Welcome to Forty, I Guess?

Est. Read Time: 30min
This Month's Font: Patrick Hand

Why, hello there, folks. Fancy seeing you here. Especially since I apparently have no consistency whatsoever anymore when it comes to this blog, so it's not like you know when I'd actually update. Bet you're just as surprised as I am that there even was an update this month (which should have actually been a SEPTEMBER update, but I'll get to that)!

Yeah. I might as well start with the elephant in the room.

Generated by Bitmoji

When I first started up this blog I was able to keep up with weekly updates. The day of the week may have changed from Sunday to Tuesday, but it was (almost) always by noon on that given day of the week (almost) every week. Now? I can't even publish once a month. I had started this update on AUGUST 31ST and spent ALL OF SEPTEMBER slowly chipping away at it! I just needed to finish up some edits yesterday in order to get this published as my September update. But NOOOOOOO. It's going live the first of OCTOBER! Why? How?

It's just 12 measly updates a year instead of 52. It is a fraction of the work I used to put into this blog - a blog that still means a lot to me; that hasn't wavered - and I STILL can't seem to get my act together. How did this become so hard since 2020?

I know my uploading schedule was already bucking me pretty badly in the first half of the year. However, as of my birthday, it had managed to completely throw me off the horse. I don't know what it is.

Since I've clearly missed my July and August updates, I might as well recap what I've been doing. I am covering 3 months though, so you might want to buckle up. Grab something to drink and a snack. Get your potty break in. Snuggle in under a cozy blanket, maybe?

All set? Let's get into it then, I guess.

Things have been going swimmingly since my birthday, as you can see.

Generated by Bitmoji

When last I left you, I was going on my much needed and much anticipated week-long vacation for my 40th (Yeah. I'm Internet Old^TM). I had Plans^TM! I was going to spend the first five days of my vacation celebrating my nephew's birthday, celebrating my own birthday with my local friends and family, allowing myself the much-needed veg time to recoup from the rest of the year thus far, and, finally, cleaning up my poor neglected apartment (maybe even rearrange some things Hubby and I have been meaning to do for literal years now... I was going to work on it during lockdown). I got exactly.... none of those accomplished.

My nephew was with his dad and not his mom for his birthday, so I didn't get to see him to celebrate until roughly three weeks later. The Big Hangout Night we were going to do the Friday before my birthday fell through, so there goes celebrating with friends. While I did still have some neat one-on-one (if you count me and Hubby as one unit) hangouts with a couple of buddies I haven't seen in a while, my upcoming 4-0 was not the aim of the night (I'll explain more in a minute). I had a lot of running around to do while I was still home (I'll explain in a sec), and the limited cleaning I was able to get done wasn't even in the rooms I was aiming for. Aside from one day, there wasn't really any recovery "veg time" either. On that single "veg day" that I did take I didn't even do the one thing I was really looking forward to: getting back into Animal Crossing: New Horizons while enjoying my front porch.

So, what DID I do those first five days? Well, first and foremost, my dirty laundry basket was overflowing. Which means I got to start off my vacation still doing our normal Errand Day things: working around Hubby's work schedule (he started his vacation a day later than I did), grocery shopping, paying bills, and doing laundry. Weeeeee. More of a standard day off than Day One of Vacation.

Another item on my Vacation To Do list was, unfortunately, to hit up the good ol' DMV to renew my license, since it would expire on my birthday. Also, I was having quite a hard time with my beloved Samsung Galaxy S7 phone (yes, the one that released in 2016 and I've had for the better part of seven years; I hold onto technology for AAAAAAGES). My phone had been having storage issues for a couple of years now. Something I could get around if I remembered to CONSTANTLY move photos and recently-updated apps back onto the SD card to free up internal space. My next issue was that some of my games and apps could no longer update/function because my phone had become too old to be compatible with the latest update. That was rough. That then evolved into me not being able to download apps that I needed in the first place. Apps such as the one a banker wanted us to use to apply for a mortgage... despite us KNOWING we wouldn't qualify and we just wanted to talk to a banker to get us on the right path TO be able to qualify in the future.... she wouldn't talk to us until we had submitted the application via the app.

