peace of mind

I have had a v. eventful few days. Work continues to be a slog, which is why I haven’t had the energy to post at the end of the day - but it’s a (mostly) fun slog, so I am not that resentful of the increased demands on my time.

So, let’s see what we missed (what you missed in reading + what I missed in documenting):

Thursday was my birthday (#neverforget), and I celebrated as soon as I woke up by having a funfetti cupcake instead of a granola bar with my coffee. I spent the day slogging through a variety of tings and also fielding texts from a variety of people - the advantage of a 9/11 birthday is that it is remembered by people even if they don’t have it on their calendars, so I feel like I hear from more people than average (and then feel guilty because I definitely don’t remember everyone else’s birthdays).

After I was done with work, my mom, [censored] and I went to Garden Grove to celebrate my birthday at one of the only restaurants around that was open. I always love their cheese curds and fried pickles even though they certainly are not gluten free; I also had a southern Iowa lemonade, and the bourbon made up for the fact that my burger wasn’t as good as it usually is. So, we had a nice birthday dinner, and I ended the day feeling very loved (especially because someone at work refused to add me to a 9-11pm meeting because it was my birthday, so I went to bed while everyone else slogged).

Friday was chaotic = I got up and went into town to get allergy shots, and then I slogged through more meetings than I like to have on Fridays. I also had to pack to leave for SF, which made things more chaotic. But since I was originally supposed to fly out Friday night, the fact that I didn’t leave until Saturday morning made it just a wee bit more manageable. So I got packed up, watered all my plants and gardens, organized things, and also made dinner - I baked some chicken breasts, cooked the last of a pack of bacon that was going to go bad before my return, sliced up some fresh tomatoes and some leftover mozzarella, and [censored] and I had a surprisingly delicious dinner (and I left him with leftovers, assuaging my guilt at also leaving him with plants to water).

Saturday, I flew to SF. My flight was at 9, which meant leaving home at 6…and I only left twenty minutes later than planned, which is luckily not a problem when flying out of Des Moines. I parked in the garage, walked straight through security with my carry-on, and had time for a glass of nerve-calming rosé at the bar before boarding on time. My flights were both smooth from a timing standpoint, but unfortunately I was banking on eating on the Denver->SF flight, and they didn’t end up offering any food because there was too much turbulence.

So I landed in SF early but starving. Since I didn’t have to pick up a checked bag, I grabbed a late lunch at a restaurant at the airport before taking an uber into the city. I checked into my hotel, fully unpacked, and then went to my absolute favorite mani/pedi place, were they cleaned up my hands and feet and made me feel ready to seize a week of girlbossing in the city of sin. After that was done, I came back to my hotel, took a much needed twenty-minute nap, put on fresh clothes, and rendezvoused for some much-needed family time.

Adit (no one calls him the cat), Chandlord, Claude and I met up at True Laurel for drinks (aka cacktales), and my boulevardier went a long way toward restoring me after my travels. Then we had dinner at Flour + Water, which has gotten v. good for gluten free. The four of us now arrange our seating by our joint dietary preferences - Claude and I avoid gluten and eat meat to compensate, while Adit and Chandlord are veg only but eat as much gluten as possible. We split all the veg/gluten free salads on the menus, and then Claude and I split an excellent gf pasta + some salmon. This might be my new fave gf pasta in the city, which is v exciting since a place called Flour + Water is not typically welcoming of our gf sensitivities.

We also (of course) ordered a bottle of wine + another couple of glasses after. This is sedate compared to the outings of our twenties and thirties, but still felt like going big given our advanced ages. We spent most of dinner playing a game we dubbed ‘Vibe Check’ - the person in the hotseat had to pick a number between 1-10, where 1 is worst and 10 is best. The other three then went around and asked category questions - e.g., if someone asked ‘Biblical characters’ (as Claude did of me), then the main person had to name something within that category that matched the number/ranking they were thinking of.

As it turns out, we know each other quite well - they got that I had picked a 4 (for reference: my biblical characters was Paul bc I acknowledge his role in promoting the church and writing great letters, but do not appreciate his misogyny or how judgy he was after his Damascus conversion - and Claude guessed exactly how I felt; my other answers were all similarly mid), and for the rest of our rounds we all got within 1 of the person’s number. As games go it was quite fun and not nearly as dangerous as games involving shots, so I would 100% recommend.

