2026-02-01 Hell Frozen Over
Wow 2026 has been a mess so far, not just personally, but in my local community as well as globally. As they say, when it rains, it pours. I work as a video editor and my current project is an 8 episode show that had a very tight turnaround. It was supposed to be due by January 1st, but as I was waiting on feedback from others, that date got pushed back. Unfortunately, my body didn't get the memo that it could relax for a bit, so on the first day of the new year, I discovered stress-induced shingles all across my torso. This put me out of commission for a couple weeks.
In the background, there were a few more things creeping up. Late last year, I decided I needed to get my wisdom teeth removed so that was scheduled for January. I also decided I would participate in WeeklyBeats 2026 where I try to make a full song ever week of 2026. I also had a strong urge to show up with my community in the midwest to help develop alternative power structures for community action. We're at the frontlines against the effects of the imperialist boomerang and it is our duty to protect ourselves and our neighbors (not to say that this is a new thing since it's been happening to our neighbors for years if not decades if not centuries in one form or another). But that's a topic to be discussed at length later.
January is finally over. The show has been burned to Blu-Ray disks and is in the mail to the producers. My Shingles are almost entirely healed. My wisdom teeth are still healing, but at least I don't have headaches every day any more from teeth that needed to be removed. I successfully completed WeeklyBeats 2026#Week 5 after a few hours of work. I've been to a few protests and I'm helping the local community group with setting up a more secure and anonymous communication system, which is about the best I can under my current situation. There have been a bunch of events I haven't been able to attend, but I intend to make up for it when I start feeling better.
Anyway, let's hope that February is less busy. I don't expect the situation with masked federal agents to be any better, but I don't intend to pretend that ignoring it makes it go away.