If you need me, I’ll be exporting all of my anxiety directly to Murderbot.

Murderbot, you have done it again! You have ignored the order of my TBR pile, but you have also served as much-needed distraction.

I had a VERY important event scheduled for this afternoon, and had made the arrangements for this to happen weeks ago, but as of 9AM today I had yet to hear back from the group running this event. This waiting translated into heart-pumping, sweat-pouring STRESS that has kept my edgy and more-or-less constantly awake since….Friday, maybe? Happy New Year! This event was hard to schedule, required the participation of seven other people depending on me for information, and involves very strict certification needs. FUN TIMES! Emails went unanswered, phone calls went to voicemail, and my sanity drained at an alarming rate.

What could I do while attempting to stave off panic? Channel all of my worries into Murderbot, of course! I immediately threw my plans of “pacing myself” away and let the dulcet tones of Kevin R. Free as Murderbot take on the worries of the world on my behalf. Also, I like to picture that the audio performer, Kevin R. Free, is a collective of Kevins that it is also possibly a robot, and when they sign off at the end of the book they are letting me know that “Kevin Are Free”…but hey, that’s just me.

Murderbot and their continuing adventures kept me from devolving into a mass of quivering jelly, and for that I am eternally grateful.

GOOD NEWS: I heard back from the group at 9:30 this morning, the event went as planned, and I am currently slipping into sleepydom as the adreneline continues to slowly recede from my blood.

GREAT NEWS: I really enjoyed this entry into the diaries of Murderbot! In the last adventure, Murderbot was working hard to be a robot who could human, but this time tables were turned as- in order to help their original human crew- Murderbot needed to be a robot being a human being a robot. LAYERS! Murderbot also got to learn more about relationships by struggling to understand a “pet bot” and their relationship with “their” human- as well as the human to the “pet”, and the “pet” to Murderbot themselves.

Murderbot is learning the weight of care. Responsibility comes before want, and sometimes, we all have to put our needs aside to care for those around us…but really, who doesn’t want to be in their own private refuge watching space soap operas all day?