raise the roof

I am beyond exhausted, v is why I'm my already in bed by 10:30. Today was mostly wonderful, although I need far more sleep than my I siggiin... And now I'm going to go to bed, which means sleep is imperative. Good nihn

getting lost forgetting time and space

I'm deeply exhausted, but I'm still having a good time with my work obligations in the city of sin. Today was the main conference day, and so even though I only got four hours of sleep and awoke feeling like death, I made it to the presidio by 7:30 as required. I did spill coffee on myself unusually badly and unfortunately early, but a shout wipe was surprisingly effective at taking care of it. And I enjoyed hanging out with various co-workers while waiting for guests to arrive, so that was fun. 

The rest of the day was uneventful - the summit was v smooth, lunch was good, I did not get nearly enough done with all other aspects of my job but nobody else did either, and I ended it by eating a shocking amount of sushi. This was made even more shocking because we had an eight pm dinner reservation at flour and water in North Beach, where I also ate some excellent gluten free deep dish pizza. And I drank more wine than I wanted, but not nearly as much as last night, for which I'm grateful.

And now I need to go to bed so I can survive another day of being on tomorrow - goodnight!

tension headache

I had a lovely day, including getting up early and writing before going to event rehearsals (and talking to a lonely Uber driver on the way). The only fly in the ointment was that my jaw is acting up and has been v tense, which means it's beyond time to get Botox, but it's like half the price in Iowa that it is here, so hopefully it calms down without me having to take emergency measures. 

But despite my jaw, I went out for a casual team dinner at Penny Roma, followed by more casual drinks, which was probably a mistake (as they always/never are). And now I need to go to bed immediately because I have to be in the presidio by 7:30, which is five and a half hours away, which is far too soon. Goodnight!

somebody told me to believe in better times

I had an excellent, v hermity day in the city of sin, which was exactly what the doctor ordered. I got up fairly early and journaled for quite awhile in the lobby, which felt great. And then I spent most of the day doing spa things - sauna, sweating, bodywork, facial work, etc. I feel pretty wonderful for it, too, even though perhaps I should have done it yesterday because now it's going to be hard to leave this space of relaxation as soon as I wake up and go to work tomorrow. 

But that's a problem for Future Sara - for me, now, it's time for bed!

started staring at the passengers waving goodbye

I have been v remiss about blogging the last few days [and I even named [censored] for the first time in over a decade in yesterday's post, which I have now edited], so allow me to give a slightly deeper update.

Wednesday was still a hard slog despite feeling like what my team got done on Tuesday should have been enough. I worked basically straight through all day, ate a chicken quesadilla for dinner (thanks to myself for making chicken taco meat in the crockpot all day), and then I sped into town and went to a meeting of the local secret society. Numbers are dwindling, so I couldn't skip, but it was nice to see everyone even if I wasn't entirely relaxed. Then I went home and talked to [censored], who had gotten home while I was out, and did a bit more work before going to bed.

Thursday was more of the same, but even more intense - I got up early to write/work, then had allergy shots, and then I voted early since I'll be out of town for election day. I also picked up a couple of tings at the grocery store and got my picture taken for the paper - I can't remember if I mentioned it, but I'm (perhaps ill-advisedly) running for city council, and the paper wanted to run a photo + my responses to a questionnaire. We'll see what happens!

Then I slogged the rest of the day, finished phase two of my big project, took care of some things around the house, and had dinner with Mom and [censored] and Ludlows. The food is pretty good, but I was v. excited to see on facebook that the Mexican restaurant in town surprisingly reopened on Thursday for the first time in several months. Hopefully it stays open - they looked packed when we drove by even though they hadn't pre-announced they would be open, so I hope that encourages them to stick around.

Then I went home and packed like mad for my trip, went to bed, and got less than six hours of sleep before waking up and heading to the airport. I was pretty wiped out from the last couple of weeks of incessant slogging + illness, so I tried to chill a bit on the planes (mostly inadvertently, since I kept falling asleep), but I took a couple of meetings during my Denver layover from the Amex lounge. My trip was totally smooth, so I got to SFO around 3, was at my hotel by 4, and then relaxed / unpacked / did a bit of work / changed.

