am i mistaken for the way i carry on

I'm absurdly tired for 10:15pm on a Thursday, but that's probably the lingering traces of my recovery. I mostly feel fine, although I occasionally notice my abdomen if I move the wrong way. But working late the last two nights clearly affected my sleep, so tonight I ignored my laptop. I also kicked off the evening in the right way by having a glass of wine while chatting (virtually) with my friend Caroline. We were supposed to have an actual work meeting this afternoon that I had to move because something came up, but turning it into a social meeting at the end of the day was very much preferred.

The rest of the evening was spent preparing to go back to ye olde Iowa - I have to be there Saturday afternoon for a wedding, which means I need to leave tomorrow and stay somewhere along the way. And since I'm doing that, and then staying for a couple of weeks after, I'm taking a wide variety of extra home goods back with me to kickstart the process of turning my new Iowa house into something that is capable of sustaining me. Of course, my parents' house is also turning into a staging ground for all the tings I've ordered in the past week or two, so hopefully that's all going smoothly and I can rescue their front hall from all the packages this weekend. But I'm hoping that all the things I've organized here will fit into my car - and that I can load fairly quickly tomorrow after work so that I can make it to at least North Platte before stopping for the night.

But we'll see how all that goes - for now, I need to take care of a couple more tings and then hopefully go to bed at a more reasonable hour. Goodnight!

i belong with you, you belong with me, you're my sweetheart

I worked too late again tonight, which is not entirely a surprise given the end of quarter phase we're in at work + the fact I didn't work for most of the last three weeks. Today was okay, though - I put on eyeshadow and wore some earrings that I bought at a street fair a few weeks ago, and that made me just a smidge happier. I had a bunch of meetings and only a few annoyances, so that was good too.

But otherwise, nothing at all interesting happened - so I suppose I should decompress and go to bed. Goodnight!

riding high when i was king

I had a long day, but I guess it was a good one - I had meetings starting at 8:30, which is unusual for me these days, and my body wasn't entirely eager to get up for it. I also somehow managed to not schedule a break for lunch, which is also unusual. And I just worked from 9-11pm, which is, again, unusual. But there were things that had piled up while I was out that could not continue to pile, so I powered through and am in better shape for tomorrow because of it.

It also wasn't all slogging - I had a break to talk to Alyssa, and I also chatted with my friend Nicole for a virtual happy hour. And I did some stuff around the house, journaled, and generally relaxed in the evening (until I started working again). But now I think I should unwind and see if I can get a decent amount of sleep - goodnight!

baby i welcome the pressure

I had a decent day in the pixel mines. I probably should have done more work than I actually did, but the work I did do was good enough to make me feel like something happened, so I'll take it. Also, I'm still feeling slightly uncomfortable and get tired easily, so I feel like I should acknowledge that and not push it too hard this week (before definitely pushing it too hard this upcoming weekend).

Part of why I felt like maybe I should have worked longer was that I snuck out early (does it count as sneaking if you're just leaving your own house?) to meet Tomas for a drink in Louisville. Longtime blog readers may remember Tomas from my previous stint at my company, since he was on the rather epic weekend trip + offsite at a castle in Germany (which was seven years ago! how is that possible?!). We now both work in Boulder and would get together occasionally pre-pandemic, but since we live in opposite directions of the office (and never go to the office), we haven't seen each other in many months. And the late afternoon was perfect for having a drink on a patio and catching up on life - we really didn't talk about work at all, but instead talked about everything related to families and health and pandemics and a variety of related topics.

Then I came home, accidentally fell asleep, ate some takeout, and was generally pretty slothful (in deference to my healing). And now I should go to sleep, since I stupidly signed up for an early meeting tomorrow - goodnight!

ain't shady baby, i'm hot

I feel like I perhaps slightly overdid it today - I'm definitely super tired, and I should have gone to bed an hour ago but I needed to unwind a bit more. But I got a lot of tings done today that I needed to get done, and also took some time to enjoy what felt like the last weekend of the summer - it was in the upper eighties today, but I'll be gone most of the next few weekends and it will probably snow by the time I have another Sunday here.

sssanyway, I took care of tings around the house in the morning. Then I ran a quick errand to the mall, picked up some stuff at Crate and Barrel to take back to Iowa with me, and then got a mani/pedi. It was earlier to get them than I normally would before a wedding (which I'm going to next weekend), but I have a million things do to this week and couldn't figure out how to fit it into the weekdays. Then I came home and talked to my parents for quite awhile.

