One Thing, Four Agreements, Crab Rangoon, Biscuits, and the Isolation of Assumptions

Look at this crazy fucker. He was GREEN. I have never seen a green moth until here. Trippy. 

Sorry for the close-up of my skin. I tried out the macro function on my camera, and here we are.

I took a break from saying anything. Mostly because I assumed I wasn't really offering anything of value to anyone, let alone me. 

I decided to try something different - some brain work. I used to read. I used to read a LOT. I read book after book after book, fiction, non-fiction, horror, non-horror - pretty much the only thing I didn't read regularly was in the romance genre. I read those when I was too young to read those, and learned more than I probably should have ... HA. 

I had an unexplainable fascination with the mafia when I was in high school, probably because I read The Godfather. That fascination remains. 

However, my love of reading waned over the years. With the internet, the ability to focus and not achieve immediate gratification faded and vanished. 

Last week, I decided to change that. I can't tell you the last time I started, read, and finished an entire book. I might read a few pages, and then poof, gone. I have given away more books than I have ever finished in the past 20+ years. I would buy them, consider them, ignore them, dust them off, and donate them. 

I've also been listening to assorted people talk about success and productivity and the lot. Who better to get inspiration from than successful people? I'm not talking about "influencers," but people who have built multi-million-dollar careers starting from nothing and working their way up. 

Anywho, I got some reading ideas from them, including: 

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Economic Facts and Fallacies by Thomas Sowell

The One Thing by Gary Keller

I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi

and the ever-popular (at least I ASSUME) Atomic Habits by James Clear 

I have set aside time in the mornings for reading. Instead of mindless scrolling, or just starting work, I take 30 minutes to an hour to read some from each of the above books. 

I've not been true to my plans for keto, nor my plans for getting more movement. It is what it TIS. Life continues on. 

Not an excuse, but a fun fact ... The gym, as it is situated, is 1.5 miles from our house, directly straight north of the house, actually. GETTING THERE, however, requires a five-plus-mile drive in one direction or t'other, due to the fact that there's this gigantic wash, and NO roads that cross the wash. 

That's my house at the bottom, and the gym at the top ... I wish I had a hovercraft. 

I'm going to guess that going east down to Houghton will be the much quicker path, or path of least resistance, as there are less lights, and it's mostly out in a more deserty area. If we were to go the other way, west, we hit all manner of lights, and twists, and turns, and blahbity blah. 

All that being said, I have yet to get there, and it's making me feel pathetic. I can't even walk out the front door and walk around the neighborhood. I am tired of my inability to follow through, tired of the fear that keeps me trapped in my safe lil bubble, away from the big cruel world out there beyond the block fence. 

I am the world's biggest coward. I watch people in way worse condition than I am making changes, putting themselves out there for all the vile cruelty the internet has to offer, but me? Here I sit. Literally. 

Maybe I do need therapy. Maybe it's just the fact that it's getting close to the anniversary of both my half-brother's and my mother's passing last year, and part of me feels like "What's the point?" Since my brother passed away just on a random afternoon when he lay down to take a siesta. Off he went. What the fuck? Makes me kind of leery to take naps. Not that I don't, but still. It's heavy on the mind. 

THAT is all on the personal health and fitness front. 

However, I have made huge progress when it comes to getting some other shit done, like 2024 taxes. I finally got them filed yesterday. I put it off long enough, and I guess making an appointment with an accountant for help with the 2025 taxes was motivation enough to get these done, since that person will need to see that return. 

I also bought a printer, though I told myself I wasn't going to, so I can print out all the important documents that I will need to take to that appointment at the end of this month. Woot. Now to just get the thing out of the box, set it up, and print things out. I did at least make a list of all the items I'll need. I intend to show up with a very organized folder containing whatever is needed. 

If I've learned anything over the past four years working for accountants, it is that you should get your shit together BEFORE you go see them. Don't just take them a pile of random papers, dump them on their desk and expect them to work miracles. Not gonna happen. 

In weatherly news, we're actually getting rain. O.O 

In news about town, we went to a restaurant called The Barnyard the other day, for the second time. What we got out of it was that we really liked their dinnerware. Come to find out, it's made right here in the city by none other than some relative of the same folk that make Coors beer. Since that was called Banquet Beer back in the day, it's not really shocking that they would make the table service for the beer banquets, now is it? 

So, we may take a trip there someday soon and see what there is to see. They do have some Día de los Muertos plates that could be interesting. 

Here's a random sunset ... 

And here's a random moonset from last week. 

On the keto food front, I have located a couple recipes I'm willing to try. First, some keto crab rangoon sticks. They look delightful. Let's see if I ever get the urge to put that much effort into cooking them, though. 

Same with this recipe for biscuits and gravy, a thing I wish I could have more often. I'd say there's probably a significantly better chance that I would attempt to make this than the crab rangoon, but you never know. 

All that being babbled on and on about, all I can say is I'm trying. Trying to either climb or dig my way out of this hole I've fallen into. There are good days. There are bad days. There are days that are just days. I don't want pity or sympathy. Just needed to air what's going on in my brain. 

I hope things are well in your world.