Day 22,130

Evie Day 399

Good morning, and a happy Thursday to you all. Today is 18 April 2024.

First of all, my class is going well. It’s a good group, all Canadian, and they are very pleasant. Good questions, and receptive. They ask very good questions and have embraced some of the things that I have shown them relative to generative AI and good prompt practices.

Now the real point of today’s post. I am thankful.

A few years ago, I used to open the day and post something that I was thankful for on Facebook. No big deal, but after a while, I had an old business associate (that I no longer chat with) mock that practice, as well as another, where I would change my profile pic daily, grabbing some cute or humorous picture of a baby animal or something else in that theme. Of course, the old Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria kicks in, and I bit flip, quit doing anything fun in that vein, and go through a period of just feeling some shame.

I’ve worked through some of that, but I know that condition still hangs out there and has held me back from taking some changes or doing some other things that I would like to do… like maybe playing guitar in public.

I am thankful for those that accept me, warts and all. My wife and family have a choice – Lisa could’ve kicked me to the curb years ago, but she sees something in me that’s good, even salvageable, but like all, I’m flawed. I’m going to be me, and as a dad and husband, I’ll occasionally blurt out something inappropriate. My friends, however, don’t have to put up with me, they simply choose my company.

When the pandemic hit, everything changed. I quit going out for the occasional beer after work. I quit going to the store as much in favor of in-home delivery. I lost touch with a lot of old friends back in my hometown… but I don’t know that I missed out on much.

During the summer of 2020, I started talking with an old training friend about jumping into an online game. Daniel had a group of guys that he had been playing with for years, both in person and online, dating back to their college years back in the 70s. He invited me to join, and although I didn’t pull the trigger immediately, I see that I bought the “ultimate” version of the virtual tabletop software in January of 2021.

I want to express my gratitude to that bunch of guys. Some of them read my blog post and give me feedback and support. In game, we always have a good time. Schedules and technology don’t always cooperate, but we still find some time most weeks to get together for a few hours on Wednesday and Sunday to roll virtual dice and make some fantastic world safe for good folks of the realm. Thank you, Daniel, Greg, Ron, CB, Matt, George, Rick, and our newest member of the group, Tony. I appreciate ya.

That’s enough. Time for me to start thinking about the day ahead, starting with coffee and a bagel.

I hope the world is treating you better than you deserve.

Peace y’all.