After that, I decided to indulge my desire for a last summer weekend - and so I walked down to El Camino, where I sat at the bar and had a margarita and their extremely excellent nachos. I also wrote in my journal while enjoying my time at the bar - I deeply miss doing that kind of thing, both because of covid and because I feel like I really didn't find 'my places' in Denver before the pandemic began anyway. So tonight was restorative, even if I felt overly full and realized that I still can't eat a lot with the remaining bits of pressure in my abdomen (although overall I'm feeling much better!).

Then I came home, intended to do a variety of tasks, and instead talked to [censored] for three hours. [Censored] spent quite a bit of time in my new house in Iowa this weekend (more than I've spent in the house, at this point!) and gave me a rundown of a bunch of things that I might choose to fix / change / update / ignore. This Iowa house is going to be great and I'm excited to have a project - but given property values there, I'm going to have to be careful not going too all-in on decor and aesthetic when I probably won't get my money back out of upgrades in the future.

But that's a problem for Future Sara (and I can imagine that she will end up deciding to buy some stupid shit as she grapples with the problem I've left for her). Right now I really need to sleep so that I can get tings done tomorrow - goodnight!

faster than a hairpin trigger

I had a lovely, lowkey sort of day - partially driven by the fact that I didn't go to bed until after one and also didn't set an alarm, so woke up sometime around ten. This is what my body naturally wants to do, but it's rough to revert to form on weekends and then have to get up like a corporate drone again on Monday morning. So even though it's currently 12:18 and I feel like I could stay up another hour or two, I'm going to attempt to go to bed after this.

sssanyway, I woke up, made coffee, and had a very leisurely morning / afternoon. This mostly involved sitting on my back patio, which is perfect this time of year. At some point, I retreated to my bedroom and took a nap. And that was pretty much the extent of my day, which made it quite delightful.

My evening was even more delightful, though - Katie made a reservation for us at Fifth String, which may be my favorite restaurant in Denver. We got there at 5:15, which is early for dinner (but preferable to not having dinner), and we spent a couple of hours in perfect bliss on their patio. It felt like a good way to bookend the summer - we had gone there for our first fancy meal out this spring, and this felt like the last meal of the summer since I'll be in Iowa for a couple of weeks and then winter will probably be here. We had a sumptuous meal - oysters to start, and then I had some crispy potatoes with melted cheese and shishito peppers, and then a dish with a variety of scallops, fish, and mussels in this amazing broth. Dessert was bleu cheese with cherries, and it was perfect. And of course Katie and I went deep on a variety of topics, which is always my favorite thing to do.

And now, I should go to sleep - goodnight!

hold the wheel and drive

I just accidentally stayed up too late for the first time in many nights - I've been actively trying to go to bed at a reasonable hour so that I could support my healing or something, but tonight my night owl brain overruled me. Today was pretty good, though - I had some decent meetings at work (supported by a lot of coffee), had a poke bowl for lunch, talked to [censored], took a walk, texted with some people, messed around online, etc., etc.

None of that is interesting, though, and I really should go to sleep so that I can get on with my weekend. Goodnight!

sometimes i wish i was on an island, but then i'd miss the sound of sirens

I am slowly but surely getting better. It still feels somewhat uncomfortable to sit in a regular chair, and so I'm intensely glad that I'm not driving back to Iowa this weekend as I had briefly considered a few weeks ago (back when I thought this surgery was No Big Deal). But I am sleeping better, and I'm not quite as tired in the afternoon, so I'll take it.

