She kinda went from only needing regular checkups each year to needing a ton of vet visits all of a sudden this year, but she still runs and plays like she did 5 years ago when she's not sick. Hopefully we can get some relief for a little while.

Between my neighbor shooting her when she was just 4 months old and the various illnesses she's had to deal with this year, I'm thankful I still get to spend time with her. We've been through a lot together.

(Also, as per usual, I'm on Discord)

There's still a lot of you I've only ever known online! I want to change that someday. A lot of the folks I have met and spent time with are folks I haven't crossed paths with in years. There's still too much I want to do.

But that means I'm going to say goodbye for now. I have shit to do!

So I'm going to stop being depressed and try again to get into a better situation. Kate and I both want to go to and work more events and spend time with more people, but I'm not going to be able to keep up with the way things are currently. I have to do more.

I'm grateful to Shinobi and Jay for Climax and MiMas. I don't think I'd still be trying if I didn't get to come back and try again before covid, but I headed into Climax this year knowing it was possibly going to be the last event I ever get to go to and left Climax knowing I don't want it to be.

Events have closed, people have moved on, relationships have drifted apart... I don't know if I could have done anything better to change things up to this point, but I know that I need to commit to something else for a while if I ever want to return and change things in the future.

I feel like I've spent almost my entire adult life wanting to be a part of something while only being able to look on from a distance. I've mostly been unable to do much other than watch things come and go and haven't been able to experience nearly as much as I've wanted to.

I had a much longer thread written out detailing my time in the FGC because the Harada news had me a bit depressed and thinking a lot about the time I've had with the community.

But to make a long story much, much shorter...

My focus and interest in it never really timed up with my time in the FGC, but I have played a lot of Tekken, especially when I had local friends willing to pick it up with me. I never really knew what I was doing, but it's a series I have a lot of respect for.

I took out a loan to build my PC last year right after the election because I had a feeling I'd be priced out of an upgrade if I didn't, but it still got worse than I thought it would.

It's also incredibly annoying because some of us have to actually spend time out there telling this shit to people who don't already believe it.

That's probably the best way I've seen it put.

They say a lot of smart things, but it's also the same conclusions that any honest observer would already come to. I found it more exhausting than useful.

I unfollowed Karl months ago because they gave me these performative type vibes, so I can't say I'm surprised by stuff like this even if I'd like to believe better.