Got Boosted

Me and Lee-Anne got our COVID booster shots today. I got my first two from a pop-up clinic for people who have disabilities and for the people that work with them. Lee-Anne got hers in advance in Brampton because she was on the payroll of her family's optometry practice. For the booster, there's been much less guidance on who can or should be getting it, so we both wound up booking our appointments in the same manner as the general population.

We managed to land an appointment for the same timeslot and location. It was at the Region of Waterloo Headquarters. I wound up getting Moderna for the third time in a row, and Lee-Anne got her third Pfizer, so neither of us have had to mix yet.

At the other place I went to, they asked everybody to wait in their vehicles for 20 minutes after getting their shot and honk their horn if they felt like they were going to pass out. This was upsetting to me because, while I've never personally passed out after a vaccination, I've sat next to people when they have, and I've never known someone to shout or otherwise indicate that they were about to pass out. I didn't have faith in the one person looking over the parking lot to be able to monitor everyone in their vehicles either. Also, I don't have a car and neither do many people with disabilities, who they were specifically serving, and they didn't have a clear alternative or offer any guidance on what to do if you didn't come by vehicle. I followed the arrows on the ground as instructed looking for a waiting room and eventually found myself outside in a rain storm. I wound up wedged against the building under a small overhang in the rain for 20 minutes, hoping that if I were to pass out, I'd be able to shout for help beforehand. When I came back for my second shot, they had a clearly marked waiting room.

At this new place, they had a standard waiting area with a person monitoring, and didn't even give the option to wait in a vehicle. We also only had to wait five minutes, instead of twenty.

So far I've had no side effects, not even a sore arm, which I thought was less about the chemicals and more about getting jabbed in the bicep with a needle. I haven't heard of anybody having difficulty with their booster yet. It seems like everybody gets to have one bad reaction and from thereon out they don't get much in the way of side effects. For most people it's with their second shot, which was my experience. First time around, I just had a sore arm afterward. The second time, I had a low-level fever with aches and pains for about a day. This time around, nothing. But Mom got a week-long fever after her first dose, which gave me a lot of anxiety because I thought that if the first one is usually better than the second, then her second dose could be that much worse. But the medical professionals were just impressed by her symptoms and said it was because she has a great immune system, and she proceeded to have absolutely no symptoms for her second dose.

2021 Year in Review

 2021 was better than 2020. People who say otherwise don't remember the mass panic that came with the first wave of COVID. This year we knew how it spread, we knew how to test for it, and vaccines were made much easier to access (although global distribution is still a huge problem). The aliens and murder hornets were more chill this year, although they're still around. Derek Chauvin, the guy who murdered George Floyd and acted as a catalyst for widespread social upheaval, was sentenced guilty for murder. Trump's out of office and things seem to be a bit quieter South of the border. We didn't get another mass shooting in Canada. Things have been alright, for the most part.

Granted, we did get a few more COVID waves and it's mutated into apparently 12 additional strains. I think there were... three variants by the end of 2020? Back then they were called the UK, Brazil, and South Africa variants, and they were later labeled as Alpha, Beta, and Gamma to avoid stigmatizing countries. This year we got Delta, which proved far more transmissible than the previous three, and recently Omicron, which is way more transmissible than Delta.

The overthrowing of the Capitol Building in the US happened early 2021.

Canada had its share of social unrest with the discovery of the unreported remains of thousands of Indigenous children under former residential schools.

Israel bombed Palestine, including a major news outlet. The US pulled out of Afghanistan after a 20-year war following 9/11, culminating in Afghanistan's acting government being overthrown, unable to defend itself without US support.

Ok, so 2021 wasn't better for everyone.

In my personal life I appreciated a good degree of success. I got engaged (just recently and it's the first time I'm mentioning it on here, so don't feel bad for not remembering), I went permanent full-time in my career, I was accepted back into University and completed my first course since returning, and we got another cat, Finnegan.

Now let's check in on my New Year's Resolutions for 2021 and see if I lived up to them.

