Here’s to Looking Forward
As my 2026 officially kicks off, I find myself thinking about the whirlwind that was the last quarter of 2025. It feels like someone hit the turbo jets after August, and suddenly it’s January and all the travelling and holidays are over. At least the major ones. Valentine’s Day, you’re next.
If you actually read these life update info dump blogs I do on occasion, you know the drill by now. Here goes my attempt at highlighting all the good stuff from last year and the beginning of this one in as few words as possible. I’ll see you in about five plus pages.
Since my youthful-rebellion-slash-throwback of a thirtieth birthday weekend, I still have all bones intact after roller skating, and I still cherish the memory of seeing Dirty Dancing on the big screen. The last months of the year were filled with front porch sittin’ with friends after helping paint a room in their new house and recently turned bed and breakfast, no drinking for over one hundred days, a handful of books I’ve been meaning to read, not much blogging, lots of tea and coffee, some really on and off workouts, a few super long but super productive days before holiday break, and then pretty much a month straight of travelling and hosting for Thanksgiving and Christmas. As I come to the end of the first month of 2026, all I have to say right now is: Phew.
Okay, so I’ll get right to it. I tried playing Red Dead Redemption 2 after promising to start it for the last forever, and some of the first amazing things I did were fall off my horse, shoot someone in the face by accident and cause them to fall off a cliff, and lose my horse in a shoot out, which caused me to get so silent mad I had to leave the room and read a book and not talk for a couple hours. It’s been a real slice so far, to say the least. Later I would go on a mission to arrest a man on the run, only to launch myself off my horse into the river right alongside him. Caleb had a good laugh at that one. I’m still learning the ropes of legit open world games, and seeing as I’m used to not really open world games in the realm of Mario and turn-based games like Baldur’s Gate 3, I’ve still got a lot to learn. We’ll see if I ever try Red Dead again. I think I still need time.
At least one big gaming milestone was reached, and that was Caleb finishing his first—and probably only—playthrough of BG3 with me! It was a fun no-life weekend filled with lots of snacks and all the gaming vibes. There was even a twist in the narrative that actually surprised him, so I’d say that all in all his playthrough was pretty great. Now for my millionth playthrough, because who am I if not a dedicated achievement hunter? But another game that unexpectedly stole my life with its endearing coziness and fun gameplay was Little Witch in the Woods, which is exactly what it sounds like: an 8-bit game where an apprentice witch makes potions in a little cottage in the woods and makes friends with neighbors and catalogues adorable creatures. It surprisingly had a great three act story format that kept me playing diligently for about sixty plus hours, and now that the main narrative is over, I’m obsessing over cataloguing all creatures and making all the potions and candies. I highly recommend this game if you’re in need of something cute, witchy, and Stardew-lite in your life.
In light of where the future of gaming PCs is headed (thanks, A.I.), I’ve been gravitating to games I’ve either already put a thousand hours into or just all things retro. I had a throwback night where I played GameCube classics from my childhood, including Mario Kart Double Dash (the best Mario Kart ever), Namco Museum, Sonic Heroes, and of course the original Animal Crossing. I’ve even played some Just Dance and Guitar Hero on the Wii, and I put some time into the original Super Mario Bros. on the Game & Watch. If you know, then you’re a real vintage nerd like me.
As far as games I look forward to playing one day, I really want to play the Divinity: Original Sin I and II games (from the studio that made Baldur’s Gate 3; this is assuming I ever stop replaying BG3, of course), some cozy mystery and fishing games I bought during the Steam Winter Sale, and even Oregon Trail after I watched a stream of someone playing the old second game on an emulator and I had an hour or two of fun laughing out loud at the graphics and the gameplay. I’ll probably have to put these to be played games on the back burner for a while, seeing as I promised Caleb that I’d dive into Guild Wars 2 with him for real this time. I mean, so far so good, I think; I’ve got fifty percent world completion and I’m working on maxing out my level on cooking. Plus I always enjoy the seasonal events in the game, so Halloween and Christmas are always fun.
