This is not going to become a kitten blog. No. Well, this blog is about me and my life, and Baptiste and Mercy are a part of my life, so I guess it’s natural they pop up here. And shit, this is my first week of owning them. Or, should I say more appropriately, this is their first week in owning me. Here are my used phrases:

• “You are such a silly kitty.”
• “Why are you clawing my chair?”
• “Food time!”

When I first brought them home Saturday, they were anxious and just wanted to hide. Although they started exploring more, they were still anxious about things. Baptiste was growling and hissing at his sister Mercy, something their fosters didn’t mention at all. But by Monday, Baptiste (aka, Bubula, aka Bubba) had fully gotten at ease and stopped growling and hissing. Mercy (aka Mamala, aka Mimos) is still wary of me but has stopped running in fear at the sight of me. She has started to play fight with her brother now. I forget what it’s like learning about cats’ personalities, and it’s so much fun seeing them open up.

So besides trying to keep these two beings entertained, fulfilled, and most importantly alive, it’s been a busy time at work. As much as I vowed to not be a meeting person, the weight of responsibility and mouse ears have made me renege on the promise which makes me sad. We’re only week 2 into the new year and transition, so we’ll see how it proceeds.

Thanks to staffing woes at the Billings airport on Friday, it took an hour for the luggage to get loaded onto the plane. Add the extra time for de-icing, it completely messed with my travel day. It was supposed to be BIL-MSP-LAX where I landed in LA by 5:30. Instead it was BIL-MSP-DTW-LAX where I landed in LA at 12:15 a.m. 1/1. Fortunately Delta took care of all of the rebookings by the time I landed in Minneapolis, so there were no headaches there fortunately. I mean, I did have my feet on the ground in all the time zones in the continental US, so I guess that is something. Anyhow, let’s just say I’m tired and don’t really have the desire to think too hard about the year that was.

+ Despite not traveling internationally, I did go to: Montana twice (January and just this past week); Baton Rouge/New Orleans; Minnesota/Wisconsin/Michigan; California Central Coast; Death Valley.

– After being teased about being able to move out of state thanks to being permanently working from home, was told that a hybrid working model was desired. So after thinking about moving to Wyoming or Montana has now been killed.

+ Went on a slutty rampage. Well, slutty for me since I never was all that slutty to begin with (despite my intentions.)

+ Kept improving my finances. This all goes to the realization that I probably won’t die any time soon, so now I guess all of the adulting shit I have needed to do I must do now. As much as I loathe the system, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be dismantled any time soon. So here’s me trying to play the game.

I guess all in all it wasn’t a bad year for me.

Although I am trying to play things off as cool and detached and say that I’m merely hoping that 2022 will maybe be a better year, I am actually looking forward to this year. We’ll see what happens.

I’m acting like my time here in California is coming to an end. Even though I haven’t finalized anything, I guess it is ending even though part of me is still in denial. I’m trying to take some day trips to places around here I have yet to visit.

Looking through my camera roll, and I realized I didn’t share many pictures from my trip up the California coast. Madd and I rented a Mustang convertible spent two days in Cambria and two in Monterey.

I’m going to miss California. Actually does anyone want to marry me and buy me a house here in LA so that I don’t have to move away? Don’t worry. I put out.

I had to go into the office today to print some checks for several government agencies who for some reason don’t accept electronic payments. No, they don’t want their money right away. They’d rather wait for a check to get to them then wait for it to clear the bank. Stupidity, really.

Anyhow, this is the first time I’ve been in the office since March 12, 2020 — 594 days. It was strange to see the place empty. When they did the deep COVID cleanse last April, they had people come in to put all of our effects in boxes and getting rid of our food items in our desks (and trust me, we have some fucking hoarders.) So empty desks, boxes everywhere, unplugged monitors. It was surreal.

I’m happy the packers did a good job because I was going to bring home my personal items since I don’t see myself coming back into the office. Since I don’t think we’re going back into the office before January and that is when I will be moved over to Disney, it’s as good of a time as any. I left some items as you see in the photo. I left my old pink Christmas tree. I left my adding machine since I bought the same one for use at home. The most important thing in the box: 1.75L bottle of Bombay Sapphire gin. That shit doesn’t go bad, right?

By the way, fuck traffic. Sure I went early in the afternoon and it wasn’t the normal rush hour level, but still. Fuck traffic.

How does one leave Facebook? If there was an easy way to keep in touch with friends, I could be done with Facebook in a heartbeat. But how?

A lot of my friends have kids and just don’t have the free time in their lives to independently curate their own way of keeping up with old friends. It’s what makes Facebook very effective and convenient. Not everyone has the time to keep up with emails, text messages, snail mail letters.

I’m at a loss. I guess if anyone wants an easy way to read these blog posts, one can enter their email address at the very bottom of the page to subscribe via email to get these posts sent one’s email inbox. Don’t worry. The emails are secure at no point am I going to sell your email addresses. I mean after having an online presence for over 20 years, do you really think I’m going to decide now to monetize this thing?

I guess this is what happens when we decide to become beholden to evil empires to allow us to communicate with one another. Hmph.