Down the Rabbit Hole

I don’t know why I was complaining about there being no books to buy in August. I haven’t read any. Well, I take that back. I’ve read 1 book this month and it’s the 20th. Nothing is appealing to me at all.

Instead, I have gone down a deep, deep hole with Webtoons. I started reading 1 or 2 webtoons last winter and liked them fine. Then one day maybe not quite 2 months ago I opened the app and the Webtoons banner had an advertisement for Midnight Poppy Land. It took me less than a week to get caught up with all the published episodes. I’ve re-read the entire thing multiple times, plus smaller sections of related episodes many, many times. I’m looking at you #25 and #26. I even gave Webtoons my money to buy coins for the Fast Pass episodes. Then I joined 2 fan groups on Facebook. I don’t even like FB and I’m getting on there constantly now to check on what’s going on in the groups. I’ve found 2 different podcasts to listen to things about MPL. I bought notebooks I don’t need because they have pictures from MPL on the cover. Sure, I wanted to support the artist, but I really just wanted to look at Tora and Poppy. I am hooked. We are only on episode 44. I have no idea how many episodes it will be but years of my life can go by before this story is finished. I want to own it in print so badly. I really hope one day it gets published in print format. I haven’t started reading the fan fiction yet, but if anything gets me to do that, it will probably be MPL. I’m hoping the obsessing part will die down a little bit because I can’t live my life like that. I know from other experiences with other stories, that eventually it will fade and I’ll handle it normally. At least I think so. I’m not used to having to wait for the next episode to come out. At least I’m not alone. I’ve already figured out that I can work myself up and then get disappointed by an episode that is too short or goes in a direction I didn’t expect. 

Since I am caught up with my favorite, I’ve started reading others. Some I’m liking a lot and others are ok.  I’ve got a huge list saved on my account though and I’m slowing trying and reading through them. None others have hooked me like MPL, but there are a few really popular ones I haven’t gotten around to starting yet.

Anyway, yeah, I’m spending the majority of my reading time with web comics and podcasts about web comics. I guess it really doesn’t surprise me. Nothing about this crazy year is anything like I’d thought it would be. So if this year’s book count is a lot lower than the previous year, and it seems it will be, it’s because I’m on Webtoons. Not a bad place to be, I guess. I’m not alone, that’s for sure. 

Monday

Ug…it’s a Monday for sure. Truly, April isn’t the cruelest month. August is. It’s hot and things are on fire everything turns brown without water. Even my flowers are feeling it. It’s even a bad month for books. I have 1 book to buy this month and not until the 25^th. Twenty-eight more days until September. I know things don’t magically turn around on September 1^st and it can still be as hot, but it’s a turning point. (Plus at least 10 new books to buy next month 😊). I’ll try to not wish away my time but I am waiting for autumn.

New Normal

Here we are living in our “new normal” and life is good. I’m in parts loving and frustrated with my new job. The frustrated is because I have so much to learn and I’m used to working in a job where I know the answers, and if I don’t, I know where to go to find them. I keep reminding myself to be patient with me. I’m learning new things every day. Three weeks is definitely not long enough to learn everything or even really understand everything that is going on.

Not much else is going on. I’m usually up super early on Saturday so I can go to the grocery store or Target right when it opens. I’ve been watching some documentaries on tv about: food, travel, Egypt, making of [show or movie], etc. Plus, I ordered Hallmark Movies Now for my Roku. I am not a fan of Christmas movies, but I kind of like their mysteries and did it on a whim. LOL I’ve seriously watched more tv this year than in a long time. But whatever. I’m still reading, but old favorites instead of new stuff. I’m spending most of my reading time on web comics. I’m slightly obsessed with Midnight Poppy Land and it will definitely be on my “best of” reading list this year. I have a bunch more web comics to try while I’m waiting on new episodes of MPL. My iPad needs to be charged almost every night. And that’s kind of it. It’s going to be in the 100s this weekend so once again I’ll be up early and probably not leaving my house after it gets hot.