Caleb and I have also been obsessing over the Avatar: The Last Airbender sets of Magic: The Gathering cards, and after lots of money spent—and a lost package, a police report, a refund, and a new order—we finally got a set of each type that we wanted. I refuse to disclose how much money and obsession truly went into this endeavor. But I’d say it was well worth it for a once in a lifetime thing. I’m trying not to think about the Hobbit card release coming later this year…I don’t need it. I don’t need it…
Caleb and I enjoyed all manner of fall and cozy vibes this autumn season. From slow cooker potato soup and Red Lobster biscuits made at home to changing all my Animal Crossing character’s outfits to fall ‘fits and decorating my island for the spooky season, there was also a lot of great coffee (shoutout to Bad Ass’s banana bread chai, which is literally banana pudding in a cup), food, candles, and very relaxing days. Morticia Addams made her appearance for the fifth year in a row and Caleb got some really great pictures of me at the park during peak fall foliage. I also got a $6 entree from Chipotle for dressing up, so I’d say best year dressing up as Morticia so far. We also had our last Halloween party with friends, filled with finger foods and pumpkin carving and great conversion as always.
Since I wrote last time, the football season has already come and gone and the Super Bowl is coming up, and the Cowboys definitely aren’t in. It’s amazing that despite being better than last year, they were still very horrible. How ‘bout them curtains, Jerry? No? Just checking. How ‘bout that retirement, then? Oh, also no? You’ll retire when you have the most Super Bowl wins? Okay…sure. I’m also psyched that it’s hockey season, even though my team is going through something right now and I’m a little nervous we won’t even go to the playoffs…but we shall see.
As far as music goes, I’ve revisited some great genres and I’ve gone through a few earworm phases where I throw a song on repeat all day. I listened to some post-grunge, a 2010s banger list, some Fall/Halloween tunes, Panic! At the Disco (earworm number one: “Don’t Let The Light Go Out”), and CYRIL (earworm number two: “Stumblin’ In”). When I’m not listening to my ambient writing playlist or rocking out to my 5k playlist, I’ve been listening to the People We Meet on Vacation movie soundtrack over and over, which happens to have earworm number two on it.
In the realm of YouTube, a fall staple in our household is Meat Canyon’s pumpkin spice animated short. He makes the weirdest and most disturbing art, but he’s one of a kind for sure. I still love catching up on the latest political news via the HasanAbi channel. And I won’t get too deep into politics here, but I’m truly shocked at where we’re headed as a country right now for so many reasons I’ve lost count. The one thing that remains heavy on my heart is the Renee Good incident, though. I already wrote all about my thoughts on that in my regular weekly blog, so if you want to read more, check out my blog post, “Blindfolds On, Hearts of Stone”. Let’s just say some things were and are really bad, and 2026 just started. Towards the end of last year, I had a human moment with an elderly woman at the park, which made me feel like I wasn’t alone in my feelings about the state of the world. It was touching, and it really made me think deeply afterwards. But anyway, the last thing I’ll say is I don’t care what side of the political spectrum bad things happen on; certain things shouldn’t happen to people, period. That’s the most human thing I could possibly say about the current mess we’re in as a society. We just can’t afford to lose touch of our humanity now, especially not now.
Another hilarious YouTuber Caleb and I discovered recently is Burnt Peanut, a guy who makes himself look like a peanut and who plays video games with ridiculous banter and reactions. His peanut avatar even has different outfits, and he has a bunch of funny peanut related intros when he’s loading into a new game. If you’re looking to laugh your butt off and learn nothing educational, I highly recommend throwing on his stream sometime. Caleb and I quote him multiple times a day now, and it never gets old. Unless I’m already overstimulated for the day, then I have to beg Caleb to turn the volume down so I can decompress. But I still highly recommend his channel when you’re in an energetic and feel-good mood! I also decided to start Critical Role’s new campaign and actually keep up with it as it airs, so that’s exciting. And, yes, I’m STILL trying to finish campaign one. But I swear I’m getting close!
Some shows and seasons I’ve started and/or finished are Tires season two, Mr. Robot season four (I’m unofficially nominating season two episode six for a belated Emmy, because WOW), Critical Role’s The Mighty Nein season one, the entire Gilmore Girls show (not my first time), and Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life episode one (also, not my first time). I also made the decision to give up on finishing the Outlander show and to not start the prequel series, Blood of my Blood. I have my reasons, and I’m really sorry for them. But when it’s been forever since I watched, and I can’t remember which season I was on where Claire gets kidnapped at the end of it and where Jamie rescues her for the millionth time, I think it’s just time to take the L. It was a good run, though.
