocalypse Hotel. Never mind picking Macross Delta back up again…

The co-op and the solo Satisfactory games are coming along nicely. My goal during this vacation week (look at how sneakily I worked that in there) is to finish off the nuclear power plant, and if I do so soon enough I’ll do a photo tour to show it off.

Other than than, life’s ticking along okay. Peace and quiet are most of what I want in this life lately, as long as I can continue to afford the cost of living. Which, of course, is not a guarantee even in good times… which these really aren’t. Ah well.

30 June, 2025