You made it and that is worthy of a high five and a pat on the back. Well done! And it is candy and cookie season and if you had that for breakfast, I am sure as hell not gonna judge you for that.

And here is a Jorge in the (not really) FORBIDDEN ROOM to celebrate the end of the week!

We still have roughly 9 hours to avert a government shutdown here in the US – we’ll see what happens there. If the R’s can come up with a CR that isn’t complete shit and doesn’t cut things like CHILDHOOD CANCER RESEARCH, I’m OK with the Dems going along with it. But I see no need for Democrats to help the Republicans out of their devils deal with Trump and Musk – the R’s have enough votes on their own, if they can’t get it done, that is on the Republicans, no matter how many times they try to say otherwise.

If we shut down because at least some Republicans don’t want to kiss Elon’s unelected ring – fine. We just need everyone to understand – THIS IS NOT A DEM SHUTDOWN. And I am totally confident that the media will report it as such. HAHAHAHAHA.

I swear, if I had to go back and try to explain all this to a younger me, I think younger me would say, “Are you high?” and I’d have to be honest and say “Well, weed is legal in Virginia and I did have an edible last night, but it isn’t so much a “high” as a very slow acting imperial stout, and I took it like about 15 hours ago, so it’s all done by now, and yes, it’s ALL THAT FUCKED UP AND WEIRD WHICH IS WHY I GOT THE EDIBLES.”

Yes, I did finally try the edibles last night – since I don’t have anything on my plate today, it seemed a good low stakes window to give them a whirl in case I had an unpleasant reaction*. I have 5mg dark chocolate (cause I hate gummy anything) and while there was a slight weedy undertaste, they’re like, 2 bites, so that doesn’t even last. If there was any “high”, I slept through it, LOL. I did feel a little calmer, but the biggest thing I noticed was somewhere between the 1 and 2 hour point that my jacked up arm and shoulder wasn’t hurting at all. (The 2 hour mark was when I said, “I am pleasantly tired, I am going to bed.”)

And the thing is, I know what I’ve needed is just a damn muscle relaxant to keep my arm/shoulder from being too tense to heal up, but I also know that walking into a medical facility and asking for a muscle relaxant will get you major drug-seeking side-eye. Why it did not occur to me that the THC in marijuana can act as a muscle relaxant is beyond me, especially when I know so many people that use it for pain management. Even today, my arm is still feeling pretty good, probably cause I wasn’t unconsciously tensing it up all night in my sleep.

So yeah, 2 thumbs up on the edibles, and I think my timing of “take 12 hours before you need to be functional” is good – I slept well, no weird aftereffects this morning when I got up, and my resting heart rate overnight was as low as it has been in a month. As someone brought up with Nancy Reagan screaming “Just say no!” – it’s still really weird to me that this is all legal now.

Christmas prep continues, and the only thing left to do outside the house is getting a danish for Christmas Day. One item has had a shipping delay, so I checked online to see if it is available in a brick & mortar shop, but no, so my brother may be getting a New Year’s Eve gift. Inside the house, it’s just doing a clear up in the living room, and wrapping presents. Feeling ridiculously ahead of things this year – which is good, cause like everyone else, I could use something to feel good about.

Enjoy the rest of your day, have a great weekend, and if you’re celebrating next week – have a great time!

* I was once given some kind of anti-anxiety med before a sedation dental procedure. It was supposed to make me calm & relaxed, but it made me angry & paranoid and I almost punched a dental tech – so I’m very wary of anything that supposedly is calming.