I’ve started updating the site, mostly with pictures and commentary around my cosplaying under the name Tango Mike Cosplay. There was already a tag for it on the navigation bar at the top of the page, but I’m in the process of making sub-pages to that, each with a gallery of images to peruse.
This is fun.
Lady M is out for the weekend with Lady S, so I’ve spent today playing on the Xbox, watching films, and sketching odds and ends – oh, and drinking wine left over from the authors event that we hosted at the library mid-week.
That went well – I got drafted in to do the front of house and introductions and ended up juggling emergency services calls when someone got assaulted outside the library during the event.
All’s well that ends well on that front, but it did serve as a gentle reminder of just how petty day to day drama is when confronted with a young teenager with blood pouring down his face.
So yes, I have a few days off now, which is much needed as we’ve had a very stressful time of late with Lady M’s health. As of Wednesday, we have a relative all’s clear on a cancer scare, depending on the results of x-rays etc – all of which is a relief.
Did I mention I’ve been drinking wine? There’s probably a statute against tipsy blogging somewhere, but then again it’s a Saturday night and when better to blow off some steam?
It’s late and I have to be up to open up a library in the morning so I’ll keep this reasonably brief as an update. Life has continued to be pretty full-on recently (oh who am I kidding, it’s not been a year for giving us much of a chance to get a breather), and I’ve really been struggling to find the inspiration to write. That includes this blog, and pretty much any of my other projects. I wish I could say it was as simple as just being writer’s block.
Without going into too many details, Lady M has finally got an answer to a number of health concerns that have been niggling away at her. While it’s not anything with a fatal outcome, she does have a debilitating chronic condition that she will have to manage for the foreseeable future. As a result I’ve been worried for her and trying to support her as best I can. The writing has taken a back seat to that the last couple of weeks.
There are all sorts of fears and worries that I hold on to right now. The best adjustments that I’m trying to do are those that allow me to balance being there for her while also making sure that I’m able to function too.
So bear with me if I’m a bit flaky or selfish from time to time at the moment. It’s me trying to do the self-care thing, and I’ve never been too hot at that.
You might have noticed that I’ve retired the old sketch that’s adorned this site since the early days and replaced it with something a bit more generically wallpaper-like. I’ve just upgraded the hosting plan for this site, which is something I’ve been meaning to do for some time, and I’m currently playing with the widgets and settings to spruce the place up a bit.
The big advantage for any visitors to this neck of the woods is that it abolishes the adverts that occasionally crop up at the bottom of my posts and pages. I’ve never liked them there and considered them a necessary evil to support the site until now. I also am wary of the feeding of content onto the site that I haven’t had any control or insight into – if only down to the horror stories of advert affiliation schemes getting co-opted for drive-by malware attacks.
So – all the old content, no ads, and a bit more freedom and storage space for me to develop the site. It’s almost like a spring clean I suppose.
I feel such a bad blogger. Worse, I’m unfaithful and have been seeing other blogs. For money. That’s my excuse for not writing here for a while. Well, time to remedy that now I’m starting to get an equilibrium of sorts.
There are going to be more, often shorter, updates here as I build it into my daily routine. More of a mix of snapshot of life moments and oddities I’ve found while researching for stories, and the occasional rant.
Sort of business as usual, but more so.
So yes, I’m aware that this isn’t perhaps the most regularly updated blog at the moment – and that’s partly down to life having its little ups and downs. As a result I’m sometimes not really in the mood to write here after complex days at work or after slogging after a deadline.
That said, its gone midnight here, t’other half is sleeping off what was sounding suspiciously like the beginnings of a migraine earlier, and I’ve just voraciously consumed the first four books in the Parasol Protectorate series. At the risk of sounding like George Takei: “Oh My!” Run, don’t walk, and grab these books for some lighthearted steam-punk horror-fantasy romps. I wish I’d written them, they’re that good.
Perhaps its the characterisation in them as the main protagonists seem to resemble us in many ways – both in terms of acerbic humour and bloodymindedness and in the passionate daftness. Though that said I’m reasonably certain I’ve never been mistaken for a werewolf and t’other half is not even remotely Italian…
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