renewed hope

this past week has been challenging, i've been dealing with depression and anxiety and struggling a fair amount to just do nothing. we've been doing a lot of housekeeping, physically and psychologically, and as a family we've had some pretty good moments alongside some pretty rough ones.

right now gd and i are ringing in the new year with a tummy bug and mr smear is developing his communication and drawing skills in leaps and bounds. also mr smear's made some progress in the swimming department in spite of his misgivings, and i think at this point it's less a question of technique and more a question of strength-building.

i stopped watching the witcher. i wanted to like it, and i managed to look past some of the shoddy writing and acting in the first couple of episodes and still enjoy it. but episode three is where all i can do is switch off, throw up my hands and quote the real queen: "another one bites the dust".

lazy writing is lazy writing is lazy writing, i'm always offended that people actually get paid for such cheap trash.

i've been playing a lot of sudoku. i finished leviathan wakes (incredible, from start to finish). i'm struggling to get into anything other than neil gaiman's don't panic (which has inspired me to do a bit of writing), and i'm doing little bits and pieces here and there towards interviews and projects but mostly i've been focused on figuring out what i really want to be doing and how to motivate myself properly.

after watching a bit of louis psihoyos on joe rogan this morning, i kinda want to do the pastafarian thing and become a pirate, attacking and plundering fishing vessels in an attempt to save the ocean and prompt government responsibility and regulation.

speaking of politics:

as a south african at what point can we expect public servants to earn the same kind of money as the rest of us? i suspect that'll free up an enormous amount of money for investment that doesn't rely on foreigners...

also, if they had to use public education, security, transport and health services like the majority of the population i'm pretty confident they'd make more of an effort to fix things for themselves and their families.

i just need to say that the hogfather is one of the greatest christmas stories ever told.

i found 2019 to be a rather unkind year. goodbye, 2019, i'm as glad to see the back of you as i am looking forward with renewed hope to a brand new decade.

happy 2020 everyone!