For 2021 I resolved to update my blog 50 times, which was up from 2020's resolution to update 40 times. In 2020 I made 45 updates to this blog, 5 on Gryphood, and 3 on Gryphon's Gallery, totaling 53. In 2021 I posted on this blog 34 times, which is the all time low, beneath the previous record low of 37 in 2019. But I updated Gryphood 14 times, Gryphon's Gallery 3 times, and Gryphon's Reviews 3 times. So the total post count is 54, one up from 2020.

Gryphood posts were: blueberry tarts, frybread, banana bread, scalloped potatoes, hummus, taco dip, curry, broccoli cheddar soup, loaded baked potato soup, empanadas, cheesecake, hamburger soup, mac & cheese, and fried rice

Gallery posts:

For my review blog, I did two book reviews: The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchet, and Glittering Images by Susan Howatch, and I did a review of the Canadian-Korean sitcom Kim's Convenience. Partway through the year I wanted to commit to doing a review for everything I read. I didn't manage that, but I also didn't resolve it, so I didn't fail. I'll resolve it this year though.

I'll resolve to make a total blog update count of 55 in 2022, so that I'll have gone up by one each year over three years. I'm off to a good start, since I updated Gryphood twice yesterday (spinach artichoke dip and yellow coconut curry)

Gryphood

Gryphon's Gallery (gryphonsgallery.blogspot.com)

Gryphon's Reviews (gryphonsreviews.blogspot.com)

So last year I resolved to walk an average of at least 25 km weekly. I didn't keep track of it throughout January but started documenting in February. Since I've been recording it, my weekly average has been... 33.3. That's a fun number. I think I'll increase last year's goal by 5 and resolve to walk an average of 30 km or more weekly next year. Part of me wants to be more aspirational and increase it to 35 since I was so close to that, but nah. Moving the baseline goal is good enough for next year, I think.

During the colder times of the year, which were also when my work was generally being done remotely, you can see me barely squeaking out 25 km a bunch. But when I was going into work in person, walking to and from the office, the average is significantly higher. For a little while I was running a park group, during which I had my highest numbers.

We don't know what COVID will look like in 2022, whether or not there will be stay-at-home orders, whether or not I'll be working remotely, if I'll be running a park group again, so 30 km weekly is good enough.

Last year I resolved to start a body weight workout routine in June... and throughout the entire year I never did a single pushup. I completely flubbed this one. 

In my defense, I did have a net positive in terms of physical health. I lost about 30 pounds. I don't know what my weight was like at its worst, because there was a time when I was afraid to step on the scale, but I lost 30 pounds from my highest recorded weight. So I probably lost more than 30, but I gained a bit back this winter, so let's just call it 30.

I'm down two shirt sizes and I'm wearing pants that are 6 inches smaller at the waist. Granted, I think I was buying pants that were overly large in anticipation of weight gain, so I don't think I was ever as large as my largest pair of pants. But it's nice to be anticipating weight loss instead of gain.

I don't really know how I lost the weight. I don't think I walked it all off, I still haven't met my pre-pandemic walking average, and I was heavier then. My family has a weird pattern of struggling with obesity and then recovering from it without really knowing why. My biggest lifestyle change was moving in with Lee-Anne. I think my ADHD factored into my weight gain. I'd get distracted thinking about other things and forget to eat until evening, at which point I could ONLY think about eating, and then I'd binge, usually on convenience food that I didn't enjoy but which was easy to access.

Having Lee-Anne around, saying things like "Have you had breakfast?" and "What are we having for dinner?" has just been a consistent reminder to do the basic things that keep a human body functioning. I think the idea of obesity being for gluttonous food enthusiasts stopped me from figuring out the issue sooner. I kept trying to suppress an appetite that wasn't there, because my problem wasn't a love of food, it was an ambivalence to it. Ironically, doing my food blog, exploring new recipes to encourage a love of food has kept the weight off.

 Plus, the term "big guy" used for tall, broad-shouldered individuals such as myself slowly phasing from a compliment to an insult, being used for both tough and fat people alike, has played an interesting role in my psychology surrounding weight, which I could probably do an entire post on.

