you're putting money on red, i'm a sure bet at a losing streak

I am still v tired and all my various fitness trackers are flashing warning signs over my sleep, but I had an excellent day in the city of sin. I got up early, likely due to jetlag (since I didn't want to be awake) and did some writing in bed. Then I went downstairs, availed myself of the free coffee, and journaled for a bit. I also did some work, which I did not want to do, but that does occasionally need to happen if I want to keep my job.

Then I showered, got ready, and walked down to Divis to have lunch with Katrina at Beretta. This is one of our old standbys since we like their gluten free pizza, and it was a v chill place to spend a couple of hours (despite them acting like it might fill up, there were never more than four tables of people, which I found to be strangely hilarious). Katrina and I had not caught up in many months and so we had many things to discuss - and I'm sure we could have kept going, but at some point I started yawning (due to my exhaustion, not the conversation, since the conversation was fascinating!) and it became time to part ways.

So I came back to my hotel and started to take a nap - but then got a call from Claudia asking where I was, since her day plans had brought her into the city early. She and Chandlord and I were supposed to have dinner, but Chandlord failed to plan for it ("el stupido", as she said), and so it was just me and Claude. Since we had no other constraints, we met at my hotel at 4, and we walked over to Fillmore. We ended up at Little Shucker, which is where I was yesterday, and so I got another dose of oysters and another glass of rosé to round out my weekend.

We had a delightful time catching up, and we weren't done by the time we finished our snack, so we walked back to my hotel and drank tea in the lobby for awhile. We parted ways around 6:30, which was v. civilized, and so I grabbed my laptop, hung out in the lobby, talked to the bartender for a bit, ate some takeout Thai, and then worked for an hour. I should probably keep going, but I think I would feel better if I went to bed now, got a full eight hours, and then got up early to work before going to the office - so that is what I shall do. Goodnight!

just walk among the flowers, don't kill or be devoured

My sleep schedule is v off - yesterday I got up really early to finish packing and working, and so I was already tired by the time I had to drive to the airport. Unfortunately my Denver->SF flight was delayed a couple of hours (as expected given Denver's weather + SF's runway construction), and so I didn't get to my hotel until midnight (2am in Iowa, if you're keeping track). This really wrecked me for today, unfortunately.

However, luckily I hadn't made any hard plans - I did have to get up in time for a mani/pedi at 11, but that wasn't that onerous. Then I walked to Fillmore and browsed some shops, with some success (but not too much). And I had a late lunch at Little Shucker, which I always enjoy - oysters and rosé and fries are better when shared, but they're pretty delicious solo too.

Then I came back to my hotel and took a long nap, which may wreck tonight, but it felt necessary. Then I got a late iced latte to perk up again (also may wreck tonight, tbd). And then I wrote / worked in the lobby bar for many hours - I also ordered takeout from Little Chihuahua to eat while I worked, and it was pretty tasty.

And now I need to go to bed so that I can emerge from my hobbit nature tomorrow and take a nap - goodnight!

neon pills

No blog tonight - I accidentally stayed up until after midnight last night, and then got up at seven (after fitful slumber), so I'm v tired. But I did a bunch of work pretty early in the morning, and then I took a quick shower and headed to Des Moines, where I did another couple of hours of work at a Starbucks before grabbing lunch to go. My main destination was getting my hair done, which was a nice way to spend a couple of hours playing hooky from work. Then I picked up a couple of things at the spice store next to my hair salon, went to Home Depot to get a couple of things first [censored], and then drove home.

When I got here, I did a bit of sorting and packing, and then I took a break to make sweet corn and hamburgers for me and [censored]. I had picked up corn in Indianola even though I won't be here to eat all of it - and it was worth taking the time to make tonight, even though I really should have been packing instead.

So I ate supper and cleaned up the kitchen. I had planned to pack tonight, but I'm so tired that I'm going to go to bed at 10pm instead. I'll just get up early tomorrow and hope that I have enough time to pack and take care of my various gardening activities before all my usual meetings. Goodnight!

tell me what it means to be human

I'm v tired and need to go to bed - yesterday I woke up with a continuation of the headache I had on Monday, and it was bad enough that I basically didn't work all morning. I rallied a bit in the afternoon, and then I made dinner (porkchops and roasted potatoes) for me and Mom. And then I turned the lights low in an effort to finish my recovery, which was a mixed bag.

Today, I didn't have much headache, but I did wake up before six. So I got up and wrote before work, which was great. Then I slogged all day before taking a break around six to do some gardening tasks. And then I sat on my balcony and wrote until [censored] got home, at which point I ate a late supper while catching up.

And now I need to go to bed if I'm going to repeat similar feats tomorrow - goodnight!

i start to feel pixelated

I had a v lovely weekend, which bled straight into the work week (and unfortunately a massive headache today). On Saturday I spent some quality time writing on my balcony until it was too hot to write (which was unfortunately far too early). I also did various household tasks, cleaned various things, and actually washed the pendants over my kitchen island, which only happens on the rare occasions when I have houseguests.

The guest in question was Katie, the queen of my heart, who was in town for one night only before a work trip to Kansas City. She wasn't able to get up here until almost 8pm, and we met at Ludlows to have dinner with Hannah (another excellent friend whom I should probably see more often since she lives thirty miles away instead of eighteen hundred like most of my friends). It was great to hang out together, even if I was repeatedly reminded of how much fun they used to have in six grade when I wasn't invited to be their friend. Joke's on them since I'm pretty cool now!

sssanyway, we had a great dinner, and then we parted ways with Hannah and came back to my house, where Katie availed herself of my guest room (and a long conversation with [censored]). In the morning, I did some gardening while Katie went out and explored her childhood haunts on her own - while I dislike using pesticides, my anti-pesticide approach last year resulted in almost no crops, and I would like to avoid this year's gardens suffering the same fate. So I harvested the tomatillos that were already ripe, and then I sprinkled some pesticides on the nightshades that were all showing signs of insect damage. If I'm successful I'm going to have way too much produce, but I would rather suffer that fate than not have any at all.

