Y13 D66

 Today is finally here! I go in for my hair mold appointment today! Soon I will have hair!! WOO!

Watched both parts of The Long Halloween last night. Really fucking good. Like wow good.

Recorded more stuff. Made lamb burgers for dinner.

Y13 D65

Friday. End of the working week. For two whole days because you know, capitalism. Woo. Good times.

B made japanese curry for dinner last night. Quite tasty. Felt like I was in a pokemon movie.

We binged watched the boys and finished season 1. Damn good show.

I recorded all day. Got through 7 out of 11 modules.

Heading to the grocery store shortly. 

My life in a nutshell. 

Y13 D64

 What day is it? Thursday I think? This really has been one of those weeks where I am sincerely confused as to what day it is. My life in a nutshell. I worked on tests, recordings, and learning Python yesterday. Time just kind of moved. Our friend came over and I replaced the mirror on his car. We ate random food for dinner as B had a migraine. Then we watched The Boys together. We watched like three episodes in a row. Doesn't sound like a lot, but they're 1 hour long episodes. 

More of the same today. 

Y13 D63

I passed one of four tests yesterday even with my coworker working along side me. They too ended up failing two more test later in the day. But I now have one of my certifications complete. Yay me. That was the majority of my day. Studying and taking these damn tests.

Made ribs for dinner. 

Why does this stupid interface some day put in two lines when I hit enter and then other days only one wtf?

Ugh. Anyway, ribs for dinner. After dinner we drove to Troy which was a nightmare because B found on FB Marketplace the desk that matches the dresser in the guest room. We got it for $40 which is amazing. She once found the whole set at an antique store and they wanted $1400. So far we've spent $140 on the dresser and desk. Tall dresser and two night stands left and I am sure we will spend less than $1400. Got it in the truck and back home.

Felt like watching tv last night and finally started The Boys. Got mostly through episode 1 and enjoyed it. 

More of the same today.

Y13 D62

 Yesterday's doctor visit was rough. Very rough. Just a lot of invasive poking and prodding that did a number on B. It was not fun at all. 

Took another test. Failed again. By 1 again. These tests are so poorly written it's not even funny. They just are a mess. I am trying again with my coworker today to collaborate but both of us are struggling. 

Ate whatever yesterday because of doctor's appointment. 

Can you tell I'm just not all here today?

Y13 D61

An uneventful Sunday. Just what was needed. We left the house briefly to go to Home Goods to replace the mirror in the guest room. That was actually a successful trip. We found a new one, got in and out in under 30 minutes. That was our big adventure for the day. B watched the new Space Jam and left a hilarious review on twitter about it. Basically "no space, no jam, no Jordan. Meh.". I knew it was an awful movie but they had to find out on their own. 

Light week again for me. Not too much going on. Try to take more tests, record another class. I don't actually have any teaching until August. Summertime. Is what it is. I still have 120 hours of vacation left if needed. Almost a full month. 

Taking B to doctor today. They are set for a biopsy to make sure the surgery in September is still a go. Yes, she is very nervous and this is going to be a stressful thing. But we will get through it. 5 days until I go in for my hair mold. Woo!

Y13 D60

Yesterday was a really bad day for B which in turn became a bad day for me. Things started out okay. No issues in the morning. We took our time, relaxed, they put away the rest of their stuff from camping, it was all good. Then they went out. Mistake. B went over to her dad's to drop off a present for her sister's birthday which was Friday. She intentionally went when she knew no one would be there so as to avoid what came next. Just as she was leaving her mom showed up to drop the kids off. Her mother immediately had to text her "Why couldn't you have come to MY house to see your sister??". And there it was. That turned into a major text storm between them. I swear, X1 and B's mom were separated at birth. End result, B comes home crying, angry, and needs to punch something so I volunteer. Got a bruise to show my love. More texting, more anger. Fun times. 

I order us dinner from our favorite Italian place to try and make things calmer. This seems to work for a while and all is well. For a while.

