I am currently buried under a mountain of blankets, completely burnt out, and I caught a terrible cold. The transition from January into February decided to pack an entire year's worth of chaos into just a few weeks, and my social battery is in the negatives.
It all started with that massive winter storm at the end of January. We got an actual freeze and snow here in Lenoir, which looked beautiful through the window, but the ice completely ruined my plans to see the Ghost Skeletour in Charlotte on the 25th. They ended up having to cancel it entirely and I was refunded. Suffice to say my friend Jenny & I were crushed, but it gave me an excuse to stay inside and embrace my inner hermit. We got our gas logs working so we could enjoy the fireplaces.

Then, on February 10th, my sister, Meg, Jenny, and I dragged ourselves back down to Charlotte for the NIN Peel it Back tour. Screaming along to those tracks was pure nostalgia, even if standing in a massive crowd for hours reminded me that my energy has limits. It was amazing, but exhausting. How does Trent Reznor still do it?

To finish off the madness, I spent Valentine’s Day weekend back in Charlotte AGAIN, wandering the 2026 Oddities and Curiosities Expo at the Convention Center. It was a goth girl's dream! Skulls, taxidermy, dark art, and so much maximalist decor inspiration for the house... It was definitely the perfect weird little date.

The exhaustion has completely caught up with me. I’m officially checking out for a while to recover. Stay weird.