fate of ophelia

I'm exhausted and going to bed immediately (at ten pm PT, which is unheard of for me at a retreat). But my travels were incredibly smooth today despite being lengthy - I had a three hour layover in Denver, which I put to good use by drinking rosé and eating a Caesar salad and doing some (personal) work.

I got to the retreat house just as checkin began, which was good timing. I drew a pretty bad number in the room drawing process (11/15 - there are 16 people here but Barbara doesn't draw) - but I somehow got one of my top four choices because other people's priorities are v strange. So between the room location + bringing my own pillow I'm hopeful that I'll sleep better than I usually do on these trips, although we'll see.

And now I'm desperate for sleep - goodnight!

great divide

I am heading to Carlsbad for my annual writing retreat tomorrow, and I'm shockingly packed and in bed before eleven for a nine am flight. The bad news is that I didn't get to watch any of the Olympics opening ceremonies tonight, which is a tragedy. But I'm sure I'll somehow survive. 

I almost didn't go on this trip - work had been busy and I wasn't sure this was a good time to take off. But now that it's settled, I'll glad I'm going. Unfortunately I'll have to work a couple of days while I'm gone, but that's not the end of the world.

My day was otherwise pretty standard - I got up and slogged v effectively for several hours, showered when I should have had lunch, and had lunch while I was in my meetings. I was done around six, and then I picked up pizza for me and Mom and [censored]. And then I finished packing, and now it's time to sleep - goodnight!

i'll be looking out night and day

The last couple of days have been fairly decent, although I could use some bright sun at some point. Yesterday I got up early, slogged for awhile, had lunch, and then went with Mom to an eye appointment. My presence wasn't strictly necessary, but driving with dilation is not fun, so I was happy to do it. Then I got home, ran a quick errand with [censored], and spent the rest of the evening working / journaling / reading / etc.

Today was pretty chill - I got up and started working immediately, and eventually took a quick shower before my first meeting. Then I got allergy shots, which took awhile because they were backed up, but I was able to do some work from the clinic while waiting to see if the allergy shots would kill me (spoiler: they didn't).

Then I came home, put together a burrito bowl with leftovers from the fridge, and had a long work chat with Adit. After that, I slogged the rest of the day, and while I didn't get done as much as I probably should have, it felt like a win. I spent the evening doing various tings around the house, attempting some writing, doing some writing-related work, and generally unwinding. And now it's a little later than I had planned to go to bed, so I should sleep immediately - goodnight!

integrity, faith, and crocodile tears

I had a pretty good weekend, all in all. Yesterday I didn't get nearly enough done, but I did go to Gloria's birthday party, which was v. fun. It was supposed to be a surprise, although it wasn't quite as much a surprise as intended - but the turnout was really good and she was clearly delighted. I spent the party talking to a variety of former teachers and old neighbors, and I also got some extremely hot gossip (pun very unintentional) of a sad nature, which are descriptors that usually don't go together. Then, I spent the rest of the afternoon attempting to self-motivate (but mostly drinking hot chocolate), and then [censored] and I went out to Mom's for dinner.

Today was more productive, albeit a bit sad - I was thinking of Uncle Mark today and can’t believe it’s been seven years. So I spent the morning reading, drinking coffee, and doing various writing-type things. At some point I took a break to watch ISU destroy KSU, which was fun. I then spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning, organizing, finally unpacking from my last trip, and then making dinner (mostly a variety of rices to eat with the pork I made on Friday, and then to freeze with it). And then [censored] and I ate dinner while watching last night's SNL + some of tonight's Grammys.

Sadly, I had to finish the night by doing some day job stuff, but I got through what I wanted to get through, and now I desperately need to sleep. Goodnight!

I gave your name as my emergency phone call

I have had an exceedingly boring week, made more boring by the fact that it's been zero degrees outside more times than I think it legally should be, even in winter. I've been alternating between slogging, cooking, writing (a little), and procrastinating (a lot), so I have had nothing to report. 

But today was nice despite all that. I woke up and decided to make carnitas, because I went to the grocery store yesterday and found a pork butt that was on sale for a dollar a pound. It was so cheap because it expired yesterday, but I bought it anyway. It was almost nine pounds, and so I ended up trying two different carnitas recipes - I put one chunk in the crock pot for ten hours, and I cut the other chunk up and baked it later. Both had orange juice, garlic, and onion, but the crock pot version had a rub of cumin and oregano, while the baked version had bay leaves and a cinnamon stick. 

I thought they both turned out great - unfortunately [censored] doesn't really like pork and so this bounty is wasted on him, but my tacos were v tasty. They would have been better with a proper salsa verde, but I can't get such a thing here and my salsa stockpiles are low. But now I have leftovers + will freeze a bunch for Future Sara, which is quite exciting. 

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

chimes

I have nothing to report - I have just been slogging and trying to stay warm. I did do some writing last night and tonight, but it's rough going - I would find it easier at a coffee shop or wine bar, but those things are in short supply here. But my day overall was good, and now it's time for bed - goodnight!

send lawyers guns and money

I have apparently not blogged in several days - I blame a perfect storm of factors (pun intended).

Thursday was my last full day in SF and I slogged relentlessly before meeting Lauren (aka subz) for dinner at Rooh. She was in fine form and we enjoyed dinner v tasty Indian food - and a surprise sighting of our old boss from India, who was completely shocked to see us (and probably to see us together, since most work friendships don't survive a couple of decades and continents). Then I had to pack as fast as possible because...

Friday I was supposed to leave SF at the civilized hour of 1pm, but with the massive weather issues happening this weekend, and the fact that I had only a thin coat, fingerless gloves (cashmere, but still fingerless), and a hat I stole from the office swag closet meant that I thought it prudent to get into Des Moines during daylight hours. So I flew out of SF at 5am, which was as painful as it sounds. There weren't any restaurants open then, but luckily our robot overlords/underlings never sleep, so I got a decent latte from a robot barista before boarding. My Denver layover was a hike but went fine, we were delayed an hour by deicing plus a maintenance issue, but I made it to Des Moines by early afternoon and was able to grab groceries on the drive south. 

When I got home, I said hello to [censored], unloaded my car without freezing my ears off, and then made chicken and rice for dinner. And then I went to bed early ish and accidentally slept for ten+ hours, which was great. 

Yesterday I did basically nothing. But I did heat up some ham balls to take to Mom's, which we enjoyed with her scalloped potatoes and baked beans. And then I did more nothing and went to bed. 

Today it was still brutally cold, but it was sunny and well reflected by the snow, so I was in a decent mood. I did a bunch of cleaning, a bunch of laundry, a bunch of podcast listening, and also made a gigantic batch of beef stew. And now, I need to sleep since work is going to be busy busy busy this week - goodnight!