But it got worse. Our friend comes over to help us move something and B has to pull her car out of the garage. Not paying attention, she hits his car. Yeah. Nice dent in the door, paint scrape down the side. We then spend the next hour doing what we can to get the dent out, clean up the scratches as much as possible. I order him a replacement side mirror immediately (she didn't knock it off, but did break the mirror itself). He's going to go get some quotes this week to see how much. Sigh. Thanks universe. This of course sent B into a spiral and I had to watch her for a while to make sure all was good. In the end she calmed down, especially after I was able to get the majority of the dent out. Still, not a good day for them.

Me? I was okay. Other than the extreme mental exhaustion from dealing with all of the above. I got something cool - I got my first ever StitchFix order. I've heard a lot of good things about them and decided to try it. I got 5 pieces of clothes and I really liked 3, BUT the price of the 3 versus keeping all 5 was $2 more. See, this is how they get you - if you keep all the pieces you get a significant enough discount that it wasn't worth not keeping all five. No matter what combo I came up with, it was either slightly more or slightly less than if I kept them all. In the end that's what I did. I wouldn't do this on a regular basis, but definitely once a season to get some fill in pieces for the closet. I did all their quizzes and style profile things and I would say the pieces were 100% appropriate for my taste, they all fit well, and nothing was extravagantly priced. As for the service 10/10 but overall, 7/10. Why? Because of price. Again, none of the pieces were crazy, but in the end it came out to about $30 per item. So yeah, cheap enough that I am not stressed, but pricy enough I wouldn't do it every month.

No plans for today thankfully. I need to keep B in the house and away from texting her mother and starting a war. That should be fun. Whee.

Y13 D59

B has returned. Got home around 6pm and then for the next few hours we unpacked the car, put everything away, and they crashed out at 9pm. What a shock. I'm no better, I crashed at 9:45. Look at us old people go!

I spent the day trying to pass a bunch of tests. Came close but didn't. It's because of the wording. They're using specific terms that we don't use. Kind of like taking a DMV test. The material is so specifically worded that you have to basically memorize the book. It doesn't test skill, it tests can you memorize shit. I will try again on Monday but am not looking forward to it.

No big plans for the weekend. We're going to dinner tonight to get out and spend some time, but that's about it.

Y13 D58

I was right yesterday. I have only been using the new servers. Which leaves it a bit of a mystery who brought up the other server in June. Only a handful of us have access to that environment. This is going to be fun figuring out who done it. 

I finished my monster of a class finally yesterday. 14 modules, 40+ demos. That was a beast. Many of the demos had 30-50 steps which meant a lot of editing. Only one class left to record thankfully. But then of course it will only be a matter of time before something else needs updating. Sigh. Also delivered a webinar yesterday. Small one with only 120 people. 

After working I did some cleaning. Not like crazy cleaning. Just enough to make the house look good. B comes home tonight and I want it to be presentable. It wasn't in a horrible state to begin with but I cleaned the toilets, swept the floor, put away all the dishes - stuff that is immediately visible. The house is at that state where I wouldn't mind if someone else came over. That's all I was shooting for with my cleaning. Success. 

Caught up on Owl House. What a cute ass show. I can't wait for new episodes to drop. I am invested in this storyline okay? Leave me be. Let me have something stupid to watch. Plus the kid's doing shirts and I want one. 

Had an issue with the red fridge. I noticed some water by the freezer door. Seems when we moved it we didn't get the top door quite leveled and the freezer was slightly ajar on one corner. I had to take the door off and try and reseat it but can't do that with only one person. I need B here to help me readjust the top door. I managed to get it closed all the way and hopefully won't have any issues, but it's always something isn't it? You try and try but the universe tries harder. Isn't that a Faith No More album? We Try Harder? Or is it Why Try Harder? No that's We Care A Lot. Why Try Harder was Fatboy Slim. Getting things mashed up in my head. Fatboy No More. Yeah. That's it. Welcome to the multi-verse.

Taking some certification quizzes today. Wish me luck.

Y13 D57

Oh man, I may have fucked up. I may have brought a server up and forgot to shut it off. In June. But I swear I have been using the new ones and brought only those up. Ugh. Pain in the ass.

Recorded ALL day and finished around 4:30. I have six demos left to do today and this class will be done. It's a beast of a class with 14 modules and 45 demos. But I will get it done this morning so help me Bob!

