melworks

Happy Memorial Day!

I'm taking the day off of my low-sodium diet and just binging on sausage, potato chips, cold slaw and soft drinks. Tomorrow, I go back to be a low-sodium dude. Tonight? We feast!

So, that's 2023 in the can.
It was, I believe, a fairly maudlin year. It could have been better, but it also could have been much, MUCH worse.
Depending, I suppose, on where you were at the end of the year.
But it's done and over with and now 2024 stetches out ahead of us, a tabula rasa, waiting for us to make our mark upon it.
Here's hoping we don't fuck it up.

We're two weeks away from Christmas and I'll be glad to see the backside of this particular holiday. Working in retail does not endear this particular holiday season to me, especially as the closer we get to the Big Day, the more like assholes people act.

Anyway, I'll be celebrating Yule on the 21st with a candlelight vigil. That's the holiday that has more spiritual reasonance with me anyway. The longest night of the year. Then we get a gradual return of the light, as we move into the proper Winter season.

Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit. Hare, hare, hare.
That works at the start of the year like it does at the start of the month. Right?
Let's hope so.
New Year's Eve was nice. Spent the evening with Jorg and Hannah. We drank three bottles of champagne, they had some delta-8 gummies and we played Guillatine until the ball drop.
Which was anticlimactic.
Was it ever exciting to stay up till midnight and watch a ball drop?
I mean, seriously. Who thought that up?
The new year has gotten off to a rocky start. My phone alarm went off this morning, even though I had turned it off last night. Lately, the clock has been jumping back an hour at random intervals, which is very frustrating. I thought it might have been a virus or malware but when I scanned my phone the antivirus/malware app said it was clean. If shennanigans continue I may just have to do a reset.
Things to do today:

SHAVE! I haven't shaved in a week and my face feels super scratchy. So, off with the beard!

Visit the Momster. This will be a short visit, to return some plastic ware I took home on Christmas that was loaded with macaroni pie & roast beef.

Check on Paul. Our friend, Gina, was staying at his place in an RV while she and her hubby are waiting on an Italian residency visa, but now they're relocated to an AirBnB and Paul's by himself again. So, I will make welfare phone checks part of my weekly thing for a little while.

Return to the Solo! It's been a week and I'm itching to play again.

I am considering a challenge posted in one of my solo Facebook groups. The base challenge is to design a dungeon room each day for the next year. At the end of the year, you'd have a 365 room megadungeon to explore.
I'm thinking of designing a town/village/community. One town per week. At the end of the year, I'd have 52 towns on file for games.

Also, tomorrow I am climbing, shakily, back onto the diet bandwagon. Not for weight loss, but for general health. First step? Giving up regular soda for diet soda.

Oh! And I have to put up my New Moon Calendar. I got it last month and it looks spiffy!

Anyway, hope y'all had a good New Year's Eve and that 2023 starts off well for everyone.

Tonight, the Autumn Season officially begins.
As I sit here, typing this, the wind is racing around the house. The sky is warm and cloudy, threatening rain. Tomorrow, the high will be in the 70s.
I may wear jeans.
Anyway, happy equinox to everyone out there. In this time of transition, may you leave behind the things that hold you back. - xoxo Me

Christmas has been quite nice this year, all things considered.
I stayed home, and had lunch with Jorg and his new girlfriend, Leeann. She cooked,and it was quite good, even though she had an accident with the mixer while making the mashed potatoes. Mashed potatoes went EVERYWHERE. I'm still finding bits and pieces hours later.
I have watched the original Miracle on 34th Street, Terry Pratchett's Hogfather and the 1970 Scrooge, starring Albert Finney. I have also watch 'The Christmas Lunch Incident' ep of The Vicar of Dibley and just finished listening to The Scarifyers' special Christmas shorts, "The Yule Lads" and "Mr. Crowley's Christmas."
I have no idea what to watch/listen to next.
Anyway, I hope everyone has had a nice Christmas.
- xoxo MEL

Happy Halloween and Samhain blessings to all this night.
I'm feeling a bit sad right now, as I decided to end my YouTube Channel this evening. I did a short video, wishing everyone farewell.
I was going to wait for the 250th video, but, like I say in the video, a good guest knows when it's time to leave. So that's what I did.
Also, I don't really feel like I can say anything else about my chosen subject. At this point, I'd just be repeating myself ad nauseum.
So, it was time to say goodbye.
Now I'm going to have this big gap in my week. I won't know what to do with myself on Tuesday afternoons anymore.
Maybe I should go and help out at the Store?
I don't know.
All I know it that it's Halloween and it's time to move forward.
I wish Jorg were home, but he had to pack up the booth at the show and then he's probably going out eating/drinking with his buddies. I did have some things I wanted to do tonight, but I don't want to leave Shadowpup alone. He gets super-neurotic if he's left alone too long.
Anyway, I hope all of you are having a good night.

It's 90 degrees outside right now, so it doesn't really feel like autumn. Nevertheless, today is Lughnasadh, or Lammas, the first of the fall harvest festivals. I'm working at the Store today and gaming tonight, so I won't be able to do a proper thanksgiving ritual until tomorrow, but later today I will be celebrating with some alcoholic beverages and possibly some snacks.
Most people associate Lughnasadh/Lammas with bread, so drinking beer is a fine way to celebrate. But people tend to forget that corn is also harvested at this time of the year, so if you're not into baking bread (or are just really bad at it, like some of us) it's perfectly acceptable to pop some popcorn. :)
Anyway, happy holiday to those that celebrate it.

Tonight is Beltane. I was going to do something more formal for the evening this year, but I just couldn't seem to pull anything together. So, I'm lying here in bed, burning some incense, letting a candle flicker on my bedside table and listening to Pagan music while I snack on Cheetos Puffs. This is not the celebration I envisioned, but it is what it is.

If I'm being totally honest, this whole month has been a bit of a disappointment to me. I'm still struggling to get back on track with my diet, I just feel this general sense of dissatisfaction with my life and I don't want to be around anyone. I just want to be alone.

Tomorrow we're having this big event at the Store and I'm dreading it. I don't want to be around a bunch of people all damn day with rock music blasting from the back room and screaming children underfoot. I'm worried that Something Bad will happen, but I don't know what.

I just want this whole month to be over already.

This isn't the entry I was anticipating writing tonight, but, like I said, it is what it is. Maybe it will rekindle the fire in my soul tomorrow. Or maybe I should just think about starting a new fire.

We'll have to see.

Today is Solstice.
Thank God.
Now we start to gain light back and things, literally, start to look a bit brighter.
I'm celebrating this afternoon as sunset with an all-night vigil. I'll be partaking in a virtual ceremony and possibly enjoying some wine and fruitcake. The last is undecided.
Also, I have to wrap Jorg's Christmas present which means I have to grab some paper and some tape.
Also, it's a Free Day! Yay!