Chill and Dark

CWs: physical health, food, alcohol

I have been remiss in writing on here. Most of that is due to being obsessed with Silksong for the last nearly 2 months. I finally beat the game. 96% completion, just shy of 90hrs put in (Steam says 10hrs more, so the timer is strange). It was so incredibly good. I don’t know how to describe how much I loved it. I was all-in and I’m sure, if Team Cherry ever releases another sequel (one was teased, in a special ending), you know I’ll be there to get obsessed all over again. I pretty much spent most of my free time playing that, almost since it came out at the start of September. I loved my time with it, but in a way I’m glad it’s done, since I am moving on to other stuff.

At the start of the month, my sister came and visited. Unfortunately, she almost immediately came down with what we think was some sort of norovirus, likely contracted on the plane or in the airport. Of the four days she was here, she spent fully two of them very sick, and went home still not feeling 100%. In the midst of that, somehow she felt well enough to go with us to Denver to see Twin Peaks: A Conversation with the Stars, which was at the Paramount Theatre. I’m really glad we were able to go, since we kinda built the whole trip around that show, and we were all very excited. After she went home, my spouse and I were sick for a couple more days ourselves, calling out of work for one day, but eventually got better. It was rough. But I am glad I got to see my sister; she has only visited here once since we moved to Colorado.

My parents are hoping to come visit in a little over a week. I’m hoping we have a much more fruitful time with them! They’re planning on driving, which will be cool. I really want to show them the new car (we’ve had it for almost a year and they haven’t seen it!), and hopefully my dad can help us with some house stuff too while he’s here. I asked for the Monday off just before Veterans Day, so that’ll give us a 4-day weekend to spend hanging out with them. Will be nice.

The days are getting shorter, as usual, as the year wanes. And it’s definitely getting colder. We turned the heat on for the first time last night, and even set to 63F, I feel like it came on a bunch (the low was in the 20s F or so). I like the cold, dark parts of the year. I love the sun, sure, but I do not love the heat. I pretty much look forward to autumn and winter all year, tolerate summer, enjoy spring. So this is my favorite time of year.

We were supposed to carve pumpkins with our friends, which is pretty much a yearly tradition, while my sister was here (they said “the more the merrier”!). Obviously, we cancelled with them since my sister was sick, and I’m glad we did; we would not have wanted to give them what she had. We were pleasantly surprised when they asked us if we wanted to carve pumpkins on Friday! That was great. Spontaneous is OK. So we had a re-do: we ate Chex mix my spouse made; watched goofy stuff on YouTube; caught up with conversation; I played a couple of creepy Halloween albums; drank some beers and such. It was fun! Happy we were able to make it happen, since our friends often get pretty busy with plans and such. I carved a stegosaurus pattern in my pumpkin, and my spouse did a candy-corn-shaped jack-o’-lantern pattern. We put LED tealights in each of them and they’re glowing outside on the porch; we also have our “ghost” Mickey inflatable lighting up the night. It’s fun.

We’ll be home on Friday night for Halloween, handing out candy and probably watching YouTube and perhaps The Great Pumpkin special (a particular favorite of mine). I have a feeling we’ll get more kids coming by this year, given that it’s on Friday and not a Tuesday or something. So that’ll be chill, then we’ll do our usual weekend errands and fun stuff. I’m just happy it’s late October and slouching towards the end of the year. I love November and December. I am not looking forward to shoveling snow, but oh well, comes with the territory (literally). I like the cold and the dark and the calm and still.

I haven’t had much to say lately and I guess that’s how it goes sometimes. But I’ll keep writing. I like this space and I hope y’all get something out of what I put here, even if it’s only a little glimpse into my life. Well, I am in a strangely uncomfortable position on the couch typing this, with Lyra snuggled up against me. Oh well. Happy to have kitties who love me, haha. Thanks for reading, friends <3