Hi all.
Kind of the prodigal son, here. Been mostly away for a while.
As most of the regulars know, I did a stint in ICU shortly after the Christmas party. Not as serious as it sounds, thank goodness. More of a pesky situation that requires some management until we get it resolved permanently.
Although I wasn't particularly hounded by doctors, I took it upon myself to undertake some massive lifestyle changes. I'd fallen back into smoking in the last year or so (I swear to God, NEGA is the smokingest place on earth). So I cut that in addition to coffee, red meat, dairy, fried foods, and white bread. Most of the latter ones are temporary/transitional to force me to put more thought and effort into my diet after having falling into a rut.
I'd forgotten how much I Iove cooking! It was always a defining characteristic for me, and it met with some acclaim. But since I mostly haven't had a partner the last few years and don't cater for my parents anymore, I'd largely fallen out of it. It took a fair amount of effort to dust off (and find!) equipment, learn new techniques, reconnect with my online and TV mentors, relearn shopping and meal planning, etc. But it's starting to become second nature again to me now.
I also dusted off my rental house rehab I'd shuttered during covid (yes I know there's still covid, but at some points you have to get on with important aspects of your life). That's been a lot of work and attention but coming along nicely and even have potential tenants.
Then, in addition to all that, I've had an epiphany on how I want to live the rest of my life. Without saying too much, it involves the word "compound". So now there is emptying a house, selling a house, modifying a house and getting a new house all in the mix. It's exhausting to even think about.
As for the forum, I haven't been completely absent, but had to direct my attention behind the scenes. Someone reported a problem with the "likes" system. I've got all my available online forum time into repairing that. At the end of the day, though, someone else's code broke, and I don't have the wherewithal to reinvent the wheel. I've reached out to the developer so 1) they might help, 2) I'll have to uninstall it, or 3) I might be able to find a different module. In any case, it won't be "soon" by some peoples standards.
And that whole situation is exacerbated in that I now live full time away from my computer. I've bought a new one and haven't even been able to set it up! And that's probably been two months ago.
So hopefully as my lifestyle changes and rental project start to stabilize, I'll have a bit more free time at least until the full time house juggling is in full swing!
Cheers!