Then, I couldn't get my Broadway show tickets because they were digital-only via an app that I couldn't download. Then, I couldn't buy the train tickets needed to get into NYC because... you guessed it... app required. I was just having tech issue after tech issue with my phone for the last two or three months. Hubby noticed that our service provider was doing a "buy back ANY Samsung Galaxy; any age or condition" program. This would be the closest to a "free upgrade" that we'd be able to get. The Universe was telling us to upgrade finally (or so I thought).

Hubby and I drove the 45min to the closest store to talk to someone about a trade-in. That was another headache and a half that I won't fully vent about here. The long and short is that I felt steamrolled. We didn't feel like our salesperson put in any effort to at least meet us halfway to get a phone/contract that fit our needs and budget. Our salesperson straight up told us we would be better off just leaving, buying phones elsewhere, and then coming back to activate them (so much for the trade-in values....). We paid extra to have them transfer our apps/data/etc from our old phones to our new... only for us to essentially do the transfer process ourselves anyway. Our monthly bill ended up MORE expensive, instead of either staying the same or decreasing.

The whole thing was a tiring, frustrating, and mildly demeaning experience. Yay, vacation....

On a more positive note, while watching Oxventure One-Shots, Hubby was introduced to a new tabletop RPG that intrigued him: World Wide Wrestling. I only just started enjoying pro-wrestling about a year or two ago when Hubby started watching AEW again. I like the drama and the soap-opera style plotlines they come up with. My cousin was right when he told me - back when we were teens, or thereabouts - that pro-wrestling is basically "soap operas for 10-25yo males". Also, I've grown to appreciate the athleticism of these glorified stunt men (I mean "glorified" affectionately). Even with all of this new appreciation for the craft, I am still incredibly green when it comes to the actual wrestling theatrics. Because of this, while I was still entertained, I was also kind of take-it-or-leave-it about the game after watching it being played, as opposed to other Oxventure One-Shots where I desperately wanted to play them myself. On the flipside, Hubby greatly enjoyed the Oxventure showcase of the game, and instantly searched for where to buy it.

Not realizing my neutrality for the game, Hubby bought it, excited to try it out. He read the relatively massive rulebook cover-to-cover the night he got it. He joyfully created a roster of non-player-character wrestlers (NPWs). He designed his own wrestler, and put the call out for others to come and try the game out with us. The one friend who got Hubby back into watching wrestling was just as excited to try. When the rest of our Great Hangout Night plans fell through we at least had him over to try out the new RPG.

It was goofy. It was a bit dumb. I had no clue what I was doing, wrestling wise (you have to get to describe your moves while your character is in the wrestling ring). Our bud had never played an RPG before, and so he was a bit reserved in the actual acting/improv/roleplay element. We made it through, though, and it was fun. Even if it was a bit stressful coming up with a character and sorting out my character's moves.

By the way, my character? He's nothing really to write home about. Seriously.

Originally, I was supposed to play the role of the game master; the Creative. I would come up with the show ticket (which wrestlers would perform when), roleplay as the color commentary and locker room reporters, and help ref the actual gameplay. Since all of our other friends dropped out, I got roped into playing an actual wrestler so we would have enough to properly play (I mean, you COULD play with less than 3 people, even one. It just isn't terribly fun and the session FLIES by that way). Since I had no clue what to do with my character, and I was literally creating a wrestler so the others had someone to play off of, I decided to go with the career gimmick of "Jobber" (wrestlers whose sole job is to make the other wrestlers look good by comparison; build up confidence in the up-and-coming new faces; etc). Since my Jobber was going to be Mr. Generic, Hubby pitched the name Ned Patrick Corney (N.P.C.). 

Built in WWE 2K22

There's my glorious boy!

Each time I introduced my character to a new player - this inaugural session, and then two later sessions - people have laughed about how I'm a Jobber Heel (not a combo typically seen in actual wresting promotions - which I learned is what you call franchises such as WWE and AEW). I had to explain that he was going to be a heel (a bad guy) as a jobber because it will make the faces (heroes) look more heroic by beating on a heel. And it will make the heels look more villainous for beating on someone who could be an ally.

I then joked that Ned here is basically the Deadpool character "Bob from Hydra". (Hey! Now that Deadpool is part of the MCU, maybe we can finally get an official Bob from Hydra!) Anyway, when it was time to come up with a visual representation of Ned I opted to style him based off of that Bob aesthetic. Namely, green pants and yellow boots/gloves.

