My last post here was six months after the previous one. This time, it’s been a mere 11 days. Progress! There’s even a chance that the time between this and the next post could be even shorter. However, still using bullet points for this one.

• At the beginning of last month, I decided to watch the entire run of MST3K in order, starting with the first episode that aired on Comedy Channel in 1989. At no time ever have I ever done anything like this with the series. In fact, it wasn’t until this past November that I could say with true certainly that I had actually watched every episode that ever aired. Over the years, I’ve read various statements from those who worked on that first season about how they viewed those 13 episodes as collectively being of subpar quality. Five episodes in, it truly feels that way. They were still clearly trying to find their stride that year, and thus far, this rewatch has been more slog than enjoyable. Thankfully, there are a couple bright spots coming very soon. That season also happens to contain a couple of my all-time favorites: Robot Holocaust and Untamed Youth. After checking the episode order, it came as no surprise that they were amongst the last ones made that year.
• Four weeks into 2024, and pleased to note that the motivation to take proper care of myself continues unabated. Thus far, the weight has fallen at the expected pace (determined by having ridden the weight loss/regain roller coaster uncounted times,) which certainly helps to keep the motivation where it was on New Year’s Day. There’s actually a good chance that by my birthday the weight will be down where to it needs to be in order to make the sciatica issues go away.
• Speaking of that pain in the ass (as well as in the lower back and on upper part of my left leg,) if any of that desire to take the excess weight off and keep it off for good had started to wane, yesterday certainly would’ve brought the determination back to full strength. We spent most of the afternoon in downtown Frederick, doing the kinds of things that always cause the sciatica to flare up, which it very noticeably did. This is a serious quality of life issue for me. Yet, as much I hate dealing with that, the hypertension and cholesterol issues are far greater concerns. Even though neither produce any kind of discernible pain and discomfort and are both kept in check, they are both actually more dangerous as I continue to age.
• On Facebook a few weeks ago, I posted photos of my most recent denim jacket creation. This makes a dozen jackets in the collection, and it won’t be the last. An additional unadorned white denim jacket is hanging next to the others until making the final decision regarding which color to dye it. In addition, have plenty of pins, patches, Star Trek deltas, and tie clips still to be applied. Amazingly, each of the existing jackets remains relatively unique. Without taking the time to look carefully, the number of patches, pins, etc. appearing on more than one jacket is absolutely no more than 10, and may even be fewer than five. In addition, aside from two black jackets, each one is a unique color as well. (The only reason I repeated black is that one of the two is a special Harry Potter themed jacket.) It actually kind of boggles my mind that I have done all this over the last several years.