Y13 D107

Today's the day people. I am up early to make sure everything runs smooth this morning. B has to be up at 8, we leave here at 9. Check-in at 10, surgery scheduled for noon. Should be out of surgery by 2 or 3 at the latest, recovery, and then I will see her again. I am assuming around 4. So yeah, long day ahead of me. And not just me obviously. Long day for both of us. Scary day too. Then I will pick her up Saturday time unknown. All depends on recovery. I will probably get there at 8am and just sit. It's what I do. Tonight I have to prep the house and more tomorrow morning. Sheet changes, keep cats out, make sure she has everything within reach, etc. I will be up early tomorrow too.

To everyone who has already started sending stuff and it arrived yesterday - THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, thank you. B cried multiple times yesterday from knowing people cared about her. She got multiple flower arrangement, cookies, and cards. Not a single fucking thing from her family mind you. She got a text from her mother on Tuesday - "you still having that surgery?". B's reply was "Yes" to which she got a "good luck". Wow. Nothing from her dad. Who by the way in case I forgot to mention is about to have another failed marriage. Apparently on Tuesday his wife had enough and left to stay with her son. Good job. But anyway, getting things from people really touched her to her core. For those of you who have stuff on the way, thank you in advance. It will mean the world for sure. I expect to come home from the hospital to more cards at the very least. It all has meaning.

As for me, yesterday I worked on a class most of the day. B wanted Taco Bell as a "last meal" and I obliged. Her words, not mine. She meant it more in a I can't eat after 8pm way, but still. 

Okay. Here we go...

Y13 D106

 Had a bit of a stress yesterday. The kid sent B a squishable to take with her to the hospital and when I messaged the kid to say thank you, I got no response. No biggie since it was a little after 9am her time and figured she was working. But then later, still no response. Now they still have fires near them. So much stressing and calling with no answer until I finally reached out to bf. He confirmed they were okay but still no response from kid. Turns out something screwy happened with her phone and she had been not sending messages since monday to anyone. Quick reboot and oh look, many replies. Didn't need that stress. But in the end all is good.

Had a meeting with a new employee yesterday. They were hired by the VP on the consulting side to basically be a recruiter to match consultants with projects. Yeah, it was a 5 minute conversation. She's explaining all this "and I want to touch base with people to make sure they have enough hours, need more, blah blah blah." I said that's great, but I'm not a consultant. I am an FTE who does training related stuff only. No consulting projects. "Oh. So we will probably never talk?" Exactly. Bye bye. Easiest work call ever. She sounded annoyed but sorry if you weren't told not everyone is a consultant by your boss. Just going down the employee list is a useless thing. She also started talking about how she wants to organize some virtual stuff and I'm like that's nice, I will never attend because of time difference, schedule issues, and the simple fact I won't do video. "Oh." Yep. Shot down again. Bye bye for real this time.

I also worked on the new class. Getting stumped on a bit of code I hope to figure out today. Trying to get some R code working and its a matter of figuring out the right packages. Stupid R.

B left around 1. Got to the hotel around 5. Sent multiple pictures from the concert. They got back to the hotel around midnight and should be home midday today. Sounds like they had a good time. I am very happy about that. B deserved a mental break from things. Tomorrow is the big day and will be full of anxiety. Fun.

Y13 D105

 In the past 12 hours we've had a severe thunderstorm warning followed by severe wind warning. Fun. Better than severe heat or fire I guess? I mean one way or another mother nature and the earth are trying to eradicate this virus known as humans. Can't say as I blame them.

Worked on a new class. Took a break to go to my hair people for a check in. Worked some more. Made a roast for dinner. We are 2 days from B's surgery people. Two days. Tonight she is going to Ohio for Alanis. When she gets back there will ne less than 24 hours until surgery. Prepare for a hectic few days. 

In other news, will TX just secede? Just go away. Or will all the stupid old white men just die off? One or the other please. Getting sick of both of those things. 

I finally was able to make an appointment with a therapist. Have my first session on the 17th. Overdue for sure. Maybe I will finally work through all this anger, depression, and feelings of being overwhelmed by the world.

