Time seems to be slipping like sand through my fingers of late. A high level of exhaustion, compounded by frustration, and now this emerging Omicron variant that is quite likely going to prevent a “normal” holiday season… all playing pinball with my sanity.

At work we delivered a critical piece of tech early, save millions of dollars in doing so, and now the natural endorphin crash is showing it’s head. Frustration abounds due to continual poor planning practices which seems to always generate more work that we should have avoided. I’ve been 6 months in this new role and found a tremendous shift towards more a more strategic approach within my realm of control… outside of it though, what a right mess. I’m also aware that the grass isn’t greener… it would just be a different set of problems to solve. At least here I can have some influence.

Hockey was going great. The team was firing on every single cylinder at their last match, effectively reaching my end of year goal 3 months ahead of schedule. I say was because up here in Igloo-ville, Omicron is just tearing through our medical services. It’s one thing to have the vaccine and mild symptoms, but there are those that are having larger reactions and stuffing hospitals. There are more than a few now that have all but shut down and diverted patients to other provinces. Shutting down just before the holidays and some semblance of finally normal really, really sucks. Our city hasn’t yet locked down, but quite a few sister cities have. It’s now a matter of time/luck.

And to top it off, my gaming laptop fell yesterday. The charging port wasn’t working and the screen bezel had detached, meaning the hinges were breaking the case. I’ve still got my PC building gear here and I was able to get both “fixed” with some special glue. I’m conscious how much of an outlet my gaming is, so having that put aside for any period of time isn’t so pleasant a thought. Did I mention that FF14 queue times are still in the 6000+ range? Oh, they are also dropping slower now too. Thanks to supply chain issues (and primarily crypto miners), that issue is not going to get solved anytime soon.

So backlog it is, and the upcoming holiday game sale. I’ll likely pick up another gaming laptop too, they are cheaper than an after-market 3060 up here. Think about that for a minute.