Welcome to 2023!

Look at this steak. 

 

How beautiful is that steak? It has to be the most beautifullest steak I have ever seen. (Is "beautifullest" a word? Not sure.)

But it is lovely. And look at those sauces. I can't even tell you what they are. I recognize one of them as an herb butter of some sort? Anyway, they all look delicious. 

I saw this on Facebook, posted by an foodie influencer named Chimetime. 

He also posted the receipt.

$1000!!

 $1000 for a steak!

GLORY!!!

Welcome to 2023!

Is this how we're living in 2023! 

Man. Now I have seen Tomahawk steaks for $100 dollars or more. But I looked into it, and this seems to be that special Wagyu steak. That is top of the line. 

That steak was not cut from a City of Atlanta cow. Nope. 

So say I go ahead could splurge on a steak this expensive. I am lost with the gratuity. The tax is crazy too. Almost $300 in tax and gratuity. I think that would mess it up for me. 

But, this has to be a DREAM for a true foodie. To be able to say you had a $1000 steak is definitely an accomplishment. And it better be the greatest steak ever made, because this particular foodie will tell it like it is! But that is something else. 

I myself would've left off the bread and bottled water. That's an extra $20. But wait, might as well buy the bread and water if you can afford a $1000 steak, right?

I wonder what the ubereats total would be? I wonder if the steak would even make it to my front door?

LOL

I told my friend if she hears me talking about how I had this steak, she should know that I ran out on the bill.  Time that waitress delivers that bill and disappears, I'm dipping out!

And this fine steak is a reminder of how good people are living. I know this has to be the regular for some wealthy folks, where $1000 is the same as $10. And this must be a good price point and in demand because it wouldn't be that expensive.

Enjoy that $1000 steak, brother. I can't wait for the steak review! 

For that price, it better be beyond fantastic!

The Last Day of the Year 2022

 Alas!

The last day of 2022 has arrived. 

And the way things are going in this world, it is a miracle to make it to this day. I say that when we still have covid and mass shootings going on to the point where we have become pretty much desensitized to it all. So it's a good thing to make it this far. And I have to remind myself daily, that so many more good events happen than the bad. And it just seems like the "bad" takes over because that is what gets magnified.

Alas, made it through all of that. 

I like to look at the mental, physical, and spiritual of my year. I usually do long posts on each, but since I haven't been posting much, I will just touch on some of these things here, mostly for my own personal reasons. So good to be able to look back year after year and see what has changed. So good to see where I need to grow, and what I have conquered. 

Physical. This year has been interesting. Up until mid-February, I had lost about 70 pounds. That was such a big accomplishment for me. I had even gotten up to walking between three to five miles a day, at least five to six times per week. I was the strongest I had been in years. 

Then I banged my knee. I was stooping down to pick up something off the floor, and my knee hit the ground. The bad thing about this is that I have osteoarthritis, and that exasperated it. So I was hobbled for a couple of months. Then I went to an orthopedic surgeon and got an injection. And I was alright, where that summer I could walk a couple of miles a day. We figured out I had sciatica, and that has caused some issues. For the past three months, I have had an ankle problem. They figured out that I didn't have a bone stress or messed up ligaments or tendons. It is moreso a sciatica nerve issue. 

Ugh. Okay. 

So, the big thing now is to walk through the pain. I have a pain medication prescription (tramadol), but ooh child, I do not want to fool around with that. I ain't trying to addicted to no craziness! No. 

I have managed to walk a mile last week without much of an issue. I think I will work on that again, starting in the New Year. I have gained about 15 of my pounds back due to such drastically reduced activity, and I can feel it. I cannot stand the feeling. So the goal is to get back on track. I will walk regularly again. I will celebrate a pain-free One mile like it is one hundred miles. 

Mental. I think a lot. I mean, that is what working from home does to me. I have been working from home since March 2020. I have worked onsite around five time in these past two years. I needed to go in so I could see how a return to work would look, i.e., how to get to work, how it would affect me emotionally and psychologically, etc. But most of what I do is mere paperwork, and it is easier to stay at home. 

Alone.