I had a pretty lowkey work day - I had some meetings off and on from 9:30 to 1, but I successfully avoided meetings the rest of the day. So I got a couple of things done, but I also let myself slack off a bit in the interest of recovering. At the end of the day, I drove my car for the first time since surgery - I wasn't prohibited from driving (except for when I was on narcotic painkillers), but it didn't feel comfortable until today. It still wasn't entirely comfortable, but I was able to do it long enough to mail some things, drive through the car wash, and drive through the pharmacy to pick up a prescription, so I will take all of that as a sign of progress.

I then spent the rest of the evening messing around, eating leftovers, and checking out my neighbors' place. The people I share a wall with are selling abruptly, and if they sell for what they're asking for I will be elated at what that means for my property values because it's really stupidly high. My neighbor called tonight to ask if I could run over and shut off the lights that the realtor had left on for showings, so I got to walk through it without having to wait to snoop at the open house. It's a bizarro version of my place since everything is a mirror image - I like how they upgraded their kitchen, and they have hardwood floors in their master bedroom, but otherwise it's pretty identical (and I have a nicer patio). So we'll see how that goes - and if you want to spend a stupid amount of money to be my neighbor, now is your chance!

And now, I should sleep - I'm sure my recovery has been helped by the fact that I've been getting a good amount of sleep, but I have to be on starting at nine tomorrow, which is earlier than I've been on in weeks, and so going to bed now is a v. good idea. Goodnight!

and they're zipping white light beams, disregarding bombs and satellites

I had a pretty lowkey day - I think I'm getting better, but my brain and body are clearly not at 100% because I was unusually inarticulate while giving a presentation today and I felt sleepy through most of my afternoon meetings despite getting plenty of sleep last night. Luckily the pain is getting somewhat better (as long as I'm in a lounging or standing position; sitting in a regular chair is the worst), so I'm sure I'll continue to improve. But I did discover last night that in the UK, it's recommended to take 2-4 weeks off after the procedure I had, while in the US my surgeon told me I could probably go back to work in a few days (leaving it vague how I would actually feel about that). So I took great pains to tell as many coworkers as possible about that little fact so that everyone will continue cutting me some slack on my absurdly long list of unanswered emails and my general inability to focus.

sssanyway. My meetings were generally fine and I skipped everything I could skip, and I stopped working around 4:30. Then I messed around my house, talked to [censored] about locks, ordered some takeout Thai food, and took a walk - it was the first outing beyond my property that I'd been on in a week, so it was pretty exciting. I also talked to my dad, who called to make sure I was recovering (since he knows how recovery goes). And I spent some quality time looking at tings online for my Iowa house - I'm trying to time the ordering of things so that I'm there when it gets delivered while also not getting screwed by the supply chain, and that's a really delicate balance.

And now, I think I'm going to wrap up my screen time early so that I can decompress and go to bed - goodnight!

all my favorite songs are slow and sad

I went back to work today, but it was a bit of a challenge - sitting in a desk chair is not my friend right now, so I mostly took meetings while lounging on my chaise like a Victorian invalid. I also seem to get tired pretty easily, despite getting a full night's sleep last night, so that is going to start getting frustrating soon. But I am recovering, even if it's slower than I would like, and I'm lucky that there is nothing truly physically demanding going on right now.

So, I made some attempts at work, and it was all totally fine, but I slacked off early and talked to Alyssa. Then I did mostly nothing the rest of the evening - I could have done some virtual socializing but my body didn't feel up for it, and so instead I messed around / journaled / ate leftovers / relaxed. And now, I'm contemplating how early is too early to go to bed, and I'm finding that perhaps the answer is that I should go to bed very soon. Goodnight!

working for the weekend

As I declared last night, I decided to take today off as well in an effort to further my recovery. I think this was a smart move - I got a lot of sleep last night, and my pain is in much better shape today, but I still tire easily and am sore (especially depending on how I sit). Of course, I may regret it tomorrow since I'm so far behind on work that it's laughable, but that's a problem for Future Sara to resolve.

sssanyway, I slept in this morning, then took it easy with tea and my journal and other distractions. At some point Sarah-Frances showed up bearing some gifts (in the form of frozen meals + iced coffee), so we chatted for an hour or so, which was a v. welcome break. Then I ordered some pho for lunch, messed around, took one meeting just to find out what's going on at work in case I need to know anything for tomorrow, and then messed around the rest of the day. I did force myself to do some house tasks just so that I could have things a little more tidy for tomorrow, and I also reheated one of the frozen meals that Sarah-Frances brought me (which was a winner).

