Hmmm, tried to reckon timelines…
I was working in railway comms. The company I was working for went bust, and I did contract work for a while, but that dried up. In an effort to dig myself out of depression, I started volunteering at a Red Cross charity shop, became a casual paid member and I'm now assistant shop manager. The pay is shit and my boss can be a right pain in the arse, but I like what I'm doing and it's nice to know that my efforts are going towards helping people in need and not making some rich bastard richer. I've been there 12 years.
I've kind of dropped out of SCA stuff as I work Saturdays, so it's a pain taking a weekend off to go to an event. I help Ellen sometimes, reading and/or helping edit Compleat Anachronist issues. Recent attempts to organise events came to naught. One venue dumped us 2 weeks before the event. Subsequent events were not well supported by the shire.
I'm still around in Second Life, but not as much as I was. I did enjoy creating back stories, lore and word-building for sims and hope to do more some time. I'm still writing (remember the TH Writing Circle? I recently found a folder on my computer with some of the stories we did back then. Anybody fancy having another go?). I'm in two real life (aka meatspace) writing groups, as well as the one in Second Life. I did Nanowrimo in 2019 and finished. Sadly, Nano has completely disgraced itself with failing to protect minors and embracing using AI to write your novel, so I'm looking at alternatives. Ellen bought me a short creative writing class for Xmas, which I've just finished. The tutor said nice things about the sample I showed him from my 2019 effort. That was about a Victorian gent who is valet to gentleman vampire, as well as being part of a shadowy organisation that makes sure that supernatural activity doesn't upset the public too much (Men in Black for Victorian supernatural critters with a touch of Jeeves and Wooster). In light of positive reactions, I'm revisiting that as well as trying to finish the sequel I started for Nano23. I'm also working on a series of stories in which a polyamorous quad (2 musicians, an artist and a silversmith) get caught up in faerie politics.
My mother (83) has dementia - vascular and Alzheimer's - and is now in a care facility. She has no idea who I am any more and is rarely communicative when I visit). My stepfather passed away just over a year ago, aged 93. In his last few years, he was having respiratory problems and it turned out he had lung cancer caused by asbestos. I remember going on jobs with him as a teenager and him sawing up asbestos board for roofing.
I've put in a lot of weight over the years and really need to do something about that. I had a prostate cancer scare a few years ago, but it was just an infection, however I do have an enlarged prostate. Otherwise I'm ok, albeit with less hair.
We hope to see some of you in April. Part of me is looking forward to the trip, but also extremely worried about what's happening over there and a little worried about getting questioned at border control about all the things I've said about the mango moron.
That'll do for now
Ian
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