Re: What's everyone up to?

I have missed you good folks. I dutifully followed people through various SM
platforms, but those who were most insistent on it have kinda dropped away and
I don't hear from them any more. So, it's been an interesting time since we
last gathered on a list. Here's what's been going on with me. Sorry this
got kinda long.

Jo and I are still going strong, and we had our 37th anniversary recently. Jo
had colon cancer in 2018 and almost died from sepsis. She had heart surgery
in 2019 to repair a heart valve damaged from the sepsis, and she's doing well.
I had shoulder surgery in 2015 and the anesthesiologist punctured my lung and
I came kinda close to dying. All's well now with that.

Two of our parrots are doing well. Morgan died in 2022, she was probably
about 38 years old then, and she was really struggling by the end. Her mate
Merlin helped her -- he brought her food and watched over her. He's probalby
about 39 now, and he's starting to act like Morgan did several months before
she died. He had cancer in 2015, but surgery saved him and he's been doing
well since. Morgan helped him in similar ways when he was really suffering
from it. He's also having trouble with one foot and appears to be blind in
one eye. Their babies Miles and Cthulhu are carrying on. Miles has had
life-long health problems, but he's a real trooper. Cthulhu is a happy bird,
but kinda bitey.

I was laid off in 2021 from a job I'd had for 30 years. That job was doing
research in network security. In 2022, I got a job working for a company
called Netgate that makes firewalls and routers. I'm writing software for a
high-speed router. When I was laid off, I'd been working part-time 7-20 hours
per week. This job is full-time, and switching from part-time research to
full-time product development was a really tough transition. At least I'm
able to continue working from home full-time. The company is based in Texas,
but the employees are spread across the world. I'm approaching retirement
age, but it's still several years off.

Jo is still a professional harper, and she's also the primary musician (piano,
organ) at our church. Last year, she played in an invitational Scottish harp
competition and took the prize for best original music. She also got a grant
from Maryland's arts organization for its master/apprentice program a couple
years ago. She kept us alive while I was between jobs. We're both still
playing music together, and we're still teaching at Common Ground on the Hill.

Some of the biggest changes in our lives are related to our parents. My
mother died in 2020. Due to some extremely unpleasant family stuff, my
father had to leave his home and move in with us in 2021. Jo's parents have
had significant health issues for the past eight years. Since we're the
"responsible ones", most of the caregiving falls to us.

We've been dealing with great piles of stress as a result of our parents,
Morgan's death, Merlin's worsening health. A respite would be nice, but there
isn't one in sight.

It's been years since we've been able to really travel, but we're hoping we
can in the next year or two. I still look back fondly on the 2012 THing.
It'd be nice to have one again sometime. I've met 28 Housers, and it'd be
nice to meet more.

Wayne

here are some book recommendations:

anythine by T. Kingfisher

space opera:
Chloe Garner: the Carbon Chronicles
Ramirez: Dumb Luck and Dead Heroes

fantasy sf:
Lee: Machineries of Empire

fantasy:
Gockel: I Bring the Fire series
McCullough: Webmage series and Fallen Blade series
Vo: Singing Hills series
Wallace: Sin du Jour series

Also, there's the 2008 TV show The Middleman, starring Natalie Morales.
Adam Lipkin recommended it to me several years after the TH list faded
away. It's well worth watching.

While I'm living in the TV past, Schitt's Creek was very good. The whole
cast was good, but Annie Murphy and Emily Hampshire were outstanding.


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