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Accepting Rejection

I was happy enough with the response I got this morning, along with the general excitement expressed in the offer, that I’ll start at Two Rivers on Monday. Unfortunately we ended up offending the sellers of the Ouita house with our offer enough that they outright rejected our offer, along with the verbal one they received. I talked with Alisha some more, and the seller’s agent finally talked them into negotiating some.

Summer worked from home, so I took a shower and she took us to Mulan’s for lunch. I ate way too much and then had to go home so Dad could come help me fix my leaky faucet. That project snowballed on us, and it took one trip to Leonard’s to fix the leak at the knob, but then the shutoff valves wouldn’t close enough to stop the water and we had to shut it off at the curb. Of course the box was completely full of water from all the rain. I tried blowing it out with my leaf blower, and all that muddy water ended up in my face. We took another trip to Leonard’s and got some washers for the shutoff valves, but using the impact to remove the caps may have caused them to leak somewhere else. There’s still a small drip at the shutoff valve now.

I took another shower to clean off the mud, and then I had to go get Eaddie and a friend of hers from robotics. We dropped her off a couple blocks from my house, and then I took Eaddie home until we had to go back to the high school for their band participation awards.

The house lights stayed on the whole evening, and then having the directors read out every single activity that each individual senior had done in their entire school career was just the start to how ridiculous the night would be. After they finished the seniors, they called every single junior and sophomore onto the stage to collect their participation trophies. We almost left early because Summer thought they were going to call eighth and seventh graders up as well, but they didn’t.

The girls went out with friends, so Summer and I came home and watched a couple episodes of Modern Family. The girls eventually made it home and I added some flavor and correctly-sized vegetables to the pico de gallo that Autumn basically blended yesterday. I got a little sidetracked after that, but tried not to stay up too late.

How can I be so tired and so restless?

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Two Streams

I got home fairly early this morning after stopping for a car wash, and then dawdled around the house a bit before my interview in the afternoon. There was a decent chance of rain for most of the afternoon, so I didn’t get out for anything else. I just ate my leftover Damgoode pie and tried to do a little bit of research on Two Rivers.

I left early enough to get to Ola about 15 minutes early and found my way into the high school office where I was pretty quickly met with a panel of interviewers, which included the superintendent and assistant superintendent, the technology assistant, and the facilities director. Everyone really seemed to wear a lot of hats though, and I was reasonably surprised by how much overlap there was. It was pretty evident they had a history of having to know how to fix things themselves between technology coordinators.

My interview went really well, in spite of repeatedly reminding them that I was terminated from my prior district. After they finished going around the table, Todd gave me a tour of the facility. I was shocked by a few of the things I saw, but overall the facility itself seemed much nicer than my last office that periodically flooded with two to three inches of water when it rained.

I called Gary on the way home to laugh about them hiring the guy I would be replacing. Before I could even make it home, Blake called to offer me the job. Summer didn’t answer the phone when I tried to call her earlier, but then called me when I texted her that I got the offer.

Autumn was making dinner for the evening, so I headed up to their house when Summer got back into town. It took her a while to get everything finished, so I messaged Alisha to check on the status of our offer on the house. She indicated the seller thought the offer was really low, but that we should hopefully hear a counter offer soon. I made some guacamole out of some super green avocados, and then ate a minimal amount of the enchiladas that Autumn made, after adding some fresh ingredients to her otherwise awful, heavy meal. Then she disappeared into her room while I cleaned up the kitchen.

Eaddie climbed into bed with Summer, but then wet herself in a tickle fight. Everyone was off to bed at that point, but I got a little sick to my stomach. I felt exhausted, but didn’t go to sleep until much later.

Inside of you are two gators.

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Day 4 of Travel

I got up this morning and immediately started getting ready for my fourth day of travel. I stopped by the election commission headquarters on the way home and voted in the school board election. Then I continued home to get ready for my interview in Maumelle. I made it down the interstate fast enough that I got off early and drove through town to save a little bit of range. Of course the navigation was faulty, so I had to make a block, but I got there with plenty of time.

I only had to wait a couple minutes for them to come interview me. I talked to Tim and Ryan to first determine whether I could talk to humans, and then whether I could talk to computers. After Tim left, I felt much less confident in my answers, simply because Ryan was really looking for specific examples of projects I had completed. The work I’ve done for the past several years has been so sporadic that I really didn’t have any good solo examples. After we finished talking, he left me with a paper test and a pen, and I had to write out answers to the best of my ability. Once I finished that, I had to place it on the receptionist’s desk and basically walked out waving to the guys that were in their offices with headsets on.