Caleb and I have watched lots of great movies, too. This will probably serve better as a bullet point list, considering I have lots of Fall/Halloween mentions too (that I decided to watch in chronological order based on release date, which was super fun), so here they are:
A Complete Unknown
Frankenstein (1910; silent film)
Phantom of the Opera (1925; silent film; probably the best silent film I’ve ever seen, Nosferatu being a close second from 1922.)
Frankenstein (1931; I love Boris Karloff, but after seeing the newest adaptation I think there should be a little more justice for the poor creature. </3)
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935; honestly? This movie should just be called Frankenstein’s Creature: Still At Large, because he’s still running around, and then the bride seems kind of like an afterthought in the last five minutes of the movie and probably could have just been part of the first movie even though the book tells this part differently. So overall, meh.)
Phantom of the Opera (1943; hear me out…just NO. Not good. Never again. Okay, thanks. Byyye.)
Passion of the Christ (I won’t get into the details of why it’s baffling that Caleb has never seen this movie, because a licensed therapist should be tagged in for that. But it was an enjoyable experience!)
The Blob (1958; better than the 1943 Phantom of the Opera for sure, and with quirks and all it was still a fun idea for its time. The main song also stayed in my head for weeks afterwards.)
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Night of the Living Dead (1968; okay the movie was GREAT…except the very end…I can’t believe they did that…)
Garfield’s Halloween Adventure
Clue (1985; a beloved yearly staple that I can’t get enough of!)
Gangs of New York (I can’t believe I’ve never seen it before…so glad I finally did!)
Beetlejuice (Always a great revisit!)
The Burbs (First time watch, and I was not disappointed! I love Tom Hanks in literally anything, but that aside, the speed in which the plot escalates to complete and utter hilarious insanity is crazy and so fun to watch.)
Edward Scissorhands (Another beloved annual re-watch, probably in the top five of favorites.)
The Addams Family (The 90s live action is an absolute yearly must for me!)
Nightmare Before Christmas
Hocus Pocus
Interview with the Vampire (Caleb watched it for the first time this year, and I really enjoyed my second watch experience!)
Sleepy Hollow (Absolutely love!)
Signs (It hits different now that I’m older and can understand the complex themes better.)
28 Days Later
Haunted Mansion (2003)
Van Helsing (Another rewatch with Caleb; always a fun time. Also, when and how did pilgrim vigilantes come to be? And can we have more of them please?)
Phantom of the Opera (2004; my favorite adaptation!!! But the silent film is definitely close behind.)
Corpse Bride
Sweeney Todd
28 Weeks Later
Solomon Kane (The only other pilgrim vigilante movie I know of.)
Twilight
New Moon
Tucker and Dale VS Evil
Eclipse
Breaking Dawn: Part 1
Breaking Dawn: Part 2 (I got a few dollars from an Equifax data breach settlement and it funded my purchase of the final disc of the Twilight Saga collection I needed…so thanks Equifax data breach! *cue shaky cam zoom and an awkward smile and thumbs up from me, infomercial style*)
Dracula Untold (A first watch for me this year, and I enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would! I miss the era of fun and fearless movies.)
Snow Bear (an award-winning short film by animator Aaron Blaise that literally made me cry…so heartbreaking and heartwarming and a must watch!)
Frankenstein (2025; I saw this during the limited theatrical release at the Mayan Theater, and it was an absolutely amazing experience! I also rewatched it as soon as it hit Netflix.)
Haunting of Hill House (Episode 2: “Two Storms”; this was strictly a cinematography study that I’ve been meaning to do for years! The seamless transitions between different timelines without cutting the camera was really impressive, and I learned in order for them to do that they had to build the set in such a way that the actors could hide from the camera as they were recording. Just super cool!)
Overlord (Seriously just a really fun historical fiction “what if” kind of zombie movie.)
Hocus Pocus 2
Haunted Mansion (2023)
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice (I sure hope they don’t plan on making a third one…what would they even call it???)