And then Chandlord came over, and we had a drink at the hotel bar while catching up on life. Then we met Adit at Hed 11, as I mentioned last night, where we had an 8-course tasting menu that was quite good. It was Thai food, which I always enjoy, and I could have eaten much more of the khao soi and also more of the duck. We had a nice time catching up, and I was v. virtuous and back at my hotel by ten / in bed by eleven.

Today I tried to relax as much as possible - while I usually try to pack in as much friend time as possible on these trips, I was too tired / busy / stressed to plan anything, and I realized I kind of just want a weekend to myself. I was supposed to see Katrina today for brunch, but she was sick, so I took advantage of my lack of plans. I spent the morning journaling, drinking coffee, and eating a late breakfast, and then I showered and went to my favorite non-Japanese stationery store (Flax in Fort Mason) to load up on notebooks and stickers. Then I got a mani/pedi at my favorite nail place, and then I walked to Fillmore to go shopping. I browsed multiple places and bought a couple of ridiculous tings (ridiculous mostly because I don't have a lot of opportunities to wear interesting things these days), and was quite happy. I also had an early dinner at Pizzeria Delfina, where my fave pizza was delicious as always.

Then I came back to my hotel and inadvertently got sucked into work for a couple of hours, but that was fine because it means I won't have to do it tomorrow. And now I'm going to go to bed - I have grand plans for an offline spa day tomorrow, and I want to be well-rested to enjoy it even more. Goodnight!

wrecking balls inside my brain

I'm exhausted and falling asleep already, but I'm safely ensconced in the city of sin.  The last couple of days were a whirlwind of tasks, which meant I had to pack in a rush last night after having dinner with Mom and [censored] at Ludlows.

Anyway today was great, but also exhausting. I had an impromptu eight course Thai tasting dinner at Hed 11 with Adit and Chandlord, which was excellent. And now, even though there is much else to report, I'm going to bed - goodnight!

i'm on fire, but i'm trying not to show it

I got through the first phase of the major project I've been slogging on at work recently, which felt great - but I'm completely wiped out and somehow need to get through all the stuff I've dropped in the midst of this chaos. Today was good, though - I got up early enough to write before work, which is probably partially why I'm tired, but it was worth it. And then I showered, sat through many hours of meetings and tasks, and completed the project stuff around six.

At that point, I was v. tired, so I took care of stuff around the house instead - such as trying on tings that I've been ordering online, starting to figure out my packing list for my next trip, making frozen fish and fries for dinner, taking care of some online errands, refilling my fountain pens, doing some more packing/outfit evaluation, etc. And now, I think I'm going to go to bed early and hope that my energy rallies by morning. Goodnight!

where no one knows your name

I actually got up early this morning and wrote, which was nice. I was feeling quite cozy after I turned the heat on - perhaps not necessary, since it was 65 in the house, but I thought I would rather find out now if my furnace isn't working. So I enjoyed curling up on my chaise with my journal and my coffee, and then I took a shower, and then it slowly degraded from there.

First I did a bit of work, and then I went into town to get allergy shots (and a flu shot, in preparation for more traveling). Then I came home and slogged excessively all day - to the point that I actually made a couple of mistakes, which is v. rare for me and indicates that I'm probably not fully recovered. At some point in the afternoon our internet provider came to troubleshoot the fact that [censored] and I keep losing internet, and I have some hope that he fixed the problem - we'll see if I get booted off any calls this week.

[Censored] left around five, and I continued working until about 6:30, when my brain was utterly fried. It was so fried, in fact, that all I could do was read an issue of Conde Nast Traveler - and I managed to pick the issue that was basically 85% lists of the top hotels / resorts / cruise ships / airports / etc around the world as voted on by various readers (some of whom seemed to have questionable taste). But this was about as much as my brain could handle, so I'll take it.