I won't dodge around the fact that I failed the exercise goal though. Maybe I put the start date too far in the future. This time, I'll resolve to develop a twice-weekly workout routine in January and implement it in February. Lee-Anne says she'll make a joint resolution on this, so maybe that will help.

Last year I resolved to have one meat-free day per week by the end of the year. Didn't manage this one. We did it a handful of times but it didn't turn into a routine.

Of all my goals, I sort of have the least confidence in my ability to accomplish this one. I frequently commit to eating less meat, and I regularly  fail. This one, along with the exercise routine, seems easy when resolving it, but tends to be more difficult than anticipated. Oh well, I'll resolve to do it anyway.

Last year I resolved to read six non-work related books. I missed this by a HAIR. I was on my last book and I was primed to squeak out a success, but on December 27, I learned of the unexpected and untimely death of someone I used to serve, which happened under tragic circumstance, and which I was... kind of connected to. I know that's a cryptic way of putting it, but I don't think it would be right to further elaborate here. Anyway, the book I was reading was about death, and this news just totally took away my motivation to read about it.

I'll resolve to read another six books in 2022. That seemed about right. And I'll review each one.

My final resolution for 2021 was to update my dream journal more. I got kind of halfway with this. I do have a collection of dreams, and have been keeping a journal next to my bed, but I updated pretty irregularly and I don't think it increased the frequency of me remembering my dreams. I think it's because on weekdays I usually hit the snooze button twice before getting up. When I first wake up, I remember my dream, but after snoozing, I forget it and usually don't get a second. The right resolution here would be to stop hitting the snooze button, but that sounds painful.

I want to add a resolution. Right now I've got seven blank canvasses. I want to put a painting on each one before the end of 2022.

So my final list of resolutions are:

• Make 55 total blog posts (between this one and my satellite blogs)
• Walk 30 km average, weekly
• Start twice-weekly body weight workout routine
• Have one meat-free day per week
• Read six non-work related books and post reviews to my blog for each
• Update my dream journal and be less reliant on the snooze button
• Do seven paintings (use up my canvasses)

So the changes here are that my blog count goal has gone from 40 in 2020 to 50 in 2021 to 55 in 2022. In 2020 I achieved 53, in 2021 54, and so I just need to increase by one to achieve this goal.

I've moved my walking resolution from 25 km average weekly to 30, so an increase of 5 km weekly. I broke 30 last year, but I think moving up the baseline expectation is fine for now. If I achieve my goal, I'll increase it for 2023.

I'm committing to post reviews for each of the books I read.

I'm adding an attempt to be less reliant on the snooze button for my dream journal goal.

I'm adding a resolution to do seven paintings.

Of my 2021 resolutions, I succeeded in my blog goal and walking goal. I failed the workout and meatless day goals. I essentially succeeded in my reading goal and only failed due to unexpected circumstance. I was pretty borderline with the dream journal goal, which was vague anyway.

So I'll say I was about 50% successful overall. I don't really mind failing my resolutions. I may have said I would read six books and didn't quite make it, but if I hadn't resolved to do it, I wouldn't have read the five I did. It was a big improvement from recent years when I haven't read at all. I may not have written down as many dreams as I would have liked, but if I hadn't tried, I wouldn't have learned the snooze button thing. I may have failed to commit to a meatless day, but I experimented more with vegetarian recipes. So each resolution still improved me, even where I didn't meet my goal (except for the workout one, which I had no progress with whatsoever)

Brown Christmas

Title for this post is kind of forced. In 2019 the title was "Blue Christmas" because a bunch of sad stuff had just happened, and in 2020 it was "Grey Christmas" because Ontario was using a colour-based system for its COVID measures, and we were just entering Grey, which meant lockdown. So this one is just for the weather. We almost had a white Christmas, but had a flash thaw overnight that left everything brown on Christmas morning.

Realistically it would be another Grey Christmas. You probably know already, but there's a new COVID variant called Omicron which is thought likely be much more transmissible than any of the others, although it's looking like it likely is a little less deadly. Italics used to emphasize we don't know things concretely yet.