But I have been on my job 24.5 years. I not only have coworkers, but some of those coworkers are friends. Sure, we have technology and all, but I have to admit that I miss my friends. Ones I work with, and my years-long friends in my everyday life. It takes a psychological toll here and there. Thank goodness it is not overwhelming, though. 

It is the "alone" part that I have had to adjust to. I miss my friends, and I am working on staying away from having covid. So I have had to manage alone. And as a result, like I said... I think a lot. 

I really miss my life as it existed 40 years ago, when I was little and the older members of my family were alive.  These days, our family does not get together, so it is what it is. It makes holidays a bit tough, in that I just want them to pass. But I must admit that some of the holidays I have had alone in the past three years of pandemic have been some of the most memorable ever. And I am so thankful for that. 

I think what is most mentally frightening is being afraid of the future at times, not knowing what the future brings. Just hoping that I can support myself, not have financial issues, etc. I have broken some 25-year-old rules I have set up for myself in these matters over the past year, and I have to work on getting back to following my own rules. So that has been  a focus as of late that I am working on now, and on into 2023.

This has been an awful writing year for me. I think it is because I am a bit perturbed by the submission process and how silly it is. Yes, I have been submitting some writing this year. I think I have to get over the mental chaos of it all. My stories are precious to me, and for some reason, I like keeping them to myself. I don't like just putting it out there. I have to get over that mental hurdle. 

I do need to get past some of the anxiety I sometimes experience. Much of that comes from watching the news. How can I not help it? So much is going on, and for goodness sake, I am hoping to turn the television on one day and see an announcement of covid being over! (I can dream, can't I?) But what's crazy is that all those news reports... they are seeds. I need better seeds. Seeds of hope. Seeds that are good for my mind.

Spiritual. You know, the best times of my day are when I wake up and finally roll out of bed and get myself together, and go downstairs (depending on whether I sleep upstairs in a spare bedroom, as that has been my preference for 30% of the year... My master bedroom is downstairs), and it is just... quiet. 

No TV on, none of that. Just pure quiet. I may take that time to pick up whatever crochet project I am working on, and spend time praying. That is such a great beginning to my day. This does not happen too often. Oh my goodness, where would I be if this was going on daily?

Likewise, my other favorite time of the day is before I shut everything down and head for bed. The little swatch of time is prayer time also. I am so thankful to have completed another day of life, whether I have had a very productive day or not. 

Something else that has helped me spiritually is that during the pandemic my pastor has a daily 30 minute encouragement and confessions time on Facebook. During this time, I am listening and writing out my itinerary/to do list for the day. It has really helped my heart and gives me something to think about. 

This has been a year of A LOT of answered prayer. If I wrote about it all, it would take me several days to write it all out. I tend to write about it in my private journals. I like to keep a record of such.. and I can go back and read it all when I get anxious or worried about things. 

But that is that. Those are my thoughts. 

I don't blog much, as blogging is not the thing to do these days. But I need to for my own personal reasons. I can't tell you how many times how easy it has been to come over here and grab a picture or an old blog post for someone. This blog has been such a treasure trove for me. 

And it was good for my mental to take a snapshot of what's going on with me now, so I can pinpoint where I can improve. This is all over the place, and I am not going to go back and edit. That will take all night, lol. But it is a survey of what's on my mind... right here, right now. 

So I am happy to say goodbye to 2022. You have been good to me. 

VERY good.

I can hope for as much in 2023. 

21 Years Later

It has been 21 years since the worst terrorist attack on American soil.

 

That is a long time ago, but right now, I am watching a special on the National Geographic Channel, and it sure is bringing back some memories, making if feel like it happened yesterday. 

 All I know, one thing is a constant when I think of the events of 911. And that is, I continue to be SHOCKED that this type of craziness does not happen often in the USA. We have had terrorist activity since then, but not on this scale. I am thankful for that, because I don't think we as a country could mentally handle it. I know I couldn't. 

 But it is one of those days where we all remember where we were and what we were doing. I have been on my current job for 21 years now, but back then, I had only been on the job for three weeks. I was at a regulatory course in Denver at the time. I was stunned and momentarily confused about how I would get home. I got home later that week, on a Friday. My plane had been delayed by close to two hours. I remember other coworkers who were headed home to New York had worse delays. 

