I don't make a lot of journals, because I honestly don't think too many really care about my thoughts or life. Not a woe-is-me thing, it's just that I'm not famous or influential, I'm just another guy. Why would most people care? But I also know "not too many" isn't the same as "nobody," and my last entry was seven months ago. Quite a bit has happened since then.

First, the biggie: my mother's cancer is gone. She underwent radiation therapy (not chemotherapy) and they think they got it all. They're going to keep an eye on her to make sure, though, since they're still uncertain where it originated. But signs are good. My mom didn't like the experience very much, mostly because it killed her sense of taste. I'm not sure if that's due to the therapy or because the cancer was in her throat, but starting in April or so she's been unable to taste anything. Now that the cancer is gone and treatment's stopped it's starting to return, but it's not at 100% yet. More like 20%, at present.

Cathy and I take a real-life vacation together each year, each in a different place. This year, it was Hawaii. We had a great time, but had a snafu regarding the house we rented in Volcano, a neighborhood near the entrance to Volcanoes National Park on the big island. Namely, the reservation instructions never mentioned that we had to check in by 6 pm, and we arrived there at 8:30 or so. So there was nobody to let us in or give us the code. After a bunch of calling around we basically had to give up on it, and instead had to decide whether to go 45 minutes back to Hilo and find a cheap motel, or go 10 minutes away and get a room at Volcano House within the park itself. We went with Volcano House, and didn't regret it. Well, Cathy might have, as it was kinda chilly at the summit and the place, being (re)built in the 1940s didn't have air conditioning or even heat in the rooms. But waking up to a view of Kilauea was pretty awesome. And when we transferred to Kona, on the west coast, the resort gave us an upgrade to our room for some reason, giving us a spectacular ocean view from the enormous wraparound balcony on our corner room. We also saw the sun's green flash during the luau we attended the first night there. Great trip.

My job site has officially closed. It wasn't a surprise; the place was slowly bleeding people out even before Covid, and when the pandemic hit nearly everyone left went WFH. Even when restrictions were lifted, most people didn't come back, and the building's been nearly empty except for the labs for years. It was announced as imminent just about the time I wrote the last journals. I didn't include it in the bad news then because I knew I wasn't going to be fired, just transferred to a different site. But I've been working there for mumblemumble years, and was really worried about where that new site would be. And what hours I'd be working; I'd gotten quite fond of my schedule. Well, turns out I was transferred to the new site. The labs weren't shut down, just moved, and so they'd still need guards. So all the guards at the old place now work at the new one, with the same hours. That's the good news. The bad news is that it's for the same pay, and the place is even further away from my home than the old place was. So my commute just went up by about 30%.

The fun thing (that's sarcasm) about that was the transfer itself. After literally months of asking whether I and the other guards would be transferred to the new site and being told, "Yeah, probably, that'd be the logical thing but we don't have word," we finally got word. At the end of August I was finally told, "You will indeed be going to the new place, and you'll start on September 24th." Hooray! I can actually start planning! Now, you might have noticed that I said the site officially closed - past tense. You might also have noticed that the 24th hasn't actually come around yet. So what happened was that on the 3rd - Tuesday last week - the janitor at the old site mentioned that the mechanical guy at the new site was griping about having to stay late to train me that Thursday. Which was rather puzzling, since last I knew I was still going to be at the old place for another 3 weeks or so. So on Wednesday I made some calls to my boss, and found out, oh yeah. I start Thursday. Tomorrow, at that point. How very nice of them to tell me, huh? Good thing it got back to be through the janitor, huh? Sheesh.

But I'm settled in now. The commute is bad but not as bad as I'd feared, and the site itself is fine. My boss said he's trying to get us a pay bump, but I don't know if that's true or just a platitude. I guess we'll see in time.

And lastly, my brother was indeed laid off. Same day that I started my new site, in fact. He's not happy about having to go job hunting, but he was pretty much expecting it. Hopefully he finds something soon.

And there you go. Quick summary of my life's big happenings since February.