Nosferatu (2024)
Lisa Frankenstein
Fantastic 4: First Steps (I honestly loved the world they built in the vintage era to tell this story, but I absolutely hated the writing and the dialogue so much.)
The Patriot
Avatar: Fire and Ash
The Witch (It’s safe to say that thanks to Caleb, I love Robert Eggers now!)
The Lighthouse (Another Robert Eggers film; I have so many theories!!!)
Prey
People We Meet On Vacation (Emily Henry’s first book adaptation! LOVED!!!)
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (A true masterpiece about a man of faith and a proud heretic detective.)
A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey (I’m genuinely disappointed that I felt like I actually wasted my time watching this movie…I really thought it was going to be super good…but, alas.)
I’ve finished a handful of books, which I’m really proud of because I miss reading regularly. Among these titles are Emily Henry’s latest novel, Great Big Beautiful Life, Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, Annabel Chase’s Spellbound series, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (my favorite classic now), Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Before the Coffee Gets Cold, and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. I am absolutely mesmerized by Bradbury’s strange but super descriptive writing style, and I wish my brain could think that way.
I’m currently reading Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s Tales from the Cafe (the next book in his Before the Coffee Gets Cold series) and Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Some books I’m looking forward to starting when the mood strikes are Annabel Chase’s continuation of her Spellbound series, Spellbound Ever After, Phantom of the Opera, and George Orwell’s classics, Animal Farm and 1984, two very much relevant books that I’m eager to revisit in the current political climate.
A really fun thing Caleb and I went to recently was the Oddities & Curiosities Expo, a fun convention event filled with whacky taxidermy and really cool art. I got my fill of tarantulas (not alive, thank goodness) and scorpions for a lifetime, but the butterflies were pretty. We also got to meet a fellow artist from Caleb’s art workshop and we bought some of his prints. Super amazing guy, and amazing art! If you’re into the dark and bizarre, check out Reaching for Divine on Instagram.
We also got to see Young the Giant at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, featuring Saint Motel and Jade Bird. I didn’t realize until two days before the concert that I actually knew who Saint Motel was, and I got even more excited. The lead singer climbed a rock off stage and sang at one point, Young the Giant didn’t disappoint. There were a lot of interludes where the lead singer talked about life and lessons, and the reasoning for all the rugs on the stage was really touching. Jade Bird was also really sweet and funny and I really, loved her acoustic set as well.
As per tradition since we’ve been in Denver, we went to a fall festival with friends, the same one we went to the previous year. Then one of said friends got it in his head that we should do the scary corn maze together, but fifty percent of the group was absolutely mortified by the idea. But after some convincing, we were all on board, and after a really long wait in line filled with people in scary costumes walking through the crowd, some fire twirling—and breathing—performances, and a few t-shirt cannon launches to get everyone hyped, we bravely walked through the maze hand in hand. Caleb’s nervous and funny/threatening reactions made me laugh the whole time while the other scared friend in front of me clung for dear life to my hand and almost had many heart attacks. It was crazy but it was fun.
Caleb and I also tried to go to the Anime Expo, which was free and at a hotel convention center. But when we got there, there was no parking, and the venue was way too small for everyone to fit. So after ten trips around the parking lot and a five minute claustrophobia fest inside, we ducked out, going to Barnes & Noble, Torchy’s, Cold Stone, and Spirit Halloween before going home. I love a good spread of shrimp tacos chips, and queso at Torchy’s, and it was fun talking about childhood trauma over a shared “like it” size of Chocolate Devotion at Cold Stone before we went and laughed at all the crazy fun costumes at Spirit Halloween. It still ended up being an unexpected and great time.
I took a really long break from all things blog and writing over the holidays, and I’m really glad I did. But before that, I finished the 2024 addition to my Short Story Multiverse. Also, one of my book reviews was discovered by a woman who reached out to thank me for my words (my James Norbury The Dog Who Followed the Moon book review is on the fourth page of Google! Crazy to see, and also awesome!), and she subscribed to my monthly newsletter. As of October, I passed my copyediting certification test and am now the proud owner of my very own certificate! I finally revisited and finished my Margaret Atwood MasterClass, which was really fun. I also returned to my fantasy short story series (the first of which is in its second round of edits) and now I’m working on a follow up series to that one. My novel manuscript is in its second round of edits as well, which is still crazy to me.
