February Recap (2025)

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN: February 2025

NOTES: This is something new I wanted to try, and I did skip January since I genuinely cannot remember what happened when, but I thought it would be fun to attempt doing a sort of... end of the month recap to talk about what's what and who's who.

So what happened with Jason (me) this month?

This was my first full month working the job I secured at the end of January, and it's been an interesting experience! The hardest part, and this has always been an issue with me, is prioritizing things outside of work. I have a tendency to become a workaholic, and as with many cases yes, it does stem from a need to feel productive and prove my worth to those around me. Thank you for asking.

I've also been volunteering, which is really meaningful to me. I won't mention the organization solely because I'm with them under my legal name, but they do a lot of important work for the trans community and being able to help them get news out there has meant a lot. It's rough work, but it's work that needs to be done. This doesn't stem from any underlying trauma, I just want to do something good and I am.

Jumping into medical news: as of writing this, I'm nearly two weeks on Opill (birth control) and the changes have been nothing but positive. My sleep quality is better (waking up refreshed; not waking up during the night as much), I feel more mentally present, and I have energy. I don't know if I've skipped my period this month because of the birth control, but I'm personally leaning more toward the fact that stress and pre-existing conditions (undiagnosed; family history) have made it so skips are fairly normal. Beyond that, I think the only change I haven't enjoyed so far is the gut health changes. Not because they aren't positive, but because my god the bloat hits.

Similarly, I have learned that Lupus runs in my family and a significant amount of people have been diagnosed with it. Considering my immune issues, even counting prior to my first and most brutal Covid-19 infection that has left me with Long Covid, and how they've worsened as I got older... it's definitely a diagnosis I will be asking about in the future. But at least I have a potential explanation for why I nearly had an anaphalactic reaction to peanut butter when I have literally never had a peanut issue in my life.

Beyond that, my hobbies have been going! I haven't been writing as much, but I've been really enjoying daily binges of Animal Crossing. I've made some gif sets, found myself gaming more, and have just felt good about a lot of things. Dungeons and Dragons with my group has been a blast, too! I've been playing in two long-term campaigns, and I've been DM'ing my own with my brother and partner as my players. It's a custom-written one, and it's been hysterical. My partner is playing a really investigative character who takes their time interrogating NPCs, and my brother... Well, he's there. He broke a guy's leg by rolling a crit hit to just casually kick him.

Which, speaking of: my brother's birthday is soon, and so is mine! I got him an early gift (Alan Wake 2), and we've been hanging out a lot between his schooling and my work. I initially wanted to get him some official Godzilla merch, but the shipping dates wouldn't work out. As for myself... I'm not sure what I want to splurge on. I have a few artist friends I might reach out to for a commission, though! Just need to check if their slots are still open. I do get paid one last time before my birthday, too, and I might splurge on a tablet so I can do digital art again. There's a nice Samsung one that's.. pricey, but I should be able to cover it and keep my account balance to where I don't have to pay service fees. I also also have to get my ID updated, but I don't think I can go to the DMV so I will be stuck with a picture I took when I was 16. Whoops.

Other than that, I just exist... and for once, I think I'm happy about that. See y'all next month!