After class I went to Target to pick up a script for B. That was a mistake. Freeway was backed up so everyone was using side streets. Summer construction happening with one lane of traffic. Took me 30 minutes to make a normally six minute drive. 

Did all the axie stuff. I don't know how B does this every night. But then again, for her it would be doing it in the afternoon, not doing it after 10 hours of work. But still, it's a lot to remember.

Almost through the week. Just a little further.

Y13 D56

Recorded for 5 hours, spent 3 hours in meetings. That was my day. At about 6pm the skies opened up and it drenched us for like two hours. My backyard pond is back. Thankfully, my lawn guy cleaned out my gutters on Sunday. Just in time it would seem. Been taking care of the axies in B's absence. Man that's a lot of work every night. Too much for me. I am not cut out for stuff like that on a daily basis. Nothing else going on. Been watching Owl House. It's hilarious. Especially Hootie the door owl. The kid has been making shirts for it and unfortunately most of her ideas were rejected but some have made it through. She was griping about her job to me last night. Ah, such an adult. Amazon is causing them much grief. Feel bad for her on that one. Theft of artwork, shoddy products, undercutting costs. Typical stuff. Someone keep Bezos in space will ya? One way ticket to Pluto. 

More of the same today.

Y13 D55

I accidentally typed Y134 for the title this morning. Dear god, please don't let me still be writing this for 134 years. I will be very tired by then. Very tired. 

Nothing of any significance to report today. Being home alone will do that for you. I spent the day recording. Made polish sausage dogs with fries for dinner. Watched some TV, played some video games, went to bed. Honestly I didn't do much else. Kinda okay with that to be honest. I remember how in the past I would write about missing human connection blah blah blah. Now I am happy being left alone. I get how old people are like just leave me be. I'm done interacting with other people. Other people suck. Just give me the cats and I am fine. 

Pretty much the same thing planned for today, and tomorrow, and Thursday. Although I do plan on cleaning the house on Thursday so woo?

Y13 D54

Do you know what needs to happen in this country? Key people in the republican party, religious sector, conservative media, etc need to start DYING from Delta. Sounds cruel and mean? Maybe. But that's the only way we're going to open up the eyes of these unvaccinated morons who are spreading Delta and Lambda like it's a joint at Woodstock. I've been saying it out loud and I will say it here - if things don't change dramatically in the next 4-6 weeks, we will be under lockdown/mandatory masks/distancing by October. Maybe not 100% nationwide, but definitely in certain areas. We're already starting to see the mask portion of it. But even with that, it's not enough. Lockdown/shutdown is coming people. All because some people have decided to turn people's lives into a political game. That's a disgusting shame.

B is in the woods. I don't know how they tolerate their friends. She was supposed to leave at 9:30am. She didn't get on the road until 1:15. It's a 5 hour drive to their destination. I would have been fuming the whole way personally. 

As for me, I did some little chores. Cleaned out the cat room, did laundry, and went through some bins I have been meaning to clean out. Have more to do this week. Trying not to overwhelm myself but I do want to keep up the momentum. I am recording this week so I have some flexible time the next few days. Couple of meetings and a webinar strewn in, but nothing major. 

Ate leftovers last night. Not sure what I want to make tonight. Maybe salmon.

Y13 D53

I don't ever get to win do I? Last night around oh, 10pm, I am in my office and find a wet spot. First thought? Cat pee. Oh no. Nothing that simple. It rained so much the water couldn't take any more in and came up from the ground in my fucking office. Where my computer shit is. Where there's not a whole lot of room to work. Where it's a bitch to move things out. I was up until midnight trying to determine how far in the room the water got and how to dry it out. Good times.

To make things even more fun, the first day it decides to be 90 fucking degrees here is the day I have to help B lug half the fucking house into her car for this camping trip. I go for a week and I take two fucking bags. She is going for five days and has everything. Lovely.

So no, I am not in a great mood today.

Y13 D52

Slept in a bit this morning. Was kind of enjoyable.

Recorded, did a webinar, did laundry for B, lots of laundry to be fair, made chicken for dinner, went to the store to get her some final things for camping, and went to bed. My day in a nutshell. Rained all day hard. Some water in the basement but nothing like before. The pipe cleaning we did earlier in the year has paid off for sure. One more day and B heads out for camping. Get the house to myself which will be odd. 