Then I ate a v. late dinner, took care of a couple of personal/local tings, cleaned up the kitchen, etc. And then I was going to go to bed, but I happened to see a couple of things I needed to respond to, so I ended up working for 45mins. And now I really am going to go to bed - goodnight!

come home late in the morning light

I am still not 100% recovered, but I continue to improve. I got plenty of sleep last night, and I had a nice morning - I made coffee, made more coffee, ate a gluten free muffin, and wrote in my journal. I'm at the end of a journal, which is a rare and exciting time, so I tested out some options and may have figured out which one I'm going to use next. I was going to order more refills for it, but the refills are from a company based in Malaysia, so I decided I didn't want to deal with potentially paying tariffs on a shipment that always would have been exempt under previous rules. And no, this doesn't mean I'll find an American company instead - American paper is all garbage compared to journals produced by other major participants in WWII (Japan, Italy, France). But I think these refills are sold at my favorite stationery store in SF, so maybe I'll stock up there instead.

sssanyway. I spent a little too much time procrastinating this afternoon, but I did convince myself to go outside and clean up my gardens. This involved ripping out my cucumbers, thanking my eggplants for their service, and cleaning up most of the tomatillos (except the load-bearing parts that are supporting the tomatoes that are still trying to make it). There are still some peppers and tomatoes that are bravely racing the frost - and they're racing my imminent departure for another work trip, but we'll see if any of them make it. There are more peppers on my plants right now than there were through the entire summer combined, and I need to find a new solution for next year because I would dearly love to have a huge pepper crop and wasn't able to make it happen this year.

So, my garden is somewhat tidied up, and [censored] let me throw stuff in his tractor bucket (and then into his compost/stick pile), which was v. kind. I spent the rest of the afternoon showering, taking care of random tasks, talking to Drewbaby and Sammi, etc. And then, despite my firm intention to not cook today, I made breakfast for dinner - I was in the mood for hashbrowns, so I made hashbrowns and scrambled eggs. Sadly I had to do a couple of hours of work after that rather than watching tv or relaxing, but a couple of hours of work tonight is a couple of hours I don't have to do tomorrow (or rather, a couple of hours that I can devote to other, different work).

And now I need to sleep before I wreck my nascent recovery - goodnight!

cruel professor studying romances

I am still on the mend from my illness, and so I was far more tired today than I wanted to be. But despite that, I had a decent enough day overall. I woke to an unusual amount of fog and a reminder that winter is coming, but then it turned into a sunny day that was good for my mood. 

So I made coffee, ate a muffin, read a bit, and did some desultory things online before deciding I couldn't spend the whole day on such endeavors. And then I showered, are some leftovers, and spent the afternoon cleaning my office. I finally got my closet put back together and everything reorganized, which is v satisfying. I still have some minor tasks that I want to do, and I desperately need to dust and vacuum, but at least it's finally tidied up again.

Eventually it was time to make dinner, which was super easy because I just thawed out a couple of jars of Grandma Barb's spaghetti sauce and made some pasta to toss in with it. I don't know who Grandma Barb is - she's not my grandma - but whoever did have her as a grandma was lucky because this sauce recipe is great. 

Mom came over as I was cooking the pasta, and so she and [censored] and I had a v nice dinner together. Then I spent way too long scrolling on my phone while [censored] watched Family Guy, but I eventually escaped my phone, came upstairs, and wrote a few pages in my journal. 

And now, I need to sleep in order to further my recovery. Goodnight!

easy come easy go

I am feeling better, although I perhaps pushed it too hard today. I had a haircut scheduled in Des Moines for 9am, and I didn't really want to go, but there was not another good time to do it, so I sucked it up and left the house at 7:30. The drive and appointment were smooth, and on a different day I might have worked from coffee shops all afternoon so that I could do some shopping after. 

However, I'm still not 100%, and I have too much work right now, so I just hit up Trader Joe's for some gluten free stuff, grabbed an unsatisfying lunch at the worst Chipotle in America, and then headed home. I stopped at the new Starbucks in Indianola to grab coffee and also take a meeting, drove the rest of the way, and had three hours of meetings as soon as I got home. 

By then I was beyond hitting the wall, so I closed my laptop, did some laundry, scrolled mindlessly for awhile, and finally made dinner (Elmer's chili). And now, after have dozed for awhile and procrastinated on bedtime even longer, it's time to sleep. Goodnight!

all i need is to be struck by your electric love

I am feeling marginally better today - I still have a sore throat, and I hit a wall sometime this afternoon, but I'm certainly much better than I was on Tuesday. Unfortunately, I still had to work more than I wanted to today. This seems to be a theme right now, and I certainly hope it stops being a theme, but we shall see.

