25 Things That Got Me Through 2024

Well…with every year that passes in the 2020’s, I’m doing fewer and fewer activities, whether it’s creative passions or media engagement. That’s the nature of mental illness in a stressful decade that wouldn’t let up. I’ve described myself as having “negative spoons”, or less energy than a neurotypical person would ordinarily have. August was my favorite month of this fucked up year, because that’s when I’ve completely cut the cord on doom-scrolling and consuming rage-bait. Now that it’s September, I’m all out of mental energy again, because I spent all my spoons in one place. I know 2024 is far from over, but these 25 things have gotten me through it all. There might be more list items between now and January, but this is what I’ve got so far:

1. Adopting Mac & Molli (senior kitties)

2. Booker T’s WCW theme music

3. Brandon Sanderson: “Elantris” (not finished yet)

4. Creative writing (poetry, novelettes, and shower thoughts)

5. Cutting the cord on doom-scrolling

6. Dark Side of the Ring: Season Five (not finished yet)

7. Drowning Pool: “Tearing Away” (single)

8. Fatal Fury arcade soundtrack

9. Final Fight 2 soundtrack: “Bears Are Hiding in the Woods” (Japan theme)

10. Fire From the Gods: “American Sun”

11. Fire From the Gods: “Soul Revolution”

12. Latuda instead of Risperidone

13. Legacy.com’s You Tube channel

14. Lego dragon

15. Mac Lethal: “Tom MacDonald Is a Nazi” (single)

16. Marty Robbins: “Love Is Blue” (cover song)

17. Melatonin

18. Mother Mother: “It’s Alright” (single)

19. Nightcore and Daycore remixes

20. Silent Season: “Hopeless” (single)

21. Summer Farrelly (they/them)

22. The Neurodivergent Rebel a.k.a. Lyric Rivera (they/them)

23. The Punk Rock Autistic a.k.a. Dani Noreen (they/them)

24. The Speech Prof a.k.a. Professor Chesko

25. The Warning: “Breathe” (single)

March Was the Drizzling Shits

…Alright, look…I’m not going to bullshit you guys. The month of March in 2024 has been absolute dogshit for me. I’m grateful to get off of Risperidone, but there’s a price to pay for doing that. I thought I’d been over the worst of it when I stopped sweating profusely and when I wasn’t boiling hot all the time. But there’s another side effect that I’m still dealing with today that I don’t talk about very often. I don’t talk about it because it’s a creepy subject. Ever since I got off Risperidone, I’ve been incredibly horny 24/7. I’ve been living in my own head thinking about these elaborate sexual and romantic fantasies while being completely disconnected from the real world. Anytime I’ve had to step outside my own “heaven” as I call it, I’ve been cranky and irritable, even if I’m doing something that’ll benefit my family like doing laundry or going grocery shopping. I was shopping at Safeway one time and I was getting frustrated that I couldn’t go home to my room and…take care of business. But “taking care of business” only keeps the horniness at bay for a short period of time. And then I’m banging on “heaven’s gates” wanting to be let back in. This has been my entire March in 2024. Three poems and a stream-of-consciousness essay came out of it, sure, but not much else beyond that. I haven’t cracked open “Elantris” since early February. I haven’t written a chapter of Rainbow Ranch since January. I haven’t written a chapter of Beautiful Monster since last year. Last! Year! I haven’t drawn a picture since February. Everything is piling up while I’m trapped in my own fucking head. Take it from me: being horny all the time isn’t the kind of fun that most incels and alpha males would make it out to be. It sucks. It absolutely fucking sucks. How much longer do I have to wait for my brain to recalibrate? Patience is not one of my virtues, in case it wasn’t abundantly clear. So if you ask me what my plans are for the day, I’ve got none. My schedule is clear, but my head is not. I’m counting down the days when this bullshit will end. Thanks for listening to me for a while. Sorry if me talking about sex makes you feel uncomfortable.