Apparently there are now 12 variants. I literally haven't heard of any of them since Delta. I guess if a strain doesn't prove to break a record of transmissibility, it doesn't get the press it used to. I remember hearing about Omicron and thinking that sounded like it didn't come right after Delta in the Greek Alphabet. I looked it up, and yeah, it's the 15th. More than halfway through, I wonder what our naming scheme will be once we use up all the letters.

Although they skipped a few because it was bad branding, like "Nu", since it would have people calling it the "new variant" which is confusing, and "Xi" since it would sound like it was named after President Xi of China. It would be funny to adopt this naming scheme to replace using country names, especially since it started off with people calling it the "China Virus" or "Wuhan Flu" only to use the new system to call a strain after the president of China.

It certainly feels more ominous than last year, since in 2020 we knew a lockdown was on the horizon, but the government buckled to societal pressure and postponed it to Boxing Day. This year they called it before Christmas, which feels like they really had no option.

Technically, it's not an official lockdown. We don't have phases, colours, or steps which were the systems put in place to tell us where we stood. But safety measures are increasing and society is reacting. My job's gone remote again.

I was surprised, to be honest. Not long ago I said that if another pandemic happened right now, or a much more deadly variant, that I didn't think society would be as proactive as it was during the first wave. The hope would be that we would know how to handle it because of all the knowledge and experience we've acquired over the past couple of years, but in reality, I thought that everyone had become so burnt out and mistrustful of the government, that an attempt to lock us down again would be met with record breaking noncompliance. 

I guess that's why they haven't installed a system or officially called it a lockdown, but instead just rapidly integrated new safety measures. Society isn't happy about it, but we're not broken either.

We were going to have a Christmas gathering at our place. My mother, brother, aunt and cousin were going to visit, which would have been within the current limit of 10 people allowed per indoor gathering, but my family is more on the cautious side and everybody cancelled.

I won't lie, I received an invitation to join Lee-Anne's family and I accepted. I felt bad because everyone in my immediate family chose to not take that risk, but if I stayed home I would be the only one spending Christmas alone, so either way I'd be isolated in my circumstance.

MESH Self-Assessment 2021

Back in 2019 I made a post about an Emotional Intelligence assessment I did for work, called MESHdiversity. I was given a series of scenarios with examples of four potential reactions to each. I then ranked each reaction from how I would most likely react to least likely for every situation. The data I gave was then analyzed and my emotional intelligence was ranked on a scale of 1 to 10 in 36 different categories.

They then got me to find a minimum of three people and have them do the survey based on how they thought I would react. Their data was compiled and combined, and I was given the 36 rankings based on how other people perceive me. This way, you can see if your self-perception matches the perceptions of others.

So we did it again this year. I answered the questions for myself and for four other people, and got four people to rank me as well. Two of them were the same people that did my surveys in 2019, and two of them were different.

I don't have my 2021 assessment from others yet, but I do have my self-assessment. What's cool about this is that, since I've still got my results from 2019, I can compare how my self-perception has changed over the past two years. I'll include the results where changes occurred.

So my overall self-esteem has increased 4%, with my combined results over the 36 categories having gone up by this much.

My Emotional Awareness went from a 10 to a 9. Decreased one point. This is the ability to understand the origins of our emotions, which helps us to mediate our feelings and in turn, manage our behaviour. Was one of my best qualities, which has changed but it's still an area of strength.

My Growth Focus went from a 6 to a 5. Decreased one point. This is the ability to seek help or support from others. Apparently I used to be bad for this and now I'm even worse. I should maybe note here that MESH doesn't let you rank lower than a 5, so I could actually be even worse.

My Receptivity went from a 9 to a 6. Decreased 3 points. This is the ability to take constructive feedback and implement it for positive change. This went all the way from a strength to a weakness.

My Motivation Style went from an 8 to a 10. Increased two points. This is the ambition to do well without the motivator of extrinsic reward, like praise from others, bonuses or benefits. I'm more genuine and self-motivated now, taking more pride in my work based on its quality and how it makes me feel.

My Ambition went from an 8 to a 9. Increased one point. This is the desire to improve oneself based on internal development, such as keeping track of personal progress (kind of like what I'm doing here) and external markers, such as increases in job status.

