Hi!

Been a hot minute since I wrote one of these, but quite a few important things happened as of late, and it's only fair to queue you in so you know my heading.
So, here we go! (for the tiktok afflicted minds there's a tl;dr at the bottom :3)

First, my health.
Physical: blood work is worrisome (glucose values high among other things), recurring Cubital Tunnel Syndrome in drawing arm and an increased awareness in small physical nuisances of which several people have told me, independently, that I should be checked out for fibromyalgia. It'll at least explain the random physical pains/stiffness and random tiredness. Better rest, exercise and nutrition are slowly starting to help. But I got a long way ahead of me.

Mental: my dad's stroke really did a number on me, it being a day after my kid's birthday last year and barely a few weeks after a close friend's mother (who saw me as an adopted son) died. The man's been in and out of hospitals, can't talk, can't remember and very often regresses to the capacities of a child. It pray nobody will ever have to see the person that raised them the most in life end up like that. And now, in his current frail body, just after a recent amputation (you can't make this stuff up) he's got COVID. And it's taking it's toll. Pair that with financial struggles (new car in the mix for kids) and the struggles of the day-to-day an autistic (yup, it's been proven now) like me tends to run into and let's say it's time for a small break. A breather if you will, to get my mental affects in order.

So,
I'll be taking time off, starting Friday. Just shutting the monitor off and touching grass. If people are truly worried about anything you can still reach me on the usual channels, but the pen, and any discussion that might involve one, is put off till the 7th of Juli. At which point I'll return full force.
Made a deal with the missus (who switched jobs which accidentally gave her a few extra weeks off) that the month that follows is mine to use for work. Meaning no distractions, no patchy/interrupted streams or other such shenanigans. Just straight up time to catch up and reorganize myself.

tl;dr
Took physical and mental beating the past year. Physically: worrisome blood work, CTS, and vague Fibromyalgia-esque symptoms (unproven, but multiple knowledgeable people suspect it). Mentally: dad, "adoptive" mother died, finances, autism and family life. All these led me to take time off till the 7th for some introspection, then a month set aside to put that into practice alongside work.

Footnote: I am doing alright, and this "vacation" and subsequent month with the missus taking kids/household off my back will make sure I'll start doing even better.
Thank you for reading and I hope you're all having a wonderful summer.