Music of the day: The Weight of Life

Another year is over, and a new one will begin shortly for me. So, what do I think of the year?

It has its ups and downs.

On the downside, moving here from Arizona was stressful. Heck, on the very first stage of the journey, I accidentally overheated the car engine because of the steep path and overworking it. But at least I learned about it and avoided the same mistake. Plus, having to leave a bunch of stuff that I want to keep or forgot about hurts, not to mention leaving behind so many memories.

On the health since, it wasn’t too great either. Even as I type this, I’m suffering from a cold (though at least I’m getting over it even though I still have to call out work again). The new environment does that, especially since it’s colder than I’m used to (it doesn’t snow where I live in Arizona). I do hope that my body will adapt to the environment.

As for some plans, some didn’t work out as my family had hoped. My dad was hoping that, over the summer, we could get some contractors to build a house in the land he purchased. However, because so many have the same plan and even have homes built before selling them, my dad wasn’t even able to end up on the list; at most, a physical review of the land. It doesn’t help that several pieces for the property (namely the house exterior and the solar panels) came before the house was built, so they’re taking up space. Hopefully, it’ll be done next year. Hopefully.

Another thing that I’m disappointed about is the lack of growth in Patreon since, after opening up Patreon commission slots and having someone have it for a few months before dropping out, there haven’t been any new Patreon supporters there. Part of me even wonders if it’s even worth having a Patreon account or not. Of course, it doesn’t help that the string of journals that I did at my dad’s suggestion didn’t help with any of my accounts’ growth and that I decided to drop doing them. Besides, I’m here to entertain, not talk or rant people’s ears out.

On the positive side, I’ve done much more writing than ever before. I used to write in a notebook before typing my story on a computer while revisioning them, but I find that typing it down and retyping it is much faster. The two stories I’ve been working on are comparable to The Pokémon Prometheus 2 in combined length. If it wasn’t for this cold and another real-life event (to explain in brief, the license plate on the car got so worn out that I got pulled over by the police back on November 26^th; no ticket, just a warning that I should get a new one and a new driver license for the Arkansas state. While I eventually got a new driver’s license, the plate is still pending for a few reasons: 1) the car is still registered in my deceased grandparents’ names, and my dad couldn’t get it to change before the move, 2) the original certificate got water destroyed long ago, and we need a new one before it can get sold to me, 3) despite the court battle over the grandparents’ property and such, they demanded death certificates for both of them before recognizing my dad as one of the executors of their estate, 4) they also demand my dad’s birth certificate as proof that he is their son, and 5) my dad was born in California, which has notoriously long waiting time before they ship out the birth certificate. Needless to say, I haven’t been driving to the library that much because of that), I would’ve finished them by now. Not to mention that there are a couple of stories I've done and haven't posted yet because some people haven't been reading and giving me their thoughts about them. Still, I hope you all will like them, especially the werewolf one. Though maybe the shark one will interest you folks as well.

Another positive is that, since transferring to this Home Depot, the employees there have liked having me. In fact, for the second time in my life, I’ve been given the Employee of the Month reward. I haven’t been boastful about my achievements, if only because I’m all too aware of my flaws and screwups, and I don’t like boasting stuff like that. It doesn’t help that, sometimes, I wonder if I deserve all of these awards.

Plus, despite the stressful changes in my life, it looks beautiful here. Though there have been unwelcome pests (like the Asian lady beetles in this room before killing them all), there is so much greenery that it doesn’t matter. And the people here have been friendly. I believe that I’ll enjoy living here once the property gets built.

It feels like I have so much to say, but I don’t want to ramble all of your ears out. So, instead, I’ll share some of my gaming experiences with you. Like Vampire Survivors, an awesome game you should all check out. Pokémon Legends: Arceus is also a good one, and while I haven’t got too far into Pokémon Scarlet, I’m enjoying it. I also love Xenoblade Chronicles 3, and while I haven’t touched Splatoon 3 that much, I’ve also enjoyed what little I’ve played it (it helps that I’m so sneaky and ignorable, allowing me to raid the other side with ease).

So, here’s to 2023 and though I doubt it’ll get better, let’s hope it’ll be an improvement over 2022! Especially since my New Year’s Resolution is to improve my writing.