At that point, things were already pretty boring, so I ended the day by finishing THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS AN EASY JOB, which was the novel I started a few days ago. I thought it was really nice, all in all - the vaguely supernatural elements didn't pan out quite the way that I expected them to, but it was a lovely book to spend a few hours with.

And now, even though it's only 10:13, I'm going to consider going to bed early so that I can get as much sleep as possible before having to start things tomorrow. Goodnight!

the shadow of my life was hanging over me

Today was a v. boring day - I have reached the cranky and bored stage of my recovery, and also felt like things hurt slightly more than they did yesterday, which was v. unwelcome. I did get quite a bit of sleep last night, and I mostly took it easy today, but I still wished it was all better than it was. I attempted to distract myself with journaling, reading, etc., and I also talked to Terry, Chandlord, and my parents, all of which went a long way toward bringing me out of my doldrums. And Katie, who continues to be a top-notch friend, came over this evening with a couple of grocery-related tings and a takeout pizza, so we chilled for an hour and that was a delight.

Otherwise, I have nothing to report - I decided to take tomorrow off as well rather than try to push myself through a recovery that isn't quite there yet, so I'm going to aim for maximum sleep tonight and tomorrow. And with that in mind, I think I'm going to crawl into bed with a book and see what happens - goodnight!

i played it hard and fast 'cause i had everything

I had an extremely hermity, lazy day today - perhaps to be expected since I'm still recovering, but I haven't spent four straight days in my house without leaving in awhile, so I may be getting bored. My abdomen is still pretty sore, but it's not as bad as it was, so I didn't have to take anything stronger than ibuprofen (although right now I'm tempted). And I'm clearly more tired than usual, since I took at least three naps today (#noregrets).

Otherwise, I have v. little to report - I finished FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS this morning, and it was v. thought-provoking. It's basically an anti-productivity book - or rather, the premise is that if you can let go of beliefs around perfection, maximum productivity, attempts to get everything done, grandiose visions of what might be (and all the doors you leave open just in case), etc. and instead focus on the couple of things that really matter to you, that level of acceptance is the only way to come to terms with the human condition and do the things that you should be doing. This feels like a good reminder - I have, after all, been prioritizing everything but writing for a long time, ostensibly for good reasons, but I no longer want to put it off for some distant day where I theoretically might have more time.

At some point I had a ham sandwich for lunch, and took a couple of aforementioned naps, and basically messed around online. I also ordered dinner from a Mexican plan I hadn't tried before, and the enchiladas were exactly what I needed (even if my stomach briefly rebelled after several days of soup and snacks). And tonight I started reading THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS AN EASY JOB - it's fiction, translated from Japanese, and it has some v. surreal elements as the nameless protagonist goes between slightly-supernatural temp jobs looking for something mindless to do while recovering from burnout. So far I'm enjoying it, although I can't quite tell where it's headed yet.

And now, I think I should attempt to sleep - goodnight!

lover come hold me, head's on the fritz

I had a v. lazy day, with the intent of supporting my recovery as much as possible. However, the pain in my abdomen was slightly worse today than it was yesterday - the incisions are tiny and don't look particularly angry, but perhaps those holes were just big enough to slip an immersion blender inside and go to town with it. Who knows - I certainly don't, since I was asleep when the robot attacked. But as along as I take ibuprofen or tylenol as scheduled, and occasionally slip in something stronger, it's all totally manageable.

So today was fairly boring, but I got plenty of sleep last night and took a couple of naps today, so that seems good. I also grazed on soups and various snacks throughout the day, texted with some people (hi master of disaster!), and talked to my parents, [censored], and Veronica. And I've finished the evening by reading quite a bit of a book called FOUR THOUSAND WEEKS, which is a self-help type book that is anti-productivity (at least in the classic sense of how productivity books are usually written) - so far it's really good and is hitting a lot of nerves that I've been working through recently, but I'll have more to say about it when I finish it.