Anyway, I worked pretty relentlessly, but I also stopped to make some huevos rancheros for a late lunch, which was tasty. I tried sitting outside because it was eighty degrees (ominously, for mid-October), but there were too many bugs trying to eat me, so I retreated to my office again. And I finally took a break to talk to my mom, try on some clothes I ordered, do some more work, and then eat dinner with [censored]. We had the last of the leftover bratwurst + a baked potato (for me), which was not exactly an exciting dinner, but was better than both cooking or starving.

And now that I have done another chunk of work and also folded laundry (how industrious of me), it's time for bed. Goodnight!

I'm feeling unstoppable

The title is a lie - I have the song stuck in my head, but I'm feeling v stoppable since I'm still sick. Yesterday was a total shit show - I was v ill, but I basically had to work straight from nine to six because there were a couple of critical things that absolutely had to get done or else I was blocking ten other people. Of course, most of those people were also sick, since it seems that our v fun team dinner last week was a super spreader event. But I got my tasks done just in time to be rewarded with an aura migraine, which I get rarely - but when I do I literally can't see straight since my vision gets all these crazy jagged edges. 

So I spent the rest of last night mostly chilling and doing some online shopping (after I could see again, but before I had full judgment back, so we'll see what shows up).

Today was slightly better, since I got some sleep and had a somewhat more chill day. My throat is starting to improve a bit, so hopefully the worst is behind me. And I had leftover pizza for lunch + leftover layered lettuce and potato salad for dinner (with some pulled pork that I pulled from the freezer, which was perfect). And now, I'm going to go to bed and hope some more sleep is restorative - goodnight!

when the wine runs out

I am still sick, which is a real bummer. It's especially a bummer because I was supposed to have today off, and instead I was off but also sick, which is most certainly not an upgrade. And now I have to somehow catch up throughout the rest of the week while still being sick, which is not what I wanted to do this week.

But today wasn't all terrible - I journaled, napped a bit, ate some leftover pizza, napped/relaxed some more, did a bit of work, got groceries (out of necessity), and made myself a box of gluten free mac and cheese that expired six months ago but was still pretty good. And then I did some work because I absolutely had to. And now I'm going to go to bed and hope that I recover somewhat overnight - goodnight!

dang

I think I brought a cold back from SF - I wasn't feeling great last night, and it got worse today. I spent yesterday relaxing to an almost nauseating degree, and then I picked up pizza for Mom and [censored] before watching last week's SNL and going to bed early. 

Today I lazed about in deference to my possible cold, although I got some good writing done. I also continued to chip away at cleaning my office, which is becoming dire. And then I went out to Mom's to grill brats to go along with the potato salad and layered lettuce she made. It was warm today but fall is steadily approaching, and this may have been the last grill session of the season. 

And now I need to go to bed - goodnight!

her soul slides away

I felt much better than I deserved to feel this morning - definitely tired and vaguely hungover, but not nearly as bad as the chronicle of last night's team dinner (and after dinner drinks, and after after dinner grubstake) would suggest. This was a relief, since I had to pack and go to the airport, and it would have been v upsetting if I had felt worse.

So I packed, showered, took one meal from the hotel, and then headed out. I had enough time at the airport to have Andale for lunch, which used to have much more presence in the Bay Area and now it's basically just at the airport. My flight was originally on time but had to return to the gate for a cargo issue, so we got into Denver 15ish minutes late. This was a problem bc my layover was about as tight as I ever allow myself to schedule, and my Des Moines flight started boarding as I was getting off the SF plane.

Luckily, I was only ten or so gates away and didn't have to switch terminals, so I had time to grab an iced coffee on my way - but still one of the last five or so to board. The second flight was uneventful, and then I drove home safely despite seeing many deer.

And now I need to sleep - goodnight?

that's my quant

I'm very sleepy and getting moreso by the second, but I had a v nice day. It involved an unnecessarily long ride to breakfast, but otherwise it was nice. Then I threw in the towel and went out for happy hour, which turned into team dinner, which turned into the after party, which turned into drinks elsewhere, which turned into a two am trip to grubstake for a plate of cheese (working with Adit is strange, but at least I have someone to go deep with when it's time for grubstake).