Maybe.

Y13 D104

 Yesterday was pretty good until the evening. The reality of surgery hit B hard around 6pm and they just had a massive panic attack. Every worse case scenario started going through her head. We discussed what to do in each case, but it was still a rough thing to talk about. Emotionally exhausting conversation. We are three days away.

For the most part I didn't do much of anything. I enjoyed my holiday. Video games. Some tv. Went into the backyard for some outdoor time. Started a roast for tonight. We had mushroom soup over chicken and rice for dinner. Except for the talk about death and comas, a relatively peaceful day.

And now back to our regularly scheduled whoop dee doo. 

Y13 D103

 WOOO! BIG SLEEP!! 9 hours baby!! Some much needed sleep. I feel refreshed for once. 

We worked our butts off yesterday. We had a house cleaning checklist, we each took different rooms and tasks and while it took us a good four hours, we have this house immaculate. One less stressor for B this week. Now we just have to keep it clean. That's always the hard part, right?

I made mushroom soup for dinner and the week. Had a friend over as they wanted to watch a special with B. So they setup in the basement watching the Billie Eilish concert while I played video games. Then we socialized to a little after 10, and went to bed.

A good day to be sure. Four days until surgery people. Four days.

Y13 D102

LONG day yesterday. Was up at 2:15am and didn't go to bed until 10:30pm with no rest in between. But before we talk about my day, let's talk about Texas. In other words:

WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU FUCKING PEOPLE??

Oh and I am not talking about the draconian bullshit abortion laws. Oh no, they've gone even further. There is literally a group of WHITE MEN aka Republicans who want, ready for this? A DRESS CODE FOR WOMEN. Yep. No jeans. No skirts above the knee. Pants must be slacks with cuffs. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?? These people need to be taken out in a field somewhere. That's not even the worst of it. They have SUCCESSFULLY passed a whole slew of bills that stop teachers from teaching things, that stop police departments from defunding, and much more. Seriously. This needs to stop. That state needs to go. I will refuse to go to Texas in the future.

On a more personal note, I left the hotel around 4, drove to the grocery store directly from the hotel, did my shopping, came home, put everything away, did laundry, etc etc. For dinner we did steak fajitas. Quite tasty. We had some us time, hung outside for a while, played some games, went to bed.

Today is housecleaning day. We want the house to be as clean as possible before Friday. This way B can go have surgery with one thing off her mind. We have a list and we will knock it out. Woo Sunday Funday. 

Y13 D101

I had one of the best days I've had in a long time yesterday. I felt normal and whole almost all day. I walked over 2.5 miles total. I was outside for almost the entire day. I interacted socially with a number of people. It was just good.

I started my day by going to Bob Evans for breakfast. This hotel still isn't doing full breakfast service so I said fuck it and treated myself. That set the tone for the day. I had blueberry pancakes with a couple of eggs and fruit. 

Next stop was the zoo. When I got to the zoo there were like five cars in the parking lot. When the gates opened at 9, it was me and one older gentleman. Him and I had been chit chatting in line. Turns out he was a former employee and decided I was his guest for the day. Free zoo admission? Heck yes! Nice little zoo. Not too big, but big enough that I got a good walk in. Saw lots of animals, took over 300 pictures. I brought my big camera on this trip and am glad I did. 

After the zoo I drove a couple towns over to the largest rock shop EVER. Four buildings full of ROCKS. I spent way too much but don't care. Worth every penny. Had Culver's for lunch. Then I stopped at a HUGE donut shop and got a dozen donuts. Headed back to the hotel, took a nap, then headed out to Turkeyville. Yep. Turkeyville. A turkey farm about 20 minutes away from the hotel. I had a full turkey dinner, got to meet some turkeys, picked up some random stuff from their gift shop. Very enjoyable.

Back in the room around 6. Relaxed, went to bed at 8. Now I am heading to the grocery store on my way home. Will get home, do laundry, and clean the house. We are six days from B's surgery. This next week is going to be very interesting.

