Good morning! Do you have a nice warm cup of coffee? I sure do. You know, when I think about it, I don't know how I'd ever make it through a Morning without at least one cup of Coffee. Even when I go camping, getting that morning fire going first thing so I can put the coffee percolator on it is a necessity! Ahh, that brings back memories and reminds me that I'm looking forward to doing some camping again next year. 

Anyway, on to life updates. First, I managed to contract Covid-19 recently. It started with me feeling like I was coming down with a bad cold or the flu, having body aches, chills, and sinus pressure. I had bad nausea and vomiting the next day (which only lasted a day), and then from there on out, it felt like I had a mild to moderate sinus infection. With the Covid pandemic ramping up, I wasn't taking any chances so as soon as I started feeling ill, I made the household quarantine. I made an appointment to get tested, which I couldn't do until a handful of days later, and then I had to wait 2-3 days to get the results back. It did take 2.5 days to confirm that I, indeed, did have the virus. Fortunately, I'm one of the lucky ones who hasn't had horrible Symptoms - besides a general malaise whose severity comes and goes in waves - especially respiratory symptoms. My daughter and I have taken a few drives to alleviate boredom and I took a few hikes, one with my daughter and one alone. Of the two places I've gone to, one isn't visited by people, and the other is visited by people but I went on a weekday morning that was very cold and very early to ensure I wouldn't be around other people. And I wasn't as no one else was there nor was there anyone in the parking lot when I left. I was exhausted when I got home, though, and had to take a long nap. Again, I am fortunate that my symptoms were pretty mild. No one in my house exhibited any symptoms of illness, so I'm thankful for that as well.

Being ill means I had to miss working my second job for a few weeks. It was the worst time, too, as they were going to give us all an extra 10% bonus for working during the time I was sick. Boo. Oh well, there wasn't anything I could do, and I was still able to work remotely for my main job, so, again, I'm fortunate.

With this extra downtime, I have been writing aplenty. I still haven't finished my short story for my newsletter, but I have managed to write a few reviews for Slime&Grime. I started a new review format called "Sound Bites" where I give a review longer than micro but shorter than a standard one. I've been working on albums that have been released this year, and so far I've done the latest from Ulver and Pig Destroyer. I've seriously been contemplating doing some freelance writing work to bring in another income stream, but we shall see. Normally, my 60-hour workweek cuts into my writing time, although I still manage to eke out some time during the first couple of days during each week.

My Google Drive is full, so I've been working my way through the photos to see what I can delete to make more space. Since I use the Drive often to upload my phone photos so I can then edit for my blog and social media, it's important that I can add things to it. This has resulted in me realizing that I had WAY more photos on there than I realized and that there were so many events that I never posted about. So, I have a fun post or two coming up, including a new Portraits of Omaha entry. It's been a while since I've made one of those!

The biggest update I have to share, and I've mentioned it before, is how normal, happy, and mentally healthy I feel again. After such a dark period in my life, it's good to be back in the light again. Not only that, but I found a true focus in my life and started working on goals that will secure the future I want.