heat waves been faking me out

Today was more social interaction than I feel like I've had in ages, even though it was probably less when compared to the endless time I spend in meetings. I got up around eight, puttered around my kitchen, and made a v. tasty frittata for breakfast for the next few days. Then I showered and sped (or crawled - construction was terrible) down to my friend Barbara's house. I hadn't seen her in a few weeks, so it was indescribably delightful to get together with a writer friend. We socially distanced in her backyard and eventually ordered lunch, all while talking about a wide variety of topics, and I could have stayed twice as long. And I left with some irises she'd dug up for me to plant, so I need to block out some time to indulge my green thumb soon.

Then I drove home, and as soon as I got here I had a video call with the friendship renewal crew (Joann, Jen, and Jane). I was 30min late due to traffic, which then made it awkward that I had to drop off early - we were going deep on a variety of topics, but Katie came over and I had to bounce.

So, Katie and I hung out in my backyard for a few yours, and it was perfect. There's something v. lucky about having a close adult friend who knew you throughout childhood, and we def went deep on Iowa tonight. We also ordered Indian takout, drank boulevardiers, and daydreamed about the fire pit I plan to install in my back yard.

But now, I'm falling asleep (and have been for awhile), so it's time for bed - goodnight!

what kind of words would cut through the clutter of the whirlwind of these days?

Today was great, even if I did wake up too tired and mildly hungover. I drank a bunch of water and swapped my morning iced coffee for a coke zero, since carbonation is preferred in hangover land. Then I took a quick shower and had a quick writing date with Veronica - I was not feeling particularly in it to win it, and the words were molasses-y, but I plotted out the next scene and was happy with that. And, of course, I'm always happy to see Veronica, even if it did result in me reading up on the history of Roman Britain (which is most definitely research for her book and not mine).

After we were done, I swapped the sweats for a sundress and then threw some chicken in a pot to poach (note: I did not poach the chickens from my neighbors, although I'm tempted). Barbara came up from the Springs for a socially distanced afternoon, and so we sat on my back patio for over three delightful hours and discussed life, writing, more life, the world, how much coronavirus sucks, etc. We also had lunch - I made some quinoa tabbouleh yesterday for today's lunch, and it was pretty perfect (esp with chicken and tzatziki on top). And we moved around the patio as the sun shifted - after this summer I'm more tan than I think I've ever been (at least my arms; my legs still look like stunted trees in a blizzard).

There was a bit of an interruption in our lunch because I'd hired a guy to come and mount my TV, which I hadn't done because I didn't really want to mount my TV. But the previous owner had cut a hole through the wall for an electrical outlet behind where the TV should be mounted, which would always be visible if I didn't mount the TV, so I finally bit the bullet and did it. I think it's a little higher than I would have mounted it personally, but it was preferable to use the previous owner's mount rather than redoing everything. And now my wall looks nice and all the cords are hidden, so that's a good outcome.

sssanyway, it was great to see Barbara - it almost felt like a normal non-coronavirus afternoon, even if she arrived and departed with the ghost of a hug. I don't know what winter will feel like when socially distanced afternoons on the patio are no longer comfortable, but I'm trying not to get anxious before it actually happens (and then, I promise, I will be really fucking anxious).

After Barbara left, I tidied up the kitchen and then spent a couple of hours talking to Sara (a coworker who is mostly just a friend at this point). Then I ate supper (leftover chicken chile verde) and took a walk around the neighborhood while listening to a writing podcast. And then I sat on my couch and did absolutely nothing, which I suppose I will take.

And now I'm going to sign off and either journal, read, or watch TV - goodnight!

one way or another i'm just hoping to find a way to put my feet out in the world

Tongue still hurts. It's marginally better than yesterday, which was marginally better than the day before, so I think it's getting there - but it still hurts to talk, and it hurts to eat, so I'm still in a somewhat foul mood over the whole thing.

However, today was better than yesterday, so I'll take it. I did some hardcore journaling this morning to reflect on the plague and get some sort of grip on how I'm feeling, which was good. I also ate a smoothie v. slowly, showered, talked to [censored], made some scrambled eggs, and let the scrambled eggs cool off while I took care of laundry and other tings. I have never made scrambled eggs with the intent of letting them cool off before eating them, but there's a first time for everything.

Eventually, I ventured out of the house and into a store for the first time since Wednesday - I'd had several lightbulbs burn out in the last month or so, and I finally decided that I should get lightbulbs before even those are considered nonessential. I'd ordered them last night from Lowes, so it was as low-risk as it could have been - I walked in, the order pickup counter was right there, and so I grabbed the bag and only had to touch my license (to verify my identity) and the pen used to sign the receipt. I was wearing gloves for this, since I found a pack of nitrile gloves in my disaster prepper stuff downstairs - I'm upping my social distancing game even beyond soap and water (and wetwipes in my car) since I really don't want to catch coronavirus on top of my tongue right now. If I happen to sneeze due to allergies right now, my tongue hurts - getting anything worse would cause complete misery even if it didn't kill me.

sssanyway. I spent the evening doing laundry, eating (slowly) potato soup, doing some administrative stuff, reading a bit too much twitter, and journaling a bit more. And now I'm going to go to bed early and attempt to get tomorrow off to a good start - goodnight!

baby baby baby, light my way

Everything continues to go to hell, but if I didn't know that, today would have just felt like a regular work from home kind of day. I worked from 9ish to 6ish, with a quick break to heat up some leftover soup from last night. I also spent a bit of time working while sitting on my patio; I was under a blanket because it was totally frigid, and I had to go in as a result, but at least I got some fresh air. Work was a bit of a chaos machine today because of everything that's going on globally, which is why I'm writing this at almost midnight (I worked for the last couple of hours).

But I broke quarantine, picked up a couple of pizzas at Blue Pan, and went over to Kelly's. We sat three feet apart, which probably wasn't enough, and ate pizza and drank wine and tried to pretend that everything is normal. I would probably bet that Denver goes into the same lockdown that SF just went into within the next week (my bet is actually five days or less) - the mayor announced today that all restaurants are closed (with the exception of takeout/delivery) until May, and there are a ton of cases emerging in the mountains, so things are getting real here.

sssanyway. It was good to see Kelly, and hopefully I can squeeze in a visit to Katie before we all get locked in our homes. Then I came home, talked to my parents, talked to Katie, and worked for too many hours. And now I really need to sleep - goodnight!