This evening was rolling thunder, flashing lightning and pounding rain. Exhilarating.

The best. I love a good storm when I don't have to go anywhere. I'm sorry about the slow recovery on the tailbone. It is a very tricky spot for healing.

Good morning peeps in similar time zones! I slept well according to my watch. Restless and having to get up a couple times during the night, but for me a 70 score is fabulous. Often I feel I am like the dog who doesn't learn that eating pieces of tennis ball makes him sick. If I don't eat or drink wine after 7 PM, and indulge in herb and sleep time tea I sleep well. If I drink wine and eat snacks in the evening I sleep like crap. This result is almost 100% consistent. But do I learn? Oh well, trying to teach this old dog new tricks.

Human barometer news: a weather front is moving is, and my knees ache and my right hip is made entirely out of fire. I don't care for that shit at all.

Yesterday I had an almost-migraine spring up out of nowhere and then I glanced outside to see the clouds rolling in. (Aging past 45: do not recommend.)

I went to yoga class last night despite my hip being made of fire, because I needed to show my hip who's the boss. (Spoiler: it was my hip. My hip was the boss. Although it feels better today, so I guess yoga helped.)

I'm feeling burned out at work, things aren't going well personally, and the news is full of jaw-dropping levels of corruption and malice in the federal government. It seems like it just keeps getting harder to make it through each day.

It seems like it just keeps getting harder to make it through each day.

I’m trying to reduce my news consumption and focus on aspects of my life that I can control, hoping that this too will eventually pass. My stress level is at an all-time high. Which reminds me that I really should go swim before the sun is over the pool.

I am with you, Gud. Everything is a struggle, more so than usual

I had a dream last night that I picked up a zine that was all printouts from “nerd” websites from 1988 - 1992 and a big chunk of it was from here and was just Buffistas gossiping about each other.

I'm sorry, Gud. I told my boss in my annual review a few weeks ago "Look, I am hanging on by a fucking thread, there will be no career growth happening until the world stops being an unending nightmare hellscape. Whatever level I'm at now is the best you're going to get."

I had a dream last night that I picked up a zine that was all printouts from “nerd” websites from 1988 - 1992 and a big chunk of it was from here and was just Buffistas gossiping about each other.

HAHAHAHA impressive that there were apparently Buffistas in this AU before there was BtVS!

I had a dream last night that I picked up a zine that was all printouts from “nerd” websites from 1988 - 1992 and a big chunk of it was from here and was just Buffistas gossiping about each other.

I mean, we did volunteer the corpus of our writing to linguistic study via erinaceous.

the news is full of jaw-dropping levels of corruption and malice in the federal government.

I have enjoyed Tulsi getting dragged backwards through the scrub brush of her own lies before Congress. Check this out transcript from Jim Himes (CT) and Tulsi's exchange:

*******
HIMES: Do you think it’s responsible for you, as head of the intelligence community, to retweet posts from individuals affiliated with Russian state media?
GABBARD: That retweet came from my personal account.
HIMES: Personal account? You’re the Director of National Intelligence, not an Instagram influencer. There’s no such thing as “personal” when you’re elevating Kremlin propaganda.
GABBARD: I have the right to share information—
HIMES: Information? You mean Russian disinformation. You sit in high-level intelligence briefings, then turn around and boost the same narratives Moscow is pushing. Should we just CC the Kremlin on your next meeting and cut out the middleman?
GABBARD: This is just an attempt to smear me—
HIMES: Smear you? You lied under oath in a Senate hearing yesterday, claiming you knew nothing about classified information, while sitting in Signal chats where war plans were discussed. You retweet Kremlin-backed sources, then act shocked when people question your loyalties.
GABBARD: I’m focused on national security—
HIMES: National security? While pushing Russian propaganda and pretending you’re clueless about intelligence leaks? If a Democrat had done half of this, you’d be screaming treason on national TV.
GABBARD: This is about free speech—
HIMES: Free speech? You’re the President’s top intelligence advisor, not some random guy on Twitter. Every word you amplify has consequences. And right now, you’re handing America’s enemies exactly what they want—straight from your "personal account."

Watch her squirm: [link]

I'm sorry, Gud. I told my boss in my annual review a few weeks ago "Look, I am hanging on by a fucking thread, there will be no career growth happening until the world stops being an unending nightmare hellscape. Whatever level I'm at now is the best you're going to get."

I've restarted my neglected daily meditation practice, not because I think it will help me achieve a state of enlightenment or even just super chillness, but because I need every tool I can get my hands on just to reinforce that last thread that I too am hanging on by.

Unrelated (or maybe it IS related): yesterday's impending weather change that made my right hip so hateful has finally arrived, and brought with it an even more hateful migraine. Ubrevly, my beloved, work your magic.