My Composure went from 10 to 8. Decreased two points. This is the ability to be calm and composed in high-pressure situations that may be stressful and dangerous. This is still a strength of mine, but less so.

My Agency went from 7 to 9. Increased two points. This is the ability to learn from mistakes, to turn failures into opportunities for growth, to deal with and master challenging demands. This went from something I was average at, to an area of strength.

My Determination went from 8 to 9. Increased on point.  This is the ability to come up with goals and to overcome obstacles to achieve them. This was an area of strength that has become stronger.

My Versatility went from 10 to 9. Decreased one point. This is openness to change, the ability to flex and adapt under shifting circumstances. This is still an area of strength, but less so now.

My Optimism went from 5 to 7. Increased two points. This is the ability to manage uncertainty and find positivity in the face of challenging circumstances. This went from one of my weakest areas to something I'm average at.

My Intuition went from 8 to 9. Increased one point. This is the ability to combine our thoughts and emotions, tapping into our unconscious resources to come to conclusions. This was an area of strength that has increased a bit.

My Empathic Accuracy went from 8 to 5. Decreased three points. This is the ability to pick up on how other people are feeling based on facial expressions, verbal and non-verbal signals. Interesting to see that it went from a strength to one of my weakest areas.

My Compassion went from 7 to 8. Increased one point. This is the ability to show kindness to others, both in professional and personal life, to be invested in others. I was average in this area and increased it a bit to become and area of strength.

My Validation went from 10 to 9. Decreased one point. This is the ability to accept others and consider their needs without assuming a similarity to myself. This was one of my strongest qualities. It's still strong, but a little less so.

My Curiosity went from 9 to 10. Increased one point. This is the desire to learn and show genuine interest in others. It was an area of strength for me in the past and has become one of my best qualities since then.

My Collaboration went from 7 to 10. Increased three points. This is the ability to keep a positive frame of mind when confronted with conflict, to avoid polarization and to avoid win/lose thinking in favour of win/win. This went from something I was average at to one of my best qualities.

My Follow Through went from 8 to 9. Increased one point. This is the ability to "walk your talk", to balance your "can-do" and your "will-do" attitudes. The ability to do what you say you will, which earns the trust of others.  I was strong in this area and got a bit better.

My Civility went from 9 to 8. Decreased one point. This is the ability to disagree without being disagreeable. To speak in a way that encourages dialogue. This is still a strength of mine, but a little less so now.

My Openness went from 8 to 10. Increased two points. This is the ability to be respectful, accepting, and appreciative of peoples difference, to not allow implicit biases to control my perspectives of others. I was strong in this area and it has since become one of my best qualities.

My Appreciation went from 9 to 6. Decreased three points. This is the ability to recognize the good work of others. This has gone from an area of strength to a weakness.

The other 16 categories had the same rank as 2019's assessment.

This year I ranked myself highest in: Motivation Style, Curiosity, Collaboration, Openness, and Influence, all of which got a 10, the highest possible ranking.

Influence, which is the only area I got a perfect 10 in each year, is the ability to get people to shift their perspective to match mine.

I ranked myself lowest in: Growth Focus and Empathic Accuracy, both of which got a 5, the lowest possible ranking.

The biggest fluctuation between assessments was by three points, which happened for four categories. My Receptivity, Empathic Accuracy, and Appreciation all went down three points, while my collaboration went up three. So most of the large fluctuations were toward the negative, but the number of categories where I improved were more numerous, to the point that I made an overall improvement.

UAPs

One of the weirdest developments over the past few years has been the normalization of talk on UFOs. In 2019, videos were leaked of US Navy personnel observing the flight patterns of unidentified flying objects. They moved at impossible speeds against strong wind with no discernible source of propulsion, and in one case submerged into water. In 2020, a statement was released that neither confirmed or denied the legitimacy of the leaked footage but acknowledged their "veracity". In 2021 they confirmed that these videos were taken by the Navy.