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

go back jack do it again

I had a busy but very good day in the city of sin. It didn't start out well since I felt like I food poisoned myself last night - I slept v fitfully and my belly hurt all night, which was unfortunate. But I rallied this morning and went to work, where I had like seven 1:1s in a row and most of them involved grabbing coffee. Somehow this didn't shred my stomach even further, and somehow I was still sleepy enough this afternoon to need to grab a coke zero, which implies that my body is either perfectly adapted or not at all adapted to modern life. 

So I had a late lunch, which felt like it went straight into an early dinner - the finance team (of which I am unexpectedly the leader of) had an early dinner reservation at Burma Love, which meant we were there in time for happy hour. This turned into three drinks for a couple of us, and one drink for the guy who seems to only drink after sunset. We hung out there as long as we could, and then we went to Orbit Room, which was the hot bar of 2008 when craft cocktails were coming onto the scene, but now feels tired (at least on a Wednesday) and is still playing Interpol and Massive Attack from the early 2000s. But it was fun and I would do it again, even if I didn't get anyone to go to martunis after. 

And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

you need to calm down

I have nothing to report and I've already been dozing for awhile - I spent the whole day at the office, then had a quiet night in at the hotel. I meant to catch up on work stuff but failed bc I was too tired, so now I need to get up in the morning to work on things - but that should be doable if I actually go to bed instead of just lounging. 

And so I think it's time to do that - goodnight!

you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

I had a pretty decent day in the city of sin, but I worked the entire time, so it probably could have been better. I guess I journaled when I woke up, which was nice - while this hotel is shabby and deep in the tenderloin (one of my favorite haunts), it does have free coffee downstairs, which I availed myself of to fuel some writing. But then I worked while eating breakfast, took a couple of meetings from my room, and eventually went to the office.

The office was pretty fun today because several people came in (and Adit was there too, which was fine I guess). I slogged through many meetings and generally tried to get tings done, with marginal results. 

And then the finance team and I had dinner at a tapas place with our auditors (not Adit), which was pretty fun for a work dinner. It's bizarre that I'm on finance now, but I'm finding it entertaining. And now I need to sleep bc I'm exhausted, but I also have to get up early tomorrow to do all the things I should have done tonight. Goodnight!

wheels up

I am safely ensconced in the city of sin, after a v early start to the day. I made it to SF without issues, and then I spent the afternoon running various errands (mostly getting my nails done, which always makes me think I'm ready to re-enter city life).

But I'm falling asleep while typing this and I desperately need to go to bed, so that's all for now. Goodnight!

boom clap

I need to go to bed immediately because I need to get up in approximately six hours, but I've had some good (albeit chaotic) days. Thursday and Friday were extremely work-filled, but Thursday got a little better because the Mexican food truck happened to be in town, so [censored] and I were able to get takeout instead of me having to cook. Hopefully they reopen their restaurant someday, but we shall see. Friday was more work, and I slogged straight until it was time to pick up Mom. We went to Seymour to eat steak, which was v. tasty - although I've had enough beef this week to last me a bit, so I'm looking forward to eating other tings in the city of sin.

Today was relaxing until it turned into a scramble to finish packing. I spent some quality time this morning journaling over coffee, which was v. nice. I also started packing, although I didn't finish. And I remembered that I had smoked salmon in the fridge just before it expired, so I had a much tastier lunch than I was expecting to.

Then I met up with Sammi (there are, perhaps, a confusing number of Sammis in my life now) and we went to a local flower grower's place for a fall event they were throwing. There were a handful of vendors and some live music, and we stood around and drank root beer and talked for a couple of hours. It was 85 degrees here today, which is worrisomely warm for October, but it made for a nice afternoon, and Sammi s great.

Then I picked up groceries, swung by my mom's house to give her some flowers and say hi/bye, and then came home and took care of gardening stuff. My peppers might just make it if we get another couple of weeks of warm weather, which is how things are looking, and there are some tomatoes that are trying to get across the finish line too. So I watered and pruned, and then took care of various other chores, and then made supper. [Censored] had requested taco salad, and since he will be the one to eat all the leftovers, I decided to indulge him. It all turned out well, as per usual.

Then I scrambled to clean the kitchen, water all my plants, pay bills, take care of various tings, pack my suitcase, etc., etc. And now I need to wind down and go to bed - goodnight!