And now, even though my mind wants to stay up and finish the book, my abdomen is telling me it's time for bed. Goodnight!

apathy's a tragedy and boredom is a crime

Today was a relatively boring day, all in all - luckily Katie came over to keep me entertained and fed, so that was a good way to take my mind off everything. I was also able to shower this morning, which was a treat. I took the bandaids off the incisions; they're still covered in surgical tape, but now I can see the bruising and dried blood around the incisions, which is partly interesting and partly not something I like seeing.

sssanyway. I feel better than I expected to, although I felt slightly worse today than I did yesterday - I think the hospital drugs all wore off last night, and I was somewhat nauseated today, so it made for some weird meal choices. But I'm able to move around just fine, so I'm hopeful that I can get through this phase as soon as possible.

Beyond that, I have nothing to report - Katie and I had a delightful time today (and she did actually get several hours of work done), and she took out my trash for me before she left, so she's an excellent friend. We also had a really fun time spying on my neighbors - it appears that the people I share a duplex wall with are abruptly moving out and selling, so if you want to be my neighbor in Denver, please buy it!

After Katie left, I spent the evening napping (both planned and unplanned), grazing the foodstuffs in my kitchen, and watching Bo Burnham's 'Inside' (a comedy special on netflix). It was a little too surreal in parts even for me, but other parts made me laugh out loud, so it was a good way to waste 90min or so.

And now, I think I'll start winding down and considering bed - goodnight!

everybody wants to rule the world

I have v. little to report today, but today went about as well as it could have considering that I'm still recovering from having a robot dig around my insides. When I woke up, Aunt B was still here, so we hung out in the kitchen and I made some oatmeal in my instant pot. She left around 9:15 or so, but my fridge is still stocked with her memory (namely, vegetable beef soup).

I had about 45mins to myself, and I made good use of it to sign some legal documents despite the fact that several nurses told me not to sign anything or buy anything for a couple of days. I feel pretty good about the legal documents, but maybe I shouldn't given how much stuff I bought from Nordstrom Rack late last night (in my defense, I need a dress for a wedding; but honestly, even though some of it will go back because I ordered two sizes of several things, there were tings in there that definitely weren't for the wedding - so we'll see if my sober self likes any of it!).

Then Katie came over to spend the day - she was ostensibly working and I was ostensibly resting, but we mostly gossiped and caught up on our families' respective lives. I also ate some potato soup (which she insisted on stirring so she could do something to take care of me), talked to Aunt Kathy for a bit, and eventually did take an afternoon nap. I think Katie's coming again tomorrow, which is good distraction for both my mood and my pain levels, so we'll see what happens!

After Katie left, I talked to my parents, messed around on my phone, did a very small load of laundry to wash some stuff that came today, and ate leftover vegetable beef soup. Then I watched the first episode of 'Only Murders in the Building' and also the first episode of 'The Great' - both of which has extremely different vibes. 'Only Murders' stars Steve Martin, Marvin Short, and Selena Gomez, and they're amateurs who love true-crime podcasts and are trying to solve a murder in their apartment building. 'The Great' is a dramedy about Catherine the Great, who is my jam - Russia under the tsars was pretty much batshit crazy, and her rise to power was more batshit than some. I know they took a lot of poetic license with it, but so far so good.

