Hi Darling Ones,

Even before the fascists regained control of our country (which wasn’t so hot before), I vowed I would spend 2025 noticing and celebrating happiness.

This is a project I’ve been half-assedly attempting since the triple whammy of my dad’s death, The Stroke, and the end of my 24-year friendship with BFK all in the span of 11 months. I had, and have, a lot of reasons to wallow in woe is me.

To be fair, after this week we ALL have a lot of reasons to wallow. I need to say that because lots of people really want to win The Suffering Olympics and tell me how much sadder/rougher/whathaveyou their life is. I refuse to participate. Everyone’s fighting a hard battle and all that. Plus, I don’t think you get a trophy upon death for having suffered the most. If you do, you can find me in the afterlife and brag about your trophy.

One of things that I’ve noticed since BFK broke up with me is how much I allowed her energy to impact mine. It sounds woo woo, but hear me out. BFK had a lot of misery in her life some real and some trumped up for attention’s sake. I carried a lot of her anger and sadness in solidarity, and it was exhausting, but I did it because I love her. I will do that for everyone I love. It’s part of being human. However, it’s frustrating to see someone miserable for years and years and refusing to do anything about it. Part of the reason BFK dumped me is that I told her she needed to do something different to change that. Oops.

As my friend EM said, nobody wants to hear they’re in charge of their own happiness. Another thing I need to say: mental health and neurodivergence makes happiness more difficult for some. I know!

The worst part about writing on the internet is people think if you don’t mention every fucking situation then you are ignorant of those things. It’s hard to cover all the bases in one simple blog post.

It was not my plan to have this week filled with small happy things, but it happened. I’m going to share a few with you.

• While I was not pleased with this news, Dr. Davies, my eye guy, was thrilled that my eyes have been stable since November. He claims that’s good. I claim it’s crap because my vision is still garbage (the distortion persists). He and my neurologist seem to think stability is good and I’m all, “that’s like thinking Cs are good.”
• On Wednesday I got to meet my friend Hotrod in real life. We’ve been arguing on the Internet for about 20 years (we think), but this is the first time we got to spend time together. You think it’d be strange to meet someone you’ve known online for 20 years, but it was surprisingly not awkward. We took a pic together before he left Supergenius HQ and texted it to our families and they were as happy about the visit as he and I were. He gave me a Pie book, which I’ll talk about later.
• I got a new water softener. Spending $1500 on it was not my favorite, but the plumber kid was my favorite. He was not a child, and I almost pooped my pants when he said he was 38. He almost pooped his pants when I told him I had a stroke. “You’re too young to have a stroke,” he said. So yes, I love him.
• I also love him because when were setting up the installation I asked him if he wanted a deposit or something and he said, “Nah, I trust you.” I told him I was a freelancer and I said the same thing to my clients.
• Some Darling Ones threw some cash my way and that really helped with the Water Softener. Plus, I got to buy some yarn because one of them said that’s what the money was for (thank you!)
• I hung an old drawer organizer on my wall. It started as a way to display some of the thimble collection my Grandma Chromey started for me, and then I added my best rocks, one of dad’s Pez dispenser, five Burnt Sienna crayons, and some of my other toys. Now I’m obsessed and accepting rocks, happy meal toys, and other garbage to put on it.
• My friend Solace was all, you should listen to the new jasmine.4.t record, specially the song Tall Girl.

It was a week that did my mood good, Darling Ones, and I wanted to share that with you.

Love,
Jodi