Nilly, you always write the most thoughtful and loving posts at this time of year. Thank you for including us and educating us. It is such a pleasure to have you as part of this community.

I thought R was going to do party shopping and prep with me today but there was a miscommunication and so I’m on my own and having a minor meltdown about it. I know I’m making everything a big deal right now but it’s really hard for me to make a bunch of decisions alone and this whole week I thought I’d have help.

And my dad was too upset to call me last night to wish me happy birthday. My brother left a short voicemail in which he was on the edge of tears. Nothing from my sister, of course. Not even a card this year.

R also has a tough time dealing with my down moods and has a habit of telling me to think about good things and such; I’ve shared that that isn’t helpful but I think it’s going to be a continued issue.

We did have a lovely evening last night where R and one of their kids made me dinner. There was cake. The kids actually hung out for a while instead of disappearing into screens. One of them drew me a sweet stick figure pic of me and R and my cat and a big heart and a rugby ball, and R drew me that shot of Trinity in the stairwell where she’s paralyzed with fear, which is meaningful to me.

There. Good things. Yay.

Smonster, do you need someone to help you make decisions? You can text me while you’re doing errands if you need to. Maybe you can tell R that it is actively harmful to ask you to think positively rather than just telling them it’s not helpful?

I just finished doing all the errands for Dave’s birthday, which is today.

Nilly, I always love seeing your posts this time of year. Belated shanah tovah!

Smonster, sorry you're having a rough post-birthday.

ION, Remember this from a few days ago?

In bittersweet (mostly bitter) "I told you so" news, my old job at Comixology (which was permanently eliminated back in January) is now a new open role because apparently TPTB have realized that their original plan of "lay everyone off and then we'll get everything done in less time" was, in fact, incredibly stupid. I'm only sorry nobody reached out internally to offer it to me, because I would have LOVED the opportunity to respond with "are you fucking high."

Yeah, so guess who just got offered her old job back. (And told them very politely to go fuck themselves because OH HOLY HELL NO. There was a "everyone's getting laid off next week" goodbye party last night where I got to catch up with a bunch of folks I hadn't spent time with in a while, and they are all just counting down the days until this nightmare is over.)

Jess, what a fucking nightmare. I've been watching the fuckus that is Comixology for a while now. It's as bad as the Diamond Covid Collapse and the DC fuckwits trying to ship comics through PRH.

Monthly comic are vanishing quickly. I'm just glad the manga market is still strong (and that my comic shop diversified into gaming a long, long time ago.

I just bought Saga #66 on Wednesday. It's the last monthly comic that I still buy.

I just recently reopened my monthly box at my comic shop for ltc.

I’m sorry about all the bs, Jessica.

I hope that was at least a little satisfying, Jess?

I think I’m going to cancel my party. A bunch of warning lights came on in my car, and I took it to my mechanic and it’s okay to drive for now, but I can’t stop crying and I definitely feel like a flan in a cupboard.

{{{{Smonster}}}} you do what is best for you.

I’m sorry about all the bs, Jessica.

Not my bs anymore! I feel awful for my friends on the skeleton crew who will still be there when October starts, but I'm fine. I got out.