When Katie got back, I made brunch, and my mom joined us for the meal - so we all caught up over scrambled eggs and hashbrowns and fruit, which was pretty tasty. Then Katie, [censored] and I chatted before driving down to the south part of the county to see one of the murals. We swung back through town to see the murals here, and then we parted ways with [censored] and went into (the other) town to see the murals there. We also grabbed soft serve at the hospital, which was a real treat. And Katie was just as affected by the Farm Aid mural as I expected her to be - it's really a stunning work of art, and I'm glad she got to see it.

When we got back to my house, Katie had just enough time to load up her car before needing to get on the road. We said our sad farewells, and hopefully I'll make it out to Colorado to see her sometime this fall. Then I spent the afternoon taking care of tings, and I also made a fresh tomatillo salsa verde by roasting the tomatillos with a jalapeno and then blending it with onion and lime juice. I didn't have any cilantro, which probably would have made it better - but for a first effort, I really liked it a lot. [censored] did not, but salsa verde is often wasted on him, so I wasn't surprised.

I did a bit more writing after that, and then I made supper - I was in the mood for chicken and mushroom alfredo, and it turned out perfectly. Then I should have gone to bed, but I dozed instead. When I woke up this morning, I was somewhat in it to win it - but by early afternoon I was feeling funky, which turned out to be the precursor to a pretty bad headache / possible migraine. So I called it quits on the job early and napped / relaxed / did nothing the rest of the day / evening.

And now I've been back on screens too long while closing out the night, and my headache is coming back, so I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

man that's a different kind of greed

I have continued slogging this week, rather productively, although it's been too hot to do much of it from my balcony as I would prefer to. Yesterday I had to get up early enough to go into town for my annual mammogram, which luckily went very fast, and so I was home by the time I usually start work.

Then I slogged all day, but I stopped work around five to do a two-hour online class with the writer who taught my group at the writing retreat that I went to in New York last month. The class was about fiction vs memoir and gave me a lot to think about, so I really enjoyed it. And I ended the night with some leftovers + some more work, as usual. 

Today I miraculously only had two hours of meetings, but there were a lot of things that I wanted to do while I had time to focus. So I got up early and was out on my balcony working by 8am. Even at eight it was almost too hot, and I ended up calling it quits on the balcony around ten. But I kept going straight until my first meeting at three, and then wrapped up my day with an hour of work meetings and an hour talking to someone from my old team back in Boulder. 

Then I had thought I would go to Indianola to do some grocery shopping, but I really didn't have the energy and also didn't really have the need, since I'm not going to be cooking as much this week as I thought I might. So I relaxed a bit, and then picked up Mexican takeout, and then meant to write but instead dozed off. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

choking on the air that you breathe

I'm v tired and intended to go to bed an hour ago, but I had to do a thing for work that took much longer than it should have. I have been alternating between slogging and various other obligations the last couple of days, which has slowed down my writing progress. Yesterday it was an early morning economic development board meeting and a long city council meeting in the evening. Today I was able to work at my leisure in the morning (although I didn't have time to write), but then I had to take a couple of hours off so that I could take Mom to an eye appointment. And then I slogged until almost 6:30, which was unwelcome.

But I took a break to make dinner - I grilled some chicken thighs for me and some hot dogs for [censored], which we ate with gluten free mac and cheese + regular mac and cheese respectively. And we ate it while watching the last forty-five minutes of The Two Towers, which is still a banger and holds up over twenty years later.

Then I cleaned up the kitchen, came upstairs, and slogged until now. And now I need to sleep immediately - goodnight!

basic being basic

I have continued to be quite busy the past couple of days, although I suppose I didn't get as much done yesterday as I had intended to. It doesn't help that it's super hot here, which makes spending time outside much less appealing. But yesterday I got up and spent a couple of hours writing, which felt great. Then I did various things around the house, took care of my plants, relaxed a bit in the afternoon, did some more writing, and eventually made dinner. Dinner was an experiment from one of the cookbooks that I got for Christmas, and it was a variation of a Spanish tortilla. Spanish tortilla is an egg dish with potato in it, and this one was made even easier because it involved frozen hash browns instead of boiling and cutting fresh potatoes. This was a good use of the farm eggs that I bought at the farmer's market last weekend, and I thought it was quite tasty. I don't think [censored] liked it quite as much, but now I have leftovers for the next couple of days, which makes me happy.

So we ate the tortilla last night with a slice of ham that I cooked on the stove, and all of that was pretty good. Then I took a long overdue shower, read a book for a while, and went to bed early.

Since I went to bed earlier, I was able to wake up this morning before 7:00 and write for a couple of hours before work. Then I slid straight into work mode and slogged aggressively until 6:00 p.m. At that point, I took a little break and journaled a bit on the balcony (although it was too hot for that, even in the shade), and then grilled hamburgers and made sweet corn for dinner. After I had sufficiently relaxed and cleaned up the kitchen, I came upstairs and spent the last hour taking care of a task for my boss. Now I need to go to bed so that I can repeat some of these feats tomorrow, although since I have an early community meeting and also a late community meeting, we'll see how much I get done. Goodnight!