I don't know if you knew this about me, but Twitter's been kind of a big part of my life for 15ish years. And, as a
result of events you might have heard of, I'm feeling a bit adrift in relation to it.
This feeling isn't entirely new. Twitter's been a less happy place for me for quite a while, even though I still think I
get a lot of value from it. I've felt, however, that it may be time to branch out. Look for new horizons. That sort of
thing.
Totally unprompted, I can assure you.
I've joined Mastodon. I'm @flyingsquirrel@mastodon.social, if you're
somewhere in the fediverse and want to follow my nonsense there.
I might talk about this stuff more. Or maybe not! I may end up rebuilding the Mastodon instance that Ellen inherited
last year but we haven't had time to properly get up and running. We've been busy.
Did I mention we've had a baby? No, I see that I haven't. He's a year old now. Amazing!
Twitter sapped most of my blogging urges over the last 15 years, and this probably isn't going to help. But who knows!
This blog is also on the fediverse now. You can follow it at @darcy@flyingsquirrel.ca! Get all three posts a year as
soon as they happen! If you don't already have an RSS reader, I guess.
Another pandemic Christmas and my fifth annual Christmas mixtape!
Or a Youtube Music playlist
if that works better for you... Note the first track is missing since it doesn't appear to exist on the Internet
anymore.
We went a little jazzy this year. A little mellow. It's been an eventful year, but right now I'm happy to stay home and
make some cocoa and listen to some music. Liner notes after the jump.
2020 was the first Christmas in my entire life where I wasn't at home with my parents in Belleville. So it didn't feel
especially Christmassy.
Ellen and I closed on our new house earlier in December. It's going to be a while before we move in, as there's
significant renovation work ahead. A bunch of my focus over the break was just getting over there and trying to get a
feel for what we've gotten ourselves into and what needs to be done. In summary: a lot.
Given that Ellen and I just bought each other a house, we didn't really go in for gifts or anything. Her mom cooked a
turkey, which was nice, but didn't feel much like Christmas dinner. She'd stayed up all night cooking and had to go to
bed and left me to carve in the morning. I took a plate over to Ellen later. We're not really set up for family
gathering, even between the three of us.
I have a group of friends (originally from CTRL-A) who, in the before-time, would get together every week at the
Princess Cafe for coffee. We've managed keep that going via Discord, which has been helpful in maintaining a modicum of
sanity in these unprecedented times. We've taken to also watching an occasional movie together with voice chat.
We watched Die Hard together for Christmas. And we decided to do another movie night last night as a shallow substitute
for our usual New Years Eve party. We watched What We Do in the Shadows, which was pretty great.
Afterwards, Ellen and I rang in the New Year over the phone, Ellen watching a rotation of TV New Years specials and me
celebrating Countdown with my Animal Crossing villagers.
So here we are in 2021. New possibilities lie ahead. Our five-year housing search has finally borne fruit. It's not
over, and home-ownership type stresses have replaced previous will-we-find-a-place type stresses. But at least there are
new problems for us to deal with, along with a clearer path forward. 2020 was a pretty shitty year in most regards, but
it gave us that, at least.