No plans for today other than help B pack. 

Y13 D51

Yesterday was rough. You all know how frustrated I get when I have to start late and yesterday was no exception. Twiddling my thumbs until 10am waiting for people to arrive. 9 of them were 5-10 minutes late which right out of the gate annoyed me. Then we had some technical issues from folks. Nothing major but just the same old problem of people trying to do this stuff on 1366x768 resolution laptops and not understanding why nothing won't fit. Um, because your display sucks?? By the time it was all over it was 6:30. I had planned on making me a cornish game hen and wasn't going to give that dream up. By them time I ate dinner it was nearly 7:30. Just a long frustrating day. 

But hey, it's Friday! Just make it through the day and I get a weekend. No complaints here on that!

Y13 D50

I forgot to set an alarm. Oops. Luckily for me my class doesn't start until 10am. I still have 3 hours to get prepped and ready. I guess I needed the sleep, eh?

Taught for the first time in a couple of weeks yesterday. No issues. Moderate size group. Most were responsive and paid attention. Got through it.

Ordered pizza for dinner because I was feeling lazy. B went back to bingo for the first time. Got overwhelmed and came home early. What a shock. They leave for the woods on Sunday. 

Not much else going on.

Y13 D49

Today is already off to a shitty start. Welcome back to the working world. I woke up to two emails. The first was from the coordinator of today's training. She warned me that this group is flakey and some might not have software installed and that my student list might be flexible. Apologies all around from her. Okay. I can roll with that. Annoyed, but I can roll with it.

The second was internal and even more annoying. Apparently if we have people take certain certification tests, we get like an extra 10k from the software company for marketing. Of course that means we all need to be certified. Ugh. I fucking hate this crap. I don't do tests well and have no interest in taking any. Now all of a sudden I am being pressured to take a ton of tests I don't care about. I am 53 years old and could give zero fucks about having certifications on my name. Especially when the only persons who truly benefit are marketing. Fuck that. They want the money THEY should take the tests. Pain in my ass.

Spent yesterday recording. Got down a bunch of tracks. Pest guys came to respray since we're still seeing some spiders and ants. Hopefully this will take care of the problem. Good guy who came this time. I like him. He's a smart ass from NY and like me hates living here every second of the day. 

B made chili for dinner. Quite tasty. Weather is screwy. Humid, cloudy, warm with bursts of insane rain. The weather I don't mind. Kind of like it. 

Time to prep for today's shit show. Yay.

Y13 D48

I have made it home in one piece. Back to the regular grind of it all. Today is a catch up day, then tomorrow and Thursday I teach. Nice way to get back into the groove and swing of things. I got up early today just to mentally get me back into it. I can take my time a little bit but I thought it would be good for me. 

Let's see, I got to the airport ridiculously early. Sat until security opened. Boarded my first flight at 5:30, got to Chicago around noon. Hung out in the Admiral's club until 2, got on my next flight. Landed at 5:45 in Detroit. B picked me up and we grabbed Taco Bell on the way home.

Got home, unpacked, did laundry, moved files, relaxed. In other words, a typical travel day for me.

Y13 D47

At the airport. I left the hotel around midnight. A little over 2 hour drive. Now I sit and wait for almost 3 hours to board. I could have gone out of SFO to be honest. But it would have been more hectic, I would have felt rushed, etc. This was the smarter decision for sure. 

Didn't do much yesterday. I couldn't take another day of that heat and decided to stay inside. I met up with the kid for breakfast, a bit of socializing, but that was it. I stayed in the hotel room and played video games. It was at 116 at one point. Fuck that. It is currently 50 degrees cooler where I am. Let that sink in. 50 degrees difference. Almost half. I don't know how people survive in that long term. Crazy.

Slept from 5 until about 10:30 so I am not too tired. My first flight is over 4 hours so I will catch some sleep en route to Chicago. My Detroit flight is like an hour and I will just watch tv for that one. 

Back to the grind starting tomorrow. Joy

Y13 D46

 I'm ready to go home. I think I made this trip one day too many. Not going to lie. It's been fun, but being in this heat has not been the best for me. I am not built for it. I want to get home to my "cool" 80 degree weather please. In 24 hours I will be back at an airport and getting ready to go back home. So ready for it for sure. 