Official comic panels; (c) Marvel Comics

Anyway, I somehow stumbled my way into a plot where Ned wanted to be part of a tag-team group (not very practical there, Ned... tag teams are a DUO). The NPWs in question are Brad Chadley and Chad Bradley, who leaned into a college-frat-boys gimmick, so their tag team name is Tau Kappa Omega (although, for the true "TKO" it probably should have ended with theta, but never mind that...). As part of the "rushing" trials to get into TKO, Ned stole a comedically large bag of nuts that our buddy's wrester Squirrelhausen uses as a prop. Ned revealed himself to be the thief, and was then forced to battle Squirrelhausen in a ladder match for the bag (I told you we got real goofy with this game). Ned lost (as he should, he's a Jobber).

Ned's plot during subsequent games has led him to be caught up in matches he's had no business being involved in as he kept trying to impress Brad and Chad. Including interrupting a tag-team match they were about to lose, making the match a "no contest" (winner can't be fairly decided) instead. In a separate match, the poor guy even got his nose literally broken as a result of a dice roll. Most recently, however, his trials all came to fruition. TKO finally accepted Ned into their fold. Huzzah!

Built in WWE 2K22

I'm getting ahead of myself though. So, the Friday before my birthday, we were originally going to have a game night, try out this new RPG since Hubby was hyped to play, and celebrate my 40th. Things fell through. The only one who could show up was Hubby's one high school friend. We played WWW, with me creating Ned so there'd be a third player wrestler. Then, that Sunday, we got Dragnime to visit and try out the game. Still just three players, including me, so Ned was brought in again. I don't think our D&D core game group got a chance to try out the game until the 29th or something? It was our normal D&D night, but Hubby was still feeling too burnt out to DM. So we pulled an audible and introduced everyone to WWW instead.

I'll talk even more about WWW at a later date. This post is going to be LONG as it is. So, moving along with the rest of my vacation week.

I spent the first two days of my vacation running around doing errands, barely even seeing my apartment. Joy. I was also stressing out about all of the money just hemorrhaging from my bank account: between groceries, the new license, the new phones and forced plan upgrades, and the new accessories we needed since everything we had was USB-A to USB-Mini cables and we now needed USB-A to USB-C cables (and adaptors to convert a USB-C port into a headphone jack). If that wasn't enough outpouring of money, we still had the NYC trip around the corner. Also, we bought two large pizzas for Friday, not realizing how expensive pizzeria pizza has gotten... and that we didn't need TWO pizzas for only THREE people!

Then, I was able to get some cleaning done - mostly focused on the living room - to make space for Game Night. However, I was spending so much time organizing for guests that I didn't attack the problem spaces I WANTED to clean while off of work. Regardless, with the exception of a handful of hours Friday night while playing, the first three days of my 9-day vacation were borderline MORE stressful than if I was still at work.

Saturday I honestly can't recall. I think Hubby made it a mandatory relax-and-recover day. We probably just vegged on the couch trying to cross a few more things off of our massive To Watch list. I know Hubby started up some things that intrigued him even though they weren't on our To Watch list. I can't recall why I didn't actually start up ACNH like I had intended....

Sunday was then spent cleaning up after Friday night finally since we purposefully neglected it all during our Saturday Relax Day. We then rewarded ourselves by having Dragnime come over to try out WWW. In truth, both nights we played that RPG were fun, but also a bit exhausting for me since I still have no clue about wrestling moves. Even beyond that, though, I've just always been a bit rubbish at coming up with fight scenes. Maybe I can use this opportunity to learn and improve???

Generated by Bitmoji

Hubby ended up finding my drawing pose dolls that I bought YEARS ago specifically TO block out fight choreography.

Original image by LycoRogue

We used them as articulated action figures so I could better visualize the wrestling match. It helps, but I am still so over my head when I have to do anything fighting-wise for the game. The other players are short-handing by mentioning move names (DDT; Brainbuster; Pile Driver; Superman Punch; etc) and I'm just like... "Uh... huh?" So Hubby would then demonstrate via the dolls so I could understand where my character would be in relation to the other wrestler. It's all a bit exhausting. It also tends to drag the fighting portions of the game down as I pause everything to have moves explained to me and then have the other players offer suggestions on what Ned can do in response.

This is why I had offered to be the Creative (although, I'm also a bit clunky in that role and still need Hubby's direction, if I'm honest) as well as voice the ring-side reporters and color commentary. I like playing characters and acting and coming up with plotlines. Not so much the "think of wrestling moves" side of things. I was definitely not that kid who play-fought and made up wrestling moves in the living room or backyard or on the playground, etc.