In 2020 the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF) was established, and in 2021 a report was released on information collected on these and similar sightings. In addition to the odd qualities seen in the videos I've mentioned, these objects have been known to occasionally emit radio signals, hover in place, demonstrate maneuverability that can't be replicated, break the sound barrier without creating a sonic boom, and stalk US aircraft. The final verdict was that it cannot be confirmed whether or not the origins of any of these objects are extraterrestrial.

I'll be honest. I'm a believer. I believe in big-headed stocky grey-bodied people in flying saucers who have not only visited Earth, but visit regularly. I don't require that you believe what I do, it makes no difference to me. But it's funny how different people can interpret stuff like this report. When I was visiting Guelph one time I brought it up, and Mom (who is not a believer) said "Oh, I saw that. I almost wanted to call and tell you, but I didn't want to sound like I was bragging" I was like "What do you mean?", she said "They can't confirm it's aliens" and I was like "They also can't confirm it's not!"

Of course most UFO sightings are the product of hoaxes, misperceptions, mental instability, tall tales and lucid dreaming. Believers often point to the infinite possibilities that the universe provides, which skeptics sometimes concede to, while maintaining their position that even if there are aliens out there, they likely haven't visited us, and they're probably in the form of algae or moss or something.

To the credit of skeptics, this idea that because the universe is potentially infinite, it provides infinite possibilities leading to inevitable contact, is kind of flawed. Even if there are millions of planets with intelligent life forms, there is no guarantee that any planet has enough resources to make it far enough to meet its closest neighbours. After all, it's easy to forget that even something as unnatural-seeming as a computer chip or a Kraft single fundamentally come from resources found on our planet Earth. If we don't have the specific resources, or have it in the quantity we need, this assumption of unending advancement is kind of weird.

And the vastness of space is such an incredible hurdle. It's impossible to comprehend exactly how much space is in space. You can fit every planet in our solar system between the Earth and the moon! And they're comparably right next to each other!

But because of historical and cross-cultural consistency, as well as some of these new developments, I believe it is more likely than not that some entity has tapped into a situation in which they are able to, and do visit us.

The UAPTF is not the first instance of government funded research on this topic. The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program ran in secret between 2007 and 2012, and similar operations have run under the names Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book.

Until recently, governments have preferred to keep their research into such matters private, so the public development of the UAPTF and 2021 report are notable. The slow rollout of information since 2019 with sparing commentary and the rebranding from Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), to the less stigmatized Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP), feels like an attempt to normalize these sightings. Why are we being encouraged to talk about it now, especially when it's been discouraged for so long?

Former Israeli Space Security Chief Haim Eshed has said straight-up that extraterrestrials exist, that there's a Galactic Federation, and that there is a base on Mars with both human and alien representatives. This came out in 2020 (weird year). He said that deals have been made between extraterrestrials and the US Government, and that information has been limited so as to avoid mass hysteria. He said that they're waiting for us to be ready to be aware of them, and that he's become more outspoken recently because people have become more open. That's a bit much even for me... Honestly, the only reason that this got traction is because of the guy's resume. 

I'll share the one story I have of some people I know who claim to have had an encounter. They were out at a cottage, on a lake. One guy was trying out a flashlight, and as he shone it back and forth, he impulsively decided to point it up. Above them was a flying saucer. Hovering, making no sound, showing no lights. They all saw it. And then, noiselessly, it just moved up, up, up, and out of their field of vision. No idea if this story is true, but the way he emphasized "You'd think there'd be lights, everyone talks about lights" seemed like one of those weird little details that stick with you when you get surprised by something.

Honestly, the alien thing isn't really that intimidating to me. If they're here, it seems like they've been around for awhile and have left us relatively undisturbed. Egyptian hieroglyphs depict advanced aircraft that they wouldn't have had access to, and the Nazca Lines in Peru seemed to be made for viewing from the sky. Both of those sources depict some weird looking humanoids, too.

The idea of the US having developed technology to this level in secret, so that lower government branches aren't even aware, is its own brand of terrifying. I heard an official state he was concerned that the US might have been "leapfrogged" in technology by another country, although its' been stated that the technology observed in these sightings is beyond what is known to exist on this planet. I don't necessarily trust humans to be more responsible with that technology than the hypothetical aliens.