I also discovered the cutest little focus app called Focus Friend, where you pick a cute little bean avatar that knits socks while you devote a set time to focused work. As you successfully make it through your blocks of work without disturbing the bean, you get rewarded with socks that you can cash in to decorate the little bean’s house. I’m officially obsessed with updating Quincy Othello’s living room and unlocking his kitchen. And yes, that’s my avatar’s name. I couldn’t resist naming him after two legit types of pinto beans once I learned both were real.
As of 2025, I can finally run a 5k-length run as a routine workout, and that feels really good. I got a wild idea to try an unguided run while I listened to my hype playlist, and I actually ran faster than I usually do when I listen to an instructor. I successfully reached my goal of running 3.1 miles under 45 minutes, even if that time is literally 44 minutes. It’s still under, and I’m still thrilled. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t give a shoutout to the 20 mph wind I ran though that made me almost blow away while consuming ten pounds of dying leaves and flying dirt. Another recent achievement was going on my first morning snow run, which was very snowy and damp but also super fun and rewarding. I also finished the Lord of the Rings Conquer Challenges that I was working on, and I’m close to finishing the Hobbit ones now as well. I can’t believe that I have my own “one ring to rule them all,” even if it is a cheap replica. My precious…
I’ve been enjoying lo-fi with my morning routine, and honestly a lot of things since I reevaluated my day-to-day approach. I started actually enjoying my breakfast and tea, and I meditate before I start my day. I even do a Start Of Week Check-In now, where I write down what I want to accomplish, and what I want to do more and less of. I actually started going out to the coffee shop on Wednesdays again (though I hate getting up super early), and I even started going to The Process for a day session after that. It’s been nice to get a day’s worth of work in before noon, but only on that sacred day. Any other day, you won’t catch me out of bed until seven or after. I’ve still been enjoying the non-alcoholic beverage lifestyle. Alcohol-removed sparkling wine has become my go to drink, and I’m just now realizing that non-alcoholic spritzers with fresh fruit are truly refreshing without the added headache the next day. I still put it in a wine glass, because I’m of the opinion that it really does romanticize any yummy beverage. When I want to relax, I just pour a glass of fake bubbly and un-wine…all puns intended.
Caleb and I enjoyed a wedding anniversary date night out before our trip home for Thanksgiving. We went to Kachina Cantina, a Mexican restaurant with a Southwestern flair, which had great fry bread tacos that I still dream about. We also got churros for dessert, and we went to see a movie afterwards. I still can’t believe I’ve been married for four years already. Somehow we still enjoy each other’s conversations and company on fourteen-hour road trips back to Texas for the holidays, and we’re still the best of friends, which I love so much.
We got to spend two full weeks at home for Thanksgiving, which was a rare treat and very nice since we didn’t make it home for Christmas. My cousin visited from Germany, and I got lots of quality time with family and friends. Some highlights were decorating the Christmas tree early with my little cousin, wrapping early Christmas gifts, rain, my regular local hair cut and coffee shop visit, cousin hang outs, seeing out of town friends, going to all the fast food places and chain restaurants we could muster, book shopping, a Thanksgiving 5k with my cousin (I got an unexpected PR, which was awesome! I have the lower altitude to thank for that, probably), trying a new restaurant with friends that had a killer London fog tart, Thanksgiving coffee runs, Thanksgiving dinner (obviously), football in the front yard with the boys, seeing Wicked: For Good with family, riding in my grandpa’s old truck listening to Elvis Christmas music, and watching the live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas with more family.
An unexpected treat was my cousin extending her stay in the states and coming back to Denver with us. We stayed at The Big Texan Motel (a regular thing for us now) and had dinner at the steak house next door. We even witnessed a guy doing the 72 oz. steak challenge while we were there. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it, but he was sooooo close. After a super early start and another long day in the car, we finally made it back, and we relaxed and went out for ramen for dinner. I went to Idaho Springs for the first time, and left my gift shop goodies on the table of the pizza place my cousin and I ate at. I didn’t realize it until we were halfway home, over thirty minutes away. So I really hope the waiter enjoyed his unexpected gift of odds and ends from the mining museum gift shop.
