picked up the new foster dog, coco on saturday. she’s acclimating pretty well, considering she went from a free roaming outdoor only dog on 17 acres to a downtown indoor dog on 1/3 of an acre. my old man australian shepherd is having a harder time accepting her, but we’re getting there with short 5-10 minute intros where he’s on leash so i can redirect when he gets too in her face. the little chihuahua mix has always been good with other dogs, so no surprise that they’re interacting really well.

coco goes to the vet later today, and fingers crossed there’s no major issues.

update: she’s in perfect health! no parasites, healthy weight, good teeth and eyes.

I moved to Chicago at the end of October from the deep south. The past few days the weather has been hovering around 0⁰F and that has been an adjustment. I’ve figured out the clothing I can wear to bear it. Sunday my feet felt like they were going to fall off after only a few minutes walking around. Last night I had to wait for a bus for like 20 minutes and I was totally fine. I switched boots and it fixed my whole issue with comfort.

I’m on book 1 so far but it’s already quite an accomplishment for me to be reading again. I used to read on my 1h train commute but since I got a new job and the train is only 20 mins anymore I pretty much stopped reading altogether. I’ve decided to get back into it anyway even though it’s only small boats at a time, and I’m really happy to be back :)

I’m waiting on a biopsy result. I might have breast cancer.

At the end of last year all I had was hope and patience. Through sheer luck and the kindness of complete strangers my living situation has finally stabilized.

The things that happened last year really did a number on me and now it takes time to recover once again. Sometimes I wonder if we’ll ever have a society where it is ok to be human.

Luckily I don’t drink or anything like that but it’s seemingly near impossible to get my arse into first gear to take care of the few responsibilities that I have.

Fortunately I’ve learned to take care of the basics like eating healthy, sleeping well, making friends, and knowing that through it all, even on the worst of days, that things will eventually improve. That it’s all worth it.

I just hope my client can find that final bit of patience, as I honestly don’t know what to tell them any more. I feel terrible about it, but also I want and need to work and so they’re kinda stuck with this situation too. All I can hope for is that when things start moving again that I can work multiple days per week. That would solve the issues for everyone involved.

Related song.