Sssanyway, after we finished dinner (with an excellent chocolate budino), we walked a few blocks to meet up with Michael, who is friends with Chandlord and Claude. We hung out in his lobby with him and his partner, and drank some truly atrocious canned Paloma drink (lukewarm 52-proof tequila and grapefruit is really not good, but I drank it anyway because I’m polite and also have no boundaries). We chatted about a variety of topics related to book bindings, house renovations, SF neighborhoods, etc., and it was all generally delightful.

Adit and Chandlord then went with Michael to the Stud (and later to Grubstake, which I’m very sad to have missed, but I couldn’t have survived until 1:30am PT / 3:30am CT after waking up at 5am CT). I walked Claudia back to her car, grabbed an uber from there, and then came to my hotel and fell asleep with the lights on because I was too tired to think.

Today was a great recovery day though. I woke up fairly early, grabbed coffee downstairs, and then chilled and ordered room service breakfast. I also ran over to Chandlord’s to get a set of keys from her - SF hotels are cheap this weekend but out of control this week, so I’m checking out tomorrow and staying with her. Then I came back to my hotel, showered, and walked to the Embarcadero…

…where I had lunch (don’t call it brunch) with John and Jess at Coqueta. I was in the mood for tapas and paella, which I never get in ye olde Iowa, and Coqueta delivered. My salt air margarita was perfect, and the paella was fantastic - and the patatas bravas (fried potatoes if you’re Iowan) were so good that we got a second order. It’s warm in the city right now, so we sat outside, and we people-watched and water-watched and caught up on life in general, and it was all a delight.

After we parted ways, I did basically nothing for a couple of hours (and finally gave up and took a proper nap). Then I grabbed a chai from the Yemeni coffee shop down the street, came back to my room, and wrote for a couple of hours. Eventually I realized I was finally hungry again, so I grabbed a burger and a glass of wine from the hotel bar. And now, I need to start unwinding so that I can hit the work slog hard tomorrow - goodnight!

the power of their source...the crystal

I had a lovely day, even if it did involve a lot of driving around the city of sin. I spent the morning in my hotel, where I packed up, ate a snacky-style breakfast, and did some work. I eventually grabbed my car and drove to South Park, which I have never, ever been to, to have lunch with Adit. It's nice to know that there are still parts of the city that can surprise me -- and also nice to know that there are parts of the city where I can park right in front of my destination (although I suspect this was a fluke).

Adit and I went to a Japanese place near his office, where I had a v. tasty spicy tuna and rice bowl and he had an egg sandwich that I was v. jealous of. Then we grabbed coffees and walked back to his office, where I had a too-brief run-in with Priyanka. It was nice to get an Adit encore after last night's dinner, and it was also nice to be in San Francisco on a warm, sunny day. I've known Adit for twenty-four years now, and I'm guessing we're going to stay friends??

After we parted ways, I drove back to my hotel to grab my bags, which I did not want to leave in my trunk because I thought it would tempt fate (aka robbers). This was painful, since I had to drive near Moscone during a conference, but I made it and then promptly escaped to the glorious south bay. I briefly went to Stanford, which I had not been to in ages - I didn't have a lot of time to walk around, but I bought a new sweatshirt, which I will wear while Stanford continues its slide into post-Pac-12 ignominy.

Then I checked into my hotel down here, changed quickly, and met up with Joann for a long dinner at Shana Thai. The service was weirdly terrible tonight, but it meant we had a couple of uninterrupted hours to catch up, which was v. welcome. We are on some parallel paths in various ways, but I'm glad that my parallel path doesn't involve working at her current employer (which is my former employer). It was great to hang out, and I could have kept going...

...but instead we parted ways, and I came back to my hotel and did a couple of hours of work in the lobby bar. And now, I'm going to go to bed since I have similarly fun plans tomorrow - goodnight!

i'll be living that good life

I should have gone to bed two hours ago, but that's a common refrain. Today was a rush to get out the door. I spent the morning doing a variety of tings, as well as prepping for a writing talk I had to give this afternoon - my former teacher, who is now a Methodist minister, asked me to give a talk at her church, and I had said yes a long time ago. I didn't have to prep really hard, but I did outline what I wanted to say and made a handout for the group, so that all went well.

