may your trials end in full bloom

the baby groundhog really hates me, I fear. The cucumber had  just started to bounce back and she decided she'd put a stop to it--didn't even EAT the leaves, just bit them off and threw them on the deck 🥺I had, moments previous, taken a picture of the glorious progress. Alas, alas. 

I ordered a gate today to install that will hopefully end the problem of baby groundhog stealing greens, but we'll see. 

One of the things I'm enjoying about living with my brothers is that two of us are foodies and the third person will Literally Eat Anything, They Do Not Care, so once a week Team Foodie stands in the kitchen, looks at everything we have and what we need to use, and we come up with a Meal Plan (kind of). 

Sometimes the meal plan is "we are def ordering out these two days because it's gonna be a hundred degrees" and sometimes it's planning a few elaborate meals for holidays/birthdays and then leftovers for the other days, but this week was fun because I have CRAVINGS (hello, PMS) so the plan is: 

Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Roasted chicken with potatoes and cucumber salad
Wednesday: Herby beef stew
Thursday: Take out 
Friday: Tacos
Saturday: Carnitas 

It's nice to be able to share the domestic workload, is all. 

In other news, they posted the Occtis playlist this week and I am loving it! 



( more rambling below )

 before the baby groundhog: 


after the baby groundhog: 


we did raise them up today to get them a little more out of her grasp and we have a gate for the porch coming. T-T we'll see if it helps

It took an entire day but : 

•  I emptied the closet
• cleaned it
• installed drawers/shelves
• went through every article of clothing that i own and bagged up donations 
• put everything away T-T 
• I have a mountain of laundry to do because I've been putting it off for two weeks
• emptied out the dresser and moved everything from the dresser to the closet

I still need to:

• take the dresser outside and arrange a donation pick up for it 
• drop of the clothes for donation 
• re-arrange the bedroom a bit 

I also wrote almost five thousand words on a story, so...that's cool too. 

think I'm gonna start using my reading journal for fic, because if I'm gonna only use it for conventionally published media.....I'll hadly ever update it 
 

I requested this doodle literally last night at midnight and got it back this morning and they're just PERFECT.  

Let's do a quick March Wrap up! 

•  Quitting my job was hella the correct decision (more on that later, will change this to a link) 
• Getting a used EV was also the correct decision 
• Arirang is going to be the album of the year and I fucking LOVE IT SO MUCH 
• I'm a little sad that I didn't get tickets to the world tour, but I had just made the choice to quit my job and honestly, I don't do well at concerts. 
• I've been slowly increasing my physical activity instead of wallowing in my illness and it's HARD and I hate it but I know I NEED TO because doing just tai chi isn't enough 
• I sold the 2006 to a friends' dad that "hates computers in cars" 
• going to start a game of Thousand Year Old Vampire because the hard copy of the book got here 
• I am figuring out who I am away from the big blue box and...it's a lot. I haven't needed my anxiety medication three times a day and I'm down to once a day. It's wild. 
• I don't like gatekeeping but sometimes folks wander into a fandom I am in and do All The Wrong Things and have Very Bad Takes and I strongly consider building a fence, shake my head, and block them. 
• My birthday was excellent, however, the strawberry confetti box cake I made as DREADFUL and we had to buy a Second Cake. It felt like a very correct and hobbity thing to do 
• I published a new chapter of Gloss Coffee and started working on outlines for a cyberpunk AU and a Vampire AU that is not the "kidnapped sire" prompt. 
• Not working means I can listen to my body, which is great, but I've ignored it for so long sometimes I'm not Really Sure what it's trying to tell me and that suuuuuucks 
• Today is Trans Day of Visibility and I'm non-binary and generally don't consider myself to be trans, but somedays, like today, I am for sure a puppy boy. 
• Really thinking about doing a "omega influencer" fic 
• I need to enroll in classes for Skills, but I told myself I would take two months off from EVERYTHING before doing so. Month one is down, now I get to enjoy April, and then we're into the grind. I had decided to look into medical coding/medical billing, but I will also look into programming type things as well. A coursera membership seems to be worth it. I may also look into becoming a notary public. 

Watching: Alternating Rotten Mango and Private Nightmares
Listening: BE by BTS
Working on: general tidy up, head sorting 

The New (to me) car got here on Tuesday and it's SO PERFECT. It's weird to feel proud about a purchase, but I bought it outright (using my savings) and I'm so pleased. I've been driving a 2006 for about 7 years now (it was my dads) and before that I was driving a 1996. The difference between the cars is...Wild. Like, the tech is light years apart. The comfort in the new (to me) car is outstanding. It's a 2021, so it's probably the newest thing I've ever driven. 

I have a lot to work on in the house, and I need to order the plants for the garden (we're aiming for firefly / pollinator habitat), as well as ordering the raised beds for the vegetables. 

Not working is weird, and I'm having a lot of trouble deciding what to do with my days. Being able to just be chronically ill without having to force myself through 8 hour work days is really nice, and if in the middle of the day I'm too tired to keep going I can just take a nap. 

I do need to enroll in classes for certifications (I need to learn SOME kind of marketable skill so I can get a new job) but right now I'm just going to enjoy not having a schedule. 

State of the world is .... so dreadful, honestly. there's just so much going on. 
 

I had to quit my job. 

they refused to honor my requested accommodations, so I didn't really have much of a choice. 

since leaving them 7 days ago, I've felt so much lighter. so much less stressed. 

I'm not sure how long the safety net will hold out, but I'll find another job eventually. Maybe I'll even get my health in order. 

I also had to replace my 2006 SUV that I inherited from my father, and that will be here next week. I went all electric, and...it's looking like that was probably a good idea. 

Things are so weird and hard and...I'm not really sure what to do.