Anyway, moving ahead with my vacation: it was now Monday. My five days to stay home, clean/reorganize with Hubby, catch up on neglected video games such as Animal Crossing, recover from work, celebrate my birthday with local friends/family, and celebrate my nephew's birthday had come-and-gone with virtually nothing on that checklist crossed off. I think it says something when I was in a better mood the last day of work pre-vacation, when my coworkers surprised me with an office birthday party.

They may have overdone it a touch....

Anyway, I was trying to be calm and relaxed. We didn't really have anywhere to be. We could get to my mom's whenever. I planned to leave my place a little later than normal: 1pm. Hubby and I made a point of NOT stress-packing this time around. Problem is, I think I NEED to be stress packing? Because, roughly 40min into our 4hr drive, I realized at least 5 different things that I had forgotten to pack. One of which was my "dairy defense" pills that help me digest lactose. I am a dairy fiend, but also very much lactose intolerant. I can pop one of these probiotic lactase enzyme pills daily and, as long as I don't go overboard, I can eat dairy with no problem all day. Not something you want to forget to pack when most grocery stores no longer carry it (Amazon only, in most areas) and you're planning on hitting up a place called Shake Shack while in Manhattan.

Another "major" thing I forgot to pack? Super Mario Party for the Switch. I thought it would be a fun activity to play for my birthday. I packed my Switch. I packed extra controllers. I just forgot to pack the actual game.... whoops.....

Even when I decided against looping back to pick up the forgotten items, the trip to my mom's took longer than usual as we drove through TORRENTIAL rain for the first half of the trip, and then massive roadwork traffic on the back half of the trip. Oh, and when I say "torrential" I mean "picture that part of an automated car wash when your car is getting rinsed off and you can't really see past the water." I'm talking "the rain is so heavy the only way I can stay on the road and see the car in front of me is by following their tail-lights." With hazards on, I was going 30mph (56km/h) in a 65mph (105km/h) zone! For over a half-hour! Only for the rain to clear up and the roadwork traffic to begin instead.

One of the more stressful trips to/from my mom's.

Once at my mom's, I again attempted to relax and decompress between doing the laundry we brought down. Mom and I chatted for a bit. We had dinner. We went to bed around midnight, which is early for me... at least, it has been this year.

Yay, mild insomnia!

Now, I was a morning baby. Kinda mid-morning. Early enough that I couldn't really "sleep in" if I wanted to be awake for my birth minute, but not SO early that I wasn't generally awake at that time anyway, and definitely early enough that I typically wasn't in the middle of anything quite yet. Which means, true to form, despite dealing with a lot of lost sleep for a while now and being on vacation (which usually translates to "you can sleep in"), I made sure to be awake in time for my mom's tradition of singing Happy Birthday to me at the exact minute I was born. Mom and I then vibed for a bit while waiting for Hubby to wake up.

Then chaos. I won't air out the dirty laundry here, but there was a bit of a kerfuffle with my mom's siblings. She was locked into drama within the Sibling Group Text that she had to sort out (hooray for taking on the sibling role of "mediator" all the time, I guess?). While Mom was busy with that, I texted my sister about how grateful I was for her and how we didn't have to go through the same chaos.

Once everything got sorted with my mom's siblings, we had brunch and I opened up gifts from my school bestie. I got more pins!

*Side Note: As mentioned above, my coworkers surprised me with an office birthday party my last day of work before my vacation. They really overdid. Lots of awesome gifts there too. Mostly at-home spa-stuff. I think they may have noticed that I've been a touch stressed. One of the smaller gifts (literally) that I got, however, were two more pins. So... YAY! MORE PINS!

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom pins from bestie
Emperor's New Groove pins from coworkers

Oh, yeah! I may not have mentioned it here yet. I've become quite the enamel pin collector the past couple of years. Made this pin board for myself using an embroidery hoop, discarded upholstery fabric, ribbon from the dollar store, and some hot glue.

All of my personal pins

Made this one for Hubby's pin set

Hubby's pins quickly overwhelmed his handmade board.
So now it's dedicated to just his One Piece pins

And we got this store-bought one from my sister.

I'm still slowly migrating Hubby's pins to this board
so it looks a little empty right now.

