May 21 Check In

Hello all! I have been away for some time, but longtime readers know that I’m always on the comeback.

Today we’ll be getting caught up on the latest in McLepke Land. Get comfy! And as always thank you again for joining me here.

The Re-Introduction of Pot

One of the big changes in my life recently is re-working my relationship with pot. Longtime readers know that drug management is something we discuss here, and that pot and processed food tend to be the two main characters of that story.

The journey to date has essentially been that I burned out on pot usage in late 2024, and went almost all of 2025 without using pot at all. Let’s call it 11 months sober. For the month of April 2026, I used pot for the month. This month of April was essentially a greatly accelerated trip through my own past. Over the course of a month, I watched pot go from totally revolutionary (when my tolerance was still at 0), to mundane and unappealing (when my tolerance was back up near 100).

This is the slippery slope you choose to try and get your footing on when you get back into an addictive drug like pot. But, whether I like it or not, there was a lot of net benefit to my life following my reintroduction of pot. I’ve been happier. I feel like my life is more diverse and complete with pot in my orbit.

The issue of course is not smoking pot to the point of it losing all value. Now in my late 30s, this doesn’t take very long to do. The hard part about not smoking SO much pot that it loses all value is fairly self explanatory - I’m an addict.

Enter the KSafe. Extremely long time readers of the blog MAY remember the KSafe. I’m not entirely sure that I wrote about the KSafe a few years ago, but I did use it for a pretty long time, so I’m guessing I did. Here’s the site if you’ve never seen it:

https://www.thekitchensafe.com/

It’s a beautifully simple device. The top has two little tabs that extend and retract electronically based on a timer you set. So if I put all the pot in the KSafe and set the timer for 5 hours, the pot gets locked in the safe for 5 hours. The safe is pretty dang hard to break into, as well. You’d need to get some power tools involved to break in.

15 days ago (May 7) I started using the KSafe with the intention of trying to keep pot in my life, but to reduce my intake to the point that it would still provide a benefit. At first I was smoking pot in the morning and then locking the pot up until later in the day so I could have this forced sober window during the day. Then I gradually started making that window longer and longer. By May 15 the pot was locked up pretty much the entire day - I was smoking pot at around 8am, and then keeping the pot locked until 8pm. As I start doing this, I notice that when I finally DO get to smoke pot at night, it actually is getting a lot more fun.

On May 16 (6 days ago), I made the jump and started removing the morning pot usage. So now I’ve been locking the pot up before I go to bed at night, and then it stays locked until 5pm the next day. I’m settling into this new schedule fairly well. Based on my purchasing data, I’d say my pot intake is down around 40% since relative to the time period before the introduction of the safe.

SO! That’s where pot is right now. I’m happy with it for the time being. If I need to reassess this again in a month or two, that’s fine with me.

Staying off Processed Food | GYM

Prior to my leave of absence from this blog, we were getting into a decent spot with processed food. I was basically sitting on one cheat meal of ice cream a week, but otherwise avoiding all processed food. This coincided with our weight ticking down.

Then we hit April. The re-introduction of pot (pre KSafe) coincided with my weight ticking back up.

Then we hit late April / May, where I simultaneously started using the KSafe, eliminating my one cheat meal a week, and also started taking workout classes at an establishment near my house called GYM (Get Yourself Moving).

This new combination of more disciplined and controlled pot use combined with working out and eating healthy has us back on track for Operation 2026 Weight Loss:

Working out at GYM has been a great addition to my life. I’ve been meeting new people, and getting reacquainted with all those great brain chemicals that make you happy when you exercise. For the first four weeks at GYM I went to one class per week, and starting last week I’ve bumped it up to two days a week. At least for now, I picture myself going to GYM on Wednesdays (evening) and Saturdays (morning).

Game Dev? Speedrun?

I’ve been terrible at working on these difficult personal projects lately. I think the dark period we just went through where I wasn’t posting here and was not using the KSafe and was eating poorly simply put me behind the 8 ball for a bit. With the pot safe looking like a tool that is working well, my workout schedule being revitalized, and my diet clicking these past few weeks, I am hopeful that I will be able to put some hours against game dev again.

Speedrunning, not so much. Robbie the speedrunner will be back, but the first thing I need to get working correctly is my game dev work process. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure exactly what my plan is yet…but I tend to go through waves like this. I suffer some sort of breakdown in what I’m doing (this time it was tied to re-introducing pot, and figuring out what that would look like), and then I need to rebuild stable processes before I’m flourishing again. Making this post here is a sign we’re riding the positive side of the wave right now.

The Future

I’m definitely figuring things out a little bit right now, but stay tuned. Until then, I hope everyone is doing great out there. Go forth, I believe in you.