And now, I think I shall sleep so that I can pursue a grand plan of watching TV and reading and talking to friends tomorrow - goodnight!

leading you down into my core, where i've become so numb

So in addition to buying a house, I had an entirely unrelated adventure today - I don't know if they make "Baby's First Surgery" Christmas ornaments and/or if that's appropriate for a newly-minted 40-year-old, but I had my first-ever surgery today. This was scheduled before everything happened with my dad (but several months after I started pursuing it, tanks to how backed up non-essential surgeries are due to covid). So the timing could not have been much worse, especially since I'm closing on a house and can't go there or do anything with it (particularly since I can't lift more than ten pounds for the next two weeks). Luckily my dad seems to be doing better, but still, it's all a lot right now.

sssanyway. The surgery was lowkey as surgeries go - it involved a robot conducting a laparoscopic surgery to remove a fibroid (which turned into 3 fibroids, apparently, but they're almost definitely benign, so no worries there). There was an actual surgeon directing the robot, but I asked to meet the robot and also asked if today was the day that it was going to go rogue, which they assured me it would not. So clearly I had a slight amount of fun in the operating theatre before they told me I was going under - I said 'bye bye', they all laughed, and then I never saw them again. So hopefully the robot let them live another day after I went into the recovery room, because I was not there to witness any later carnage.

Luckily, Aunt Becky is full time in Colorado now, so she was able to take me (and is staying here tonight). Surgery has multiple indignities, such as having to spend a minute or so swabbing the inside of my nose with betadine; I also almost passed out when the nurse tried to put an IV in my wrist, so that was worse than the surgery itself because I was completely out for the surgery. Now I have four little incisions in my abdomen, including a bandaid over my belly button, so this would be a v. bad time for a goa'uld to come out of there (gratuitous Stargate reference is for [censored] and [censored] only).

So the surgery went fine, recovery was fine, I got some orange sherbet (the delicacy of all hospitals everywhere) and later threw it up outside my house after somehow controlling my nausea all the way home. But I rested / slept for a couple of hours, and then felt good enough to eat some excellent vegetable beef soup that Aunt B made. We watched some tv together, and I talked to my parents, and generally everything feels okay-ish. The incisions really only hurt if I move, especially since stomach muscles are required for getting up / down, so I think my pole vaulting career is temporarily over. But hopefully the recovery is quick.

And now, I should sleep - I'm taking the rest of the week off to recover, with the intent of watching every show on Netflix/Hulu that I haven't watched in the last decade, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!

treat this night like it will happen again

Apparently if I don't blog for two nights in a row, people assume I have either killed zee blog or am dead. Neither is true! However, tings have been super busy:

- I had intended to celebrate my 40th birthday in San Francisco on Saturday, but those plans were canceled awhile ago (tanks Delta!). So I celebrated my birthday with cupcakes and leftover Mexican food in ye olde Iowa on Saturday (and also celebrated that my dad is out of the hospital), and then [censored] took me to the airport so I could fly back to Denver. [censored] was pulling a military cargo trailer full of wasps (don't ask), so he didn't linger at the airport while saying goodbyes. This left me time to drink rosé and watch part of the Iowa / Iowa State game (which the wrong team won) before boarding my flight. The flight was half-full (probably thanks to 9/11) and the flight attendant wished me happy birthday, so it was almost pleasant.

- Sunday I did a million tings around the house + got a gel manicure. This was enough to almost make me feel normal.

- Today I had to slog hard and fast most of the day because I'm v. behind at work and am about to be more behind. I also did multiple tings related to a secret project that I've been working on - the secret project is that I'm buying a house in Iowa! That is a long, ridiculous story on its own, and perhaps I will share it with you someday. But we're closing Wednesday, and so I spent some time today trying to switch the utilities over. In a small town, this means I'm waiting on a girl I went to high school with to call me back about the water, and the gas company is only open twelve hours a week (but they're mailing me a packet to start service). But the electricity and internet should be taken care of, so as long as I don't need water or heat I should be in business.

- Tonight I also had to slog, but that included making a v. deluxe potato soup that I intend to enjoy over the next couple of days. I also talked to my parents and to [censored], and I did another hour or so of day job stuff.

And now that you're all caught up, I believe it's time for bed - goodnight!

i'll take some from you tonight

Today was a good day, all in all - I got up in time to make coffee and take care of some tings around the house, and then I drove to Des Moines to take care of some more tings. This included liberating some more treasures from Uncle Brian's house - he's closing on selling the place in the next day or so, so [censored] and I claimed some more worldly possessions to store in various garages and basements around the countryside.