Mitch was at Blake’s apartment, so I went there next to change and then take Mitch to a late lunch. As we did that, he told me that I was invited to dinner with Blake, but I didn’t realize it was at his girlfriend’s house and that she was cooking. We had lunch at The Fold, which had some killer fancy tacos which were a bit pricy, but the guacamole and cheese dip plate seemed really reasonable in comparison. Both the food and service were excellent.

We struggled to come up with a solid plan after that, so we went to Franklin’s Charging Station after that to get a little bit of free juice while we waited to go to dinner. I showed Mitch my Steam Deck while we sat in the air conditioning. After a while, I decided we would head on over to Justina’s house since I wasn’t sure how traffic would be. We actually arrived before either of them, but then she pulled in right behind us. Her two boys and their dog were all over the place while she started cooking dinner. Blake eventually showed up and we took turns playing Mario Party with one of the boys.

After dinner, we played a tiny game of Uno, and then another game called Forbidden Island. It was a cooperative game with tiles that were spaced out randomly. It was a little scattered at times, but eventually I had a fair grasp of how to strategize. We just barely won, but I thought it was a lot of fun.

As the kids went to bed, we parted ways. I took Mitch to another friend’s ritzy apartment complex with agate code and literal fire on the road sign. The amenities sounded pretty intense as well. We said our goodbyes, and I made the lone trip home in the dark. Just past Conway, I could barely make out a black tire in the middle of the black road. It appeared to be a whole tire, so I called 911 after failing to reach the state police using the short code on the road signs. They connected me to the state police, and I let the officer there know what I had seen so they could try and get it out of the road before someone got hurt.

I made it home safely, swapped cars, and then headed up to Summer’s for bedtime. Everyone was long asleep, so I finished up quickly and went to bed.

I just want my job back.

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The Clown Who Juggles

I woke up to an unexpected notification for a hard credit inquiry, which got me heated. I was under the impression that the pre-qualification for a mortgage loan would only be a soft inquiry, so having two banks check had me in a panic. That may have been premature though, as I later read that if they fall within a certain timeframe, only one will count against me for the actual loan we take.

From then, I continued to be bombarded with new information. I got two interviews scheduled for the next two days, and I very nearly had to go pick up Gary from Little Rock. Fortunately his parents warmed up to the idea of getting him themselves, because then Summer needed to take some supplies to Fort Smith in the afternoon.

I made it home to get cleaned up before Autumn’s military signing luncheon, all while communicating with loan officers. Then while we were at the luncheon in the Black Box, Alisha texted to let me know there was another verbal offer on the table, which got me in a rush to complete our loan application. The lunch itself was some pretty decent barbecue for free. The national anthem was played by a singular, laughably bad trumpet player. I got the feeling he should have been significantly better, but he must have gotten choked. It did feel very fitting to be as bad as it was for Autumn, who happened to also have zero support from the Navy. She ended up inviting the librarian and getting her boyfriend out of class to come sit at our table.

On the way out, Jeff stopped to talk to me and ask how things were going. I wished I had recorded the conversation just to have a record of him saying how gut-wrenching it was to watch them terminate me. We immediately went to get Summer’s car and load it up with a big box of towels from the wash, and then we were off to Fort Smith.

I spent the entire drive going back and forth with Alisha, and responding to the loan officers. We have no idea what the other offer is, or if ours will be laughed off. It’s difficult to keep from doing too much with buyers’ anxiety, especially now that our credit has been hit. We weren’t in a rush to purchase a house, but we liked this one enough to go through the paperwork. If it doesn’t work out, I don’t know if this will screw our credit for the next time, if we don’t find a place soon enough.

We made it to Fort Smith by way of Highway 22. It aggravated Summer to drive so slowly, but the whole roundtrip was only about 20 minutes slower than the interstate, but 10 miles shorter. That’s assuming we wouldn’t have hit traffic in the construction zones on the interstate. On top of that, we saved quite a bit of battery power going so much slower. She ended up talking to their quirky shift lead Viking for a while, so by the time we made it back home it was too late for her to go back to Superfast to close the shop. We stopped to get Eaddie, and then we got her car on the fast charger before they headed home.

I took my car to the wash for a thorough cleaning, then stopped by Casey’s for a couple drinks before making it up to Summer’s for the evening. I cleaned up some Popeyes they brought home, Autumn left for a multi-hour signing and awards event at the high school, and I took a call from Donna, who had questions as a challenger in the school board election. I got some possibly-useful information from her on who might be able to help my case. I don’t know if she got anything useful from me. I certainly don’t have any time to go out campaigning, and I’ll be lucky if I remember to go out to vote in the morning.

Eaddie and I wrapped up the evening with El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie. I thought it was a decent, if not unnecessary sendoff for Jesse. It did run a bit long, and brought in some unnecessary new characters, but it was an okay story. I think Better Call Saul will probably be better.