Anyway... PINS! The presents from my old school bestie were lovely. But.... we weren't quite sure what to do after opening those gifts. We were planning on officially celebrating at my sister's new place, but she was still at work, as was her fiancé. We had about 2 or 3 hours to kill with no clue how. Eventually, Hubby filled the awkward void by just bringing up the TV and... stumbled upon the show Criminal Minds. We all like the series, so we figured, "Eh? Why not?" and just... kinda... watched a few episodes until it was time to finally head out. Because, why not? What a way to celebrate my 40th, right?

My lovely sister ended up surprising me by covering her entire first floor - the living room, kitchen, and dining area - with 40th birthday decorations. Streamers. Little table toppers. Banners. A huge cloth poster with trivia about the year 1984. She also made me a cookies & cream/Oreo birthday cake. Sooooo yummy!

Oreo cake made by my sister

My future brother-in-law ran out to fetch the Chinese food order. Also very yummy. I think we all enjoyed our meal.

Then Sis surprised me again with the info that she and her honey had a copy of Mario Party Superstars. Probably a much more appropriate version of the Mario Party franchise for us to play, since it had a remake of the game board Peach's Birthday Cake. Us four "kids" played as Mom looked on, content with not playing.

The whole evening at my sister's place was low-key and chill. Kind of exactly how I wanted to ring in my next decade.

Then came the Broadway trip.

Hooooooboy! What a rollercoaster kind of day. It was stressful getting to the train station and figuring out where to park and figuring out what platform to wait at. Especially since none of us typically ride trains. In fact, this was my mom's first-ever train ride outside of those Santa Train style event rides that happen around Christmas.

Thankfully, we stumbled upon a commuter who was taking the same train as us, and she kindly walked us through everything to make sure we were situated. Thank you, random kind commuter! It really helped alleviate a lot of anxiety about the whole thing.

Once the stress of getting on the train ended, it was fun seeing my mom's excitement while on the train. The ride was smooth. I enjoyed watching the scenery go by outside. The morning's stress started melting off me as the excitement of being in Manhattan washed over.

I have to say, I LOVE Manhattan! Not enough to ever live there or commute in/out of NYC for work, but I've visited Manhattan 7x now since I was about 12? The trip to Broadway was the first time back since getting married though, so it's been over a decade. I missed it. I know we had a solid 6+ hours there that day, but it never feels long enough. Maybe Hubby and I will take a weekend getaway in Manhattan some day... but back to our trip this July.

We arrived at NYC, and met up with Aurora Morgen, who was already in Manhattan visiting another friend. Said friend had to work that day, but would meet up with us at the theater to watch Hadestown. Once Aurora joined our party, our next objective was to get "genuine NY style pizza in Manhattan" for lunch. I decided on Joe's Pizza just a block or so south of Time Square. Kind of a tourist trap, but, ya know what? I'm a tourist. So... sure.

Original images by LycoRogue

Honestly? I was spending too much time dodging crowds on the street, laughing about getting an entire mouth full of cheese (pulling most of it off the pizza in one bite) because I couldn't tear it with my teeth, and juggling the pizza, a mountain of napkins, and a bottle of water. I enjoyed myself, and I enjoyed the pizza, but I can't really recall the flavor. Can't even tell you if I'm now in the camp of "NYC pizza/bagels are the best; fight me."

I'm typically that way with regards to food, though. I'll enjoy my meal, but the flavor won't stick with me. I couldn't tell you the "best food" I've ever eaten or my favorite meal, because once it's digested my brain dumps that info.

Generated by Bitmoji

After lunch I navigated us towards Time Square. I was planning on us just taking in the sites and the various street performers that gravitate there. Take some pics before heading to the theater. The party was getting antsy though, so it was more of a brief walk through than an actual pause-to-enjoy-the-sights sort of moment. Kind of a bummer.

We made it to the theater roughly 15min before the doors even opened. While waiting, we were lined up inside this roofed off alley between the theater and a parking garage. The air was hot and stagnant. It was definitely a bit uncomfortable and people were getting cranky. Hubby was getting a touch melty. We COULD have been in the open air of Time Square, but... sure... we'll huddle in the stuffy alley instead.

While we were all kinds of miserable and sweaty in that alleyway waiting for the line to move, Aurora gave me nir gifts. I got a set of magnets designed to look like a package of macarons, and a coaster that dings every 20minutes if you haven't taken a drink (there's a button that depresses when you lift your glass and if it doesn't depress within 20min it will ding to remind you to drink).

