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Sat Dec 27 11:51:00 AM CST 2025 Q: Why did Menachem Begin invade Lebanon? A: To impress Jodie Foster. Today is Sweetmorn, the 69th day of The Aftermath in the YOLD 3191 day of crafting / the pull season
Today my mood is mostly about relief. The greats were all over the place last night after present opening, which was delayed a day by one of the grands having to work Christmas. An overload of presents, and lots of “joyful” running around and screaming. I bowed out about 9:45 PM. My wife came home later. It’s pretty simple, since we live a five-minute walk away, and this was very much a shirt-sleeve Christmas. Just before I left last night, I wouldn’t have given you ten cents for my mood, but today, it’s better. I walked over and had breakfast with the Nashville relatives before they left at about 10:30. Hung around for a while, talked a little politics, and left. Then I walked back. My wife is still sleeping soundly, no intent to bother her until she wakes on her own. Back to some normalcy, I guess.
My energy is suprisingly good. I managed to snag a book called “Emacs as Your Operating System” and was intending to go through it in detail, but it turns out that it will be a slower thing. Lots of the suggestions are at the same level of expertise as my current init files, just different, and the suggestions don’t match me. I did do some updates from the startup section and implemented an early-init.el, but not much beyond that. I initially drove over to the father-in-law’s house to visit and have breakfast, but brought the car back to the house and walked back over to leave a vehicle for my wife. Both the walk over and the walk back created no exertion whatsoever, so a couple of observations: the 53 pounds I’ve lost this year make a big difference in stamina and mobility, and the weather this time of year is nearly perfect, at least this year.
My mental weather is similarly clear: a few clouds still, and a threat of indecision, but nothing on the immediate radar. Nice.
The actual weather is a mix of clouds and bobbing temps, betweemn 74 and 75 over time. Rain later? Not concerned enough to look at the forecast, anyway.
The usual loops of worry and gotta-dos are suspended still. I guess the holiday weekend – or maybe the period between Christmas and New Year’s – has that whole stress thing suppressed. I don’t know, but I’m willing to be grateful for it and let it go at that.
There’s still this lingering dichotomy between focusing on one public hobby and focusing on several. I could just sew for a while, and see how far that will take me, or I could work on more hobbies. The trouble is the way it splits my time, or maybe I should say, splits my mode of being. I sort of get into a hobby and start viewing life from those angles, and switching keeps me caught up in recalibration time. It’s kind of disconcerting to be always switching modes. It feels better and more continuous to live full-time in just one gestalt. I think I’m just gonna have to accept that for awhile. I do know that I’m well equipped for other hobbies if I should decide to switch.
That said, I have some unfinished things in my electronics hobby that will have to just remain ideas now. I have the components for a great shortwave antenna, including a very natural, lightning-protected telephone post in my yard, and all the cable and adapters to create a balanced HF antenna. I’ve got several shortwave receivers I can listen to any time, and I still maintain a workable transmitter, license and callsign, but it’s sort of become a back-of-the-stove thing. No reasoning why, just preferences. I think the lesson for me is let some unfinished things stay unfinished until they really want to be completed.
My gravity is very strongly influenced by things I’m spending money on. I have spent a lot of “little money” on sewing gadgets, books, patterns, and material. I will probably need some different material for some of the things I have in mind, but there’s a lot that I can make with the stuff that I have. I should work hard to keep that learning going. Also, I’m thinking about turning my substack into more of a blog, for now, and less of an essay run. I might be essayed out in the short term, or maybe not. I get ideas, and I seem to run with them for the short term, but then I let them fade a little. I guess you just have to test ideas to see if they work for you, and keep moving and morphing until the groove finds you.
I think words are a good anchor for me. It’s very pleasant to sit in front of a laptop and type thoughts like this, mostly just reporting what I’m feeling and seeing, without judgment or teaching. I probably need to remember that.
I’m resisting letting the pressures of industry creep into my retirement. Yes, I need to do some things that will earn me extra money, if I’d like to maintain a little larger lifestyle. No, I will not go hungry or be without shelter, water, electricity, or broadband. But I’m not the kind of person to sit back and work crossword puzzles to while away the hours. Not my style.
The D&D ideas about sewing don’t go away, really. I like the idea of being able to create costumes and accessories for D&D, and there is a thriving community of D&D lovers on the threads platform. I really should get more involved. One of my hobbies is configuring emacs, but I think I’ve probably got a configuration that I’m not really interested in changing much. Yeah, I could do to-do lists more, but they repel me at the moment. Go figure.
My creative current is a little low-key right now; maybe it’s the end of the year. Maybe it’s just a resting phase. Dunno, we’ll just let it play itself out.
In that vein, no pivots today, much. Thinking about driving to town to see what after-Christmas bargains are out there. Probably ought to pay a few more bills, maybe. I dunno.
I think part of the signal boost is about being comfortable without stress and anxiety.
One of the places where I can bring rare value is being sensible. I’m beginning to really see through the scams of other people. I think another place where there’s rare value is doing things without any particular needs or wants at all: just doing something that seems like something I ought to be doing and letting it take over your life until you find something you really needed. Sounds like a plan.
None ATM. And I’m glad for that.
It’s kindof like just roaming the village outside the dungeon, looking for interesting stories to pursue.
Let’s see what’s out there.
No judgment. It can all kinda keep today.
Meh. Let it fall away on its own.