It was painful but undeniable: extensive testing established that my PS4 has bought the farm. The sudden, expected loss of a loved one is a tragedy that has broken lesser men, but I carried on.

Luckily, I was able to purchase a PS5 a couple days later on Amazon for only 180% of the suggested retail price, but when a challenge to the stability of all that is right and good arises, a man does what a man has to do.

I got it in today, and I’ve got numerous hours of downloading yet before me to put things to rights.

The destruction of my plot troubled me for much of the week, even as the gift of writing flowed upon me; I was able to cobble together the broken bits of plot and stay a half-chapter ahead of my writing until the weekend, when a long session of mowing \allowed me to put the plot back together.

Right now the project stands at 30,000 words, and hope is born anew.