Left: Macaron Magnets
Middle: Drink Reminder Coaster (off)
Right: Drink Reminder Coaster once set/while going off.
There's a (blindingly) BRIGHT blue light along with the ding audio reminder

This coaster is AMAZING! I'm still only consuming about 60% of the recommended intake for my age/height/weight/activity level, but even so, it's at least DOUBLE the amount I HAVE been drinking! Yay, getting healthy! Sorta... slowly but surely.....

Hydrate before you die-drate, and all that.

Generated by Bitmoji
Edited by LycoRogue

Anyway, we get into the theater and the seats are TIIIIIIIIINY! Like, I was afraid my husband wouldn't be able to fit tiny. Like MY HIPS barely fit tiny. We all did fit, but it was a tiiiiiight squeeze. We were all a bit stiff and sore by the time intermission came around, and again as the musical ended. Poor Hubby couldn't even sit normally in those seats. The walkway between the rows of seats was too thin for the length of his feet! He had to sit bow-legged (taking up some of my space and then the aisle) with his feet turned out like a ballerina's, all while trying not to knee the girl sat in front of us in the head.

Probably the most uncomfortable seating any of us have experienced in recent memory (or even, EVER!)

On the flipside, though, check out this view!

Original image by LycoRogue

For any who have watched Hamilton but not Hadestown, this musical has a similar "turn-table" stage to add dynamic choreography and allow the actors to walk for extended periods of time without necessarily leaving the same portion of the stage. In Hadestown, however, the center of that stage also raises and lowers, creating a false sense of layering to help distinguish between the mortal plane on the surface and the Underworld, where spirits go after one's death. The whole speakeasy-style set also slides open to showcase a more red and pipe-flooded surface once the characters are spending time in the Underworld, giving it a dark, gritty, industrial vibe. I tried to take a picture during intermission, but it sadly didn't come out clear.

Knowing the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, I had warned everyone multiple times that Hadestown is a Greek tragedy. Even so, I was not mentally prepared. All of the Act I songs where Orpheus tells Eurydice that her life will be better and he'll never abandon her and they will always be together and... I'm SOBBING! Hubby had to frequently check in with me to make sure I was alright. It was such a positive, optimistic opening to the musical, which I loved. However, knowing the ending going into it, I was in PAIN, but in the best way. The choreography was awesome. The music was catchy. The set was breath-taking. Also, we lucked into a relatively new cast. No offense to the original cast, but after listening to the soundtrack vs the performance we got? The cast we lucked into was just so much more appealing to all of us. Plus, we got to watch essentially Broadway royalty with Hermes being played by Stephanie Mills, the original Dorothy from The Wiz.

From the official website
Cropped and edited by LycoRogue

Post-musical, we, of course, hit up the merch store. I got the program book, a shirt, a reusable bag to carry it all in, and, of course, ANOTHER PIN! (This time Hubby claimed possession, so the red flower is on his pin board) As a masker, I was pleasantly surprised that they have a couple of face mask options in their online merch store, but, sadly, none at the merch table at the theater. I'll have to place a couple of online orders, I think....

I was also pleasantly surprised by how much my family actually did enjoy the musical. Going into the show, my family all seemed very "Eh. It's what [Lyco] wants to do, so I guess I'll come along. I don't really have much interest, though." After watching it? They all raved about it! My sister has already sent me three different Tiktoks or Instagram reels referencing the musical. Also, appropriately enough, she had started reading a sort of Fifty Shades of Grey but with Hades and Persephone on the train into Manhattan that day. Maybe a week later, Sis called me up specifically to tell me that the chapter she had just read introduced Orpheus in his hunt to rescue Eurydice. So... I think the musical stuck with her. Glad everyone ended up enjoying themselves.

Honestly, the musical properly balanced the chaos of the rest of the day, and certainly made the trip to Manhattan worth it. I mean, it SHOULD have, because that was the point, but I just would have liked it if the whole day was a wonderful experience.

That said, I had a tight schedule planned for the day. It had kept me a couple of months - and a wee bit of a struggle - to sort out an itinerary based on what people might enjoy, what I wanted to cross off my bucket list, how long we could be in Midtown before we had to catch our return train, and how much walking we could reasonably do within the limitations of my husband - who has problems with his lower back and both knees - and my mom - who has plantar fasciitis. It was a headache and a half, but I was proud of what I was able to sort out. It wasn't much - pizza, Time Square, show, burgers, light shopping, train - but I was still proud of being able to get it organized best I could.

