Twenty Serpentine

'Sup, y'all?

It's been a while. Since Thanksgiving actually. And HOW THE FRICK IS IT FEBRUARY???

Like seriously, what?

Ok. Anyway.

Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Happy Chinese New Year. (Happy Candlenights and welcome to Twenty Serpentine. If you do not understand either of these please go to McElroyShows.com right now. You will thank me later. You are welcome.)

I suppose I should catch you up on my life. I've been meaning to post for some time - mostly because I just feel bad for losing contact with SO many people and contacting those I love so little. Sorry mom. Sorry JBU. Love y'all!

Let's see, what have I been up to? Not work, that's for sure. My depression has been really off and on this past month. Some days are fine, and good, others are... the opposite of that. But BOTH good and bad have coincided with me getting basically NO WORK done. Which is... not at all good. Basically, when I'm in a depressive slump, I lose all power to focus. I can sit down to work and then 3 hours later have... nothing. I don't even know HOW. And then on good days? Those are normally days where I get something other than work done, or when I skip work to be outside because the sun is out for once.

In any case, it's Thesis time now and that's pretty scary. I've got a deadline for a draft of an outline on Feb 14th. tomorrow is Feb 1st, and I have... 3 pages of notes. So yeah. I've got my work cut out. Or... not cut out. uhg I don't want to think about it anymore. Pray for me. Please.

Let's change the subject. What else has been happening? It's been since Thanksgiving so a lot actually. Let's see...

I got sick, and then Shannon and Danica came up to visit London. That was very fun. I love you guys! I had a good time, despite being a bit sick. Got to go on the London Eye, I hadn't ever done that before. Then I went home - besides the fact that I woke up so early that I got to the airport before I was even allowed to check in my bags, that was a smooth trip. Then I was home! It was good.

Being home was kind of odd for a few reasons. Mostly, because I feel like 99.9% of it was so focused on "well, when you come back...". Like just constant comments and plans and stuff for my coming back. It really made me forget that I had two more terms and a thesis inbetween then and when I move home. It made me kind of uncomfortable, I won't lie. In the end it seemed to get better - I got a bit more confident that moving home wouldn't be awful, feeling like I could really fit if I got a decent job this time... Since then, I don't know.

One part of me is ready to move home. To be done with this degree. SO much of my life seems to be just waiting around for when the "rest" of my life can start - when I move home. But at the same time I'm dreading going home. I'm not above admiting that part of this is bceause I will have to search for and then actually perform a JOB. But also? I feel like I am just now finally really settling in here in the UK. I realised a few days back that 1.) There are no pubs in Texas 2.) I have nearly no friends in Texas (blood relations and former roommated on the other side of town aside), and 3.) I will be moving back in the HEIGHT of Texas summer. All of these sound terrible. On top of this, 4.) I won't be anywhere near Uni parks or Port Meadow. Man I'm getting sad just thinking about it. Let's stop.

Other things... I've kind of started recording a podcast with some friends. I'll post about that when there is more to post. Hopefully that will be fun. OH! My big project over break: I have been creating a game! It's not a video game, it's actually an altered version of D&D 5e, modified to function within the world of the Mass Effect games. I created everything for it: Classes, Races, Equipment, two separate spell books, a new system for gun combat and high tech armor, a new system of elemental effects, a story to follow, a map for the first "dungeon", a few NPCs, the works. All designed so that someone familiar with the Mass Effect games will know what they have their hands on, designed to feel and sound right to the player, so they know what to expect. I spent basically ALL of my freetime over the Christmas break working on creating this, learning D&D 5e, and doing research in the ME world. Last week I finally got my first three ginuea pig players to start the campaign! (Which was originally called "The Shrike Abyssal", but has been rechristened by my players "Omega Nine-Nine".) So that's fun. I've never DMed before and honestly never played D&D5e! But hey, I've listened to The Adventure Zone! So I figure I'd just do everything Griffin does. What could go wrong? :P

What eeelllssseee? I'm still going through some audiobooks - listening to Neil Gaiman's American Gods right now. And loads of podcasts - not only The Adventure Zone, but My Brother, My Brother, and Me, and also Shmanners. For more of those good, good McElBoys.

I have to have been doing other things, right? How do I seem so busy with so little, and still get ZERO work done??? I guess I've played a few new games but I seriously have been cutting back on them. I've played SUPERHOT, and Dishonored 2. Both are very good.

I've been semi-attempting to ignore politics. I know it's not good to ignore stuff like that but I just mentally can't take a lot of it right now. I am happy that I'm not in the US for the moment, let me just say that. Moving back will be a real adjustment. My views, upon review, have changed a good deal since leaving home. But let's not get into that right now.

At the moment, I am getting sick. My body always warns me the day before I have a cold/terrible 5 day long allergy attack. And it often happens right after my period - which is, yes, now. So that's no fun and also kind of scary because if I haven't said it I NEED TO GET SOME WORK DONE.

I've been trying to use the lamp I bought - one of those super powered sunlight lamps designed to help S.A.D. I don't know if it's been helping or not. Oh also I've been seeing a chiropractor, for something I did to my back, I think in the summer with my backpack, and then re-hurt over the holidays (probably the same backpack). He's been SUPER DUPER helpful. Finally, I've gotten to know a few of the Chaplains in town, which is very nice. It's great to live in a place with so many chapels and stuff.

I said finally, was there anything else? The DCM conference was last weekend, that was really good. I won't lie I was expecting it to be a little more surface-deep and "I've heard this before" but it was actually really good. Talked a lot about I guess what I would call the ethics of academia and about the big picture of faith and how it interplays with different areas of study. It was good. I've made taquitos twice. They are very good. I made soup once, but then it went bad and I ate it and I was sick. That was a very not fun night. Ummmmm.... I guess that's it. Took me a while.

I'm sorry to everyone to whom I have promised letters. I still haven't written them. It has been several months. It's very hard to find motivation. It's not you, I promise. It's all me.

I guess just.. pray for me. And thank you for your prayers. I'm going to need them.

Thanks for reading
Rissa

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise him all creatures here below. Praise him above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.