I'm reading the logs of all my neighbors here. Hello, neighbors! If you ever wonder if anyone read your log, I did.

1] Thinking of buying a raspberry pi. If things go well with my spouse's interview process he will be gone for 4-5 months of training as soon as January. The campus is on a very strict quarantine so he won't be able to come home at all. Which means he will need a laptop, possibly the laptop I am currently using. Either he takes this laptop or we buy a new laptop. So I'm thinking ... why not take the opportunity to mess around with a raspberry pi? It would be cheap vs a new laptop and they sound like fun. I have nerd friends who have used them for cool homebrew projects. He squinched his nose when I sprung the idea on him, but he acknowledges that I'm the techie of the two of us. I'm gonna do some research today and see if it's feasible. My computing needs are pretty light these days. I don't enjoy working digitally so it doesn't have to run photoshop. The biggest roadblock might be getting the scanner to work. I could have the scanner on his desktop when he's gone, but I hate using other people's devices. It's like wearing someone else's crusty underwear.

2] I signed up for mastadon a couple days ago. So far I am not digging it. It has the same problems as any other social media, sometimes even amplified in strange ways. I picked a larger instance that is somewhat free speechy but still anti-nazi, but apparently that's not good enough for some of the artsier instances, so I can't see them. I searched for other tattoo artists and I found 1 on a different instance, and not much about tattoos posted in general. Bummer. I'm unsure if this is because tattoo artists don't know about mastadon (very very possible) or if they are all on some other instance that isn't federated with mine. What if they're all on the shitposting anarchy instances that everyone else blocks? I can't just run around making accounts looking for where the tattoo artists are hiding. Mastadon might be a dead end for me. I haven't made a single post because, just like other social media, I feel a pressure to make posting entertaining to an audience rather than a true personal outlet.

3] I'm waiting for some sample stickers to arrive so I can fire up a personal project I have been developing the past couple of weeks. I have been exploring street art and graffiti, and stickers are an interesting part of that. Stickers go up in a flash, and they're not permanent like spray paint. I'll go into more detail about this project later, because it still feels seekrit to me. I'm excited about it though, and these days it is hard to muster energy about anything.

4] It's the first of December so I can officially change the colors on my LED string of porch lights to red and green. Last year I didn't even bother to put up the Christmas tree because my spouse and I were exhausted from working so much. This year I have no excuse. I made a really great Thanksgiving dinner this year because I had the time to research recipes and collect ingredients. I even made the fancypants turkey recipe that calls for pomegranate molasses (I mocked this recipe last year because WTF is pomegranate molasses - then I found some at the international market). My spouse and I eat a low carb diet, partly because it makes it easy to avoid junk food since he's focused on his physical fitness, partly because I have gotten awful headaches for years and low carb reduces the frequency and intensity. I love carbs but man, do I pay for them. I negotiated for rum in the egg nog (low carb, made from scratch!) by giving up on mashed potatoes and bread dressing. I have not had alcohol in Nov at all and I really did want to drink what with election hijinks, so I have earned some rum. We got the little single serve bottles. I did find a really good low carb dressing recipe that I will def make again in the future. It was just me and spouse and the cats. We have a friend going to the naval academy nearby and thought maybe he could come, but his campus is on hard lockdown. It was a nice Thanksgiving, but quiet.

Fancypants turkey.

Stuffing recipe.

5] Not much going on today. Should do some chores. Should think about Christmas. I have a weird hangup about sending generic purchased Christmas cards instead of my own art. Just can't do it. BUT do I ever have time to sit around and brainstorm a good Christmas card idea, then execute it? No. If I don't do it this year I should probably just decide not to be a Christmas card person. I also have a bunch of wooden ornament blanks I squirreled away. Feels like something I should make use of. What can I do for free? Loads, I am the queen of collecting potentially useful crafting paraphernalia. I have all the tools that I need. Now FIGHT.