I know that Aurora's friend wanted to help by giving us a "local's" experience, but it ended up throwing the back half of my itinerary out the door. We walked more than intended, had to cross things off that we wanted to do because we either ran out of time and/or it became too out of the way, and the things the friend had us check out were just around Time Square anyway, sooooo, not exactly the "local's" experience we were expecting/agreed to.

After our detouring, we ended up having dinner at Shake Shack, a relatively new NYC staple. I would have preferred to have hit up the original one in Madison Square Park. Unfortunately, that would have been about a 45min hike one-way to the park from Time Square, and we were trying to not spend extra on things like cabs/Uber/subway rides. It was still a Shake Shack in Manhattan, so.... close enough? Hubby and I could hit up the OG Shake Shack during that weekend getaway to Manhattan I'll have us eventually take.

Anyway, due to things outside the restaurant's control, I had a bit of a mixed experience at the Penn Station Shake Shack. At least the food was good. And I NURSED that milkshake. I was still slowly sipping away at it in the car ride home (probably isn't great to still be drinking a milkshake nearly 2hrs later, but ignore that....)

Original image by LycoRogue

There was a little bit more drama - which I won't air out here - post-dinner as we tried to get onto the train home. It was a bit of a nail bitter, and we weren't sure at first if we even got on the right train, but it all worked out. I wish we had been able to find a kind commuter again like we did that morning. That would have helped relieve a lot of stress. Also, the chairs were decidedly less comfortable on the train ride home than the one there. And the windows were kinda filthy, so I couldn't even enjoy the scenery that much on the ride back.

Once back in NJ, we had another epic saga: Finding a toilet! Part of the drama leading to our train ride out of Manhattan resulted in us rushing to the station without first taking a potty break. After our dinners and shakes, we needed that quick rest-stop before the hour-long drive back to Mom's. EXCEPT! The train station's bathrooms were locked up as early as ONE-PM! WHO CLOSES A TRANSPORT BUILDING AT ONE-PM EVERY DAY!?! We then tried to go to a Dunkin' Donuts, I believe, but we were on the wrong end of a one-way street and couldn't sort out how to get to the Dunkin'. Then, after driving for a beat around a town none of us know, we ended up at a CVS.... whose public restrooms were closed for maintenance.... So, we walked across the street to this high-rise that housed a movie theater, a gym (Planet Fitness, I think?), and a hotel. After wandering around for way too long trying to find a public restroom among those businesses, Mom finally just pleaded with the receptionist at the gym. He was kind enough to escort us to the bathrooms even though he wasn't supposed to let non-members past the lobby.

Bless that man.

Finally able to empty our bladders, we were on the way back to Mom's. But the epic search for a restroom probably took over 30min. It was kind of ridiculous. We probably would have been better off just driving home and holding it since we essentially had to hold it anyway. Obviously, everyone was tired, sore, and cranky by this point. More drama ensued from said crankiness.

Thankfully, we ended on a good note. My sister had to stop by Mom's on her way home in order to pick something up. Everyone was a touch less cranky by then, and I got a nice goodbye in with my sister and her fiancé. A much better way to leave things off for the next two months than how we were in NJ.

Dang, New Jersey....

Screenshot of a Tweet

As for my final day of my vacation? Hubby and I had been saying for months that we needed to get our hair cut. Especially with my sister's wedding around the corner. Mom convinced us to just chop it off while in town. So we did that... yet another headache, but at least I was happy with my cut. I then made sure to wash all the laundry we used on our trip so we were only bringing clean clothes home. We packed up, and were on our way in the early evening (about 4pm). The trip home, thankfully, wasn't as tiring as the trip down, so that's a positive. But I had to go to work the very next day, so... again... not much relaxing to be done between laundry, hair cuts, packing, driving, and unpacking....

Sheesh!

Generated by Bitmoji

I definitely felt like I had one of those "I need a vacation from my vacation" sort of breaks from work. With a few exceptions, I almost wished I could have had a vacation do-over.

Instead, it was my turn to cover for a 10-day vacation. So, I got to deal with a lot of stress while also dealing with vast under-stimulation at work. I could practically feel myself going feral while my brain was shutting down.

