saw a bunny in the yard tonight
Don't have a digital camera or a smartphone, and it was dark out anyway. It saw me before I saw it and took off running a few meters away, then seemed to realize I didn't mean it any harm and just sat in the neighbor's grass watching me walk up our front lawn and onto the porch. It was still there when I reached the porch and lost line of sight going behind a shrub.
Living in the part of town that I live in, I don't see a lot of wild life. There are birds and small rodents and snakes, but I can't remember the last time I saw a deer, or a fox, or any of the other animals that I would tend to see in yards when I was living in western New York.
That bunny was like a reminder that there's an entire world I'm not able to see because of how small my own world actually is. I would say 99.99% of my days, I don't stray far from my bedroom. If I do, it's to go to the kitchen or the bathroom. Once a day, I leave the house to go to the corner store and pick up seltzer and other provisions. Two or three times a year my sister's family has a big gathering that I'm invited to.1
If I were to only go to the store once a week to stock up on provisions, I would never leave the house. This is like a hermit tax. It costs me more money to go every single day, but it means that I'm getting physical activity and the possibility of human interaction with another person in the store.
In other news, I made progress in the Main Scenario Quest in Final Fantasy XIV; I'm about 90% of the way done with the post-Heavensward patches, and I don't know if I'll be able to finish it tonight, but I'm going to make an attempt. I've also started a new farm in Stardew Valley; I'm trying to speedrun marrying Sebastian, which means I have to befriend Linus to get the Sashimi recipe. It's pretty slow going. I'm only about midway through Spring 1 and haven't managed to get my first heart with Linus yet.
And finally, I started reading The Velvet Rage by Alan Downs. Have been avoiding thinking about what impact hiding my identity my entire life has had on my psyche, so I'm thinking this is going to be 250 pages of me getting read to filth.
Now that the trigeminal neuralgia is under control I'm less likely to decline invitations to social events. When I'm unable to eat, talk, laugh, or otherwise enjoy myself because of pain in my face, social functions are a special kind of Hell.↩