Hmm, positivity...

I got my nerdiness going once again and got my laptop running arguably the 3rd hardest OS to install working on it, so there's that :3

And overall, I wouldn't say I'm "great", but staying as positive as I can too.

Oooh, awesome! That is quite the achievement! Congrats!

Yeah, about anyone can do at the moment, probably.

Sorry to hear about work stuff. I hope things get resolved soon!

As for nice things with myself:
- I feel like I'm doing better with my own art lately. I've been finishing more stuff, and felt more confident in sharing it.
- The art-focused book club I run for some Discord friends has responded really positively to the latest book we're reading. I think it has the biggest turnout out of any of the books we've read so far.
- My friend's boyfriend's dad needed some tech support and I was asked if I could help. I was able to get everything sorted out in about half an hour, and he was super thankful about it! I don't get to do that kind of stuff as often for people irl and especially not with strangers. It was a nice experience.
- I've been getting a lot of commissions back as artists get to my spot in their queues after their winter/holiday breaks, and all of them have filled my heart with joy. <3

Lots of good stuff! Happy to hear about all of that. A discord book club sounds like a ton of fun too!

LIving in a Dilbert comic are we? You have my sympathies.

I recently managed to lose 30 pounds in three months, so that has me feeling a bit better about myself than I have in a while.

Yeah... Yeah, just about.

And major congratulations on that! That's really impressive!

As someone who went through the absolute stress filled heck that is the job market and corpo garbo, and having the stress eat up a whole year in my case, I empathize and wish for a drastically better turn around than what I experienced, and for you to be able to get back to 'normal' quickly!

As for positivity...My parents are moving down closer to me again this month, and while that will be a hectic time I look forward to having them 'within driving distance' for things such as dinners out and other forms of assistance! (both ways). So that's been a bit of good happening to me as of late! :3

Thank you very much for those well wishes. Man, I sure hope it's not gonna turn into that, but hopes are things are gonna settle down by next week and we can start getting into a new normal.

And hey, that's really good! Always nice to at least have the option to visit without too much trouble.

You can always trust the corporate suits to fuck things up for everyone, can't you? I'm really sorry you're having to deal with so much nonsense, and fingers crossed it all smooths out eventually. Though I'm glad to know you've got plans in place just case things go tits up, to borrow a phrase from our English friends.

Sending *hugs* and lots of good vibes your way. And speaking of, it's Grace's birthday this Thursday, so we're planning a modest celebration for that, and then a slightly more elaborate one that weekend when we can get together with her family. Also, the local newspaper is running an article on my writer's group this week, with a part two next week. So bunny gets her picture in the paper and while the focus is more on the group itself, and our published authors, we figure it can't hurt to get some exposure in general, either.

Also, we're looking at some very warm temperatures this week. Which is all kinds of wrong for March, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna enjoy them!

Yeah... I don't think I can share any specifics, but imagine a train very slowly approaching a cliff, the crew on board the train telling the conductor for almost a year that there's a cliff ahead and it's gonna be pretty bad if the train goes off that cliff, and last week the train kind of went off that cliff. And I am still on it and probably will end up being the one to explain to our conductor what the damages are and how I am not qualified to put out the fires that are now raging in his bureau.

Thank you very much for the hugs and good vibes! Graces birthday is of course always a great occasion to celebrate. And getting into the newspaper sounds really cool too! I hope you get to enjoy all of that.

Oh sure, I wasn't expecting you to. I think it's wise to keep a bit of a buffer between your professional/working life and sites like this in any case. But man. that sounds like all too familiar a scenario, and I hope that, whatever happens, you won't be the one who has to take the shit for it.

My pleasure, and thank you! I'm sure Grace and I will have a great time for her birthday, and the article has been fun, too. Small town shenanigans at their best, but not bad even so!

Yeah, for sure. For one I don't really want to bring too many of my real life worries into a space that gives me respite from them, and secondly I don't think I am even allowed to share any specifics. And when times are as tense as they are, I'd rather not push my luck. But I am preparing to say "Those aren't my tasks!" and "Those aren't my responsibilities!" a lot in the upcoming weeks.

