It's worth admitting that it's hard to believe that I made it to 2025 in one piece. The entire second half of last year was a bottomless bog of aimlessness and depression – possibly seasonal, definitely undiagnosed. Over breakfast one weekend, my mother said I was making her "miserable." (I stood up and walked away, which was entirely unfair to my sympathetic partner, who understood the situation and my inability to navigate it. Mom can deal; she did, it's fine.) My only takeaway in the new year is not that I should be engaged more, but that I should engage more.
Anyway, baby steps. The gaming group continues; our core campaign is the Midgard setting of Tales of the Valiant. We snuck in a Paranoia one-shot last weekend because a few players were out. That was my first time playing the game after hearing stories about it for decades. A personal highlight was passing the GM a note that read, "Lucy [my character] will attempt to detonate the fusion core [of the ordinance transport vehicle]."
In the meantime, I'm reading A Lonely Broadcast by Kel Byron. The whole book is a vibe: rural horror that feels like home? I guess? It's not comforting, not in a usual sense, but there is a tangible sense of isolation – spatial and psychological – that resonates.
That's enough of a position check for now. Thanks for reading this far.