Yesterday was extremely fun and interesting. We went to the Lake Shasta Caverns. I pushed the kids to get there early and am glad I did. We ended up on the first tour of the day and the caves inside were 60 degrees. It was also only about 90 when we headed into the caves. Over 105 when we came out. The caves were incredible. I got to see a bat. Here's one of the rooms:

Pretty neat shit, right? Some of these rocks are estimated to be 150,000 years old. Mind boggling. We had a nice lunch on the way home, then relaxing time. For dinner the kid and I went to this pretty cool crepe place. Afterwards we played two board games. One, Above and Below, was pretty neat. The other, Calico, I didn't like. Too many things to keep track of at once. I got frustrated playing that one. But the first one was strategy and I enjoyed that.

Today we're doing an early breakfast and then I am giving them their weekend day. I need to leave here around 1am so I am going to get some early sleep. Let the kids have a day to themselves before they have to go back to work. 

Y13 D45

It hit 113 yesterday. No, that's not a typo. 113. It was like moving in slow motion while being in a frying pan. Awful. Just awful.

The kid and I had a nice father/daughter day. We went downtown, saw her art hanging in a gallery, had lunch, went to a record store she frequents, little antique shopping, etc. It was a nice time. She made me dinner at her house where we just spent the evening chatting. Nothing exciting or stressful.

Today is the caves. Which will be a nice 58 degrees thank you very much. Can't wait. Heading there soon.

Y13 D44

Friday. Only a few days left and I am back to the regular grind and back home. This has been a real treat for me. Been seeing many people, doing things, having anxiety attacks, getting overwhelmed at the stupidity of my fellow humans, you know, the regular.

Got up and left early yesterday. Very glad I did. It was 107 here and I managed to get into town before the horror really hit. Went to the kid's house and spent time with her. I am really proud of the life she has made for herself and the space she has created. Lots of art on the walls, a dog, cats, the snake, and just a good home life. She has her own office space and I got a chance to see her do her work. I was swelling with pride on this. Just made me feel really happy for her. 

Around 2 I headed over to the hotel to check in and take a nap. Went back over around 6pm and made them mushroom soup for dinner. One of my best batches I feel. I enjoyed spending time with her bf. He's a smart, thoughtful guy who is doing his best. I have no issues or qualms with him at all. We took their dog to the park, got some ice cream, socialized a bit more, and then I headed back to the hotel. Was in bed and zonked out by 10:30. 

Today her and I are going downtown to just hang out and she is taking me to the gallery where her art is hanging. How cool is that? We will figure out something for dinner and the like as we go. Playing today by ear. Tomorrow we're taking a bat cave tour!! I KNOW! So cool. On sunday we're going to a farmer's market and then a lavendar farm. That will be kind of neat. 

Another 105+ day here today. Need to lather up with the sunscreen and be protected. Especially my bald ass head. Which of course won't be an issue soon enough.

Y13 D43

Sorry today's post is late. I left the hotel early to avoid traffic and minimize arriving in the heat. I succeeded at one of those. I am safely at the kid's house and at 10am it was already over 90. Whee.

So yesterday. Absolutely nothing in the morning. Bored off my tukas the majority of the time. Finally at around 1:30 I headed to my artist. Nine hours at the shop, 7.5 hours of ink work. We were able to get both pieces 90% done and I will come back in November or so to do some final shading. Like an hour max on each piece. In total the two pieces will have taken nearly 10 hours. Without further ado:

Tada!! I was there until 11pm, had a quick dinner break. Friends stopped by to wish me happy birthday. Also a big shout out to everyone who messaged, emailed, or texted me yesterday. Much appreciated.

Now to spend time with the kid.

Y13 D42

Happy birthday to me. Yay me.

Did a bunch of memory lane and random shit yesterday. Had Jollibee for lunch which was a nice treat. Even the fast food is better here. Had my favorite pizza for dinner. Went to an old record store which I have been going into since they opened 38 years ago. Since most stuff around here no longer exists, it's nice to see somethings still the same. Bought the kid a CD, got me a CD too. Why not. Support local business and all that. Went to the Asian store and got some snacks. Just bummed around and had a slow moving day. Was kind of nice.

