The problem affecting my PC hasn't stopped. Some process is keeping the OS drive completely busy, but isn't actually doing much with it. It was intermittent the last few days but at this point I can't get the thing to boot anymore (won't display the desktop), so it's going to be out of commision for a bit.
In the meantime I suppose I'll need to something for mastodon on my phone (suggestions welcome) and might do some drawing since I probably have less distraction.