Tag: personal post

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So…How Did 2025 Go?

At the start of 2025, I had one goal shared here on the blog: The No-Buy 2025.

In short, the goal was to not buy anything superfluous in 2025. Only necessities. No buying from major corporations (because fuck you, Amazon and Wal-Mart).

How Did It Go?

I actually managed to fulfill this objective…for the most part.

There were only two times that I lapsed: the end of August, and the first weekend of November. The reasons being that the end of August was hell week (I’ll get to that in a minute), and the first weekend of November was a trip/quasi-vacation to the DC area.

Now, I did keep to my promise of No Amazon, No Wal-Mart, No Home Depot. Technically, I didn’t buy from Target, either, especially during the boycott organized by the Black community at the start of the year. I have to add “technically” because in October-ish, a very kind lady from the UU church I attend helped get me a new slow cooker and a Ninja toaster oven (because my actual oven in this apartment is doing *something* that makes the alarms go off any time I cook or bake over 400 degrees).

Still, I didn’t buy from major corporations (except Kroger or Michaels sometimes). If I had to buy anything, I thrifted, traded, found mutual aid, and found local stores.

So What Was the Hell Week?

So, long story short – my younger sibling (and co-creator of Seeing Him and An Ignorance of Romance) moved in with me in January. We moved apartments in May/June. And then they moved fully out in August. During this time, and especially during the move-out period in August, they became the roommate from hell. Folks who have been on my newsletter since July know what happened. But the TL;DR of it is that this sibling needs some fucking intervention and it can’t be from me, because I’m tired of being the savings account of a borderline personality patient who treats animals like a pair of pants to be replaced when they die, and drops everyone and everything as soon as a boy comes into their life.

Part of the reason I even did the No-Buy Year was because I knew, going into the year, that this sibling would be living with me, and they have no savings whatsoever. They’re in the process of trying to file for bankruptcy for a second time (they failed the first time because the paperwork wasn’t in order).

But since September, I’ve been living on my own, and trying to rebuild my savings. On top of that, I do not like this apartment complex I was forced to move to. We only moved here because of my sibling’s garbage credit score, and they moved out within 3 months of signing the lease. As soon as this lease is out this upcoming May, I’m moving again. Which means I have to build up savings again.

My Goal For Next Year

I’m going through YearCompass, which helps to reflect on the year just lived and plan for the year coming ahead. I did my reflection for 2025, and if you thought what I wrote above was rough, that was just half of the year. It doesn’t cover:

  • losing a roommate of 4 years.
  • losing a beloved pet of 18 and a half years.
  • losing a home I lived in for 2 years.
  • having to pay over $2,000 to the state of West Virginia (a long story).
  • breaking contact with both of my siblings (which is a story I will *not* get into publicly).
  • one of my books under threat of getting banned (that’s detailed in this post).

But also that did not cover:

There were also more personal wins, but those wins are for my private life.

I’m still meditating on my goals for 2026, but the biggest one is: save back as much money as possible. I want to rebuild from this past year, and I want to move to a better apartment with better management than the people at this current complex.

Everything else? I will write about at the start of 2026.

I don’t know about you, but I’m taking a break for the rest of the year. That means, until January 2026:

  • no blog posts.
  • no Member newsletters.
  • no email newsletters.
  • and after tomorrow’s livestream, no YouTube *anything*.

The Legend of Jamie Roberts will still update on Wednesdays, and Vanita and the Demon King will still update on Fridays.

With all of that said, it’s time for the break to start. I hope you also take some time for yourself during this season.

Thanks for reading.

You. Are. Awesome.

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Adventures in Moving – Being Safe

In these uncertain times, I’m making this announcement in the Adventures in Moving: I’m being safe, and delaying my move date.

For folks who are out of the loop, I planned on moving because the house I’m renting got sold. Thankfully, mom (who owned the house before) sold it to my sister. Because of that, the time table to move is more relaxed.

However, it is NOT relaxed for my sister’s current roommate. Currently, he’s renting an apartment from a preeeety shady landlord. This landlord has been demanding consistent rent payments and will kick out anyone whose lease runs out if the renter does not renew. Even during these uncertain times.

And what do you know? This roommate’s lease runs out in the beginning of June.

He also has a dog. An elderly, pain in the ass dog, whom both of my cats HATE. And he also has a kitten.

The house I’m in is small – so fitting 3 people under the roof is a challenge. Add an extra dog and cat, and that becomes my sister, the roommate, me, four cats, and two dogs (because my sister has a dog, too) under one dinky roof.

So I DO intend to move before June starts.

However, with coronavirus still being A THING, I’ve heard through the grapevine that Ohio intends to open the state back up around May 1.

I am of the opinion that this is WAY TOO DAMN SOON.

(Personally, I prefer the relief effort ViHart outlines in her latest video. Go check it out if you haven’t seen it yet.)

So I’m going to be safe.

Right now, the plan is to move out of my current home between May 15 and May 31. There are contingency plans if the move has to be delayed. But this is the current plan.

Where am I moving to? Well, it’s looking like the Toledo area – but Columbus is still an option.

That’s where things are at for now. As things change, I’ll keep you posted.

Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.