After that, I ran to a bank, then ran some errands for my dad, then grabbed a salad and ate it in the parking lot of a grocery store, then drove home. Of course, since we live so far from anything, this errand took five and a half hours. But when I got home, Dad was here - he got out of the hospital this morning, which is great news. I spent a bit of time this afternoon making some gluten free funfetti cupcakes, and then [censored] arrived and we promptly picked up Mexican takeout for dinner.

And now, I should sleep - I'm headed back to Denver tomorrow evening and have a million tings to do before then. Goodnight!

treasure maps, fallen trees, operator, please

Finally, some good news - my dad had another procedure today and it went really well, so hopefully that means he'll get out of the hospital tomorrow. That means I might get to see him for ~24hrs before flying back to Colorado, so that's pretty exciting!

I took today off, and I'm taking tomorrow off as well - it was perhaps not strictly necessary, but also my brain is completely fried and I can't keep alternating between catastrophes + career without even a few minutes of break. And today I wanted to be up in Des Moines in case things did not go well, even though there was no point in going up as early as my mom did just so that I could sit outside the hospital and wait. So I got up at my usual time and did a bunch of stuff around the house before heading up to the city. When I got up there, I went to Target before I went to the hospital - I had some tings to pick up and this seemed to be as good a time as any. Just as I was checking out, my mom called and said they were taking my dad into his procedure - so I drove to the hospital and sat near my favorite parking lot tree, alternating between reading twitter and napping while waiting for news.

Luckily the news was good - if it had been bad, that would have been a) tragic and b) hard to deal with while sitting alone in a parking lot, since [censored] had to work today. So, since it was good news, I chatted with my mom briefly and then drove home. That got me here in time to do a tiny bit of day job stuff and eat a bunch of leftover pizza + do some laundry before my mom got home, and then we hung out for awhile.

And now, I should sleep - I did another 30min or so of day job stuff when I came downstairs, but hopefully I can be mostly off tomorrow so that I can do some stuff to help get things settled around here. Goodnight!

what's going on

I'm v. tired and I have a headache, and I am somehow losing my voice, so I think I should go to bed. Today was fine, but it was much too busy for my current mental state - I had to do a hard and fast slog from ~8:30 to 1 to catch up on some stuff that absolutely had to get done today (with a small break to eat some of the delish chicken/mushroom/parmesan that I made the other night), and then I had meetings straight from 1-4 + another one from 5:30 to 6:30. So much for taking the day off. But the stuff that had to get done is now done, at least for a few days, so I guess I'll take it even if it fried my brain.

After I was done working, I drove into town and picked up pizza from Casey's (the beloved convenience store pizza of all true Iowans). My mom was slightly later getting back from the hospital than I had expected, but the pizza was still decently warm when she got there. So we ate pizza and talked, and then I eventually retreated to my room to finish a bit of work.

And now I should sleep - I have nothing further to share (other than that my dad is still in the hospital), so sleep is more important than trying to write something longer. Goodnight!

a blanket of stars covers me in my bed

No blog tonight - I'm super tired after a full day spent mostly sitting in [censored]'s truck in various parking lots, and also from trying to get some work done while parked in those parking lots. But my dad's procedure today went okay - he's still in the hospital and needs more done, but at least today was okay.

And now I'm desperate for sleep - goodnight!

watermelon sugar

I have nothing of interest to report today. Tings with my dad are stable - since it's a holiday weekend he couldn't get the test he needed, so he's chilling in the hospital until they can do the test tomorrow (and then potentially some tings after that). My mom went up to Des Moines to spend the day with him, but since there is no way for me or [censored] to go into the hospital and there is no reason for us to sit in the parking lot for eight hours and look at our usual tree, we opted to stay home.

This was a good thing, since our air conditioner was broken (as of last night) which means it was a balmy 84 degrees or so in here this morning. I have taken the general life approach of trying to make enough money to pay people to fix things for me, but it turns out that money is a useless joke here because there is no one to hire and we likely couldn't have gotten someone out to fix it. Luckily [censored] has spent the better part of a decade acquiring tools and watching YouTube videos and teaching himself how to do things, so [censored] was actually able to fix the air conditioner. I was completely not helpful on that one, but I did make him an omelette, so I think that counts for something.

