I’m a really fast reader and I had a slowish day at work yesterday. I read The Colour of Magic start to finish yesterday morning and really enjoyed it. I’m almost finished with The Light Fantastic now.

I think I’ve got about 5 reads in ;) I tend to find books I like and reread them way too many times. I’ve got about 9 or 10 reads of The Witcher novels and am trying to resist pulling them out again.

Yes, I’m not sure why they deleted their comment, it was still a good suggestion and I appreciate it.

I forgot I read this series! I absolutely loved the first half, by the last half I just felt like I was only finishing it because I had invested too much time in it. I hated the way the women characters developed at the end, it felt very “men writing women”. It was so gross. I also hated how dialogue heavy the last few books were, the plotline dragged hard.

I have read the Hobbit! I was so excited for the movies and when the first one came out I almost cried in the theater. I made myself watch the second one but never did watch the third one. The book is good enough.

Depends. I’ve realized that people aren’t really looking for an answer beyond being acknowledged, so “hey”, “hey, how are you?” or a simple return of the greeting lets them know that you hear them and are completing the social contract. If they follow up or if it’s asked in a context where I think they want an answer sometimes I just say “here” or “breathing” and that gets the point across.

Hey you, you’re finally awake…

Yeah that’s my answer. Life is just so empty when no one loves you and you have no one to love. I’m incredibly grateful that I have a decent job and a roof over my head and food in my fridge and my life is better than it was a few years ago but except for my 2 amazing cats I have absolutely no one to love or love me and that hurts. I just want a hug and someone to tell me about their day while we eat dinner.

Yeah, part of me is like “the government can’t have my fingerprints” but I work a job that requires criminal background checks so I’ve been fingerprinted and run through police and FBI databases more times than I can honestly remember… They’ve got my fingerprints. They all have my fingerprints. It’s a little late to start worrying about it.

I work in EMS. I was transporting a patient to the hospital one time for a minor complaint and was making small talk in the back of the ambulance. She mentioned wishing she could go on a vacation and I said something about how that sounded amazing and I hadn’t had a vacation in years. I asked where she would want to go. She started listing off psych hospitals and debating with herself which ones she wanted to go to for her “vacation”. Personally, I was thinking about hiking in the woods or swimming in the ocean, but I guess some people want to be locked in a psych ward.

“that’s why I say hey man nice shot”

Having a happier, less stressful environment. It’s hard having to pay bills and keep a roof over my head, but no one is screaming at me about stupid shit and I feel safe in my home now. I’d rather work OT every week forever than live with my parents again.

Being able to exist on my own schedule and not having to worry about other people. Being able to set my own rules and standards for my home. I can eat when I want, shower when I want, and come and go as I please without having to answer to my parents or work around my family’s schedule. I’m a very clean person and hate messes, but my mom is a neat freak, and I can decide to leave dishes for tomorrow or throw clothing on the floor without someone screaming at me. I can also decide to eat dinner in my living room. The first year after I moved out I ate meals sitting in bed so much simply because it was the first time in my life I was allowed to have food in my bedroom. Now I don’t ever eat in bed because I don’t care, but I can if I want. There’s no rule saying I can’t.

I’m an American. I’d never criticize the NHS.

The UK healthcare system has problems. We have problems.

The UK has free healthcare. We have problems.

This hits. I used to love hiking. I used to hike all the time. It’s free. But I have to drive there. That takes fuel. And the more I drive my car, the more likely it is that something on it will break. I can’t afford a repair bill right now, and I can’t afford to be without a car. I have a one hour commute to work with no public transportation available, and I have zero friends or family to help me, so if I’m without a car, I can’t get to work, now I lose my job, I can’t pay rent and lose my home, and I’m homeless.

All I want to do is go back to hiking to relieve some of the anxiety of life, but just thinking about it sends me into a doom spiral of “what if something happens and you ruin your life because you wanted to go walk in the woods”.

God of War: Ragnarok.

I don’t have a console so I had to wait for it to port to PC, then wait til it went on sale and I could snag it at a more reasonable price. I loved the one before it and was so excited to play. The first couple hours were good, and then I felt like it was an endless repetition of fight a boss, talk about our feelings while we walk to fight another boss, talk about our feelings some more, and repeat. The part where you have to play as Atreus helping that giant girl do her daily chores made me want to weep from boredom and it just went on forever. I think I gave up shortly after Freya met her brother again, but I don’t really remember the storyline because it was just so mind numbingly exhausting, like listening in on a bunch of therapy sessions (and I’m super pro “take care of your mental health and go to therapy if you need it”, but if I have to listen to a literal god whining and acting willfully helpless for an entire video game I’m out).

I have been told that it is actually a good game that gets better and I should give it another go, but I’m not sure if it’s good for MY mental health.

All my phone has is on it is an absolutely embarrassing amount of memes and pictures of my cat. There aren’t even any nudes on it, although maybe I should take some to traumatize any government agent who goes digging through it. Would serve them right.

I work in EMS. I’m also constantly checking out people’s veins (veins are beautiful!)

Any house I go into I’m mentally determining if a stretcher would get into the home, how easy it would be to get it around, and how I could get someone out if the stretcher didn’t fit. Basically everywhere I go I’m like “how easy would it be to get you out if you dropped unconscious?” I’m also judging how well the home is set up for maneuverability if the person living there has a sudden loss of mobility - even young people can break a bone and end up on crutches or temporarily in a wheelchair and you want more room to move than you may think. My apartment is up several flights of steps with no elevator, but if I could scoot myself up the stairs and get inside my apartment I’d be ok. I have everything set up in such a way that if I was injured I could get around very well inside for a few months, it would just be the coming in and out that would be a problem.

I also always back my car into parking spots, because we always back the ambulance in. When we aren’t on calls the ambulance is always backed in so that if we get a call we can leave quickly, and if we are on a call the ambulance is backed in so we can leave quickly if the scene becomes unsafe.

I started the first book February 3rd after a podcaster I listen to casually mentioned it and said it was a great read. I’m on the 7th book now 😂

I’m in my 30s and I don’t feel ready for a job. Work sucks, I’d rather chill at home all day and do whatever I want, but unfortunately I got bills to pay, I live alone and I like my little apartment. Also, I spent 2 months at home on medical leave last year and the toll it took on my mental health was incredible. As much as I hate working, I need something to get me up and out of my home and around other people (and I hate people).

I would seriously consider trying to get at least a part time job. Growth is painful, but you can’t become a better person if you never push yourself forward and do the hard things.

“When someone tells me he is politically neutral, I always ask which politics he specifically has in mind” - Baptism of Fire (The Witcher Book 5)