If the government is just straight-up lying... That's also terrifying.

If it's natural phenomenon, it runs contrary to what we understand about physics. All the non-alien theories are still fascinating. 

I guess the most mundane theories surround camera glitches and incidental optical illusions. Still, we're talking technology and analysts from some of the best this planet has to offer, it's hard to write it all off to tech problems and human error.

If I had to guess, I'd say that we're kind of like a nature preserve. We're being monitored by an advanced species, likely simply for the purpose of study. Maybe we're considered an evolving or developing species and they're not supposed to interact with us because it could result in us being domesticated. Something went wrong in Egypt and they learned from it, maybe. Or perhaps it's for a larger ecological reason to do with solar systems that we can't understand yet. Stories of people being abducted, probed, and replanted back on Earth sound kind of like when we tag an animal and release it back into the wild for observation. 

Of course, there's always the possibility that their purposes are simply beyond our comprehension, being more evolved. After all, us humans are unable to convey information even to animals that are exceptionally compatible with us, such as cats and dogs, or even to some of the cleverest, such as chimps, parrots, and dolphins (honourable mention to octopi and elephants). Why do we assume that we are equipped to process information from any potential species, even if we learn to interact with them?

Maybe they come from the Lost City of Atlantis, or maybe they're a kind of mer-people. After all, these crafts have demonstrated an ability to maneuver through water as well as air. Maybe they are aliens, and they have a base beneath the ocean. After all, we've only discovered like, 5% of it. Good place to hide out. Saves a trip to Mars.

Maybe these are time travelers, and the big-headed stocky grey guys are just evolved humans. The unathletic bodies could be from a continued sedentary lifestyle through advances in technology, and the big heads could be from brain growth through evolution.

Maybe the squat grey bodies are robotic. After all, we can do so much remotely with our own technology, would an advanced species feel the need to send traditional explorers? Maybe they're organic but artificial. Maybe they're made to look like humans so that they'll seem approachable to us, but they missed the mark like when we try to create convincing robotic animals but they can't quite convince the species they're built to mimic. That would mean the original creators of the bodies would likely look much different from us. Maybe it's all the product of an autonomous AI.

At any rate, I can't explain it but it's all very weird, and I feel like it's going to get weirder sooner rather than later.

Mom & Duncan Visits

Three weeks ago, my mom came over to visit our place for the first time since I moved a year ago. Her and Duncan were going to come over the week after Thanksgiving, but me and Lee-Anne both got sick with that thing that wasn't COVID. After that, we were going to do a Halloween visit, but scheduling didn't line up and so we wound up having a visit at this nondescript time.

She'd been over to my last place, so she'd already met Kieran, but she got to meet Finnegan. Kieran quickly ran up to her and started meowing so it seemed like he remembered her, but he's a very social cat so it's hard to tell.

Lee-Anne wanted to make sure we had stuff to do while she visited, but I knew that just having cats was probably enough. Even if they just napped all weekend, Mom would be happy to be around them. My mother really likes cats.

Finn was very affectionate and spent a lot of time sitting on Mom's lap and purring. Before Finn, I thought that lap cats were just a myth, crafted by the cliché of a villain petting a fluffy white cat on his lap. In reality, they might sit with you or lay against you, but they're unlikely to sit directly on your lap, and if they do, they won't stay for long. But Finn will sit on your lap for hours if you let him.

We went for a walk on the Iron Horse Trail, which we live right next to. Mom is even more into Pokemon Go than I am, and the section of the Iron Horse that I usually walk has 10 Pokemon Gyms neatly lined in a row. It feels like being on a real-world Pokemon Route. Mom likened the experience to being on Victory Road, which is an area you have to cross before challenging the Elite 4 and the Champion near the end of the games.

We got donuts from the Munch Box, which is a bakery in Belmont Village, a strip of small businesses near where we live. The brother of a close friend owns this bakery. There are like three others including a Lady Glaze, which is one of the two most recognized donut shops in Kitchener, but honestly, since they've opened up branches in several other cities including Guelph, they feel a little mainstream lately. Rather go for the place owned by someone I know, which is only available in Belmont Village.

