Nothing worth having comes easy

We've started working on the garden, which I might have mentioned. I put in a seed order with Southern Exposure just now, including potatoes. I've found planting bags that the potatoes will go in, since we have wireworms. I'll need to pick up bags of soil when I go out again at Home Depot, which I blanked on and referred to as the Dirt Store. Which is where the Dirt Man gets some of his dirt, I assume, I don't know as I am not a guy.

Since we have four raised beds I'm not trying to grow everything all at once. I've limited this year's planting to paste tomatoes, basil, black beans, summer squash, and a kind of hot-climate spinach for stir fry greens. I also plan to get some pollinator-friendly flowers to put around in containers. The lantana died back hard with the freezes but just yesterday I saw it peeking back up, so I'll just want to severely cut back the dead stuff and keep it clear so that the flowers can return. I'll also have Mexican oregano in a pot, flat leaf parsley, and catnip.

I've also started practicing some offline hobbies. It's been good for my mental health, honestly, so you haven't seen me online much. Besides writing, I started wondering about using Blender and/or sets of low polygon game assets to build digital art. I can also photograph some of the shrine objects I still own. I haven't made a move on this one yet and I'm still just watching Blender tutorials and shopping asset packs. Just an idea at the moment.

I got out my contact juggling ball and dusted it off. I have a big red rubber ball filled with a sort of silicone oil stuff that deadens the bounce and makes the ball very bottom-heavy and stable, so it's a good practice ball. I actually kind of remember some of the tricks! I grabbed a couple of lacrosse balls and a set of baoding balls that Kitty had. (She said they belonged to her grandfather, and they're a very pretty set, with enameled bats and what looks like a double happiness symbol) All this can improve hand strength, coordination, dexterity, and it looks cool.

And finally I actually did it. I bought a ukulele. It'll be here from Kala Music on Thursday. I know it sounds random, but I have literally for my entire life wanted to play music, but I did so poorly in band and in classes that I assumed my brain was too broken to do it. But then I wondered what I could learn if I just did it on my own. No teacher pushing me or criticizing, no parents laughing at me, no pressure to perform for anyone. I already started a self-paced course in sight reading, which was always one of my weakest areas.

If I really wanted to make a nuisance of myself, I could buy a set of bagpipes and learn that. Honestly when I lived in my apartment in Houma I should have started. Neighbors are going to keep me up at night fighting and shit? Fine, see how y'all like Bagpipe Time. You're going to blast gangster rap, I'm going to play a musical instrument that sounds like someone fighting off wolves with a Shop Vac.

So that's what I've been doing.