I also did some other tings, showered, and made lunch (another citrus salad with tuna, which is so delish). Then I went to my talk - happily, 10 or 12 people were there, which was quite a good turnout. I told [censored] later that all the teachers who liked him better in school told me to tell him hi, which was not a lie; two teachers liked [censored] better than me, and they were both there. They clearly liked me well enough to show up, but I know they preferred [censored]...but to each their own, I guess.

sssanyway. My talk went well, and it was fun to do, so I'm glad I got through it. Then I sped home and packed for my Colorado trip. I had hoped to be ready to leave as soon as my talk was done, but that clearly didn't happen. Also, there have been a lot of storms in Denver that were headed across Nebraska, and I was nervous about driving into them. So I purposefully left relatively late (after 6pm) and drove only as far as Lincoln, where I had a hotel where I could park my car in the garage in case of hail. This will make for a long day tomorrow, but it is preferable to driving through a thunderstorm at night.

I drove the whole 3.5 hours without stopping, and I checked into my hotel without incident (the only incident being I had a different hotel in my head and so was v. surprised to see the lobby looking so different from expectations...but this is actually nicer). Then I had a late snack of a salad and some wine at the restaurant, which I enjoyed while writing for the last couple of hours. And now I really desperately need to sleep - goodnight!

and i'll spend all my tomorrows coming down

I made it back to ye olde Iowa without incident yesterday, although it felt like I was just barely escaping in time - I felt a baby earthquake while I was showering, and another big storm was headed in, so the fact that my flight was on time felt like a minor miracle. I was later getting to SFO than I like to be, so I was a bit rushed, but I had time for eggs and potatoes before boarding, which made being squished into coach (after failure to get an upgrade) a little more palatable. I also had a v. tasty salad in Denver, and then getting into Des Moines was a breeze.

I had intended to come straight home, but I had to go to West Des Moines to pick up a prescription, and Drewbaby texted me while I was in Denver to see if I wanted to get together. He moved to the Des Moines area recently, which is the first time since 1999 that all three of us ([censored], Drewbaby, and I] have lived in the same state. Since Drewbaby was six that year, we really don't have much experience being in the same place as adults. So, we met up for dinner, which was delightful, even if the service was absurdly slow (but the portions were huge, which meant I was able to have leftovers for lunch today rather than scrounging in my barren fridge).

When I got home last night, I stumbled around to unpack and unwind, and then slept for almost eleven hours. My mom stopped by briefly after I woke up, and then I scurried to get ready and get into town for a meeting regarding the mural event I'm getting involved in. Then I grabbed some groceries, came home, took care of a bunch of online tings, did some work for the mural project, etc. And I also made dinner - a new-to-me shrimp and broccoli stir fry that was adequately tasty and also adequately easy, and also gluten free and hopefully easy for my still-recovering-from-trip stomach.

Eventually, [censored] came home, so we talked for awhile and also watched some tv. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

these days i miss strangers more than i, more than i miss my friends

I am back in ye olde Iowa after a long and fruitful trip to my former haunts. Today was a slow but steady slog toward the airport and then home - I had plenty of time to get ready while drinking free hotel coffee (surprisingly good!), and then I got to the airport early enough to have my beloved Cantina Grill before boarding my plane. The flight was uneventful, with a bit of uneasy turbulence, and we landed on time.

Then I picked up my car and drove home - the first thirty minutes were in a total downpour, which was made slightly more annoying by the fact that it's barely rained here in months and chose today to rain all over me (and over the local celebration that I missed, but which I'm sure was made less fun by rain). When I got home, I talked briefly to [censored], and then we went out to our parents' house for dinner. The bratwurst were tasty, as usual, and Stinky (the local skunk) was v. polite and left when we needed him to, so everything worked out.

