Good morning (barely), and happy Saturday!

I hope everybody has slept in and had a warm concoction and a tasty foodstuff.

I have a noon appointment and then, since I will be out in the car, shall proceed to run through a handful of Car Enhanced Errands. (Most of my regular shopping is just on foot.)

Well, I haven't eaten yet--maybe it's time to think about it. Browsed Netflix a little, found some entertaining things but nothing to write home about.

I've been working on prepping stuff for the new semester. Falling behind schedule, as usual.

I slept in all the way to the middle of the afternoon. Yesterday turned me into a stress tangle, between emergency firefighting on warnings from a printer which I'll be dealing with all next week, having to assess my ability to take on additional tasks for a project later this month (nonexistent!), and health care professionals blowing up my phone about my A-fib after a week-and-a-half of silence. I think I retreated into a coma in response.

I'm currently weighing whether it would be better to fix a microwave dinner and relax in front of the TV for the evening, or get cleaned up and go to a restaurant far, far away from my home office.

I hope everybody has slept in and had a warm concoction and a tasty foodstuff.

This was from yesterday, which means I didn't even go on my computer yesterday at all. Huh.

I had a warm comfort-food option both yesterday and today. The BOGO at my local supermarket forced me to buy 4 packages of English Muffins, which I don't indulge in often, but dang they are tasty. Nooks and crannies with melted butter, FTW.

I'm sorry for the stress, Matt. I hope you were able to get some relaxation accomplished.

I seem to be a bundle of stress here too, even in the dreams. The most recent one vaguely remembered was an exam variety. I think it was a qualification-type exam, for a position or acceptance to a program, maybe? The questions didn't even remotely resemble the answer options. A question like how to describe the weather, the answers being chair, cow, church, or bowling. Except the questions were super complex and multi-faceted, as were the answer options. It was exhausting. I can still see myself staring at the page!

I’ve developed a congestion cough. Horrible when I first wake up and then short bouts randomly. Boo, do not like. I’m going to take a hot shower with non-vicks vapory stuff in it and then go to the pharmacy and get halls and a humidifier (I had nose bleeds last week).

Sorry for the stress Matt. Hope you can turn your brain off today.

You’re welcome, msbelle? (Also, sorry!)

Sorry about your stress, Laura. It feels like we're all overdue for some quiet, boring times.

Also sorry to hear you're dealing with congestion, msbelle. May you soon be free of both phlegm and Mucinex's disgusting ads to get rid of it.

Today seems a vast improvement stress wise. Up at a reasonable hour on a Sunday morning for a heathen layabout, already got my grocery shopping for the week done and put away in my cupboards, bought refill scratch pads for my cats, and fed the whole household.

I'm having my mom over this evening to watch the Golden Globes, so I need to sweep several rooms and do a bit of tidying up. The thought of it isn't making me want to curl up under a blanket, so I'll take that as a win.

Oh, I forgot about the Globes. I could use some fashion distraction.

Hello again, friends! I've mostly been lurking and not posting for a while. I could blame work stress, perimenopause, brain weasels -- take your pick!

For about two years now, I've been putting serious consideration into quitting my job, as things have been slowly sliding into resentment and misery. I've been doing a lot of prep over that time and had just started working with a financial advisor when my work org sent out a notification at the end of September about a voluntary severance program. These had been offered in different organizations at my company and I'd had my eye out, as with my 17.5 years of service I'd qualify for about 8 months of severance pay. And I was like, how fortuitous that I could get paid to leave when it's something I desperately want to do anyway!

So I went for it. This will be my last week before my separation date where I enter into the great unknown. Other than recovering from burnout and spending more time on creative shit, I don't have any immediate plans other than to go to the Art of Manga exhibit before it closes.

I still owe David a drink. But hopefully we can make that happen now that I'll have a lot more free time.