I got to ride the Royal Gorge train a second time, which was even prettier with all the snow. I finally decorated my own Christmas tree and watched Christmas Vacation and the animated How the Grinch Stole Christmas movie. I took my cousin to Jimmy John’s, out for bubble tea, and also to Chipotle, and we even went to a Nathaniel Rateliff concert, which was amazing. We also toured the capitol building and went to the Christkindle Market, and finally to Fort Morgan to see our friends and stay in their new bed and breakfast. All in all it was a great week showing my cousin around.
During the week in between my cousin’s visit and my sister-in-law’s trip to Denver, I managed to get mildly sick, so I tried to veg out as much as possible so I could recover quickly. I enjoyed lots of Christmas movies, ordering last minute Christmas gifts, and playing Little Witch in the Woods until I couldn’t anymore. There was chili and football, as well as Chipotle and hockey. There was also pizza on two separate occasions somehow. I played Guild Wars 2 with Caleb and rewatched Avatar: The Way of Water to prepare for seeing the new movie in theaters.
We had a great four days with Caleb’s sister and her boyfriend, and we tried to make it a great festive visit since it was the first time any of us missed Christmas in Texas with family. We went to brunch (her boyfriend LOVES breakfast), got lots of coffee, and saw the sights downtown. We shopped at an outlet mall, where I got a new fancy wallet, and we also went to the first Chipotle! This was another thing her boyfriend truly loved, because he’s obsessed with Chipotle just as much as me and Caleb are, if not more. Caleb and I got our picture in front of the plaque outside too. We went to a drive-through Christmas light show at Red Rocks and the huge bookstore in Boulder where I always take forever to escape, ending the visit with a night-time trip to the Christkindle Market and a Christmas night in filled with too much yummy food, Christmas pjs and gifts. We video called family and also watched The Santa Clause. After their flight got delayed until late in the evening, we got to squeeze in one last walk downtown through the alley behind Denver Milk Market that’s all lit up for Christmas before grabbing some pizza from Slice Works. And just like that another great fun-filled visit with family was in the books, and Caleb and I were finally enjoying the comedown from all the hustle and bustle of the past month.
Caleb and I spent Christmas day together at home, just happy to relax. We watched Last Christmas and Violent Night, and we had a BG3 game-a-thon all weekend long. We only left the apartment to go to breakfast and to the mall to get Caleb some new shoes for his birthday, and we finished the day with a visit to our favorite coffee shop and ramen place. We enjoyed cheesecake at home and didn’t even contemplate going out for New Year’s Eve, though we did watch New Year’s Rockin’ Eve and saw some fireworks out of our apartment window. I never felt so liberated than the day I ripped all the decorations down and declared the holiday season to be OVER. It felt so short and so long at the same time, but the one thing I know for sure is that I’m ready for the calm and restful months to come…even though I’m literally ramping up and preparing for a move back to Texas within the next couple months. But I’m not worried about that today.
After alluding to it and it being a vague far-off thing, Caleb and I are finally preparing to move back to Texas in March of this year. From here on out, it’s going to be job application after job application, scheduling car maintenance, and preparing for the moving company. I’ve discovered that there’s more scam companies out there offering sketchy interviews on Telegram than actual offers, and that as much as I’d love a writing or editing job right out of the gate, there’s just no way at my current skill level. So data entry or academic advising it is…hopefully. I also did the “adult thing” and went ahead and got my last major dental procedure done before the big move. I’m ready to be off this soft food diet though. One more weekend and I should be home free…
The events that happened post dental procedure weren’t all bad, though. I had the most “substantial” breakfast I could—per the doc’s request—and grabbed a huge meal at a breakfast place around the corner beforehand. Caleb came home early, bearing coffee from one of my favorite drive-through places, and he made his grandma’s potato soup for us. I watched lots of sports and Critical Role, and I reached 50% map completion on Guild Wars 2. I rewatched People We Meet On Vacation for the second time, and I make no solemn promises that I won’t watch it again soon. I finished Tires season two, I watched Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, and I got to go see the Lord of the Rings trilogy in theaters for the 25th anniversary. We were at the movies Friday through Sunday, watching an extended edition movie each day, with some pre-film Peter Jackson commentary that was a nice surprise. I had to really think about safe foods I could eat since I was still on the soft food diet, but by then I was feeling more optimistic. So day one, I got cookie dough bites, day two I got a soft pretzel with nacho cheese, and the third day I got some mini corndogs. Best believe next time I go I’m getting two extra large buckets of popcorn, though, and I won’t take a single kernel for granted.