And now, I need to get a million hours of sleep and then start detoxing from all the wine / gluten / lack of sleep I've had the past week - goodnight!

we're cool for the summer

I have successfully arrived in ye olde Iowa, after a long drive on several days of too-little sleep. Today was the same boring haze that Nebraska always is - I stopped for gas and Starbucks in Kearney, and for a snack in Lincoln, and for McDonald's in Clarinda, and it was all extremely boring. I regret that I know this route so well, but it makes it easy to go on autopilot. The only exciting thing was getting stuck behind a trailer with a blade of a giant windmill somewhere in Iowa, which I evaded by cutting across a road I'd never gone down and then cutting back to the main highway. This was really not exciting, but I had to share something with you to keep you coming back for this riveting content.

sssanyway, I got home around five, unloaded all my heat-sensitive stuff, took a twenty minute nap, and went to my parents' house for dinner (which I didn't eat all of, but I saved my cheeseburger for breakfast tomorrow). Then I ran to the grocery store, came home, and talked to the guy who drove my moving truck here - he is parked outside my house and is sleeping in his truck tonight so that they can deliver in the morning. It really is a bit bizarre that this is a viable option, but he seemed much happier than he was yesterday (probably because he got here with no issues, parking is easy alongside my house, and he could get beer and food from the convenience store next door). So, I'm relieved to know that all my stuff is less than 50 feet from me, and I'm looking forward to seeing (most of) it tomorrow.

I spent the rest of the evening putting away the tings I brought in my car, and also figuring out where I'm putting various pieces of furniture tomorrow. And now I must go to bed so that I can get some quality sleep before the unloading begins tomorrow - goodnight!

this car drives all by itself

I'm in ye olde Iowa, after a fairly uneventful trip. This was the same flight I took here three weeks ago, but I'm only staying until Monday night - I'm here purely to pick out cabinets, which means I'm looking at swatches in various lights today and tomorrow and then meeting up with the kitchen person on Monday to finalize my choices. I kind of regret coming just for the weekend since I have a million things to do in Denver right now - but once I get back there, I can hermit to my heart's content and order takeout / perhaps see some of the people I didn't really get to say goodbye to at work.

sssanyway, I got to the airport early enough to have a proper breakfast, and then I slept most of the way to Des Moines. [censored] picked me up and we made a stop at a home improvement store to get some stuff for my house; I am capable of paying for things but not capable of lifting things over pickup tailgates, so I was perhaps only marginally useful for this errand. But we got what we needed, and [censored] only [censored] a little bit, and then we drove to southern Iowa. Along the way, we stopped at Taco John's - the one we went to has the weirdest drive-through I've ever seen (a u-shape that is v. difficult to navigate), but I was v. pleasantly surprised by my Super Potato Olés (basically nachos but with tater tot rounds instead of chips), and also happy that they were gluten free.

It's a million degrees here, so we didn't feel like doing much after getting back to my house. We did run out to the parents' house to say hi, drop off sweet corn, and pick up the cabinet samples that my mom had graciously retrieved for me. Then I made some cold brew coffee, took care of some tings, took a brief nap, took a brief shower, and ran to get a few groceries. Eventually, we had dinner with the parents - my mom made sweet corn (the first I've had this season, and it was great), and my dad grilled brats and hot dogs, and it was all tasty. There was also leftover pineapple upside down cake for dessert, so I'd say I got my carbs in for the day.

I then spent the rest of the evening saying that I needed to do stuff / sleep while instead watching YouTube videos with [censored]. But I came up to my office an hour or so ago and actually did do some tings, so at least I have that feeling of mild accomplishment to lull me to sleep. And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

like i can tell that my luck's gonna change

I had a pretty good day, but I flew back to Denver and the scramble to get ready took it out of me. It started by not getting enough sleep the last couple of nights (hence the lack of blogging), and so I was super tired when I woke up. It didn't help that I woke up early to say goodbye to [censored] before he left on an errand, and then instead of going back to sleep, I randomly drove to the next town over to take another v. brief look at cabinet options.

One of the things that happened yesterday was that a guy came over to give me a quote on remodeling my kitchen in Iowa. I've been talking to someone about cabinets, but it was in a somewhat non-decision-making way - but Randy finished most of the inside of my parents' house when they built it, and he's generally acknowledged to be the best around. He took a look at the project and decided he can fit me in in November(ish), which would be great, but requires ordering the cabinets in the next few weeks. Of course, I'm still dithering between going bold with paint, going with the boring light color I originally scoped, or taking a left turn and going for a walnut/white mix that might be the winner.

