this light is contagious, go, go tell your neighbors

I've had a v. small town couple of days. Yesterday, I had a meeting about the mural project, which I'm pretty excited about - I think I have signed up for more than I would ideally like to do, but I also think it's pretty amazing that the county is getting 18 new/refurbished murals, so I'm #inittowinit. I also had dinner last night with Allie (my niece) and Chris (my soon-to-be nephew whose name I know with about 50% accuracy, but I like him more than that fact would indicate). We went to the Mexican restaurant in town, which I ate for four meals in the last seven days because I tend to have leftovers, and I'm sure the wait staff was surprised to see me with someone who wasn't [censored].

So, that was fun, and it was a good reminder that I am about to eat at a bunch of places where my alcohol bill alone will be more than my full meal bill here. #funfact I spent ~$50 in restaurants in February, so I would expect that most of my meals in SF/Seattle will exceed my monthly total in Iowa.

sssanyway. Yesterday I also spent some time saying farewell to my parents, although I saw them both today, so I guess yesterday doesn't count. Today, I met with someone about the mural stuff, then ran some errands, came home, ate leftover Mexican, and spent the afternoon packing. [censored] showed up early after taking the afternoon off, and my mom stopped by to get a tour of the plants that I need her to water while I'm gone. So, I packed with some low-grade interruptions, but I think I have most of what I need and can easily rectify anything I'm missing.

The reason [censored] came home early was to see the town play - tonight was the dress rehearsal, but it was open to the public, and since I couldn't go this weekend, we decided to go tonight. Dad went with us, while Mom went to a meeting that I skipped (and I saw someone else in the audience who skipped the meeting, but we agreed not to tell anyone we saw each other). Mom and Dad were in this play when it was first performed 41 years ago, and the town has done it several times since then - this was the fifth iteration. In a nice gesture, they read off the names of other people who have played each role in the previous iterations, which was a bittersweet trip down memory lane since there were a lot of names of people who have passed away (including my granddad).

So, the play was pretty entertaining - the play is an old Western, and they edited some of the gunslinging and replaced the guns with slingshots, but left in the questionable traitorous Native role (played by one of my high school classmates, who was definitely #inittowinit and told me after that I need to be in the play next year), so I'll give them an overall E for effort on the modernization. I'm glad I went, and I hope they keep the tradition alive, so we'll see.

Then, [censored] and I came home, sent Dad on his merry way, and watched a rather hilarious comedy podcast. And now I need to go to sleep - I am supposed to leave tomorrow, but I need to go to the airport early due to forecasted snow, and I still have some tings I need to do before I leave. Goodnight!