Today is tattoo day!! 1pm until we're done. Pics tomorrow for sure.

Y13 D41

I am in the Bay Area! It was a very long day of travel and I almost had a panic attack in Texas though. The number of non-mask wearing people standing right on top of each other and breathing on each other sent me into a brief spiral. I was able to hang out in the very back corner of the executive lounge thankfully but even the 20 minutes I spent at the gate was rough. Very rough. But the flights themselves were uneventful. Got my rental car, went to the store to kill some time, then checked into the hotel. After settling in to the hotel I met up with a friend for dinner. We had some wonderful sushi and spent hours just talking and catching up. Got back to the hotel around 9:30pm and went to bed around 10:30. 

Today is my no obligation day. Going to do a little shopping and get pizza for dinner. I just got off the phone with American and National and changed my home trip. I changed it so I am not driving back four hours on next Monday. Just an hour to Sacramento instead. $200 diff, but worth it. 

Time to get ready for the day of nothing!

Y13 D40

My first travel day since March 6 2020. Holy shit. What to expect? How will it be? These questions and more will be revealed on the next episode of Soap.

Finished packing. Did chores. Played games. Went to bed at 7. Had three solid blocks of REM. Weird dreams. Anxiety dreams mostly. Floating head in one was odd.

Okay time to get ready. Leave in one hour.

Y13 D39

This time tomorrow I will be at an airport! WOO! For one full week of out of the house!

Had a busy day yesterday. Washed all the rugs, bagged up cans and bottles, emptied garbage, swept floors, cleaned up the laundry, got rid of empty boxes, and vacuumed. All before 9am. Boo-yah. Then I played video games. Then when B got up we spent a good amount of time in the backyard enjoying the day. Our friend came over to share dinner with us. We went to dairy queen afterwards and called it a night around 10:30.

Today I check in for flight, finalize packing, and go to bed at 7pm. Oh how I have missed these days.

Y13 D38

Only two days until I am on the road!! WOO!!

I did little to nothing yesterday. Started my vacation of right. Started a 30 hour roast. Helped B with some fish stuff. Did some laundry. Played video games. Mostly finalized packing. That was my day. Made chicken enchiladas for dinner. 

More of the same in store for today. Go me. 

Y13 D37

Here's something I never thought I'd say - I am using Edge. I am sick and tired of how much damn memory chrome is sucking up constantly. I know that sounds weird seeing as edge is chromium based, but side by side on the same sites, chrome is 20-30% more memory. So let's give edge it's day in the sun. Why the fuck not.

I am officially on vacation bitches. I finished another class yesterday around 3. The next one on my list is a bear and will take at least three days to record. I decided nope, not going to start it and then let it sit for two weeks. So I am taking one additional vacation day. Buh-bye. Plus my voice is trashed from all the non-stop recording and I do need to rest it.

Got a manicure yesterday. My first in salon one since 2018. Yes, that long. I was a bit disappointed. Not in the manicure itself, which was fine, but more in the shop. I don't like shops that are just sterile Vietnamese girls that I can't understand. I wanted a shop with energy and fun like the one I would go to in WA. When I did my research I *thought* that's what this one was. The pics of the shop and the video they had online from the owner all showed a variety of people working their, music in the background, etc. Well either they changed owners or this owner got her friends to be in the pics and video because the shop itself was nothing but a typical strip mall Vietnamese place where, oh look, I couldn't understand a word the girl was saying. Good times. 

B made meatloaf for dinner. We watched some TV together. Did laundry. 

Three more days until I leave. Tomorrow I will do final packing and be ready to go. So excited to get the fuck out of here.

Y13 D36

Welcome to July. Almost my birthday. Almost time to go on my trip. Almost almost almost. For someone with no patience, this is the hardest part - waiting. 

Recorded over 150 slide audio files yesterday. I just cranked through. I have about 30 demos to get through today which should take me about 6 hours. Then I will be done with yet another class. If I finish, I will start my vacation early since I won't be able to accomplish much tomorrow.

Had leftovers for dinner. Watched TV. Went to bed.