After a week of hiding in my apartment, I finally emerged out into the world and started going back to my writing events. I went back to my favorite coffee shop and watched as much Critical Role as one could possibly watch in a day. I started 5k training for my last Denver race before we move, which is bittersweet even though I still try to bargain with myself each morning in bed after I’ve snoozed all alarms. I also started running on the treadmill in the apartment gym again, which was nice during the zero degree weather we just had. Much to Caleb’s surprise, I logged into Guild Wars 2 all by myself to level up my cooking.
We celebrated Caleb reaching a milestone at his job, which was a very important financial one that is no longer hanging over our heads as of last week. I did my best to carefully enjoy a sushi smorgasbord for date night and, though it was difficult, I’m not disappointed. A random stranger stared at me and got in my space on the bus, which made me rethink my life at least that day, so Caleb picked me up on his way home from work and he took me to McDonald’s for some snack wraps that I also carefully ate. I watched A Big, Bold, Beautiful Journey and was surprisingly and disappointedly underwhelmed after waiting so long to watch it. I also got Cane’s and Burger King chicken fries with zesty sauce, so it’s safe to say that me and fried chicken can’t be kept apart for long, soft food diet or not. I’m super close to finishing the main story in my Guild Wars 2 journey, and I look forward to all the expansions I’ve yet to start.
I’ve been overwhelmed with the current state of the world, seeing as after I started writing this whole life update spiel, another innocent person—Alex Pretti—was killed in Minneapolis. I promised I wouldn’t get into all that here, so you can check out my blog post, “A Sway in the Matter”, for more. I picked Sapiens back up for the first time in a while and I’m enjoying re-immersing myself in a good nonfiction read. I’m also unexpectedly rooting for the Seahawks in the Super Bowl because why not? All my other prospective teams are out.
Things I hope to do before I leave Denver are: go to my last Friday Night Writes at The Process and reach one hundred sessions; spend lots of time with our dear friends while we can; finish my second novel edit; see some for real snow that actually sticks around for days and days and prompts me to stay in with a cup of tea, a warm blanket and a good book; and do any other things Caleb and I still want to do in the city before we pack up and head for Texas. I’m really going to miss it here, and I’m already mentally making plans to come back to visit as soon as I can. I can assure you, it isn’t the weather or politics that call me back home; proximity to family, however, is the main selling point. The cost of living is also a lot more reasonable for aspiring creatives like Caleb and myself, so we’re looking forward to seeing where our endeavors take us!
As always, thanks for sticking around until the end—if you did, in fact, make it this far. I’ll leave you with my witty thoughts and whatever else is on my mind like usual, though the list is uncharacteristically short this time. I hope you found a laugh or something relatable in my mile-long drone session.
I saw a bird today? (But I really did, and if you’ve heard of this ridiculous social media trend then you would find this kind of ironic and hilarious.)
Since the Cowboys never make it close to the Super Bowl anymore, I just have to say…BYE EAGLES, BYE!!!
Sometimes I’m reminded of just how distracted people really are. So I say to the guy who stood halfway in line at the coffee shop some months back while he chatted up his friend at the bar: Are you in line or are you out of line?
To the woman who felt the need to call out the bus driver for talking to a man she knows on my morning ride, I say: Come off it, lady. The sign says don’t touch the bus driver. It says nothing about talking to the bus driver. I hope you enjoyed playing bus monitor for a day.
Caleb described an annoying coworker’s voice as a cross between a cicada, Kermit the Frog, and a foghorn, and I cried laughing trying to picture and reenact what I thought that sound would be. He severely underestimates his impersonation skills, and his descriptions are enough to send his fellow lab partner into inappropriately timed choke-laughing fits. He’s a real riot once you get to know him.
I guess that’s a wrap for the rest of 2025 and January. Here’s to looking forward to the rest of 2026.