I then spent the afternoon getting some tings organized, buying groceries, watering my mom's plants, and generally trying to take care of stuff. I also did an hour and a half of day job work (along with another two hours tonight) - I still have some stuff that I absolutely must do while sitting in the parking lot staring at a tree tomorrow, so hopefully I can accomplish it before anything substantive happens with my dad. And I paused to make an extremely delicious supper - I wanted takeout but the only place we can get takeout was closed for labor day, so I had to cook. But I made some creamy chicken mushroom parmesan and some mashed potatoes that were really excellent, so my mom and [censored] were pretty happy with my efforts.

And now I should sleep - [censored] and I are driving up to sit in the parking lot tomorrow during my dad's procedure, so we'll see how tings go. Goodnight!

that missing piece is found

I am unfortunately in ye olde Iowa - my misfortune is tied to the reason that brought me here, not to the fact that I'm in Iowa per se (since I like Iowa enough to visit regularly, clearly I don't consider flying into Des Moines to be a misfortune). My dad is in the hospital in Des Moines, and while he's stable and is apparently his usual jokester self, it's unclear what's happening or why. I wasn't here for the episode that resulted in his hospital stay (thanks to my mom and [censored] for being there!), but I caught the first flight to Iowa this morning.

So, that's all rather unfortunate. I don't know how long I'll be here, but fingers crossed they're able to do some more tests in the next couple of days and find a treatment plan so that he can come home.

In the meantime, I'm mostly schlepping things and people around. [censored] picked me up at the airport this morning, and we took lunch to Mom before driving to our hometown. Since my dad can only have one visitor a day, that mostly leaves [censored] and I either sitting in a parking lot or perhaps being at home (if we're okay being an hour and a half from the hospital). This time, we drove home, where we discovered that the air conditioner is broken (lol). So [censored] dealt with that, while I grabbed a few things that had been forgotten in the mad dash to get my dad to the hospital. Then I drove back to Des Moines, handed those things to my mom, grabbed a snack at a gas station (a surprisingly adequate microwaveable tamale that was gluten free), and then drove my mom back home. It's unclear whether tomorrow will hold similar amounts of driving - but if it does, I really need to get some sleep first. Goodnight!

this is the best part

I have nothing of note to report today - other people in the family were having good news today (such as my dad, who secured his next project), but my news was mostly inconsequential. I had meetings from 8:30 to 4, with a break for lunch (I worked for 45min of my break and ate on my patio for 15min). Then I ran an errand, came home, and talked to my paretns, who were in fine form.

Then I went to Katie's for a last-minute dinner - she invited me over for taco night, and I was happy to take her up on it. We sat outside most of the evening and it was great - my allergies and the smoke aren't so great, but the company mostly made up for it.

And now, this is boring but I don't have any better content for you, so it's time for bed. Goodnight!

i play my music in the sun

I spent most of the day working, as per usual (although I did start it by watering plants and drinking coffee and journaling on my back patio, so at least that was relaxing). But I slacked off around 5:45 - Andy and Nina came over, and it was a total delight to hang out with them. We had a drink at my place - I made a High Five, which is gin, aperol, grapefruit, lime, and simple syrup, and it's a perfect home cocktail because it's simple but also delicious. Then we walked to Brazen and had dinner outside - yes, I've been there three times in the last four weeks, and no, I have no regrets.

We hung out on the patio for a couple of hours and had a tasty assortment of small plates, and we discussed many and varied topics (including Ukraine, which they weren't aware of (they weren't aware of my time there; they were aware of the existence of Ukraine)). It started to rain while we were there, which was fine because we were under an umbrella - but it was raining hard enough that we took an uber the eight blocks back to my place to avoid getting soaked. They hung out another hour and a half or so, and we talked about books and movies and NCIS:LA and the difference between fantasy and scifi, and it was all great.

But now, I should sleep - I have meetings starting at 8:30 tomorrow, so I should probably get some rest. Goodnight!