Update December 30, 2023

News

Saturday

Saturday was very productive. After dropping my family off at the airport for their trip to visit grandma popo, I went grocery shopping, wrote two letters, and did a massive laundry overhaul. I went through all of IL5’s and M11’s clothes and weeded out stuff that was too small. Then, I found all the bags of clothes one size up for IL5. At that time, I realized that there were 4 bags of unlabeled clothes that I had to sort. Plus, I washed some new hand-me-downs from my friend’s nephew. I will sort them on Sunday and bag it all up with proper labels (so there’s another few hours of work left. While I was sorting, dad and I watched a few episodes of Stranger Things, season 3.

I hear there was a mostly uneventful flight after a delay at the beginning. The family was thrilled to make it to Oregon.

Sunday

On Christmas Eve morning, I went to church with dad, and then to work. I wrote 2 letters and discovered two new places to write as a volunteer (I already write to inmates). They are Letters Against Isolation (to elderly people) and Letters Against Depression (to people with mental illnesses). I committed to writing 14 letters to the first and 2 letters to the second. Probably too much commitment, but you know me. At least I have the week “off.” Later, I watched the first 5 episodes of “School Spirits,” with dad. I had meant to finish all the laundry sorting I’d started the day before, but that’s not what happened. I could have done it while watching, but completely forgot.

Monday

Christmas was fun. Almost immediately after arriving home from work, I had a video call with Aaron and the kids so I could watch them open presents. They seemed to like their presents.

Then, I wrote a couple of letters, after which my friend Liz came over to celebrate Christmas. We also sort of celebrated with J19, his girlfriend, and her 3yo son. The last two got stuck here because of a flat tire.

Liz and I chatted, watched Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, and ate a steak dinner.

Dad spent Christmas with my sister, and my family went to celebrate with Aaron’s maternal extended family.

Tuesday

Tuesday was weird. I was super tired all morning – so much so that I took a nap for most of it. I then went to my pre-op appointment. I was supposed to hang out with a friend afterwards but was too tired. So I came home and slept till dinner, then again after dinner till 10pm. I got up for an hour, then slept through the night. Not sure what that was about.

Aaron apparently also spent the day sleeping, but he had a fever, so there’s some excuse.

Wednesday

Wednesday I video-visited with one of my inmate pen pals in the morning, then went to Perkins with dad. I worked on D14’s character creation for her new D&D campaign. Then I had a video-call date with Aaron in the afternoon, followed by a D&D oneshot in the evening.

Thursday

Thursday, after going to bed drunk despite knowing I wouldn’t sleep well, I was awakened at 4:30 am to my dad saying he had chest pain – what should we do? So I called 911. Then dad asked me “Should I go in?” Uhhh. It’s my decision? So I said yes. Because that’s what the cardiologist said to do.

So to the ER we go. At 9:00, he was admitted to the hospital, and I went home and slept. And ate. And slept. Took a few (yes, 3) baths. Slept some more. Wrote a letter. Went to work.

Friday

Friday was productive. I cleaned my closet (though now I have a lot of stuff on my bedroom floor that I’ll need to find places for). Now I can move my photo project into the closet for more easy access. I also spent a good amount of time reading, which was nice. I came up 10 pages short of my weekly goal, but that’s ok. Dad’s still in the hospital, but he got his angiogram. They couldn’t put in a stent because of calcification, but they were able to clear out some of the blockage. Aaron helped the kids put the finishing touches on their new D&D characters.

Week’s Photos

Letters Written

• 1 letter Michigan
• 1 letter Pennsylvania
• 1 letter Virginia
• 1 letter Maryland
• 1 letter Maine
• 4 Letters Against Isolation
• 2 Letters Against Depression

Reading to myself

• Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Great Mythologies of the World
• How to Read the Bible, by James Kugel
• Bible
• Jesus and the Gospels, by Luke Timothy Johnson
• St Augustine’s Confessions, by William R Cook and Ronald B Herzman
• Maleficent Seven, by Cameron Johnson

D13 reading

• Crown of Midnight, by Sarah J Mass

Media Completed

A bard thief teams up with a group of adventures to rescue his daughter from a tyrant. Very funny and reasonably interesting plot.

In this Great Course lecture series, Greek/Roman, Asian, African, and Native American mythologies are covered. This was a thorough and interesting course, and I’m glad I listened to it.

Weight Loss

X- 53lbs