donutsweeper

I would like to say I'm starting the year with enthusiasm and hope, but that's probably a lie, so instead, I will say that last year ended with a BANG for me, because...

I GOT TO PLAY A MOTHEREFFIN' BÖSENDORFER PIANO WITH EXTENDED KEYBOARD! Y'all. Y'all. I realise this is a thing that will mean little to most people, including my parents, but y'all. Bösies are like. The Granddaddy of All Pianos. You've heard of Steinway? Yamaha? MORONS! I mean. Sorry, got a little Princess Bride-y there. Steinway is what most people think of in terms of "oooh fancy piano," right? Well, Bösies are a step beyond that. Obviously, everyone has their preferences for playing, but dude. I have played the Steinways at school. And now I have played a Bösie and there is no comparing. This is a $120,000 instrument, easily. AND I GOT TO PLAY IT. I've asked if I can come over and play it more for fun, and the church was like, sure, as long as someone is in the office to let you in, go for it! I am dead y'all, D E D dead. I think my reaction to the piano tickled the people at the service, but I'm also pretty sure they don't really understand the amazingness of the moment. 

Anyway. Yeah, that was the end to my year, so that was pretty solid, compared to everything else that happened in 2025, ha.

I am now a legal, professional tax preparer in the state of California! So if any US-ians want their taxes done, I am allowed unless you are filing in Oregon or New York. And possibly other states, but those two are the bitchiest about outsiders who haven't taken their tests etc filing their state taxes.

I didn't really set goals last year, other than my media intake goals, which I knocked out of the park. I think that's a good sign, that I was getting back into reading and had the attention span to actually watch things. 

• goal was 8 books, no more than 2 re-reads: finished 14 and a play, although some of the books were more like novellas and some were spread over a few years of reading, but still! I didn't put a length of book limit, so they all count, yep.
• didn't have a movie goal, but watched at least 8, and possibly others that I forgot to put on my list, cuz, yeah, swiss cheese brain still rules here. The best of the year for me was definitely K-Pop Demon Hunters, although I was pleasantly surprised by Fantastic Four, and Dongji Rescue of course was a highlight simply because of Wu Lei and Zhu Yilong and Ni Ni and Chen Minghao all in the same movie.
• goal of 12 new shows completed: finished 19, if you count S1 of Midnight Diner as a complete show. I am, because it's listed separately both on MDL and on Netflix. Again, there may have been more, but again, swiss cheese brain.

I'm still pondering what goals will be for this year, but am planning on meeting with a friend on Saturday to go over the Year Compass, so maybe that will help clarify some things for me.

Other things of import that have happened since, uhm, the end of October:

Autism self-diagnosis support group. I joined this four-week group for December; it was meant to be a place for people suspecting they were autistic to come together, go through some assessments, and get some clarity as to whether they felt it was a legit diagnosis for them or if maybe having had some discussion and assessments to be like, no, I think it's something else. It was not a clinical diagnostic group, so I still do not have an official Dx, but the practitioner running the group IS allowed to diagnose and basically told all of us, "So I can't TELL you you have autism because of the scope of the group, BUT I can say that everyone came into this group suspecting something, and I CAN tell you that your suspicions are correct, and that everyone would also benefit from looking into an ADHD diagnosis." So, uh. I guess that can go on my goal list for this year, get the ADHD assessment done up and see whether or not I want to look into medication for that. (Probably no meds, but maybe? I dunno. That's why I need the assessment etc!) ADHD is not something I had considered for myself before, but apparently when you smush both autism and ADHD together, you get a weird co-mingling of symptoms that are neither one or the other but a secret third thing? And when I started looking at how the three options (autism only, ADHD only, AuDHD) stack up, it was very much a "well fuck, that is me" kind of thing. If I do have ADHD, I definitely want to get that officially DX'd, simply because it is the safer one to have on the books these days, and I want to have SOMETHING to point to if I need accommodations or anything at some time in the future.

Passed the tax class, passed the level up test, so now my business cards are already out of date, lol. Started doing some of the self-led classes for the next level up. Do I even know if I'm gonna want to keep doing taxes after this season? No, but learning new shit is always fun.

Physio continues; had a follow-up with the rheumatologist for some reason unknown to either her or me, so that was a wasted $90 copay. She had me try a different anti-inflammatory, but it was definitely not as good, so I switched back to what I was on before. Waiting on the referral to the hand specialist, and will probably follow up with the office tomorrow since insurance and everything switched with the new year. The carpal tunnel doesn't seem to be doing any better (if anything, worse), but the tendonitis definitely doesn't feel as bad. Wondering if time of year/weather has any impact, because it was late Jan/early Feb last year that I finally was like, fuck this I can't do buttons I need help, and we're getting there again and my hand are hurting worse again.

I've still not made it to Six Flags; we thought about going yesterday, but then it was rainy and I had the service last night, so it didn't happen. 

We've been on mini-hiatus for Shakes, because we had someone who was going to be busy on Christmas Adam, so we smooshed Pericles into back to back weeks. Next up is Cymbeline, which is another kinda weird one, but a bit more normal than Pericles. I'm trying to get as much casting done over the break as possible, for all plays upcoming, since once tax season starts I have no idea how things are going to go with free time and brain space. (this is why I asked everyone to check their calendars and put the dates on the list so they would know and not schedule something else, heh.) It's hard to believe we're almost done with another entire round of the plays, and also starting year six. Wild. Also, kinda nice that we started in 2020, because it makes it easy to keep track, haha.

I feel like I only ever talk about the same very few things, which should maybe be a goal for this year: find something new and different to do? I saw that the Discworld's animal (?) of the year for the Roundworld is a Curious Squid, and I also saw a post about going on JOURNEYS OF DISCOVERY, so maybe that shall be my theme this year. Me and the Curious Squid, going on Journeys of Discovery. More to come, after the Year Compass gets filled it, perhaps.