Y13 D100

 Ah hotel life. I missed you. I know to most that sounds weird but there's just something comforting to me about being in a hotel. Bed to yourself. Knowing someone else is going to make the bed. Empty the trash. Clean the floor. Not tht I am out here intentionally making a mess mind you. Just nice to know that I don't have to do everything. 

I headed out around 12:30 yesterday, Arrived around 2:30. This is just far enough away that I don't feel stressed and I know I could get home quickly in an emergency. But at the same time, it's not the same four walls. I did some exploring yesterday. Saw the Kellog's world headquarters. I got into a small accident downtown unfortunately. I waqs parallel parked and didn't see the car behind me when I pulled out. My trailer hitch scratched their bumper. To be fair, if they hadn't been in the vehicle I probably wouldn't have stopped. The scratch is so small that I didn't even see it until they pointed it out. Whatever. Shit happens. They can hit my insurance if they want. I would do the same. It's not like I would have hit and run mind you, I just literally couldn't see the scratch without getting down on the ground and looking directly at it. The only reason they were freaking out is they were planning on turning it in to a dealer this weekend. Okay. Fair. We will see what comes of it.

Went to a Louisiana seafood place for dinner. Fried food hell (heaven?). Had alligator tail, catfish, crawfish, and gulf shrimp combo. Dear lord it was too much food. Went back to hotel and just chilled in my room for the night.

Today I am off to a rock shop, the zoo, and a place that sells everything turkey. Yep. Midwest baby for the, well, I don't know if "win" is the right word. Midwest for the something.

Y13 D99

WOW! I really slept in today. It's after 7am. I went to bed around 11 so that's some pretty good sleep for me! I should also mention that with extra sleep it helps my tinnitus. I haven't had a major bout in days. That's a nice change of pace for sure.

Worked on a new doc. Got the foundation done. Made japanese curry for dinner. Basically stew but with a curry package added. It was okay. B likes it a lot so there's that. 

I had something to say but I forgot. Story of my life. Oh well. Spending the next two days (mostly) in Battle Creek. I need out of this house. Leaving here around noon. We shall see how this goes. We are one week away from B's surgery. 

EDIT - I remembered! We finally made a decision on B's birthday next year. I know that sounds crazy but it's only 5 months away and it's a big birthday for her. After all the trauma of the last two years, her surgery, and life in general, we want to do something meaningful. Originally (akak pre-pandemic) we were going to take a trip to Scotland and do the castles. Now the thought of getting on a plan and even the chances of getting to the UK are gone. Instead we're taking a road trip.

We are going to drive south. We will first stop at the Cincinnati Zoo, then head to TN to spend two or three days at DOLLYWOOD! Then from there drive to Chattanooga for a couple of days, come back home through Nashville and Lexington. Take a week or so and see the south. She is 100% down for this. Now even I am excited.

Okay, that's it. Back to your regularly schedule bullshit.

Y13 D98

Add another game to my list of completed. I finished Control Ultimate Edition finally. Got through the remaining DLC I had still. Got like 75% of the full achievement list. I will take that. Yep. My big accomplishments.

Now, the kid on the other hand did do something worth mentioning. She has paid off her student loans! She has been riding interest free for a while but that ends at the end of September. She decided screw it, I am not paying anyone interest on this and paid off the balance in full. Plus she still had enough leftover from her savings after doing it to put a good chunk into her IRA. Well done kiddo! Very proud of her. I sent her a congratulatory gift. I was planning on getting her some new pots and pans for christmas but expedited that gift to now. She may be smart in some ways, but in others, not so much. They have been living off like one scratched up pot and a beat up pan for all their cooking. Nope. Now they will have a nice 12 piece set of ceramic cookware. If you're going to adult, adult all the way.

I completed recording a new class yesterday. Cranked through it and got it completely done in one day. One less thing I have to worry about. Now I am starting a new one. Whee. Had leftovers for dinner last night. Need to figure out what I want to do tonight. My big decision of the day.