Merry freakin’ Christmas
It’s the year-end wrap up, and it’s been a full year. I still don’t like Christmas, but that’s unlikely to change at this point, but it is interesting to review the closing of the calendar. The last 12 months have kind of blown past, as it’s been one thing after another. Next year looks to be as busy, with Princess B’s wedding coming up, and the likely hatching of the two dragon eggs I’ve acquired. “What are some particulars?” I hear you asking.
January - I completed a 26+ mile section of the Pacific Crest Trail between Hwy 80 (mile marker 1159) and Jackson Meadows Reservoir (mile marker 1185) over the course of four days. It was damn cold. If I didn’t have the team of dogs with me I honestly don’t think I would have made it. I chose this section as it has Castle Valley and Castle Pass at the beginning of the route.
February - If you’ve been following my blog you know I’ve been playing with image generation via AI. I was honored to be one of the contributing artists in the “New AI technology” article in OMNI magazine. I was embarrassed to be included, as the other images were so brilliant, but they seemed to like it. It’s a piece comparing and contrasting the developing AI generation as a window into the future, and revealing possibilities we haven’t even considered yet, as well as recognizing that creativing being constrained by society’s beliefs and expectations about artists and AI in general. (Image below)
March - I took a trip to Carlsbad Caverns, which is on the New Mexico/Texas border to do some touristy observation of cave myotis bats in their native environment as well as learn spelunking. The native species is typically found up to 1.5 miles inside the cave network (try moving that distance on your stomach!). This particular event was a once-every-50-year event where the bats are allowed to engage in atypical behavior of being hand-fed by the human visitors on their way out in late afternoon. I can’t begin to describe what the experience is like to have your body covered by clinging bats and them chomping the wriggling insects in your palm.
April - My last month of work. I officially retired. People told me it would be an adjustment, but I was so ready. I recommend it to anyone that can manage it. There is only so much gold to pile in a cave you never plan to enter and just want to hand the map to your children. Spend some of it.
May - Honestly, this month is a blur. I don’t think I touched the ground once. Retirement agreed with me. I was getting ready for June and July, and acclimatizing to NOT going to work five days a week. So so good. I started whistling again, which I hadn’t done consistently since fourth grade.
June - My travel trailer was looming, but my puppy was foremost in my mind. I was able to go and get the eight week old canine I had arranged for back in March. Cardiff has been an amazing addition to my life, even though I have to stop myself from selling her on NextDoor a couple times a day. Considering I chose her from a blurry video at three days old, she has the best temperament, is smart, and just a happy doggo. I’m so glad she shares my home. Just not in my bed or on the furniture - you have no idea how much she sheds.
July - Having carefully planned out the puppy and the travel trailer (that is to say I screwed up), it became evident that because of the risk of Parvo I couldn’t drive across the country with a puppy that was unable to be on the ground or interact with other dogs. My dad came to the rescue and drove out to retrieve my travel trailer. I’d leave him in my will if I weren’t so determinedly healthy. I began learning about sway bars and brake controllers in the real world and no longer theoretical.
For those of you that are unaware, Hasbro is the parent company of Wizards of the Coast (WotC). The latter has done multiple awful and surprising things contrary to good sense and the support of their customers this year. As a result, my friends and I began a Pathfinder 2E game and abandoned Dungeons and Dragons. This has been super fun to learn a new system and although we’ve had some adjustment, I feel it’s a superior system to D&D. I’m thankful for the group being amenable to the change, and willing to push through and get to the fun stuff.
August - Pee and poop are still filling spots two through nine at this point, but Cardiff is number one. The weather is turning colder, and the ice weasels are starting to be glimpsed on the hills at night. I’m getting used to dragging the trailer behind me, and there’s a trip to Morrow Bay which is fun for us to practice with the travel trailer.
September - The pace slowed a bit as we went to Reno and I took a solo trip to Petaluma for an archery event. Cardiff stayed with grandma for the duration of the Petaluma trip. Both are fun, but seeing the nail polish on Cardiff in Reno is better than the archery trip. The travel trailer is a lot of fun to drag around and stay in.
October - I got to meet up with Princess A and her boyfriend for a weekend air show; something I’d never previously done - it’s unbelievably loud at those things, by the way. I got so wrapped up in just enjoying day to day activities that I kind of neglected updating my blog around this time. Cardiff shows at this point that although she and I have spent almost every day since she turned eight weeks old together, she prefers Princess A to me, and declares her as her most favorite person in the whole world. I firmly believe it’s because A scoops her up and lets her lick her face. Yucko.
Interestingly, I return to working a couple days a week since I foolishly agreed to it back when I left the clinics. I give about 1.3 million flu and covid shots through November.
November - I see an improvement in my AI artwork generation with an updated release of software, and have the benefit of the new laptop I’ve acquired earlier in the year. The difference is startling between taking four or five minutes to produce an image on the Mac to under five seconds for the Windows laptop with a dedicated graphics card. I still use the Mac for everyday tasks, as well as photo editing, but the AI image generation as well as gaming are just so much smoother on the Windows laptop it’s an easy decision.
Princess B visits from the East coast, and we’re able to celebrate Thanksgiving together. It’s a great time, with family around every corner. Cardiff also prefers B to me.
This is also the time I recognize my deep introversion is not working in my favor (surprise!) and create a profile on a dating site. I’ve since chatted with several people online and even been on a couple dates in real life, but not found the right person yet. I’m trying to be more open to meeting someone organically, and speak up when I would not normally in everyday life.
December - Here we are in the last month of the year and I decided to check out houses after looking at the market for weeks. I went back and forth over two very different geographies, but ended up making a selfish decision to live where I really want to and not just where it might be most convenient. I saw eight homes in a day, put an offer in on a whim, got accepted, and now I have a new house. Boom. I hate the color, but luckily that’s something I can change. I can also toss the wolf on cactus carving in the front yard. The location and the rest of it seems too good to be true. Now I need to do all the painting and getting it ready for move-in, and then fix up my current house to sell. Not bad problems to have.
Note: If you’ve read along this far, you should be aware that dragon eggs ready to hatch, as well as the entire contents of January to March are fictitious. I didn’t do this for any nefarious reasons, but to fill in the months prior to establishing my blog that I just cannot recall the details. Feel free to replace with ‘worked five days a week, did archery on the weekends, had dinner with family and friends a couple times a week’ if it makes you feel better (or superior to me). I don’t regret the time, I just don’t remember any specific events worth remarking on in detail.
In closing, I’d like to say I really appreciate and value my friends and family. It’s been a rough transition to bachelorhood, and I recognize the ongoing support and love that has sustained me this far. I apologize if I haven’t made it clear how grateful I am for your patience and presence. I’ve been privileged with the type of Hallmark Afterschool Special people in my life that many never find.
Thank you all.