DEC 30

2025

Tuesday: my fear that going to bed before I was craving sleep would lead a later wake-up time proved unfounded. Spent the morning dozing through dreams in which a classmate from the 90s had a sister who went missing. We attended a lecture that tried to use her autobiography as evidence that she'd transformed into a strange cat. I thought I discovered her in a crowd, and I followed her backstage, where I lost her among a bunch of performers and models. Her book revealed a terrifying intelligence and a double life no one could fathom, and I was envious. Did I log into DQX long enough to unlock most of the version 1.0 vocations? I think that was today. My work shift involved cleaning up workflows before diving into this week's reworks. I keep refreshing Zepla's channel on breaks to see if she's posted a 7.4 video for Dawntrail yet before going back to Blue Prince. Went through an entire box of facial tissues, and when I took a shower, I had to conclude that my cough has officially returned. (The cough has become a reliable and lingering consequence of every cold I've had for something like ten years at this point. Since moving to Pennsylvania, it's gotten worse; when I get coughing fits during or after I take a shower, the misery is such that it feels inevitable that my death by "natural causes" could only be a respiratory failure of some kind. Maybe I should only give myself sponge baths while it's here.)

Coughing and illness aside, the shift went well enough, and once it was over, we bundled up much the same as we had yesterday to go to Santucci's. They've rearranged a bit inside; the dartboard and gaming machines in the bar half of the restaurant are gone, and since the high top tables were packed, we used one of the rectangular tables they've moved into the vacated area. This week was another 2025 wrap-up, but since Karly used the top pop songs of the year for the music round, we were badly positioned to do well. At least my team name, "25 Dollar Footlongs," won her mom's approval and a $10 gift card. Pizza's great, at least. On the return trip, the subway platform seemed colder than usual, and we heard a mysterious trickling flow of water somewhere before we boarded. My glasses fogged up thanks to my mask on both rides, but I wasn't coughing thanks to a handful of cough drops Julie insisted I grab before we left. Back home, I did some Hearthstone dailies before bed, and a last-minute Agnes Digital career in UmaMusume, which unlocked the max difficulty in the difficulty levels event.

2024

Monday: back at work after the holiday, after which we went to our weekly trivia. Probably should have left a little earlier than usual, as the crowds this week were even worse than last week; we were once again waiting for more than an hour for a table, despite it only being the two of us. Worse, I bungled a few questions (such as attributing the most film adaptations to Ian Fleming rather than Stephen King), and we had one of our worst performances. Salad was decent, though.

2023

Saturday: No entries have yet been recorded for this date.

2022

Friday: Julie went into work in the afternoon since they were having their holiday party. I vacuumed in the office, did some dishes, and caught up on MMOs.