I'm busy

I don't know what happened in January, but all of a sudden everyone wanted to do everything all at once. I have been busy.

Busy feels weird. After a couple of years of living like a mollusc stuck to glass, it feels very strange to have and exert energy. But I've already been writing about that.

I'm a lot better now at moving with the busy-ness. Sometimes it's as simple as going to the restroom and leaning against a hard wall and closing my eyes. Other times it's saying no to things, or limiting participation.

Things that have been busying me:

Faith. I missed some meetings I wanted to go to in January, because more important things were happening. I like that my faith encourages me to do that.

Suffering. Not mine, but people around me. I've been doing pretty great. Many have needed support, though. I never thought I'd be strong enough to help others again, so this feels good, even when I need to meter it.

IT. I occasionally go through periods of needing to be a computer technician for friends and family, and these last few months have been intense for that. On the plus side, I've picked up some quite old desktop hardware that is perfectly happy to have Zorin 17 running on it, and now I have some functional fileservers in the house.

Health. In a good way, a slow-ramp up and day-by-day increase in exercise and diet changes. I also went to "normal" medical appointments for the first time in a couple of years. I had some numbers that are "not normal", and it felt so nice to have normal not-normals for a change. It's a comforting part of being human, to have the same defects as others.

Family and friends. Good and bad things, see: suffering. It occurs to me that I pretty much love everyone I keep close to, and the list of those I keep close to is quite long. A lot of this time was spent socializing, which I'm grateful for.

Gaming, sometimes. I've been playing this bonkers "indie" JRPG called False Skies that is beyond terrific, and never ends. I also have been playing some solitaire board games at home (the One Deck Dungeon series, which I love a lot.) I had a chance to play a board game with a friend's 10-year old child over the holidays, and it was so wonderful, mostly because that kid is so wonderful. Also I have some friends who have been looking for joiners on a computer "board game" called Stellaris Nexus, which I find kind of bland, but the friends are hilarious and a joy to be around.

Work. Not just mine, but supporting the work of others around me. Most of my work has been dragging old codebases into the sunlight of modern-day practices -- not for the sake of it, but because they were relying on unmaintained stuff. This has led me to an observation which I'll write about in another post, another time.

Catching up. January is a time when many people try to catch up professionally, which is great for me because I love talking 1-1 with people. There's been a lot of that, and I've had a chance to meet new people, and get back in touch with folks who I haven't spoken to for over a decade.

There's more than that, but that's a lot for one January. Looking at it now, I guess I really did have a lot going on. It's nice that a lot of it is good, but it does also sort of explain how "normal life" can become ridiculous pretty quickly. And I don't even have dependants (although sometimes, I think "the kids" or "the overwhelming career" can be a powerful simplifying force.)

Anyways, I wish that you are all good-busy or good-resting out there. This is not possible, which is why it is a wish. Take good care.