Feb 26, 2026: tip of the spear

When I sat down 17 minutes ago to start today's chronicle, this post was already on its second title, I was distracted, stood up, and ended up in a flow state - pacing the entire time. That flow state lasted roughly 3.6 minutes and resulted in me pulling out my work notebook to write this down:

Earlier today, I found out that the all day meeting on the books for Monday has just ratched up several levels. It turns out that I'm in charge of moderating and leading the business capabilities portion of the proceeds. I literally just showed up, like, yesterday. How am I running anything? It makes me want to throw up.

SICK. TO. MY. STOMACH.

Where do you start inside a project valued in words that start with a giant capital B? Well, first you start to pace your man cave, write down a few words, and let your narrative begin to emerge......

After I heard anxiety-filled-crippling news that I was going to have to have my shit together on Monday, and before I found a Moment of Zen, I finished cleaning up my man cave workspace. I found the work notebook of my last master, eh, employer:

I swear on Big Baby Jesus' life that I opened it to this page:

On Valentine's Day 2024 (shout out to amber), I met with my boss and told him exactly what I wrote down here:

Those words, word 4 word. I followed that up letting him know that if I had to follow the lead of the exectives in his leadership room to gain a seat at his table, I wasn't sure if I would be there much longer. Keith doesn't have a James problem, James has a James problem.

The last time I walked into that building 169 days later, I told him that I bet he didn't remember me saying it, and that unfortunately for him I meant what I said. As out of the blue as my exit was, I always shot him straight, and frankly, I only have fond memories of him personally. I wouldn't be where I am today without him.

That's a true story.

I also had some fun with a few additional discoveries within the mound of junk that had accumulated. Turns out, when you aqcuire so much cheap crap, you forget about it after awhile, and then when you find it again, it's like second fun szn!

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Shout out to eeeeeeeemma for the box of lady cards, and to nikkigirl for the mega. Each hooked me up at xmas, and I have a rule that I only open the second box of something that I acquire. Because I didn't have unopened versions of either, they get put away......perhaps forever. My don't rip everything willpower is a bit of an outlier in The Hobby. I currently have 132 unopened items logged.

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Shout out to nikkigirl again, this time for finding these oversized Hoops cards from the early 90's at a vintage shop in Minnesota. She knows the keys to my ❤️.

Now, while both of these fellas are kinda problematic for different reasons, I love them all the same. These one's are all my fault.

Shout out to me.

I couldn't leave without letting you know the first two names of today's post.

I was going to weave a positive narrative based on this jam, but that didn't quite work out. They don't make 'em like this anymore.

Next item up for bid? I was going to weave a narrative around living life as if it's now or never, but alas.

Let's let Dice Raw take us away: