life is a highway

I'm back in my own bed in Boulder after a very lovely day in the city of sin. I got just enough sleep, then showered, packed, and left Roam exactly at my eleven a.m. departure time. I then met Katrina at Nopalito - it's one of my favorite restaurants in SF, and it's an especially good choice for brunch (especially gluten free brunch).

So Katrina and I hung out there for a couple of hours, splitting lots of food and having a margarita each while catching up on life. We also walked around for a bit after, and Katrina bought me a gluten free cookie for the road before we parted ways.

I then grabbed a final Philz and drove to the airport. I was super early, so I planned to have some food and journal and enjoy the bustle of the international terminal, since my flight to Denver was for some reason departing from international. But as I was sipping my wine, I looked over at the bar, made eye contact with someone...and realized it was Chris Sallen, an old friend from work whom I knew a lifetime ago.

So we ended up talking for almost an hour - he was headed to Copenhagen for work, but his flight was delayed, and so it was pure serendipity that we ran into each other in a place neither of us should have been. It was really great to catch up, even if running into someone from fifteen years ago makes me feel super old (I've seen him more recently than that, but still).

Eventually though we both had to go, so we said our farewells and I made it to my gate just in time to board. I'd gotten upgraded, so the nap I enjoyed most of the way was slightly more comfortable than usual.

And now I'm home, and ready to enjoy my own bed for four whole nights before taking off again. Goodnight!

heat of the moment

I had a gorgeous day - or at least a gorgeous evening, once I got through a whole lot of slogging. But the slogging included a lunch with Aga, Chris and Alice - Aga left the team a few months ago, and when she told her new team that she had to go to a different building to have lunch with 'tiki boss', this apparently confused them. Who knew that tiki boss as a brand isn't really something that people in corporate America are accustomed to?

But I left the office around 4:40 and went to the dirty dirty east bay to hang out with my college friends. I never go to the east bay willingly, but the people I wanted to see are mostly there, so I put in the massive sacrifice and made it happen. We had a dinner reservation at 7:30, but almost all of us met up at East Bay Spice Company for drinks first. So I hung out with Jess and Chandlord (hereafter called 'Zoochander' because Oniel made it happen), and then John showed up, and Claude and Sam came too. The cocktails there were v. delightful - especially one that had carrot juice in it and so looked healthy, but also had mezcal and two other liquors and so was completely, definitively not healthy.

After two drinks and my discussions of Johnny Depp and Steven Seagal, we went to Saha - a tasty restaurant that also happened to be the only place where I could get a reservation for seven people with only 24 hours' notice. Oniel was the only person who couldn't make it to drinks, but he met us at the restaurant - I hadn't seen him in many many months, so it was super exciting that he was able to come out. So the seven of us all did the three-course menu, and we split two bottles of wine, and we shared the chocolate mousse that they brought me for a birthday dessert + some Syrian cheese thing that made for an incredible dessert. I also practiced 'man hugs' with Oniel, although that meant I mostly tricked him into hugging me for real. We also all laughed about many things, especially the guy who had a Volvo parked outside, which led him to confront us about it since the restaurant window was open and he apparently knew we were talking about him. Oops.

Then we all adjourned to John and Jess's house, where I had some port while discussing the Human Centipede and a bearded Ellen DeGeneres - as one does. And then Zoochander and I rode back to the city together in a lyft that made me mildly carsick, but I shall survive. Happy early birthday to me - goodnight!

feeling like a saber toothed tiger

I woke up at 3:45am feeling the effects of last night's wine, and realizing I had no access to my beloved ibuprofen. So, needless to say, today was a bit of an exercise in pain, although I didn't feel too awful (and I also deserved it).

But after slogging all day, I headed north - I grabbed a coffee at Philz in my old Palo Alto neighborhood, and then went to San Mateo for dinner with my writer friends. Veronica, Anne, Barbara, and I met at Three, which was tasty - but more importantly, it was great for my spirits to see them.

I would say more about how wonderful they are, but I need to sleep immediately if I want to make it through all my plans tomorrow. Goodnight!

started at the bottom now we here

I had a bottle of wine tonight, so I'm spending the night in Shedletsky's guest room. Today was uneventful at work, albeit so busy that I'm never going to catch up. But I slipped out at 5:45 and came to John and Tina's, where I hung out with zee baby, ate a bunch of steak, and drank my share of three bottles of wine.

So rather than driving to the city, I'm spending tonight in their guest room - which eliminates 45mins from my commute tomorrow, so that's a good thing. But now I should sleep - goodnight!

give me a home where the buffalo roam

I'm back to two old familiar haunts at once: I'm in San Francisco, and I'm staying at Roam. They finally opened their SF location on Alamo Square a couple of months ago, so I'm checking it out even though it's probably super inconvenient for my mostly South Bay activities. But I'm only here until Saturday, so most socializing will have to wait until my next trip :(

But today went as smoothly as it could have gone. I got up in time to shower and pack, and then [censored], [censored]'s coworker, and I went to the spy museum. It was pretty gimmicky in places, although [censored] and I both were able to memorize and retain our top secret spy covers throughout the morning, so I think that means we could've been super spies (unless asked to complete any mission on the edge of a cliff or roof or any other heights, in which case we would've failed immediately).

Still, I like spies and spy stories so I was happy to go. Then we had a quick lunch at shake shack, and then we went back to the hotel, where I changed and then said my farewells.

The rest of the day was travel - I had to connect in Denver, so I said hi to my new city briefly before flying to my old one. And now I really need to sleep since I have to get up and drive to mountain view in the morning - I'm sure any nostalgia I felt when driving into the city and seeing the Bay Bridge wreathed in fog will be cured when I have to do my old commute tomorrow. Goodnight!

free at last

[censored] and I had another great day in Washington, D.C., thanks for asking! We got up in time to have breakfast, and then we took a lyft to the WWII memorial with the plan of getting there before the heat was too murderous to survive. I wouldn't say we were entirely successful since it was already hot as balls at ten a.m., but it's easier to put the mild discomfort into context when you're looking at a memorial to 400000+ people who died. Both our grandfathers fought in the Pacific in WWII, so this is always a moving thing...and yet that war is also slipping nearly completely from memory, which is its own bittersweet monument.

So, we spent a bit of time there, and then we walked to the National Museum of African American History, which opened nearby a couple of years ago. It's been so popular this whole time that you had to get tickets in advance even though the tickets were free, but this month they're testing walk-up ticketing. So, we walked up and were inside within ten minutes. Of course, it was still crowded inside - especially downstairs where the museum technically starts - so we went up to the top floor instead. It was full of the achievements of African Americans in the arts - music, dance, acting, etc., so that was fun. We also swung through the floor below that, with an emphasis on military service, community activism, education, and sports (so I had to see a bit about the Olympics, including a statue of the Olympians in '68 who threw a Black Panther sign in protest during their medal ceremony - Kaepernick is not the first and won't be the last as long as inequality is so rampant).

Then we went to the basement, where we discovered some of the earlier crowds had died down. The museum actually starts even deeper than that - you take an elevator with twenty or thirty other people into a subterranean space, where the experience of the Middle Passage and the slave trade is documented. It's all horrifying - child-sized manacles, stats about the life expectancy of enslaved people on sugar plantations being seven years - presented in a dark, claustophobia-inducing maze.

But the museum slowly meanders up a couple of levels, opening up and unveiling new pieces along the way. A lot of it is still grim - the part that [censored] and I both thought was among the most moving/troubling was the endless list of descriptions of enslaved men, women, children, and babies for sale on auction blocks across the US. And it's even more grim because that history continues today - it's not a surprise that the thread of racism and violence that could cause slavery, and lynchings, and stripping people of basic rights even after slavery was abolished, is still a thread that is woven into the fabric of our society today. It's no mistake, for example, that as soon as the federal government finally ended many of the oversights/protections of the Voting Rights Act, we're seeing attempts to disenfranchise blacks across the South by closing polling places, making it harder to get ID, etc. Until we truly address the horrors of the past, we're doomed to repeat it.

So - yeah, the museum was great. After we left, we had lunch at a food truck nearby, and almost melted in the heat. Then we came back to the hotel and I took a v. restorative shower and a v. v. restorative nap. I did a bit of emailing, then had a drink with [censored] and [censored]'s coworkers. We didn't linger long, though - [censored] and Kimberly (a coworker) and I had an early dinner nearby (City Tap House - tasty!) before going to a Moonlight and Monuments tour.

I didn't see much moonlight, but I saw a lot of monuments - but I can't tell you about them now because I'm falling asleep typing this, no doubt due to the extra drink and snack we had when we got back to the hotel. So now it's time for sleep - goodnight!

you got a fast car

If San Francisco is the city of sin in my mind, what does that make Washington D.C.?

I don't have an answer for you yet. But today was pretty delightful. [censored] and I fulfilled our desires to sleep in, but we still managed to make it to the club lounge for breakfast before breakfast closed (this was not a particularly heroic feat, since breakfast ended at ten). Then we indulged our inner nerds and went to the Postal Museum - it's part of the general Smithsonian collection, but is perhaps the least-trafficked of the Smithsonians due to the fact that it's about fucking stamps and not about the Apollo Program.

But those of you who prefer the Apollo Program to stamps are #basic and really missing out. The Postal Museum was great - I learned a lot about all the complete idiots who formed the first air mail (one guy threw a rock at a bull who had charged him when he landed his plane to smoke a cigarette, but accidentally hit the farmer, so couldn't take breaks there anymore). In fact, the history of the postal service had a lot of daredevil idiots - people wandering through the woods making their own trails from NYC to Boston in the 1600s; the Pony Express; the air mail guys; the people still running a mule train down into the Grand Canyon every day to provide mail service to the Havasupai (okay, they probably aren't idiots, but if you've tried to haul a mail order washing machine into the Grand Canyon via mule, you may occasionally question your life decisions).

After that museum, which was excellent, we walked outside and were promptly greeted by the blast furnace that is DC in summer. So we didn't stray to far for a late lunch - we went across the street to The Dubliner, which had better food than I was expecting and the critical benefit of not requiring us to be in the sun for more than five minutes. After our meal, we spent two minutes paying respects at the Ukrainian famine/genocide memorial across the street, and then we took a lyft to the Air and Space Museum....

...which was about a hundred times more popular than the Postal Service museum, which was real annoying since I hate people and I especially hate children. However, the WWI and WWII exhibits were great - especially since I don't know much about the air war in WWI, so I enjoyed / was sobered my all of that. We also watched some videos of Medal of Honor winners from WWII who were telling their stories on video...you know you had to survive some really nasty shit to get a Medal of Honor in WWII, so that was pretty powerful.

There was more to the Air and Space Museum than that, but if you want to know the rest, you should just visit since the museum is free and my time is more valuable than that.

sssanyway. After the museum, we meandered back toward Chinatown and had dinner at Matchbox, which is a pizza place that I went to after Adit's wedding like eight years ago. The pizza (even the gluten free pizza) was super tasty, as was the rosé, and so I felt pretty satisfied with life. When we got back to the hotel, we adjourned to the club lounge, where we ran into some of [censored]'s coworkers - [censored] is in town for a conference, so the chances that we'll see coworkers will continue to go up in the next day or two. So we said hi to them, grabbed a drink, said bye to them, and ended up taking our drinks to a pair of chairs overlooking the atrium, where the lights slowly cycled through the colors of the rainbow and might have driven us mad if we'd been trying to read.

But we were just trying to drink Bud Light ([censored]) and sauvignon blanc (me) - we're such cliches - so the lights were fine. And now I must sleep so we can do fun stuff tomorrow - goodnight!

this place about to blow

Apologies for not blogging last night - I had a long day (woke up at six, did a bunch of stuff around the house including two loads of laundry before I went to work, and slogged hard and fast until 4:30), and then I got a mani/pedi and took some stuff back to Anthro and bought some stuff at Sephora, and then had a leisurely dinner/margarita at Verde to unwind. This meant I had to wind back up when I got home, since I had to pack for DC/SF and attempt to get some sleep before today's voyage...

But today went super smoothly, and now I'm in Washington, D.C. with [censored], who is here for [censored]. I'm here for a couple of days of vacation, which I think will be super fun - I have to go to California for a quick work trip on Tuesday, but until then I'm going to enjoy the sights, savor the food, and probably antagonize [censored], since that's my primary role in [censored]'s life. I made it to the airport today in time to have breakfast, and then I was planning to work all the way to DC - but the wifi on the plane wasn't working, which really bummed me out. I was able to answer a bunch of email in offline mode, but I wasn't able to do anything of real importance without internet, so I'll probably need to do a bit of stuff tomorrow or Monday in preparation for the week.

But that can all wait. When I got to the hotel, [censored] was already here, and so we wallowed in the luxury that my hotel status got us (namely, access to the club lounge, where we enjoyed complimentary soda and a nice view while catching up). Then we ventured out for dinner at Farmers and Distillers - it's got some weird ties to the North Dakota ag industry, and also had a distillery that makes most of their own liquors. My cocktails were both great; the dumpling appetizer (which came at the same time as our mains due to slightly incompetent service) was super tasty; my steak was satisfactory (but [censored]'s chicken fried steak with a donut looked amazing); and we ended with an out of this world cheesecake, so all in all it was a success.

But we're both totally exhausted because we were both working nonstop for the last week (or last three months), so we came back early and are going to bed relatively early (it's only 8:40pm in Colorado and 9:40pm in Iowa) so that we can hopefully recover enough to do some sightseeing tomorrow. Goodnight!

chandelier

I was v. v. tired today - while I am typically comfortable in Katie's guest room (and was equally comfortable last night), I think I only got five or six hours of sleep (#blameitonthealcohol). So I got up, took a quick shower, put on yesterday's clothes, and left a little after seven. I walked out with James, who was on his way to work - and the little ginger kid next door stared at us slackjawed as we left, as though I was the worst sort of homewrecker sneaking out of her neighbor's house in the morning. I guess it was deserved, but I felt *very* judged.

I stopped at the car dealership on the way home, picked up my car, then came home, used a face mask in a vain attempt to make myself look more awake, and changed so that I wouldn't look like I'd just done a walk of shame. Then I went to the office and slogged all day, but I left around 5:30 to have happy hour with Nicole. We went to Rayback Collective, which is a bar and some foodtrucks and a lot of very distracting people milling about (one of the waiters was wearing sparkly yoga pants and a silver fanny pack for a completely unknown reason, and many of the children were obnoxious, but the dogs were cute). So we had some rosé and talked about life for a couple of hours, and were eventually joined by her husband, which was fun.

But we parted ways around eight, and I got a poke bowl to go from one of the food trucks (it was super tasty and I'll have to get it again). Then I came home, ate, and promptly took a nap. There were a million things I should have done tonight, but instead I decided that I should get up from my nap so that I could wash my face and go to bed - which is why I shall do now. Goodnight!

black and yellow

Today didn't go quite to plan, which is evident since I'm currently in Katie's guest room. This was completely out of the picture this morning when I dropped off my car (did I mention I bought an Audi?) at the dealership to get an add-on installed. But since I didn't grab my apartment keys from the ring (I grabbed my Toyota key, though), and since I didn't leave work in time to pick up my car, I got to my house at seven and suddenly realized that I had no way to enter it.

Luckily, Katie came to my rescue - I ate the takeout that I'd picked up, then bought a toothbrush and a contact lens case and drove to Denver. I had bought a bottle of rose with my takeout, so Katie and I enjoyed it while hanging out for a few hours.

So that was a delightful end to the day - and pretty serendipitous, since if I hadn't come here I probably would have spent the evening working. Now I need to sleep so I can pick up my car and go home to change to avoid a walk of shame at work - goodnight!

play secretary, i'm the boss tonight

Okay, as much as I like my job, I should probably find some ways to cut back on the emotional energy I expend with it. Today was a good day and I feel good about it, but at the same time I spent a lot of energy on other people's problems without getting a lot of my own work done. It wouldn't have been all that bad if I'd had a real break tonight, but I came home from work and only had an hour before I spent 90mins on calls with people in Asia. After that, I really wanted to do nothing...but on Saturday I leave for off and on travel that will consume the next month, and so there's stuff I desperately have to get done this week in preparation.

That stuff was all personal, so I did that, and it *almost* felt like a break...but not really.

However, this is a problem to solve another day - and at least I'm aware of it, right? But then, I've been a bit of a workaholic most of my life, so maybe awareness isn't enough. But I'm going to pretend that awareness is enough so that I can go to bed right now and get eight hours of sleep before it all starts again - goodnight!

semi-charmed life

I actually was able to sleep in and also have time at work to do actual work - shocking, I know. I also left at five and spent three hours doing my own tings, at which point I took a brief nap to restore myself. It didn't stop me from working from nine to eleven tonight, but the things I crossed off my list have been weighing on me for a long time, so I'm glad I buckled down and did them.

And now I'm going to sleep the sleep of the righteous (or at least of the tired) - goodnight!

pardon me i'm bossin' up, pressure up

I probably shouldn't have stayed up until three a.m. last night, but today was a total delight despite being a little tired by the end of it. I got up in time to shower and throw some iced coffee in a mug before driving down to Castle Rock - it's about an hour from here with no traffic, but that all felt blissful in my new car (did I mention that I got a new car? oh, I did? #sorrynotsorry).

My first stop was meeting my friend Barbara for lunch. We went someplace in an old church, and the food was a bit hit or miss (but unclear whether it was our fault for the ordering or their fault for the food - I liked my pasta, although it needed salt, but Barbara's kale salad was far too kale-y). But it was awesome to see Barbara - we hadn't hung out since RWA, which was less than six weeks ago, but it somehow feels like twenty. When I realize just how much I've had going on this summer, it's no wonder I'm exhausted....

Anyway, Barbara was great. We talked about all sorts of fun and important things, both past and current, and I was reminded just how much it nourishes my soul to hang out with other writers rather than always seeing my techie corporate types (no offense to you techie corporate types, of course, since I am also one of you).

But all good things must end, especially lunches, and so we eventually parted ways so that she could go back to Colorado Springs and I could continue with my Castle Rock adventures. I ended up hanging out in my car for an hour (did I mention I have a new car?) and talking to my parents, since it's Sunday and that's what Sundays are for. Then, I drove out to my aunt's house for an early dinner - she's in town this week to hang out at her Castle Rock house, and so I went there to see her for a bit.

So, we hung out for a couple of hours, eating cheese (yum) and then steak and Iowa sweet corn (even more yum, even if the sweet corn was a few days old - it's still one of the best things in the world). I'll be glad when she's actually in Colorado full time, provided that I don't pick up stakes and move on with my wandering nomadic heart (although that's unlikely - maybe I mentioned it, but I got a new car, and I'm also planning to buy a house in the next six months, so perhaps my withered roots will begin to grow).

But I eventually left down there, drove home, was going to do some work, and instead read about India on my phone and tried not to fall asleep too early (when I really should have just gone to bed at nine, but once I start researching something, I can't help myself). Now, though, I need to sleep - I want to write in the morning before work, and that requires some decent downtime now. Goodnight!

night court

I had a v. hermity day to make up for all the socializing I've done in the past couple of weeks. I slept to my heart's desire, then spent the morning/afternoon/early evening doing a combo of writing, housework, journaling, and sloth. The writing was going well, but then I ended up being sad about John McCain dying (I always liked him, and brain cancer is a bitch), so I threw in the towel on everything productive and played Civilization for the last five hours instead (#noregrets, although I'll probably have them tomorrow when I have to drag myself out of bed). Goodnight!

hold tight london

Today was a total return to the grind - and so you're getting nothing tonight. I'm sorry to disappoint you, and especially sorry to disappoint Ritu, who requested more salacious content. But the only salacious thing I did today was eat some tortilla chips and leftover enchiladas while standing up at my kitchen counter - while that felt incredibly dirty, it's probably not what you're looking for. So I'm going to sleep - goodnight!

the wonderful unknown

I'm still exhausted - but I spent this morning lazing in bed after last night's debauchery, so I somehow made it through today without dying. Last night was pretty epic, though; starting with wine tasting at 3:30pm, continuing with wine through dinner, and then ill-advisedly switching to tequila shots and s'mores was probably not the wisest idea I've had in awhile. But, judging by the faces of everyone who I left at the firepit at midnight last night (for once, I went to bed when I felt like it and didn't shut down the party - I know, I'm shocked too), none of us had particularly wise ideas.

Still, it was super fun and #noregrets. However, I was supposed to get another massage this morning and instead canceled it - yesterday's massage was so intense that she bruised my shoulders, so a massage would have been wasted on me today anyway, and I preferred to stay in bed. But eventually I vacated my perfect bed, showered, packed, and went out in search of coffee and food. I journaled for a bit while looking at the mountains, and then I had lunch with all the people who were in pain (and some people who showed up this morning for today's round of the retreat, which is staggered across multiple days - those people all looked bright-eyed and happy, but right about now some of them are probably making the same poor decisions that some of us made last night).

I could have stayed later, but I was over it, so I drove a few people back with me to Boulder. I got home a little after three, messed around the house, called my parents (belatedly, since we didn't talk Sunday), and then went out to have dinner at my favorite mexican place, which went a long way toward restoring me. Then I came home and took an hour-long nap, but I had to wake up to talk to someone from Hyderabad (I really hate nighttime calls sometimes). And now I'm going to go to bed - tomorrow's calendar looks super painful, so sleep is imperative. Goodnight!

i found someone to carry me home tonight

Today turned into a magical, mystical day that I thought had been lost to my company over a decade ago. The Boulder office does a summer retreat, and so I'm at Devil's Thumb Ranch - a delightful resort/spa/ranch place up in the mountains.

But I'm too tired / tipsy to blog about it - I got a massage when I arrived, and then did wine tasting from 3:30 to 5:00, and have pretty much continued to drink from five to midnight. For those keeping score at home, that's over eight hours of alcohol consumption. It's not on par with the sales conferences of my youth, but it's getting close. So on that note, I'm going to go to bed - goodnight!

tuesday, wednesday break my heart

I got tons of sleep last night, but it wasn't enough to fix my extreme deficit - so I felt tired, cranky, and off all day. However, I snuck out at five to have a drink with Tomas, and then I sat at the bar and answered email for an hour while I finished my glass of wine. When I got home, I had to unpack so I could pack again - I'm going to an offsite with my team tomorrow night (local, so at least I'm not getting on a plane), so I needed to swap out my bridesmaid outfits for some lowkey spa/banquet/drinking outfits (okay, so those are basically the same thing).

And now I really need to go to bed - I should have gone to bed two hours ago, but I got a second wind around ten as I usually do, so I stupidly stayed up. Goodnight!

scheming on a thing that's a mirage, i'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage

I'm back in Boulder after a truly epic four days in Portland and its strangely-named surrounding cities. I should probably do a full writeup of Claudia's wedding, but I'm still too tired to do it justice - it was a mad dash to get everything taken care of, and I celebrated that mad dash by staying mostly sober at the reception (I was the emcee and had to give a toast, so I needed to stay somewhat sane)...but then went back to our airbnb around 10:30 and drank most of a bottle of white wine while hanging out in the hot tub and gossipping about the wedding. Adit, Vidya, Ayla and I were staying together, but we convinced John and Jess to come back with us and camp on the floor of the living room rather than camping in the llama fields, so it made for a super fun night (despite another guest thoroughly enraging me, but hey, I often rage over things, so it felt like I was in the zone).

The wedding, though, was totally gorgeous - everything came together well, and Claudia looked beautiful, and I cried during her vows, as I am wont to do. The reception was also fun, even with a bunch of mangy kids roaming around. And I'm glad I got to spend so much time with Santy Claude over the course of the weekend - it was a good bonding adventure, and I really enjoyed all of my time with her even if the amount of work we had to do in the last few days was bordering on insane.

So, today was all about recovering and getting the fuck out of Portland. Chandlord and Ayla left super early, but John, Jess, Adit, and I (and the fifth houseguest, who was the one who enraged me last night after deciding she wouldn't come with us when we left, then calling in tears wanting us to come back and get her, which was super annoying since it's a 30min round trip from the airbnb to the farm and I don't know her well enough to gracefully handle such ineptitude) drove a bunch of stuff over to the farm. We said our last goodbyes to Claude, and then we drove into Portland, where we had brunch at Proud Mary. It was well worth the wait - it was one of the best meals I've had in awhile, which is surprising since I had a lot of good food this weekend. I had a hash with ham and a poached egg and kale and a delish garlicky sauce, but I also tried the hotcake, which was covered in edible flowers and was one of the best breakfast sweet dishes I've tried in awhile.

Eventually, though, the fun started to die...Adit had to go to the airport, so I bid him farewell. John, Jess and I walked around Portland for another hour or so, admiring all the shops and wishing we could eat all the food, and then I said my goodbyes to them and went to the airport. I had just enough time to grab some iced coffee for the plane before we began to board, but all that iced coffee wasn't enough to keep me from sleeping through the first half of the flight.

And now I'm successfully in my own bed, and I am desperate to sleep and get a head start on what's bound to be a ridiculous week at work. Goodnight!

santy claude is coming to town

I'm way too tired to blog - and after three hours of hanging out in a hot tub post wedding and drinking a whole bottle of white wine, it's unlikely you'll get anything good out of me. So I'm going to sleep - goodnight!

i have the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor

Santy Claude is getting married tomorrow! And in the meantime, we're in the frantic last minute preparations for the ceremony, which has taken our whole day. I woke up this morning in time to drink some coffee that Ayla brought back, and then I did a tiny bit of work before prepping to get out of our airbnb. I also grabbed a breakfast sandwich at Bare Bones that was super yummy and made me believe in breakfast sandwiches again.

But then the madness started. We kicked Vidya out to wait at a coffee shop for Vidya and Ayla, and then Adit and I picked up a bunch of speakers. This is the second time Adit and I have picked up sound equipment for someone's wedding and we're getting pretty good at it. Then we drove out to Washougal, with a long stop at Target, where I threw money at every problem.

When we got to Washougal, we unloaded the speaker equipment, and then we went to our new airbnb and unloaded. Then Claude and I went to Safeway, where we bought all sorts of additional things to try to make life easier. And then it was a flurry of running around and doing stuff, including all sorts of errands and tasks, culminating in the rehearsal dinner (which Claude's family made, and it was delish). And yes, my micromanagering side came to the fore, but #noregrets.

But now, even though I want to keep blogging, I need to go to sleep so I can look appropriately rested for the wedding tomorrow (despite the port that I'm drinking). Goodnight!

he drinks a whiskey drink, he drinks a vodka drink, he drinks a lager drink, he drinks a cider drink

Portland really is a mecca for hipsters. I can't describe how weird it is - like a theme park designed to perfectly emulate the hipster experience, built over a potentially seedy underbelly of decadence and decay. Today I saw:

- a guy with a manbun and what may have been a fake English accent saying that he 'did Ramadan in solidarity', when it really sounds like he's just embraced the intermittent fasting fad that is sweeping the online healthy-eating communities

- a woman loading two diapered alpacas into a van

- a guy from San Francisco who said he'd gotten his hat in Berkeley, where it had been blessed by a shaman

- Adit

My day was pretty delightful, all in all. I didn't sleep that well last night, so when I finally rolled out of bed I was desperate for coffee. Chandlord and I went to a coffee shop (where we saw Ramadan guy), and waited an unusual amount of time for our food (which it turns out was likely because the proprietor believes in cooking eggs until they are rubberized). Then we came home, I took a shower, and then I did some day job stuff until it was time to transition into wedding stuff.

When that transition happened, Adit and I were all in - Chandlord stayed back to work, but we picked up Santy Claude and took her and a bunch of wine out to the wedding venue. The wedding venue is a working farm with a bunch of alpacas and llamas; strangely enough, that's entirely unrelated from the woman I saw loading alpacas into a van. Also, it's clear that the owner would rather be a farmer than a wedding planner. But we got things into a good place despite everything (and despite some conversations taking an hour when they could have happened in five minutes).

Then we drove back to Portland and met up with Chandlord at an outdoor area with a bunch of permanent food trucks. We also went to Stumptown Coffee, which is a requirement in Portland. Then we came back to the house and took care of a bunch of stuff, and then Claude, Ayla and I made a trip to Michael's to get a bunch of last minute decor-type stuff.

We probably should have done work after that, but instead Claudia, Adit, Chandlord, Ayla and I walked to dinner. On the way, we passed a dive bar called Claudia's, which required us to take a shot of cheap tequila (por supuesto). Then we went to Pok Pok, which is renowned as the place to eat in Portland. The line was 90min long, which meant we could have spent some quality time getting to know the guy whose hat had been blessed by a shaman, but instead we went down the street and had drinks and snacks at Pok Pok's sister bar.

When we finally got a table, though, it was worth the wait - the food was great (especially the chicken wings that Claude and I shared - possibly the best wings I've ever had). The company was okay too. And now I really need to sleep if I'm going to be on my game tomorrow - goodnight!

this is how it ends, i feel the chemicals burn in my bloodstream

Today was a long and brutal slog (which autocorrect tried to turn into "burial shift", which isn't inappropriate). I had meetings straight from nine to four, and the only way I could grab lunch was to leave one meeting early and be late to another.

But I made it out of the office by 4:15 and drove to the airport without issues. When I got there, I pounded a burrito bowl, then found out my flight was delayed, so pounded some wine while doing day job stuff.

But we eventually took off, which was nice. I was going to work but the wifi was down, so I slept instead. This was critical, since I got in at ten, picked up luggage and a car, and then drove into Portland, dropped my car/stuff, and rendezvoused with Adit and Chandlord.

We had one drink at one place, and then a drink and nachos at another place, and all in it was lovely even if I should have gone to bed hours ago. Goodnight!

because you're so smooth

Today was a brutal slog - I had meetings forever, with no breaks, and then left at four so that I could pick up my bridesmaid dress from the alterations place, then get a mani/pedi, and then get my teeth cleaned. When I got home, I ate too much peanut butter, then packed my suitcase, then had a nine p.m. meeting with Singapore, then worked for the last 2.5 hours.

And now I need to go to bed - I still have a bit of packing to do in the morning, and then meetings almost straight from nine to four, and then I have to go to the airport. Ugh. Goodnight!

i'll be the bright, and black, that's making you run

I did successfully get up and write this morning - only for thirty minutes, but that's better than nothing. I then went to work, which was mildly stressful, but since I was only there for sixish hours, I guess it could have been worse.

But I skipped out at 3:45 to go to the dentist - I hadn't been in an embarrassingly long period of time, since I was traveling last year and then didn't bother to find a dentist when I moved here (partially because I was avoiding radiation this summer and didn't want to get x-rays). However, I didn't learn the error of my ways - I had no cavities and no gum or enamel or bone issues, so other than the fact that I live on coffee and red wine and so have stained my teeth, everything looked good. The dentist was very friendly and spent more time with me than my previous dentist used to - I'm accustomed to the dentist letting the hygienist do everything, then coming in and poking a couple of teeth and trying to sell me on invisalign braces that I don't need.

They don't do a cleaning on the same day as your new patient exam, which kind of annoyed me when I booked - but it turns out they had a cancelation tomorrow and can squeeze me in after work, which is perfect. So, I left feeling pretty happy about all of that. I should have come home and worked...

...but instead I took an impromptu drive down to Denver, where I hung out with Katie and the girls. This was partially an excuse to drive and show off my new car, but mostly an excuse to hang out with Katie before some of my upcoming travel madness. I picked up some beer for her and some cider for me - I only had one cider, but it was super tasty and reminded me that the world isn't only made of wine. She ordered pho, and we spent a couple of delightful hours interjecting grownup conversation around the delightful shrieks of her child army.

Then I came home and talked to Adit about wedding stuff (we may need to go into the wedding planning business together, although no promises until I see if I can pull a mariachi band out of thin air in the next five days). And then I did a bit of work and a bit of personal stuff, and now I should really sleep - goodnight!

you moved to west LA or new york or santa fe

Due to the new car situation, I actually got up relatively early and left the house to explore a bit of Colorado, rather than playing Civilization and pretending to write like I usually do. I headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park - I knew it would be busy on a peak summer weekend, but I also wanted to get out and enjoy some mountainous views, so I decided to chance it.

All in all, it was a lovely drive - even the drive from Boulder to Estes Park is pretty great, and then the park itself is amazing. I had planned to do a loop, have lunch in Grand Lake, and come back to Boulder via Golden. However, right before I got to the continental divide, traffic came to a sudden stop - and stayed stopped. I heard from someone who passed by that there was a medical emergency and they were trying to land a helicopter in the parking lot at the visitor center. I was desperately in need of a bathroom (since I was planning to use the bathroom at the visitor center), and also did not plan at all for this trip and so had water but no food (since I intended to make it to Grand Lake in time for lunch).

So, I executed a somewhat fear-inducing three point turn (okay, maybe it was a five point turn) on the edge of a cliff and went back the way I came. This meant no continental divide, but it also meant that I didn't urinate all over my new car, so I felt like I made the right decision.

I made it back to Estes Park without incident, grabbed McDonald's for lunch, and sped back to Boulder. Then I talked to my parents - they had the usual things with round barns and work stuff going on, but unfortunately they also had very sadly lost their kitten, whom they had raised over the winter and who had kittens of her own six weeks ago. She disappeared Friday night, and whatever got her was quick, because they found her via the circling of buzzards :( [Censored] told me yesterday, and it was v. sad since she was super sweet. Hopefully some of her kittens make it, but we'll see.

After I talked to my parents, I took a lyft to the Audi dealership and picked up the RAV4 (absence did not make the heart grow fonder, especially since I've moved on to a sexy new mistress). Then I grabbed groceries, came home, at supper, and messed around online until now. And now I'm going to go to bed early and plan to get up and write in the morning - hold me to it. Goodnight!

i dig you baby but i got to keep movin'

As you might have guessed from last night's blog, I kissed my RAV4 on the nose today and parted ways to buy a new car. I didn't actually part ways - the RAV4 is still mine, and likely destined to end up in Iowa. But it's currently taking a backseat in my affections due to the arrival of a new, shiny Audi Q5. I've been watching videos and reading reviews of the Q5 (and similar compact SUVs) for over six months, and I have to say the driving experience when I finally test drove it exceeded my expectations. And if I keep it for eleven years like I did the RAV4, it will almost seem like a bargain....(but probably not, but still, #treatyoself).

So, the car things consumed a lot of my day. The other part of my day was in Denver, where I got a facial and a brow wax in preparation for Santy Claude's wedding. The facial was great, but somehow the wax gave me hives above my eyebrows, so that was not pleasant (especially since I went to the dealership after to finalize my contract, but luckily the hives were mostly obscured by my bangs).

Then I took the long way home, but I couldn't drive up into the mountains like I wanted to because I was completely starving. So I came home, parked the car, and walked to Pizzeria Locale, where I had pizza and wine and one of the best desserts ever while reading the first couple of chapters of BLACK TUDORS (about the experience of Africans in Tudor England, which was both more common and less related to slavery than many of us might guess).

But now, I'm going to bed - I do want to play around with the car tomorrow, so getting up and driving into the mountains seems like a solid plan. Goodnight!

highway to hell

I stupidly played civilization from nine to after midnight, so I should sleep now. But today was fine, all in all, and I ended it by test driving a car, which was probably a bad idea since now I'm lusting after it (but also a good idea since my car is eleven years old and I'm ready to join the future of safety features).

But that's all you're getting tonight - it's time to sleep. Goodnight!

you want a maserati

Yes, I had a lot of meetings today, thanks for asking. So many meetings that I didn't eat lunch until 1:15, which I scarfed down while having an impromptu conversation with Tomas (fewer impromptu conversations happen than they did when we shared a cube, but many more than when we were in different cities/countries/job stages).

But I left the office at five and got my hair cut - it's the first step in the beautification rituals necessary in the lead-up to Santy Claude's wedding. I took a risk and tried a new (to me) salon - I'd gone to Denver a couple of times to get my hair cut, but it's just too far to be useful. So I tried an Aveda salon on the Pearl Street mall, and I think I've found my new stylist after like eighteen months in the wilderness. I was sad to leave my SF stylist when I went on my traveling adventures, and I never found someone I liked for hair here - but the woman I went to today was great, and I'm happy with the cut, and it was also $35 cheaper than my SF haircut, so that's what I call #winning.

Then I wanted to just come home and curl up with a book (and by that I mean play Civilization until my eyes fell out) - but I rallied and went to a late happy hour with some people from work. We went to Avery, which is a big brewery I hadn't gone to yet - since I don't drink beer, the Boulder brewery scene is lost on me. But their chicken wings were good, and I did the requisite networking, and also made a tentative friend, so that was all a worthy endeavor.

Then I came home, worked for an hour, played some Civ, drank some rosé to make up for the forced abstaining at the brewery, and talked to Santy Claude about wedding stuff. And now I must sleep - goodnight!

push the button

Today was not particularly relaxing, mostly because I just worked for the last four hours. However, it wasn't all bad - I made it into the office in time to grab breakfast before my first meeting, and I actually had some free chunks of time open up on my calendar, so I was able to do some of my job during work hours (shocking, I know). They also had sushi in my building today, which is a rare treat - so rare that Kristen and I stood in line for it for like thirty minutes, but it was #worthit.

I left the office around five, came home, debated playing Civilization...and then actually wrote for an hour and got 2000 words, which shocked me about as much as it probably shocked you. After that, though, I needed to slog on day job stuff (after a long break to eat yogurt and read twitter) - and so I answered email for the past four hours in a vain attempt to get caught up.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

hey ashurbanipal

No blog...I was at work from 9-6, came home, did a bunch of cleaning around the house, ate leftover Mexican food from my Saturday night dinner at Verde, and then mistakenly opened Civilization. So, of course, I stayed up until 1am and did none of the work I was supposed to do tonight, but #noregrets. Goodnight!

seven nation army

I really should have gotten more work done today than I did - but I put in a full day, so while I wasn't maximally productive, I earned the v. dry, unhappy lunch that I ate. Yes, I am complaining about the free food - but it was suuuuuuper dry. Dry rice, dry green beans, dry tofu, and some v. dry pork (dried-out pork is a tragedy since pork can be so delish unless it's totally ruined). But, I did take time to eat with other people at lunch, during which I discovered that scuba divers have hand signals for different kinds of sea creatures, and also that one of the women on my team used to go to a boxing gym as a workout and ended up breaking three of someone's ribs. It's amazing the things I learn at lunch when I have time to hang out....

But at 5:20, I had to skedaddle - I had happy hour plans with my friend Dormain, whom I hadn't seen in forever. She lives in the dirty east bay (although her part of the east bay is actually quite clean) with her husband Anthony and their two kids; I know her through John/Jess/Anthony, since Anthony was John's high school friend and I've hung out with him on many fun occasions in adulthood.

In fact, looking through my blog to see what I said about them, I found this quote from early 2015 (the night of one of Jess's "Lieder Alive!" singing performances): "I also saw Anthony (the guy who threw me into a bush at Lauren's wedding), who now has long hair and looks a bit like he might be a vaguely famous European, and his wife Dormain, who is definitely pregnant." Heh.

So, the update is that Dormain is no longer pregnant, since her second kid was born after that. She was in town for work, and happy hour turned into a grazing sort of snacky dinner and lasted three hours, which was totally wonderful. We caught up on many many life tings, and also brainstormed my young adult book (she isn't a writer, but the conversation sparked some truly interesting ideas that I need to play around with). I hadn't spent quality alone time with her in forever, and I really enjoyed it - so hopefully she makes it out her again.

We parted ways around 8:30ish, and as I was walking to my car I randomly ran into some coworkers, so I grabbed some ice cream and talked about erotica with them, as one does. Then I came home and was lazy and did nothing, and now I need to sleep - goodnight!

fireside favourite

I had another lazy day, but it was more social than yesterday, so at least I have that going for me. I slept in a bit, and I spent the morning taking care of stuff around the house before making a v. tasty omelette and talking to [censored]. I also played just a bit of Civilization in the afternoon - not enough to satisfy the urge (or to finish the game), but I enjoyed it. And I talked to Terry for an hour and my parents for another hour, so that was a great amount of catching up with people even if it's through technology rather than face-to-face.

After that, I really just wanted to play Civ some more - but I had dinner plans with a coworker who just flew into town, so I rallied, put on a dress, and left the house. As I was getting ready, I reflected on how Sunday family dinner used to be a thing - both when I was young and it was actually my family (and it was lunchtime), and when I was less-young-but-still-younger-than-now and it was 'family time' Sunday evening gatherings at places like My Tofu House or Enjoy Vegetarian, where we mostly low-key harassed each other about our life choices. And as I was reflecting on that, I was considering whether/how to make the kind of networks here that would allow for that kind of social interaction....but I digress.

So I picked up Navin at his hotel, and then we went to Arcana, which I've been meaning to try for ages. It has exactly the hipster-instagrammable aesthetic that restaurants are expected to have now - the bartender in a denim shirt, the cool art and interesting lighting, the play with color and texture, etc. If you go to this kind of place, you know what I mean; if you don't, it looks pretentious as hell. Anyway, we sat on the patio - it was a perfect night for it, which meant we ended up lingering for 2.5 hours. Longer than I had planned, but totally worth it. The food was really tasty - we shared a bunch of small plates, and almost all of them were great. I pretended to like radishes since radishes with French butter and sea salt are all the rage (yes, I live a v. different life than I pictured when eating roasts at Sunday dinners in my youth). And these radishes were all right - probably heirloom, more carrot-shaped than round, and while I didn't like them, I slathered them in enough butter to survive.

But the tastiest thing was the thing I shouldn't have eaten - smoked trout on toast, and you'll just have to trust me when I say every bite was fucking delicious. We also had a mushroom salad with tasty mushrooms, various greens, and a perfectly poached egg. And we had some other dishes that were all tasty but not worth repeating. We also talked about Stanford - he's the only person I've met who also lived in Loro, Mirlo, and Castaño, although he was five years after me. And we of course went deep on our current reorg, which is always gratifying.

But eventually I had to call it quits - I had to do just a tiny bit of work tonight, so I came home and did that. And now I need to go to bed so I can seize the day tomorrow - goodnight!

one...more...turn

I'm having an incredibly lazy weekend - I'm telling myself I deserve it after weeks of madness, but my inner Puritan is unimpressed. Yesterday was a v. hard slog to end a week of hard slogs, with meetings straight from 9am to 5pm without any break at all, and so I was beyond done by the end of it.

So, last night I went to Pizzeria Locale and had some pizza and wine while writing some stuff related to my young adult book. But when I got home, I decided to play a game of Civilization, which I mostly hadn't played since Christmas. Maybe that was a mistake, since I played until I fell asleep last night, and I've played many hours today. But it's the best kind of mindless fun for me, so #noregrets.

Today was more of the same - I took care of some personal tasks and did about an hour of work for the day job, but the rest of the day was super lazy. I did drag myself out of the house to eat at Verde, where I was relatively restrained, which means I have half a meal sitting in my fridge for lunch tomorrow. And I journaled there rather than spending the whole time reading twitter, so that's a positive.

But now I really need to sleep - goodnight!

midnight feast

I'm still not caught up, despite slogging incessantly the past few days - being out so much in the last two months is definitely wreaking havoc on my work life, which is now wreaking havoc on my personal life. But that said, in the grand scheme of things I have balance - it's just that my balance has been taking multiple days off, followed by multiple days of crazy slogging. So, don't cry for me Argentina, or something.

sssanyway. Today was all work - I got there a little before nine, had meetings pretty much straight until 5, and then abandoned ship immediately to come home and relax for a bit. I ate the last of my leftover chicken tortilla soup, drank a glass of rosé, and took a forty-minute nap, which all fortified me to work for the last 3 hours. But now, I should probably prioritize sleep - my goal is to go all-in tomorrow so that I don't have to work over the weekend, so wish me luck with that. Goodnight!

does your mother know

This week is pretty boring for all of you - I spent the whole day working, and didn't leave the office until 6:15. I picked up takeout from my favorite Mediterranean place, and I proceeded to take a break and eat that while watching some Property Brothers-type show on HGTV.

Sadly, I had an hour long meeting with Singapore at 8, but after that I closed my laptop, poured a glass of wine, and read the latest installment of 5280 magazine (all about Colorado life). That relaxation may have been enough to fix me, so I'm going to bed and hoping tomorrow is smooth. Goodnight!

sandstorm

Today was a quick descent back into the grind - I was still feeling tired after yesterday, so I slept in and also took a nap from 5:30-6:30pm, but otherwise I mostly worked and tried to get caught up. It's probably a lost cause - but I was in the office from 9:30 - 4:30, then took a break for a couple of hours, and then worked from 8 to 11:30pm. That's not exactly how I wanted to spend my evening, but it was better than falling even further behind, I guess.

But since I've been staring at screens for hours, I'm going to abandon this and go to bed - goodnight!

a fresh poison each week

Nothing to share with you today - I stayed home sick, which mostly meant that I sat around on my couch and watched the Roast of Bruce Willis, which was funny (but not as funny as I'd hoped). And now, after spending a lot of time lying around / napping (+ a long conversation with [censored]), I am going to go to bed and continue to recovery process - goodnight!

my church offers no absolutes

I had a v. lazy day, which was exactly what I wanted. I had to run some errands this morning, but I was back in my house by 11:30ish, and I spent the next six hours doing pretty much nothing. I intended to write, but that mostly devolved into bullet journaling - but no regrets there, since I hadn't done a monthly spread in awhile and wanted to capture some highlights from the last couple of months (of which there were many, since the last couple of months have been super fun despite all the chaos in my work life).

Sometime after five, I should have eaten soup and forced myself to be productive. Instead, I went over to River and Woods, where I had poutine and wrote in my journal for another hour or so. Then I came home and took a brief nap...and then I had a v. late call with my parents. I had thought they were out of town today, but they were out of town yesterday - and so I was waiting for them to call me, while they were waiting for me to call them. Oops. So I got the usual update about kittens and trains and round barns, although it was pretty abbreviated, so I'll have to talk to them again tomorrow.

And then I tidied up a bit, pulled out my work laptop, and did a couple of quick things to prep for tomorrow. And now, even though it's early, I think I'll go to bed - goodnight!

hold on my darling

Somehow it's midnight, which is way too late for me - so you'll have to trust me when I say I had a good day. I mostly ran errands this morning, including a much-overdue trip to the grocery store; I spent the afternoon writing (or at least trying to). And I made chicken tortilla soup - the weather has cooled off a bit, and so while it's still not soup weather, it's not 'my face is melting off' weather either. While I was making it, we had a sudden brief thunderstorm with a particular roar of thunder so loud that it set some car alarms off. But then things calmed down and I was able to eat in peace.

I could have gone out tonight (someone invited me! I know, you're shocked!), but I wasn't feeling it, so I stayed in instead. I ended up watching 'First Wives Club' in the name of research - I'm still a little distracted by the idea of writing another historical sooner than originally planned, and my current idea is inspired by that title. I actually wasn't sure the movie held up all that well - I found all the characters to be somewhat annoying stereotypes. But it was good to watch it - especially in terms of understanding the 'beats' of the story. Once you start paying attention to story beats, you realize that most movies are perfectly timed for certain things to happen at certain minutes (because audiences are wired to expect those arcs), and this movie was no exception.

But now I really should be asleep - goodnight!

even on a cloudy day

I'm super tired, even though I mostly let myself sleep until eight... Work was good, but I'm behind, and there's so much to do and so little time in which to do it if I want to maintain my sanity. But I made it through the day, went to my regular building to pick up a package, and ended up spending an hour talking to a coworker (who I mostly 100% agreed with today, shocker).

By the end, I was beyond done, so I went to Verde and treated myself to Mexican food and a margarita (but only one because I'm a lady). Then I ran a couple of errands, came home, and did absolutely nothing productive ever since.

And now it's bedtime - goodnight!

shake me down

Today was an exercise in pain since I didn't get enough sleep last night - I woke up at 6:30am like I needed to, went downstairs and got some water, and promptly crawled back into bed for another 45min because I couldn't imagine staying awake at that point. But I eventually dragged myself out of bed, showered, and then went to the second day of my offsite. I was really cranky to be there - not because I don't love the people I work with, but because I get antsy and bored with vision/mission statements and was ready to answer some questions about our collective fate instead.

But I got to play with legos to take some of my aggression out - someone helpfully brought stuff to play with to help with the brainstorming, and while it may not have helped my brainstorming, it did keep me from strangling anyone (#smallvictories). I also took a break at some point to eat cheerios while sitting on a balcony, so that was pretty soothing. And the offsite actually went really well, all in all, despite my crankiness - so don't read anything into my annoyed mood.

We had a happy hour after, and I stayed for exactly and hour before bowing out and coming home (with a stop at my regular office building to pick up some packages). When I got here, I did a whole lot of nothing for a couple of hours - tried on some clothes (including the dress for Santy Claude's wedding, which fits well except for the fact that it's eight inches too long), kind of took a nap, ate some peanut butter, etc. Unfortunately, I had a call with Singapore/Hyderabad at 8:30, which got me out of my mellow groove. But now I'm going to ignore the work that has piled up and go to bed instead - goodnight!

i am full of wonder

I am also full of exhaustion. I got up at 6:30 this morning, had a video conference at 7:30, then ran an errand before heading into the office. I had an offsite all day today, which meant I had to have obligatory dinner with everyone after. We went to Chimera, which I hadn't been to before; the food was pretty tasty, although my chow fun was more bland than I wanted it to be (#firstworldproblems).

But then I had to come home so I could do another call at 9:30pm - today was truly poorly scheduled. I took a twenty-minute nap before the call, which saved my life - or it woke me up, since I just did work for another hour like a total idiot. Someone take my laptop away.

But now it's time for bed - goodnight!

cruel to be kind

Today was okay, all in all - I went to the nice office in the morning, which meant nicer breakfast and plenty of free space to try to concentrate. I went back to my office in the afternoon, where I straightened up my desk (it is no longer affected by the prank my coworkers pulled on me) and canceled a bunch of meetings so I could get some work done.

By 5:30 I was done, so I joined some coworkers at the brewery across the railroad tracks from our office. I can't drink beer, but I can eat the tacos they sell on the patio, so I had two of those for dinner. But I left abruptly at 6:30, since the sun was beating in my face and I didn't want to die. I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home, where I bought milk and several different kinds of cold brew coffee.

When I got home, I really just wanted to do nothing - but since that's what I did last night, I couldn't indulge again. I did watch most of 'Ten Things I Hate About You', which happened to be on when I turned on my tv - Heath Ledger breaks my heart every time, since I wish we could have seen what his talent would have done if he'd lived to a ripe old age. But then I worked for the last two hours - not enough to really get caught up, but my inbox is more respectable.

But now I need to sleep - goodnight!

feeling like an animal with these cameras all in my grill

I was pretty cranky all day today, to be honest. It doesn't help that I'm on day three of a headache, so I worked from home this morning. When I went to work, I discovered that some coworkers had played a prank on me and removed my desk, replacing it with a bookshelf with some of my stuff artfully displayed - which I think I was visibly annoyed by, since I have meetings straight through for the next four days and don't have time to put my desk back in order in those random free moments that I occasionally get. I mean, I like pranks, but I was not in the mood - which someone must have picked up on, since I got back to my desk at some point at the end of the day and discovered they had put everything back. Ha.

So I spent all day in meetings, then left to drive into Denver and have dinner with Katie. We went to Root Down, where we had a v. lovely evening of food and conversation. I also stopped at their house after to meet their new hamster, who was quite friendly; James and the girls were good too. Then I came home and was planning to work, but my headache was still driving me a bit nuts - so I watched House Hunters, and now I'm going to bed early and hoping some sleep will drive the headache away. Goodnight!

i'm living on such sweet nothing

I have a headache and really need to be in bed, but I suppose today could have been worse. I got up this morning, messed around the house, and then ran an errand that took a couple of hours. But then I came back to my house, rendezvoused with Vivi (who had spent the night in my guest room) and took her downtown to grab lunch. We tried to get into Snooze, but the wait was 45mins...so we walked down the street and ended up grabbing lunch at Next Door (which is next door to The Kitchen). I had a very delicious hamburger on a gluten free bun that felt like it saved my life, and Vivi had tacos, and we spent some quality time talking about writing and life and our oft-nomadic lifestyles...

Then I didn't really want to come back to my warm apartment, so instead we drove up into the mountains and visited Nederland. It's a totally appropriate thing to do if you just want to kill a couple of hours in the mountains - the drive is gorgeous, it's only thirty minutes, and the town is weird and charming. So we walked around a bit, and then had ice cream in a cafe that is made of a series of connected train cars (so #onbrand).

When we got back to Boulder, Vivi grabbed her stuff from my apartment and I dropped her off at the bus station so that she could catch the shuttle to the airport, since I wasn't nice enough to take two more hours to drop her off there. Then I came home, did a bunch of romance-related business until like eight, then talked to my parents (v. late for them, but they were gone most of the day), and then did day job stuff for the last hour so that I could accomplish something that needed to be done before tomorrow.

And now, it's time for bed - tomorrow's madness will come all too soon. Goodnight!

scare your sons scare your daughters

I'm back in my own bed, sad that conference is over (and even sadder that I don't have air conditioning), but glad to get back to my regularly scheduled life. Today went as well as it could have gone - I got up in time to have breakfast in the club lounge, then pack all my stuff and load my car before going to a workshop on audio books. I went with Grace, and I don't think we learned anything, but we had fun hanging out.

After that, we rendezvoused with Barbara Samuel for one last lunch; everyone else was already gone, but Grace, Barbara and I walked down the street to Modern Market, where we had salads and a final round of conversation before heading back to the hotel. I spent a tiny bit more time with Grace, and then she left for the airport while I headed to Boulder. I brought my friend Vivi with me (for those of you who were on my wine bus birthday party many years ago, she was my nomadic writer friend who joined us). She's staying with me tonight before heading home tomorrow afternoon, so we drove back to Boulder together. We spent most of the afternoon talking, including a lovely early dinner at Pizzeria Locale.

But by approximately 7:30pm, I had completely hit my introvert wall - so I abruptly said that I loved her but needed to go lie down. I have since spent the rest of the night lounging in my room while she lounged in her room, which was a pretty perfect end to a writing conference - I relaxed and caught up on twitter and napped a little and messed around online, and it was v. restorative.

But now I need to sleep - I have to run some errands in the morning, and Vivi and I will hang out in the afternoon before she heads to the airport, so that should be fun. Goodnight!

your trojan's in my head

Conference is drawing to a close - I'm not ready for all aspects of my real life (especially the lack of air conditioning and the overabundance of day job tasks facing me when I return), but I am ready to sleep in my own bed and stop eating crazy amounts of food during a myriad of social activities. Today was pretty nice, though. I went to an early workshop about publishing young adult for the indie market; when I finish this YA I intend to shop it to publishers first because the YA market is really different from romance, but I was curious about my options.

After that, Barbara S and I walked over to the Delectable Egg and had breakfast and caught up - I'd been looking forward to some one-on-one time with her, so I'm glad we caught each other this morning. We also ended up having lunch together a couple of hours later with our mutual friend Heather - lunch was overkill at that point, but I sucked it up and ate some salad anyway. I also gave $5 to a street performer just because the lucky bastard happened to be playing 'Amarillo by Morning', which probably surprised him, but if you were me or [censored] or Drewbaby, you would understand why I did this.

Then I came back to the hotel and spent some quality time in the lounge with my journal and my headphones, plotting out a five year plan. I haven't done a planning exercise in quite some time, and I'm feeling the lack of clarity when it comes to my goals and aspirations. I'm not done yet, but it was a good start.

Then the rest of the afternoon was all social - I met Lisa (a Twitter friend); Elizabeth (another Twitter friend); hung out for a bit with the Barbaras and Grace and Veronica and Sherry; had dinner with Darcy; and then came back to my room and had two glorious hours of napping/relaxing/not wearing pants. I could have easily remained in that paradise, but at 9:30 I rallied and put on a dress and went downstairs to meet up with Grace and Veronica - Grace won an award tonight (not the RITA, but still very exciting), and so we celebrated in the bar.

But now, I really need to sleep - goodnight!

scheming on a thing that's a mirage

I had another lovely day at the conference - I'm feeling inspired, but I'm also feeling like this is a bit too much like a vacation and not quite enough like I'm doing serious business. This could be because I just needed a break; or it could be because I haven't written much in the last year, which is starting to be a crawling, gnawing monster under my skin and along my spine.

sssanyway. I got up this morning in time to have coffee and journal a bit before my first workshop of the day. I met up with Veronica and we sat together for Sherry Thomas's workshop on revisions - Sherry and I have pretty much the same revision style (aka scrap the first 10k words entirely, write the first half, then scrap that and write yet another draft). I was hoping to discover a way to fix this, but it sounds like it's unfixable, so that's great. But Sherry writes gorgeous books, so if that's the outcome, I should probably be cool with it.

After the talk, Sherry and I went out for at Marlowe's, which was super fun; I really like that we've somehow become friends over a handful of conferences and some occasional email/twitter exchanges. When we came back to the hotel, I grabbed an iced tea, planned to sit somewhere in my journal, and instead ran into Grace - which was perfect because I was wanting some quality time with her (although I joked that this was pretty low quality time, but it was delightful, as always). We hid in a corner where no one could find us and talked about life and children and teeth (she told me a horror story about her son's dentistry experiences, which involve Old MacDonald's Farm in a way that now creeps me out). Then, we went to Barbara Samuel's workshop on the first 100 pages - and I was reminded once again that the first and second draft of my first 100 pages inevitably suck, so I should stop worrying about making them perfect right now.

After the workshop, I was desperately tired, so I came to my room and took an 18-minute power nap. Then I met up with Maya, Veronica, and Grace for dinner - we took a lyft to Lola's, which is my favorite Mexican restaurant in Denver. It turned into a super fun evening - Maya hadn't met Grace or Veronica before, but everyone hit it off, so the conversation devolved quite quickly from the usual 'getting to know you' questions to conversations about combative urination (#dontask).

Then we came back to the hotel (after scarring/amusing the lyft driver) and hung out in the lobby with Barbara F and the director of ebooks at Kobo (whom I'd befriended in Hawaii a couple of years ago, so we'd agreed to connect tonight). But we were all fading fast, so I came up to my room an hour ago and messed around until now.

And now it's time for more sleep, hopefully better than last night's, and with some quality time to write tomorrow. Goodnight!

hot as a fever, rattle of bones

I had a v. successful first day of my romance conference, thanks for asking! I got up unusually early (both for conference and for normal life) so that I could meet Veronica and attend the Day of YA event (#protip: YA = young adult books). 'Day' was a bit of a misnomer, since it was from 7:30am to 12:30pm, so it probably should've been called 'Torturously Early Morning of YA'.

I'm not a member of the YA chapter, but it was good to do the event - for one, I met a couple of Colorado writers, and for another, the speakers were mostly pretty good. The keynote speaker was Pintip Dunn, who went to Ivy League schools and practiced law before writing a bunch of books, but she did all that while suffering from intense fibromyalgia that is so bad that she can't use a keyboard. She actually wrote a book while lying flat on her back every day underneath her glass coffee table with her laptop screen showing through the glass so she could dictate her words to it (she was so sick that she couldn't sit up), and she's written her last six books on her phone since she can somehow type on the smartphone screen if she's careful. In other words, I need to suck it up and write a fucking book while I'm still in possession of a body that is capable of doing it.

sssanyway. The agent/editor panel was a bit too basic for me, but then there was a two hour plotting-type workshop that I quite enjoyed. After the Day of YA, I parted ways with Veronica, dumped stuff in my room, and met up with the delightful Maya Rodale for lunch. We went to The Kitchen (there's one in Denver in addition to Boulder), and it was a perfectly boozy afternoon - we shared a bottle of rosé, and we each had steak frites, and were so delighted with each other's company that we're planning to have dinner tomorrow (unless she sobers up and comes to her senses).

After closing out the restaurant, we grabbed coffee, then came back to the hotel, where I changed and relaxed for approximately five minutes before Katie came over after work to hang out. I was eager to introduce her to my writer friends, which goes against all my usual instincts to keep all my friend groups separate so that they can't all piece together just how weird I am. But Katie came to the hotel, and the group slowly gathered over a drink in the bar, and Maya stopped by to meet Katie too.

Then, Katie, Veronica, Grace, the Barbaras, and I went to Linger, where I'd made a dinner reservation, Poppy and Barbara's daughter Kristen met us there, and we spent a couple of hours gorging ourselves on one of the best meals I've had in awhile. The concept there is world street food, and it's pretty incredible that they can do such different dishes so flawlessly - we way overordered, but each dish was better than the last, and I wanted to eat all of it. I think I've convinced my friends that Denver is pretty cool - other than the fact that it's a million degrees, it's a good place to live, and the restaurant scene in particular is quite delightful.

Then we sadly parted ways with Katie (everyone liked each other, which was good since I didn't want to have to make any hard choices about who to cut from the program if they weren't kindred spirits), and the writers all came back to the hotel And now I need to sleep - I have a packed schedule tomorrow, so resting my eyes and continuing to ignore my email (sorry friends!) is my current best choice. Goodnight!

lay where you're laying, don't make a sound

I had yet another hectic day at the office - meeting after meeting, with no end in sight. But I ended the office time around four, when I weirdly ended up signing a bunch of my books for people who happened to be around - I had a box of them at my desk and was grabbing some to take to my conference, but I gave a bunch away. So, that was weird and entertaining, and hopefully they're all still speaking to me when I get back.

Then I dashed home, threw a whole bunch of stuff in a suitcase (more stuff than is strictly necessary for four days, but I didn't have time to edit), and worked for another hour or so while traffic died down. Then I drove into Denver and met a bunch of my writer friends for dinner at Tupelo Honey. I've never been there, and I'll probably never go back - the meal that I had was super tasty and the wine was good, but they only had like one gluten-free thing on the menu (a sweet tea brined half chicken, which was tasty). It's Southern, which is not gluten-free friendly, and so I suppose I'll have to let this restaurant live on in my memory rather than ever going back.

Still, the dinner was super fun - I hung out with the usual suspects (the Barbaras, Veronica, Deb, Poppy, and Deb and Poppy's boyfriends, which was an unusual but not unwelcome addition). Grace's flight was delayed, and several other usual suspects aren't coming this year, but it was fun to relax and hang out and talk writer stuff.

Then I drove some of us back to the hotel, where I checked in, unpacked, and settled in. And now I really need to sleep - I have a 'Day of YA' thing tomorrow with Veronica, where I intend to learn as much as possible about the young adult market, so hopefully it's interesting (and hopefully worth getting up at 6:15am for). Goodnight!

but we keep loving anyway

I had a really long day at work, so apologies to the several of you whom I ignored over text/ping/email - I started working at eight, had a meeting from 8:30-9, drove to the office, and had meetings straight from 9:30 to 5 (although I forced my noon meeting to end a few minutes early so I could make a sandwich).

However, I at least got a bit of a break - I came home, rendezvoused with Veronica, and had dinner with her at The Kitchen. I really adore that place; my glass of wine was slightly too fruity for my tastes, but my porkchop and grits were delicious (and the company was pretty good too). We then went to the Boulder Bookstore, which is one of those stores that prides itself on its selection - so of course it has a huge room that reeks of incense and has all sorts of books on witchcraft, the occult, spirituality of all kinds, etc., but can't deign to carry a romance section. Gross.

Of course, I still bought a book, but this shouldn't surprise you.

Then we came home, and even though I should have been maximizing my friend time, I instead read twitter for a bit and then worked like a crazy person for the last two hours to try to catch up on stuff (mission failed). And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

like the future was supposed to be

I'm not ready to go back to work - but I only have to get through two days in the office before I'm on vacation again. It's quite possible that my multiple vacations in the last six weeks is causing a vicious cycle...when I'm in the office, I'm totally slammed, so I can't wait to get out and relax again, which is promptly ruined by going back to an overly full inbox/calendar.

sssanyway, I also need to make it clear that last night's nausea was absolutely not correlated with Veronica's presence in my house. I assumed that was obvious, but Veronica was concerned. So, let it be known - I'm thrilled that Veronica is here, and it's not her fault that I was stupid and rented a place without A/C and so overheated last night, which is almost certainly why I suddenly felt so nauseated.

sssanyway again. Veronica got here yesterday around three, and we had a delightful time catching up, getting manicures, and having a leisurely dinner at River and Woods before I suddenly felt nauseated. Today was all better though - and it rained and was only seventy degrees, so my house cooled down and I felt much better.

I spent the morning working on personal stuff, which made me happy. V and I eventually had a late lunch at Motomaki, followed by a v. necessary stop at Staples (post-its are a required purchase for writers whenever writers are feeling stuck with their plots, as both Veronica and I are). Then we came back to my place, and I did some more work and took a nap. V ended up leaving me to my own devices tonight so that she could see a friend in Denver - and I wasn't nearly as productive as I had planned to be, but I still did four loads of laundry and called my parents to get the latest gossip about our town (although it was 95% about their new kittens, which is way more entertaining than town anyway), so it could have been worse.

But now I need to sleep so I can seize the day tomorrow - goodnight!

heaven restores you in life

I had a great day and Veronica is in my guest room, but I'm suddenly feeling nauseated, so I'm going to sleep. goodnight!

tell them how your pleasure's set up on slow release

Today was yet another long day - this one mostly consuming emotional energy, as I had multiple meetings with multiple people who all wanted similar pieces of advice in terms of how to figure out their careers. I like doing that kind of stuff, but four in one day (plus a lunch where I was a speaker giving career advice) was kind of a lot. And also, it's kind of funny that I'm seen as a good source of advice since I've quit twice, lol.

But I left at five to get a pedicure, and then I had dinner with Christine at Salt. We ended by going to the bookstore as we usually do, so it was a nicely relaxing night.

But now I must sleep - goodnight!

the wild dogs cry out in the night

My day was full of meetings starting at eight a.m. and going almost straight until five, including two with my VP (unusual, but not for dramatic reasons). I got off to a sluggish start since I didn't get enough sleep last night, but I'm determined to change that - it has been way too hot in my house without A/C, but the swamp cooler I ordered from Amazon arrived today, and it's already making a difference in my bedroom despite being set up an hour ago. So here's hoping that I sleep better now that my room feels like a normal bedroom instead of a desert that happens to include a mattress.

However, despite the work still piling up, I left the office at five, came home and dragged the swamp cooler in from the patio where the delivery guy had left it, and walked straight to Pizzeria Locale. I indulged in a v. tasty gluten free pizza and a couple of glasses of wine; I've been laying off the sauce (both pizza sauce and wine sauce) in an effort to be healthier, but it seemed like my health would be better served tonight by having wine and ignoring email, so that's what I did. My phone also conveniently died while I was there, so I journaled and ate and drank and completely ignored the world, which was pretty much the perfect way to relax.

Then I came home, took care of tings around the house, set up my swamp cooler, wrote a couple of personal email...and now I'm going to go to bed earlyish and hope that I recoup some of the sleep I lost this week. Goodnight!

that crooked ace up your sleeve

Long day...so long that I missed free lunch and instead bought a poke bowl at 2pm (but that was tasty, so #noregrets). So that's all you get tonight - but don't worry, this weekend and next week will mark a return to fun, so not everything is bleak. Goodnight!

wake me up when september ends

Today was too long...but I also wrote before and after work, so no regrets there. And I ran some errands, bought some groceries, tidied up the house, did some laundry, etc...so even though it feels like it was all work because I just answered emails for the last two hours, it really wasn't that bad.

But it will be bad if I don't go to bed right now...so goodnight!

there are things that the homilies and hymns won't teach you

too tired to blog - I got up at 5:45am Iowa time, showered, took the shuttle to the airport, ate breakfast, and had an entirely uneventful flight to Denver (in fact, it landed thirty minutes early). But I had to go straight to work, and the slog was brutal - I was there until 6:30, then came home, opened my laptop, and worked for the past three hours. Dumb.

But now I'm going to sleep (or try to sleep, since my apartment has been shut up for two weeks and it's like ninety degrees) - goodnight!

angelica, eliza....and peggy

This edition of #smalltownlife is nearing its end, but today was pretty awesome. HAMILTON is in Des Moines and I bought tickets when ticket sales opened last November, so my parents, [censored], and I got to see it during the matinee show today. I'd also procured tickets for Aunt Becky, her scandalous pirate husband, and uncle Mark and aunt Kathy, but they were a couple of rows behind us.

So, [censored] and I rode up together, and we stopped for lunch in Indianola on the way. When we got to our seats, we discovered that they were perfect - right in the middle, not too far back, and the Civic Center staggers their seats enough so that even a shorty like me isn't blocked by the person in front of them.

And the show was, in my humble opinion, totally awesome. I think I liked it better than the SF production I saw last year - Burr and Eliza were particularly excellent, and everyone else was pretty delightful. Also, the better view made a huge difference in terms of noticing little details of the choreography.

So, I loved it, and I cried at the end, and it was pretty great. After, [censored] drove to his house three hours away, while Mom and Dad and I had dinner with the rest of the family at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Des Moines.

And now, I need to sleep - I'm in a hotel in Des Moines near the airport since my flight is early tomorrow, so my parents kicked me out here after supper, where I promptly spent the last three hours reliving the show. So, it's time for sleep - goodnight!

last dance with mary jane

I'm too tired to blog - I slept late and spent most of the afternoon messing around, including another trip to the round barn, which is usually the extent of my attempts to get out and enjoy the scenery beyond my parents' back yard. We also had supper in Seymour, where I had the usual prime rib while the dead deer heads stared down upon us.

But now I should sleep, since I have to get up and pack tomorrow before going to Des Moines for another adventure. Goodnight!

i'm way too good at goodbyes

I'm super tired and want to go to bed immediately, but I'm worried that if I don't blog tonight, my mother and [censored] will break down my door to make sure I'm not dead. This would be total overkill since my bedroom door is unlocked, and also since they saw me less than an hour ago - but the sanctity of the blog as the single source of truth for whether I'm alive each night must be maintained at all costs.

sssanyway, the last two days have been super lovely - it was nice to have another mini vacation, although stacking so many vacations so close together isn't really helping with my corporate motivations (and by that I mean it's far easier to imagine running off to Bali again when I've had a few days away from the grind.). Katie ended up coming down last night, and so she and Hannah (another friend from high school - fun fact, Hannah and I are also like fifth cousins) came out and spent a couple of hours in the kitchen talking about all sorts of gossip and other inappropriate things (including a joke about cutting the mustard that I hope to never forget).

Eventually, Hannah had to drive home, so Katie, [censored] and I hung out in my room until it was way past time to sleep. I awoke earlier than I wanted to this morning, but since the only plan on the agenda was to hang out with Katie, that wasn't a bad thing. My dad made breakfast, and then I spent most of the late morning / early afternoon on the porch with Katie, my dad, my mom, [censored], the cat, etc.

Then, Katie and I went down to the round barn, where my mom gave us a tour of all the buildings. Katie and I parted ways after that since she had to go back to Des Moines to rendezvous with her other family (clearly my family is more important, but I'll let it slide this time since I'm guessing her children might have missed her). But I'll see Katie again in a couple of weeks, so this isn't really a hardship.

Then my mom and I came home, and I took a nap / relaxed / tried to cool off. Then we had leftovers for supper (but when leftovers are this good, it doesn't feel like a chore) before playing two games of Ticket to Ride. [censored] won the first one, and my mom won the second, and I was generally just wasting my time, but c'est la vie.

And now it's time for bed - goodnight!

they go along to take your honey (la la la la)

Happy fourth of July! I had a very peaceful day in ye olde Iowa - I slept later than I did the last couple of days, and that set the tone for a whole bunch of laziness. I spent some quality time this morning/afternoon talking to my mom, and then my dad came in from mowing, and then [censored] showed up and insisted on taking me on a tour of [censored]. And then I spent the rest of the afternoon on the back porch with [censored], talking about everything and nothing, as per usual.

Later we had a v. fourth of July supper - bratwurst, the first sweet corn of the season, potato salad, and baked beans. Then we played a game of Ticket to Ride and I was super close to winning, but [censored] came out of nowhere at the end to pull out the win (congratulations, I guess). And now, after I actually answered a few personal emails (but not most of them), it's time for bed - goodnight!

not quite a year since you went away

Another long day of working, but I did most of it while sitting on the back porch, so it could be much worse. It's easier to take ridiculous meetings while looking over my laptop screen to gardens and ponds and rolling fields, so in some ways I didn't mind it at all.

I had to stop at three even though I wasn't close to done; my sister and my youngest niece came over, so I hung out with them for a couple of hours. When they left around five, I then did another couple of hours of work before throwing in the towel. I then ate supper with my parents (ribeye and baked potatoes, can't go wrong), and then we sat on the patio again until it was close to dark and the mosquitoes were in search of a meal.

And now it's time to sleep - goodnight!

stuck in a moment

I had a v. boring day in ye olde Iowa - mostly because I worked the entire day, which felt like most days, just taking video calls from my desk in my Iowa bedroom instead of conference rooms in Boulder. But I took a break to have breakfast with my parents (yum), and I spent a bit of time outside, and I stopped working at 5:30, so it could have been worse. Then my mom gave me a tour of her gardens, and then I sat on the patio and accidentally took a nap.

After that, it was all pretty chill - I ran into town to look for coffee (no luck), then came home and ate supper, and then sat on the patio and played with kittens. My parents were down to one cat, who was born last fall and still doesn't seem fully grown, but they basically raised her after she was abandoned by her mother, and so she's way more affectionate than any other cat they've had in the past decade. She had kittens a few days ago, and I think she thinks my parents are supposed to help raise them too, because she keeps bringing them to us for us to hold them. That's a little bizarre since their eyes aren't even open yet - but it's pretty cute, so it could be worse.

And now I should sleep - I should have worked tonight but I wasn't feeling it, so I'll have to get a lot done tomorrow to make up for it. Goodnight!

it's hard to say it, time to say it

Wow, last night's entry went totally off the rails. I was falling asleep as I was typing, and somehow I thought that I had cleaned it up and written something passably coherent, but apparently I was incorrect. I wasn't even that intoxicated - just ready to fall asleep, and my brain started playing tricks on my fingers.

sssanyway. Last night did not end at Maven - we had dinner at Maven at 6:30, then headed toward the Mint, where we were planning to do karaoke. On the way, Adit and I walked by the apartment where we lived together, and while the smell of urine at the Safeway down the street and the crazy homeless guy weaving around on the sidewalk barefoot while holding his shoes reminded me why I left San Francisco, I was struck by some intense waves of nostalgia. Or maybe that was just the urea causing hallucinations.

sssanyway again. We discovered that the old bar down the street from us, which used to be the Residence and was our third or fourth choice of bars when we couldn't get into Churchill or Blackbird, has (as of this week) become a tiki bar called Last Rites. I normally don't go to tiki bars two nights in a row, but we went into this one and it was quite delightful. It was too crowded for us to sit down, but we had a quick drink there, and the rum went a long way toward helping me catch up to my friends after driving them around wine country all day (although since they went for a rum drink as well, I was destined to never catch up).

Then we went to karaoke at the Mint, which was super fun - Claude, Vidya and I all managed to get songs in, which felt like a real accomplishment. Then we adjourned to Grubstake, where we finished the night eating plate of cheese (and bought more bottles of hot sauce for the road).

Today, of course, I had to get myself out of bed and to the airport, since my sojourn in the city of sin is over for this round. I had a direct flight to Des Moines (yay) on Frontier (boo) - I'd never flown them before, and while it wasn't the worst, it certainly wasn't the best. It didn't help that Frontier flies out of Terminal 1, which is a dismal hellhole compared to the renovated areas of T 2/3; it also didn't help that the air outside was also a dismal hellhole due to wildfire smoke, and so my flight was delayed by an hour. And also, some kid threw up in the check-in line and I heard the ticket agent tell his grandmother that they might have to stop him from flying; apparently he faked his way into seeming better, because when our plane was finally ready to take off, we had to wait while they kicked the grandmother/kid off the flight and cleaned up more vomit. #ihatepeople

But the flight itself was uneventful. When I landed in Iowa, my parents picked me up; we went straight to Johnny's for dinner, which was fairly unexciting/disappointing (the food, not my parents). And now that I'm home and have taken a look at my hopeless work to-do list, I need to go to bed - I'm working from home tomorrow and Tuesday, and I need to get a lot done, so wish me luck. Goodnight!

what the hell is on joey's head

Today was Claudia's bachelorette party, which meant fourteen hours of socializing...which is still much less than the nineteen years that I've known Claude and Adit, which somehow feels impossible. I got up early this morning and picked up gluten free pastries at Mariposa Bakery (incl a breakfast sandwich for myself, which was ridiculously good), and then I rendezvoused with Adit and Vidya and drove to the east bay to pick up Claude.

Then we drove up to Duckhorn, where we tasted some v. delish wines that they don't sell in stores (this seems like a scam somehow). Then we had lunch at Bottegga, followed by a tasting at Gloria Ferrer, which I always love.

I had to stay sober for most of this since I was driving us back, but as soon as I parked my car, all bets were off. And my night ended with dinner at Maven, a rum-based drink at Last Rites (a tiki bar that opened thie week on a shitty strert in the most undesireable lostcaton.

But I'm falling asleep on my keyboard, so further expatnion will have to comeM- OODNIGHT