But my prayer was to get back home to Atlanta, period. And I did. But I do remember the sense of uneasiness I had for a couple of days before taking my flight that Sunday, September 9th, 2001, to the training from Atlanta to Denver. I have not felt that type of uneasiness since, just some unexplainable uneasiness. And then when the tragedy happened, I remember saying aloud... that's what it is. That's why I have been beside myself. 

My Pastor mentioned these feelings some two weeks later. It was a hard unsettling in the spirit. I was glad to have it explained. So if I feel that away again, I know what it means. And I must say, I don't want to ever feel that way again. Ever.

But now I just take time to think about it. 

21 years later now. 

And the hard lesson I have learned is that not only what happened that day was such an awful tragedy, but the residual effects of the tragedy are devastating in their own right. So many families who lost loved ones were changed forever, the emotional loss still felt 'til this present day. I know the wounds are still fresh. Will they ever heal?

I whisper a prayer for them. 

And I pray for our country. 

As we take time to remember this day. 

Back to Normal...

Back to normal? 

Not quite. 

 So it has been some two-and-a-half years of working from home. 

 Ugh.

 I would have never THOUGHT such a thing could ever happen in my line of work.

Well, I have been to work three times in the last three months. It was a cumbersome clumsy return, to say the least. I refuse to sit in a cubicle area of some thirty people, so I had to find somewhere else in the building to sit. I had to make sure I had everything I needed before leaving the house, like my hand sanitizer and wipes to clean off the surface of wherever I found to sit. I needed a rolling briefcase for my laptop. Extra masks... Ugh! 

It was more than a notion.

About a year and a half ago, there was a big laptop update, where it was time for a new laptop. I didn't want to go to work for mine, so our IT people mailed it overnight to me. I have had the old laptop since then, and our inventory guy needed it to be turned in. So I went to work this past Sunday to leave it on my cubicle desk for him to pick up.

The thing is, I hadn't been to my cubicle since early 2020. 

So like I said, I went in this past Sunday. It is good to live only 5 miles from work, but I sat in Sunday traffic nevertheless (Yes, there is bumper to bumper traffic on Sundays in Atlanta).  

When I went in, there were only two people there on the sign-in sheet, but they were in another part of the building. I signed in, and took the elevator up to the third floor. 

And I realized I had left my mask in the car.  

O_O!!

I didn't want to go back out and get it, so... oh well. 

I arrived at the door to my cubicle area. The lights were on, so that meant someone was around. I think I even heard someone tapping away on the keys of their laptop. I didn't even bother to investigate. I just wanted to leave my computer and get out of there quickly. 

But once I arrived to my cubicle, I looked around for a few minutes. It was just as I left it. People had left gifts from the past couple of Christmas' on the desk. Someone had left their child's graduation announcement. The month prior to the pandemic, my workgroup had thrown me a 50th birthday party, so the old big number "5" and "0" balloons were there (deflated now). 

But something I saw made me pause: The calendar on wall of my cubicle. 

It gave me goosebumps. It was so... eerie.

Eerie.

March 2020.  I don't know why that creeped me out so bad. I think the gravity of it all hit me. I had not been at my desk in over two years!

Two whole years. It's really been over two years since this whole pandemic started.

And yet at the same time, I felt some since of... normalcy. 

There was a realization in that very moment that things can possibly go back to normal, where I can wake up every morning and go to work and sit in my own space, my own cubicle once again. 

I stared at the calendar for a minute or two. I straightened it up, as it was slightly askew, and a thumbtack had fell from one corner. 

I think I will keep it as a reminder of all that has happened. 

Not quite sure I will be sitting there for awhile, though.  

My plan is to go back to work in person on a regular basis in September, even though I am only doing paperwork and can easily work from home. My management does not seem to be pressed about my return. But I would like to return to laboratory work. I miss it so much.

But I just want to get back to normal. On purpose. 

Someday, I hope this whole pandemic will be over... and normal will be the true order of the day. 

Last Day of Black History Month 2022

This is your last day to learn something new for black History month.

My nephew transformed himself into Martin Luther King. 

Me? I read a book for Black History Month..

It took me 26 days to finish it. Exhausting. 

But I learned a lot.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars. I may talk about it later. Hmm.