In classic #smalltownlife vibes, though, Randy quoted me an initial price per hour (which is relatively low, especially compared to what I would pay anywhere else), and then without even being prompted offered to cut another $5/hr off that because of my family. Small town vibes are taking me far - [censored] also got my mail started because he ran into our mailman at a store and told him we'd put up a mailbox (which he'd seen and admired) and were ready to start getting mail there. And [censored] called his friend the county assessor and got a long-gone hot tub taken off my tax assessment with approximately 30sec of conversation. There are disadvantages to #smalltownlife (namely, I continue to be depressed at the lack of food delivery), but many tings are easy to get done.

sssanyway, after my errand this morning, I hurriedly shoved some clothes in a bag, tidied up a bit, and then caught a ride with my parents to Des Moines. They dropped me off at the airport, which felt like old pre-pandemic times before I started driving most trips. I was through security in five minutes and had a salad while doing some writing. My flight to Denver was uneventful, but it took me approx 30min to get out of the airport - getting out of the airport and into town takes almost as long as the flight itself.

When I got home, I crashed - I took a nap, messed around, ordered sushi for dinner, and nursed a massive headache that was likely caused by weird sleeping, weird eating, and altitude. And now I need to sleep - goodnight!

uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, cinco, seís

I have made it to ye olde Iowa after a v. long day of driving, and I'm not particularly excited about turning around and going back in a couple of days. However, there was some stuff in Colorado that needs to be in Iowa, and I could spare the time to make the trip this weekend, so I did it.

Of course, that meant loading the car this morning, so I didn't get out of Denver until almost 10:45am. But I made it all the way with only a couple of gas/bathroom stops + a longer break to sit down and eat dinner at Runza (an apparently Nebraskan chain I had never heard of until I started driving I-80 regularly). And I had a couple of nice chats to break the monotony of the drive - both Ritu and Terry called me, and it was great to hear their voices.

And now, I'm rather desperate for sleep, but I've been engaging in bedtime procrastination. It's time to rectify that. Goodnight!

it's getting repetitive, swallow a sedative

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Chickasha, OK, which you probably cannot guess how to pronounce (hint - the Y is invisible). Typically, I would fly to the family reunion as it's impossibly far from everywhere, but my family is caravaning for multiple reasons (health, difference in needs for rooms, 3/4 of us get carsick and therefore can't ride in backseats), and having me as a passenger who could be a driver is a helpful thing.

So, I spent the morning getting ready, packing, foam rolling in anticipation for the drive, etc. [Censored] and I left my house around 11:30, which was later than we had planned - but [censored] is an excellent driver with a need for speed, so we made good time. [Censored] also definitely enjoyed my color commentary about all the tings we passed (mostly dead trees, with some occasional interesting billboards and a lot of cows). We pulled into Chickasha around 7:45 or so, where my parents were already checked into their hotel - and the four of us went to Braum's, which is a Kansas/Oklahoma fast food chain with a dairy/ice cream component. My shake was pretty tasty, so Braum's lives up to its reputation.

Then [censored] and I checked into our hotel, and I did a bit of stuff and am now getting ready for bed. Texas awaits tomorrow - goodnight!

leaving on a jet plane

In twenty-four hours I'll likely be somewhere over Canada or the North Atlantic en route to the Amalfi Coast and a glorious week with Katie. We have had many adventures together and we are accustomed to lazing by bodies of water, although I'm guessing that Positano and Capri may be slightly more luxurious than floating in a rowboat at the lake at Bob White. And, since we are not underage and also have better jobs than we had in high school, the drinks will probably involve real wine instead of wine coolers. But beyond that, I expect it to be pretty much exactly the same as our usual summer shenanigans.

I spent today mostly prepping for the trip, although I did get up early and grab some coffee and write for forty-five minutes or so. Eventually, I went to the mall to return some things and buy some other things, and I was pretty much the only person wearing a mask because I don't want to get covid right before my trip. I also ran a few other errands, and then I stopped by Katie's to scan her vaccine card for check-in and we ended up talking for an hour and a half. Tomorrow's seatmate should be glad that we got some initial conversation out of the way, although we have barely seen each other in the last few months and so have many and varied possible topics to cover this week.

