It's been about six months since the last one of these, so time to catch everyone (who isn't following my Bluesky or Mastodon) up on what the 'bou has been up to!

Not Burying the Lede:
I'm headed to Anthrocon! I mentioned in my last journal I was registered, but plans are locked in, bags are packed, and I'm hyped to see dress up and see some of the friends I usually only get to interact with online. I've got, like... twice as many outfits as I actually need prepared and packed, with the plan being to decide on the spot what I feel like doing, so I can't really say what to look for other than that every combination will include a 6-point rack of off-the-shelf costume antlers repainted in blue and a Lus badge!

If we know each other and have talked in the comments or on other sites, I'd love to meet you in person! If we've never really interacted before now... please don't be creepy.

Other stuff:
The employer I used to rant about continued to spiral, with me surviving another round of layoffs back in March that halved the number of non-management people in my department for a second time. I was already not feeling good about the company surviving 2025 in its current form, but at that point we no longer had the resources to do the larger projects that used to be a fairly regular thing for us before mid-2024, and I suspect I was only kept on to gracefully wind down the outstanding obligations on the only mid-sized project they had left. So seeing the writing on the wall, I put my notice in in late May, left at the start of June, and started somewhere new the following week!

That did throw a bit of a spanner into some gender stuff? I'd seen a therapist and talked through some stuff, been given some resources, and was nervously putting off setting up an appointment to talk hormones when my company health insurance came to an end, and now I've either gotta sign up for expensive COBRA coverage (that I'm not sure how much it will actually cover?) or do this without insurance or wait until the new insurance starts in September, and I'm still not settled in and through the probation period at the new job yet, and aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa- 😖

On the other hoof, I think the new job has improved my physical health? I had a cold that followed me for almost two months at the end of the last job and a case of tinnitus and was always tired and my stomach was starting to bug me again, and with a later start time and not being under the constant stress that comes with working at an obviously doomed company, I started to feel physically healthier in less than two weeks.

And I know it's been a while since I posted any writing, but I actually did write a holiday-themed thing where I missed the relevant posting window and am sitting on it to post next time it rolls around, and I also have another story in the works that is shaping up to be a longer one, but the job change and prep for Anthrocon has kept me busy and I've just not had as much time as I'd like to work on it.