Tsk, doesn't that figure. I can't remember what field you work in, but in my experience, upper management, and usually even middle management, typically have their heads firmly up their asses in almost every industry you care to name. Sorry you're having to deal with that shit, and I hope it smooths out soon.

Happy thoughts, though? Gotta birthday coming up on the 13th, which should be fun. (And I see Megan already said, too, the sly bunny.) And I'm getting to teach my nieces how to drive. Which is a bit nerve-wracking, I admit, but it means I get to spend more time with both of them, which is never a bad thing. And it's a bright, warm, sunny day, which is always nice.

I work as an acoustic engineer, performing tests on all sorts of parts and materials. And yeah... management kinda... uhm... left. Which is a huge problems for a lot of reasons I honestly don't really want to get into right now.

Birthdays are always fun, so happy to hear about that! And hey, it's super nice you get to spend more time with your nieces too. It sounds pretty wild to me, cause teaching someone how to drive if you're not a driving instructor is quite illegal over here, but it seems to be pretty normal over in the states. Always interesting to learn about those differences.

Oh man. That does sound like a clusterfuck! But I wasn't meaning to pry! It's none of my business, I just brought it up 'cause I haven't worked in any field that didn't seem equally fucked is all.

As for the driving thing, perhaps I should clarify that they are getting licensed instruction. They're taking a driver's ed course in school. It's more that, because they only have their learners permits, they have to have a fully license driver in the car with them when they're behind the wheel, and that's me. And I'm really just reinforcing what they learn in school and there to remind them of the rules of the road if need be. So I'm less teaching and more supplimenting the teaching.

Also, I think it's perfectly legal for parents/guardians/aunts to teach you how to drive here in the states, it's just that you're encouraged to go to a pro. Might depend on the state, but my mom was the one who taught my sis and me.

No worries, I didn't think you were prying at all. It's just that the whole situation is super confusing and I am not sure how much I am even allowed to say at the time. Tons of internal politics and unclarity about who even is responsible for what anymore.

Ah, right! Sorry, I might have gotten that a bit wrong then. We do have programs like that here too, where under certain circumstances adolescents are allowed to drive if there's a licensed driver with them keeping watch. I also don't know all that much about driving since I've never owned a car of my own and the times I've been behind the wheel since driving school I can count on two hands.

So yeah, sounds like laws are a bit more loose over in the states, but not by that much.

Yeah, I get the impression that the US is a bit more laissez-faire than the rest of the world about a good many things like that. Plus, around here, it probably helps that you've got kids who've already been driving trucks and tractors and things all over the family farm since they were old enough to reach the pedals, so they already know something abou it.

Man I've seen what those kind of corporate stupidity can do to a person first-hand - I do hope it settles real soon, for your sake.

Here's the same usual; Tentacles, tiredness, self-doubt and a lot of games :'D

Thank you very much. We can only hope!

Well, tentacles and games are fun at least :D

Hope things work out for you!

Something nice that happened: I decided to buy a particular game for playstation the other day and when I turned on the console (which had been idle for a few weeks) there was a notification that the game I wanted was on sale.

Oh hecc yeah! Always nice when then happens. Which game did you get?

“Into the Radius” it’s a VR horror-ish game

Oh yeah! I've seen friends play that one. It looked quite interesting!

I’m still figuring it out. It’s pretty good even if horror games aren’t quite my thing

Oiiiii...That's rough. Hope you get the best outcome from that!

Thank you very much.

I hope you stay safe at work!

As for positivity, last month we celebrated my Nephew's first Birthday!

Thank you. Even in the worst case scenario, I still have plenty of safeties, it's just a dificult time right now.

And hey, that's awesome! Awww, so young still!

Yeah. Hopefully it gets better.

Yeah, he seemed to have fun. And he didn't wear his cake like most babies tend to do. XD

I bought a house
Not meaning to brag or anything, but I'm very happy about it.

I hope your company gets its shit together soon!