Then I came home, ate leftover takeout, and did a bunch of organizing / packing. I haven't actually packed, but I got out the clothes I plan to take, and I organized / winnowed my cosmetics and first aid stuff and all the other things that I vaguely remember taking with me on international trips. I'm so out of practice that I'm concerned I'm going to screw up crucial things - but I found my travel adapters, and I found melatonin and earplugs and an eye mask, and as long as I have my contacts / glasses / passport / credit card, I guess everything else can be solved on arrival.

And now, I really need some sleep so that I can make the last push tomorrow before we head to the airport - goodnight!

i caught a vibe

No time to blog tonight - I'm exhausted, but I'm safely ensconced in my bed in Denver. I didn't leave Iowa as early this morning as I probably should have - I was finding myself loath to make the drive and loath to come back to my Colorado life (especially since this week requires a lot of meetings and a lot of extra work). However, I'm excited to be back in my house here and I'm excited for some social plans this week - and I leave for California next weekend, so it's not like I'm going to languish here.

sssanyway, after I loaded my car and took care of some house tings and said goodbye to [censored], the drive was entirely uneventful - I had to stop for a fifteen minute nap at a rest stop near Kearney, and I ate a proper supper at the Qdoba in North Platte, but otherwise the drive was steady. I spent most of it listening to an audiobook called PEAK PERFORMANCE, which was actually pretty good / inspiring - I haven't been in the mood for peak performance in awhile due to the pandemic, but maybe the war horseman of the apocalypse makes me think I should go out and achieve something before it's too late.

But there's no performing tonight - I need to sleep nine hours so that I can survive work tomorrow. Goodnight!

if you're a fly gal, get your nails done

I'm back in Denver for the first time in many weeks (not counting the three-hour layover I had here on the way back from Hawaii in mid-December). Today was a v. long day - I had to load my car, close up my house, and drive 10.5hrs to get here. But I was v. efficient in the drive - I stopped for gas three times (Mt Ayr, IA; Gothenburg, NE; Keenesburg, CO) and one rest stop, but otherwise subsisted on two travel mugs of coffee + a cooler with a sandwich and coke zero + a bunch of popcorn.

Along the way, I alternated between music and podcasts - I'm still loving SmartLess (Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Sean Hayes), and I listened to them talk to Sandra Bullock, Woody Harrelson, and Jimmy Fallon. I also listened to several Brené Brown podcasts, including a two-parter with the guy who wrote Atomic Habits, which may make me read that book. Overall it was an efficient way to get through ten hours of driving, but I came into my house and promptly felt like collapsing.

I did, however, unload most of my car so that things won't freeze, and I forced myself to drink some water and check tomorrow's schedule. I have to go back to work tomorrow for the first time since Dec 6, and it's unclear how brutal that reentry will be - I have too many meetings tomorrow, but it may be easier for me to talk to people to find out what I missed, so I guess I'll take it.

And now, I'm going to try to be in bed by 10pm so I can get a solid night's sleep before tomorrow begins - goodnight!

she's the last true mouthpiece

I'm completely exhausted since my body still hasn't adjusted away from Central timezone and I just threw it two hours even further away, but I had a v. nice day (all things considered) and am now in Hawaii (Oahu to be exact). I woke up in the middle of the night at Ritu's and got an email that my flight was delayed three hours - this was due to the crazy storm they had here over the weekend, which knocked out power to the Maui airport and affected my inbound plane. But by the time I got to Hawaii tonight (three hours later than planned), the rain was gone, so that's lucky.

Since my flight was delayed, this morning was a little more relaxing than I intended for it to be. Bill dropped me off at the airport around ten, and I checked in and spent some time in the AmEx lounge, which was nice. It would have been nicer if I were still hanging out with Ritu (preferably there, on our way to somewhere fancy), but at least I got some quality time with her the last couple of days.

After I boarded, it was all smooth sailing. I read all of THE LAST GRADUATE, by Naomi Novik - I had been saving it, and I knew I would be annoyed at the end because of the requisite cliffhanger at the end of the second book in a trilogy, but it was excellent.

