Farewell Fuckyourary…

(Disclaimer: this one is more autobiographical and personal than the typical post here. If you’re here for the technical stuff, or even the cooking posts, it’s okay to nope out of this one. <3 )

Earlier this month, I tooted this out:

Read on for more about why this month sucked just a little bit more than usual

February is maybe the worst of all the months, in a typical year. Winter starts to feel like that last guest at a party that will just not shut up and go the fuck home so that you can clean up and go to sleep. The short days start to get longer, but so slowly. And, at least around here, it usually gets just a little bit colder, a little bit wetter, and is just all around miserable.

This year in particular, for my friend group, has been extra miserable. At least one friend has a new cancer diagnosis. At least one friend was unexpectedly laid off. At least one friend got a good performance review but a 0% raise because insert bullshit reasons here. For my tribe, it has been an extra shitty month.

It hasn’t been any different here at Chez Genehack. We’ve had some minor family illnesses. Our drip coffee maker broke and had to be replaced. And, February 10th, when Mr17 and TheWife went up to Timberline for a day of skiing, TheWife had a bit of a spill and ended up completely fucking up her knee. It took almost a week and a half, but we’ve learned she has an almost complete ACL tear, as well as some damage to the MCL and TCL. She’s in a knee immobilizer, on crutches, and generally not having the best month.

That was, overall, maybe only the second most consequential thing that happened in Fuckyourary. The other one was me giving notice at my current job (after about 3.5 years). There was a “last straw” moment that precipitated my decision to finally throw in the towel, but that came on top of a pile of other straws that have accumulated over the last year or so, and, honestly, as I gain distance from that moment, the particulars of what pushed me over the edge start to matter less than the fact that I was really close to that edge for a really long time.

My last day is March 15th, and I’ve got an “11” scrawled in the corner of my office whiteboard to remind me how many working days I have left before I’m done. I’m gonna miss many of the people, some of the work, and exactly none of the stress and long hours. I will continue to follow the company, and I wish the organization and all the people involved nothing but the best — I continue to think they’re going to accomplish amazing things.

What’s next? I didn’t exactly have anything lined up when I gave notice, but I’m fortunate in that I had had some conversations a while back, that I was able to revive, so there is something on the horizon — but it’s not starting until the end of April. I’m going to enjoy the longest break I’ve ever had, maybe? Certainly the longest since finishing gradual school, which means the longest one this century. I’m looking forward to catching up on a massive reading backlog, doing a lot of nonsense in the yard, Marie Kondo-ing the hell out of my office and substantial parts of the house, and maybe doing some recreational coding — who knows, maybe I’ll start blogging regularly again! More about the new thing once it’s closer, once we’re all a little further away from Fuckyourary.

There are some signs of light at the end of the Fuckyourary tunnel: the ortho we talked to thinks TheWife will probably not need surgery for her knee. The family illnesses have passed, and we got a new coffee maker. As I mentioned above, I have a “next thing” lined up. Our chickens, who quit laying over the winter, have started to produce eggs again — meaning spring is coming! Fuckyourary is over as of tomorrow, and not a moment too soon.