We went to Central Fresh Market, which is an independently owned grocery and the one closest to us. We got some spinach and feta twisters in filo pastry. Central makes a lot of stuff fresh daily, and the spinach twisters might be the best thing they make. Mom also found some ramen there. Like, the stuff you get in the international section that's a little more advanced than cup ramen. It was lobster, which she's apparently not seen before, so she got a couple bowls.

While we were out there, I was able to show her the building where I work.

Lee-Anne made homemade Mac & Cheese for dinner

Except she used cavatappi instead of macaroni noodles, so it's technically Cav & Cheese.

Mom brought home some donuts, a spinach twister, and the lobster ramen bowls for Duncan.

He came the following week. We had to stagger the visits because of scheduling. I showed him the Iron Horse too, even though he doesn't play Pokemon Go anymore (a reminder that you don't have to play Pokemon to go for a walk) and we got Thai food from a place in Belmont Village.

The cats were similarly welcoming to Duncan, and he described them as "angels"

The weather was miserable for both their visits. Lots of rain halfway formed to snow, but we persevered.

My Most Expensive Purchase

A long time ago, I brought back to Canada a bunch of Malian merchandise. I made a blog post about it. Among my stuff, there were five Malian shirts. I put them on wire hangers and hung them on a wall in my room when I went to college. They came with me from student housing, to my holdover spot after graduating, and then to my bachelor pad where I would stay for five years. Coming to my current place, Lee-Anne thought I should have them framed, as the wire hangers were apparently tacky. So they sat in the closet for about a year, and we finally got around to visiting a framing store recently.

There's a framing place right next to where we live. We got to talk about the type of frames we want, the dimensions, the glass. I guess I'm not going to give exact numbers, but when I went to pay, Lee-Anne asked me if my card limit would cover it. I was like "My what?"

It didn't.

I've never had to think about that before, so it must have been the largest expense I've ever paid in one shot.

That can't be true. I've paid first and last rent before.  We bought a bunch of furniture last year. That must have added up to more. I guess it's different when writing a cheque, and no single item of furniture cost as much, even if it totaled more.

It was weird though, because the sinking sensation I felt didn't match the severity of when I'd made large purchases in the past. I think because even if it was my largest single purchase, it didn't effect my bank account on a percentage basis as much as, say, buying college text books did in the past. Because I have more money now.

One of the drawbacks of being financially secure is that payday is not as exciting anymore, for the same reason. It doesn't effect the percentage in my bank account as much as it used to. When you're poor, the lows are way lower, but the highs are less high. Payday doesn't change what I can immediately do anymore. My lifestyle stays the same, the numbers in my account just change a bit.

Anyway, we had to juggle payment methods but we made it work.

When it was time to pick them up, the framing lady was ecstatic about her handiwork and really talked them up. When someone else who worked there came in, she was like "Are you the guy with the shirts?!" I mean, of course they're going to build them up, it's their livelihood. But it was still nice to hear the Malian prints being praised that way, since it was such a unique and purposeful time of my life.

She made sure to stack them a certain way, and when she realized I didn't have a vehicle, she insisted she drive them to my place to ensure they were delivered safely. Even though I live just two streets over.

So I'll show you the end result of my most expensive single purchase:

You can be the judge on whether or not they live up to the hype. I'm assured that this way the material will never fade, and these will last me a lifetime.

While I'm at it, I'll share another print.

I found this one face down in the middle of a sidewalk in the rain. I flipped it over out of curiosity, saw that it was undamaged so far as I could tell and took it home. It dried off fine and yeah, appears totally unscathed. I'm the type of person that thinks life leaves little clues for you, and that getting something weird like this in an unusual context must have a "purpose". Why did it come to me? That line of logic. I kind of get that random stuff just happens a lot of the time, but that's very difficult for me to accept.

Lee-Anne thinks it looks like an apocalypse though, so I'm going to have to get rid of it. I told her I wanted to at least make a blog post about it first. So I'm documenting it hear in case it does have some kind of meaning or purpose going forward.