I also, serendipitiously, saw a parade of Pearl Harbor and other WWII vets - my Uber driver couldn't get me all the way to my hotel due to closed streets, so I walked the last five minutes dragging my bag. I paused to see quite a few of the vets, though - with the 80th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, there aren't a lot of survivors left, so it was nice to see the parade.

Then I settled in, grabbed dinner at the restaurant downstairs, and settled in some more. And now I really need to sleep - it's only 9:32pm here, but I could use ten hours of sleep while still getting up early enough to do some fun things. Goodnight!

one for the now and eleven for the later

I'm in my house in ye olde Iowa, where there are approximately a million things I want to do. Today was extremely uneventful - I woke up in Lincoln, showered, packed, had a bit of hotel breakfast, grabbed a bit more breakfast and coffee at a McDonald's in Nebraska City, stopped for gas in Mt Ayr, and was home by 12:30. I got my car unloaded thanks to some help from [censored]; I'm certainly not unpacked or settled in, but at least my car is empty.

Then I went to my parents' house, which is less than five minutes away, so that I could liberate them from all the boxes that showed up over the last ten days. There's more coming, but the arrival of a trash can today meant their front door was officially blocked. Of course, I said hi to them as well - and after we chatted for a bit, [censored] helped me load everything into my car and [censored]'s truck so that we could relocate it all to town. We got everything but the paint sprayer (did I mention I have a million projects?), but that can wait.

Then I went back home, took a nap, and then ran into town to grab takeout Mexican for dinner. I spent some more quality time with my parents, but eventually I came to my house, where I put together one of the four lamps I ordered (this house is v. dark because there aren't enough lights), hauled stuff upstairs, tidied up, and talked to [censored] about various house projects + (unrelated) various comedy shows. On my drive today I listened to the rest of the excellent SmartLess interview with Ryan Reynolds, and I also listened to Conan interview Weird Al, so comedy was on my mind.

And that's a good thing, because this house is comedy and I definitely have some tings to joke about with it. But for now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

i can tell that we are gonna be friends

I am in Lincoln, Nebraska, which is a town I have spent far too much time in over the past four years (and by that I mean I sometimes stop here on my roadtrips, and anytime is more than I want). I knew I wouldn't get out of my house in Denver in time to make it to Iowa straight through, and I was right - but I did make it out around 12:30, which is better than I had anticipated. 

If I hadn't worked yesterday, that might have been different. But I had to load my car, and it was like playing real-life Tetris - I acquired a bunch of stuff in Denver to bring to Iowa so that I can start in on some house projects, and that stuff + the various tings I need for the next few weeks took up all the available space in my car. It's not completely crazy - I can still see out all the windows, and I probably could have fit a couple more things in the passenger seat. But loading up took quite awhile. I also had to tend to my houseplants, clean out my fridge, eat, shower, etc.

So, all of that was fine, and then the drive was completely uneventful. I listened to some music, and I listened to some podcasts - Conan O'Brien talked to Joel McHale (great), Dax Shephard talked to Stanley Tucci (Stanley was awesome; Dax can be a bit long-winded), and I'm now in the middle of SmartLess (Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, and Sean Hayes) talking to Ryan Reynolds. This was a departure from my usual trend of listening to a slightly depressing nonfiction book while crossing Nebraska, and so far it's good.

I *maybe* could have made it the whole way, but I would have gotten home right before midnight, and that seemed too risky. So, I checked into a hotel, grabbed a burger sans bun from Wendy's, and chilled until now. And I should really go to bed so I can get on the road - I have approximately one million packages in my parents' front entry (so many that now my dad is not just sending photos to me of the accumulation, but sending them to the entire family), so I need to get there before anything else shows up (spoiler: more is coming). Goodnight!

when the night is overcome you may rise to find the sun

I am back in Denver (yay!) after a slightly longer than planned day of travel. Today was pretty long overall - I woke up early after sleeping somewhat fitfully, and then I walked to the office (with a stop at my beloved Philz) in time for an 8:30am meeting. I did three meetings from there, walked back to my hotel, did one more meeting, finished packing, and checked out around 11:30. Then I drove to the airport, dropped off the rental car, checked my bag, sailed through security, and spent several hours eating + slowly sipping rose + doing a lot of work. This turned into more work + slightly more rose than planned because my flight was delayed by an hour, but I eventually made it onto the plane, where I dozed and drank coke zero and messed around on my phone.