Stock image from Shutterstock

I kept telling myself that I should work on my stories or my blog update(s). Instead, I found myself flitting back-and-forth between Tumblr and Facebook - and even Twitter - as my brain searched for something to do that didn't require anything terribly active on my part. Trying to come up with something to write for a new story, working on the plot outlines of my two main WIPs, sorting out what to do for Plagg Appreciation Day for Friday, September 13th.... none of them were things my brain was capable of doing throughout August. Yes, that, sadly, also included simply chatting with you all via this blog update.

I kept bringing Blogger up, telling myself I should work on this post, only to then spend time playing with the HTML instead of actually writing something. Whenever it came time to put words to the figurative paper my brain would just shut down. Even those opening paragraphs of this update I couldn't do while trying to physically type them out. My mind would just blue screen on me. Instead, in order to get the ball rolling for this thing, I had to dictate to my phone. It was the only way for me to start funneling the words out of my head.

Honestly, I feel like part of the stall on this update was because, outside of venting about my vacation and how much new stress built up on me since my 40th, I didn't think I really had anything to say. My mind went blank. My hands and brain weren't communicating in a creative sense. I could not physically write - via pen, pencil, or typing - any sort of narrative. Which meant, after going 3-for-3 on publishing a new story monthly, I had no new stories to promote. Not even inklings of stories. I hadn't thought of One and the Same or Seduce with Caution in MONTHS. I hadn't started reading any new stories via fanfics, WEBTOON, or Comikey. Hubby and I had stopped watching NoPixel content months ago when Sykkuno switched back to streaming on Twitch. What story or bit of news did I have to tell that you would want to know about? (Hopefully, my vacation drama is the answer to that question....)

The irony is, now that I've managed to get the ball rolling with my writing again, I've come up with tons of things to talk about. It's like exercise: now that I've started, I kind of don't know how/don't want to stop. But once I do stop, I will whine and fight tooth-and-nail again tomorrow as I struggle to start back up.

Now, I want to talk to you more about the wrestling promotion we created for that RPG and the wrestling plotlines we have come up with. I want to talk to you about the new alien species inspirations I got for Scum & Villainy while watching another Oxventure mini-series. In September, I did start up a couple of new manhwas on Webtoon that I want to talk about. Finally, I want to gush about how those three stories I HAVE published this year are STILL getting love months later, and on a weekly - if not near-daily - basis!

I have surprisingly more to say now, but this post has already gotten so long.... how does that keep happening to me?

Generated by Bitmoji
Edited by LycoRogue

Honestly, I think I have an answer to that question, but I don't think any of you really care to sit through another 10min worth of this update to get my full response. So, I'll hold onto that until next time, I guess.

In the meantime, I'll just finish up by recapping the rest of August and September:

Stress. Under-stimulation. Avoidance of writing because of both of those. Lots of driving. Chaotic daily schedule. Brief hang with the nephew for a joint birthday celebration. Hubby and I having a game night with our niece and nephew. Some D&D and more of the wrestling game. Long weeks covering for Manager's vacation early August and again at the end of September for my other coworker's vacation. I was too numb and uninspired to write anything for Friday the 13th again. La sad. I started up ACNH again and got Hubby back into it! Hooray! I got REALLY into reading again in September, almost obsessively reading more and more manhwas on Webtoon and re-reading earlier episodes of the stories I've already read. I now have a love-hate relationship with the Webtoon Daily Pass set-up. One story in particular breaks my heart in the best way.

I definitely have to ear-mark talking about at least that story next time. But with so much more that I want to talk about now, I may need to delay so I have space for everything else I want to tell you!

Tanuki Facebook sticker
by Yanare Ku

I really need to get back into something I've been meaning to for a while now: actually plan out/bullet-point my blog updates. Now that I have a list of what I want to talk to you about, I need to write that down. Give my mind the jumpstart I struggled to have for so long for this update.

I think I'm gonna have to ride this motivation wave and get started on the next update as soon as I've published this one. Hopefully, I can get back on track. Hit that big ol' Reset Button.

Wish me luck.

Generated by Bitmoji

OH! Quick P.S. - Hubby and I are celebrating our wedding anniversary tomorrow! Happy Anniversary, my love! You are still my smile, my greatest muse, and my best friend.

Official wedding photo