Mini Road Trip

My mom was dying to get out of town and go somewhere. My sister wanted to join so we waited for this weekend and her family went with us. Basically, we drove up to Star Valley, Wyoming via Bear Lake and came back home through Soda Springs and Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. We stopped plenty of times and found this nice little park in Grover, WY to eat lunch where the kids could play for a while.  I have to say it did feel good to get out and Star Valley and some of the other canyons we drove through are really beautiful.
My one little nephew got car sick a few times so he didn’t have such a good time of it. Mom and I had the 2 older kids in the car with us and they are crazy funny sometimes. Plus, we had their walkie talkies with us between the 2 cars. Nothing we did would be funny if you weren’t there but it will make some good memories. I do love road trips and I love my family. They are good people.

Random Acts of Kindness

The day started as normal (meaning I pushed snooze too many times and was rushing out the door to go to work) and then I got a flat tire on the freeway. I’ve never had a flat on the freeway, only smaller roads, and being on the side of the freeway with the traffic flying by was a scary experience. Turns out my spare was also a little flat so after getting air at the closest gas station, I headed to get my tire fixed. Turns out it wasn’t fixable so now I have 4 new tires, oil change, air filter, and alignment. I knew I needed the tires this fall anyway, so that was fine.

When I finally got to work, the announcement about my new job had gone out and I had a bunch of emails from people all over the company telling me congratulations.

So today I am very, very grateful for:

• A guy named Tyson who stopped to help me with my tire.
• A boss who understands when I’m 3 hours late to work.
• A whole bunch of co-workers and other people I barely know who have sent me emails. There were at least 50 of them.

Now I am going to pay it forward and be the good I want to see in the world. It's going to be a good day.

What?!

So that job I applied for? They offered it to me today. Cue panic attack and wondering what am I doing?

LOL - it’s not really that bad. I’ve had about 3 hours to process it now and the happy/excited emotions are starting to win. I’ve decided that the real issue is that this change happened so fast.

I had definitely been thinking about new jobs as I was wondering what change my life needed. I had even looked around outside of my company a little bit before COVID hit. But a new job wasn’t the only change I could live with. Then this job was posted and I wasn’t expecting it at all. Nobody from the team is leaving, it’s an addition to the team. Then I applied and interviewed and got it within a 2 week period and now it’s hitting me that I didn’t have a long time to think about it. Which, knowing myself, might be a good thing.

Anyway, it feels a little daunting but that’s just because I don’t know what I’m really doing yet or what kinds of things I’ll be learning. I only have vague ideas at this point. I get a raise with it. Right now $50.00 week. Not huge, but I will not complain at all. Then with the scale the job will go up to, plus the bonus I’ll be working for, I have nothing to worry about. I’ve been blessed with my income and continue to be blessed with it. Except for tithing, it’s all going into savings.

I don’t think my current boss is super excited about it. I can’t blame him. Now he has to hire someone and they have to figure out where to put me. I’ll be able to work from home a good deal of the time, but not until we’ve transitioned over. That part will really take the rest of the year, as some of the different things I do come up.

LOL OH MY GOSH!!! :) I already had planned to have tomorrow off work so I’ve got a 4 day weekend ahead of me to let it all sink in.

Days Go By

Another crazy month almost over. I’m pretty sure a couple of positive things did happen but now I can’t think of what they are. My phone is no help either. Whatever it was, it wasn’t picture worthy.

I did apply for a new job. That’s a little bit noteworthy since it’s been 17 years since I last applied for a job. Same company, but I’d be working for someone else and doing a little traveling if the pandemic ever gets over. I had 3 interviews last Friday. I felt like I did my best in them and would only change 1 or 2 small things. It was a bit of work to prep for them and keep up the energy during them. Now that it’s over, I will not be upset if I don’t get the job and if I do get it, I will wonder what I’m doing to myself. But it would be a change and I am starting to feel like I desperately need one in my work life.

And other than that, evidently I’ll be having some kids sleep over at my house Friday night so I’m trying to gear up for that. I have a feeling it will be a long, long night. I’m tired just thinking about it.