Despite the delay (or perhaps because of it), leaving the airport was v. smooth - my bag came quickly and I got to the curb just as my uber pulled up, and there was no traffic getting home. So, I think I can unwind and get some sleep and hopefully wake up in time to grab coffee somewhere before my first meeting - I usually keep emergency cream in the fridge for when I return from a trip, but this time I don't have any and I'm somehow going to have to survive the morning without it. Goodnight!

polarized feelings, i don't wear them on my face lately

I am sitting in Veronica's guest room (which is technically not her guest room; it's the extra room in her airbnb, which she's staying in because of renovations) in the bay area, down in the peninsula haunts of my youth. Actually, I didn't haunt San Bruno in my real youth, but I did write in San Bruno in my early thirties, so I'm counting that.

Today was lovely, but v. long and I'm v. tired. We had to leave Tahoe today, which made me sad; happily, I drove back Grace and Anne, whom I adore, and it made for excellent conversation. Traffic was really bad getting out of Tahoe due to multiple places where the road was cut to one lane to allow for ongoing cleanup from the fires - it's really quite astonishing that so many houses and town survived given the intense fire damage along the way. So, it took longer to get back than expected, and we certainly weren't pushing it (we stopped for a late lunch, which was v. needed). I dropped Anne off at her place, then took Grace to Barbara's to pick up her car. Happily, Barbara and her husband showed up at the same time that we did, so I got a tour of Barbara's new house (same location as the old house, but I hadn't seen the new version since it got finished just before the pandemic). I'm super sad that our retreat is over, but I'm looking forward to more fun times with the group in the next few months.

When I was done driving + saying goodbye, I drove to Veronica's. I was supposed to just drop stuff here and then head into SF for dinner, but I called an audible and canceled on dinner - I was cutting it way too close, and was too tired, and really just wanted the comfort of Veronica and sweats and a bottle of chablis. So, Veronica and Adam v. graciously pivoted and included me in their dinner prep - we had snacks and talked while Adam cooked, and Adam made us gins and tonics (followed by the aforementioned chablis), along w/v. tasty rice bowls. And we watched some tv and I had retired to my room by ten, which is exactly what I needed. And, as always, Veronica and Adam are a delight, and I'm delighted that I got to spend extra time with them.

And now, I really need to sleep - tomorrow I'm peregrinating around the south bay and seeing a bunch of people I haven't seen in 2+ years, and I'm both v. excited and also already tired. But it should be a great time. Goodnight!

stop for a minute and see where you hide

I am v. sad that today was the last day of my retreat - I could have easily used another week. The fun doesn't end completely tomorrow, since I'm going to San Francisco for a few days after, but I really wish I could spend another week holed up in Tahoe and submerging myself in the writing.

Today was a lovely last day, though - I slept in a bit (but not enough to make up for staying up so late last night), and then I went to Nevada to pick up a rental car. This sounds more onerous than it was, since the state line is eight minutes from here and I just went across the border to the Hard Rock Casino to get the rental car. Then I spent the afternoon brainstorming the book concept we came up with yesterday, which I'm pretty excited about.

The day ended with me and Grace going down to the Heavenly plaza to pick up takeout - since I had a car today, and we haven't had a car all week, the group took advantage of it to get food from a place that doesn't deliver. And now, I'm mostly packed and mostly ready to go, but I should get some sleep if I want to drive to SF tomorrow. Goodnight!

you're under the gun so you take it on the run

I'm back in Colorado, after a v. long day of driving - I'm glad I stayed in Iowa last night, but it made today kind of brutal. Luckily I slept great last night, and since my car was already packed, I was able to get up, do a couple of quick house tings, say goodbye to [censored], and get out of town by 8:30am. I got into Denver by around 6:45pm MDT - it took about an hour longer than it should have, but that's because I stopped multiple times to walk around (my belly is almost fully healed but my belly button still gets tender if I sit too long).

Nothing of note happened during my drive, and nothing of note has happened since getting home - I have a driving/altitude headache and should have worked tonight, but instead mostly watched Property Brothers. And now I need to get to bed so I can recover before work tomorrow - goodnight!