Seriously, a kazoo would have been better.

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Surpies!

I had to force some productivity this morning, and finally got loan applications done for Arvest and Centennial. Not having work yet has me worried that we won’t get approved, but it won’t be the end of the world. After that was done, Summer went to the gym and I did an online personality test for a prospective employer. It would be a long commute, but at least it would get some money flowing. At this point, it may not suit me to be so picky.

With all of that out of the way, I made it home to shower so I could head back to Little Rock for Blake’s surprise birthday party. As soon as I turned onto the onramp, I realized traffic was at a standstill. Luckily I had only barely turned, so I had enough room to back up and turn around. I took Highway 64 to Atkins, and from there traffic had gotten up to around 60 or 70. When I got into Little Rock, I got a little bit lost trying to take the Cantrell exit and wound up going through some really cute neighborhoods. Once I got back onto the main strip, I saw some pretty wicked tornado damage.

I arrived at Damgoode Pies fairly early and wasn’t sure I’d know anyone there, so I waited in the car for a while before going in. To my surprise, we had most of the building occupied for the party. There were a ton of people there, and I didn’t know a single one. Luckily Mitch showed up with an old bartending buddy of his, and he and his girlfriend joined me at my crowded table. Robert and Karen showed up shortly after that and sat at another table in the middle of the dining room. Then Mitch hid in the restroom until Blake and his girlfriend showed up.

It was an awesome surprise, and Blake spent most of the evening just floating from table to table. It definitely blew his mind. My “Underdog Stuffie” was pretty delicious, with a crispy double crust and thick bite of cheese inside. Robert spotted it and wanted to trade a slice for their Supreme, which was also pretty good. I mostly sat in awkward silence while everyone else socialized, and as people started to filter out, I convinced Mitch to go to the hospital with me to see Gary.

It rained a bit, but it wasn’t too bad. The drive to the hospital was surprisingly short, and it was a good surprise for Gary as well. Mitch had some other socializing that he wanted to do, so we didn’t stay super long before I had to take him back to Daniel’s place. Then I headed straight home in the black of the night.

It was a long and boring drive, but I made it home without incident. I dropped my car off to charge, and then it was off to Summer’s where everyone was fast asleep. I tried not to stay up too late, and made it to bed shortly after Midnight.

Prettygoode Pies

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I am Groot

The girls didn’t seem to feel great this morning, but we had to get to Little Rock for our movie. I went home to shower and then came back to pick them up. Neither of them were very hungry yet, so we decided to stop in and see Gary first. Eaddie waited in the car while Summer and I went into the rehab clinic, only to learn that we’d have to make our way over to the main hospital where he had been since surgery the day before.

We chatted for a while through his pain. It was probably the worst I’d seen him yet, but even then he was still in pretty good spirits. I had hoped he might stick around the hospital a while longer, but he seemed to really want to go home the next day.

From there, we went straight to the Promenade to try and find some food before our movie. Unfortunately we only had about an hour to kill, and both Big Orange and Local Lime had long wait times. I was surprised, because it was already well into the afternoon. We ended up going to Maggie Moo’s for some ice cream instead, but that made the girls feel even worse without any real food in their bellies. We ended up going to McDonald’s to split a snack combo I found in the app.

We made it to our movie with plenty of time, and I was surprised again at how empty the theater was for opening weekend. I just can’t believe 3D is so unpopular. It makes all the difference in the world to me. On the other hand, maybe the 2D showings are just as sparse. I wouldn’t know, because I always go the premium route whenever possible.

I kind of expected the movie to have some back story for some of the characters, but I absolutely didn’t expect any of what we saw. It started off on an emotional tone, and then immediately jumped right into heavy action. There were several parts where I got a little bored, or at least physically uncomfortable or restless due to my seat. Then the heavy emotional scenes hit, and it made the whole movie a lot better for me. It definitely felt different than anything we’d seen before though.

After the movie, I convinced the girls to stop for some food. we tried a place called Ocean’s At Arthurs, but Summer didn’t want to get out of the car after she saw that they had valet parking. I would have given it a try anyway, but it really might have been upscale enough that we’d look pretty rough going in. We ended up at a hole in the wall called Lazy Pete’s Fish and Shrimp instead, and the food was awesome. It didn’t look like much at all, but it really was great.

We made it back home and I let Summer take the Murano to her house while Eaddie decided whether she still wanted to go to the hot air balloon show. She ultimately decided against it, so I took Summer’s car to the wash and then we headed home for the night. The girls both went to bed, so I laid down with Summer for a bit. That was when I got a sudden surprise call from Mitch, who said he was coming to Little Rock via a “MEGABUS.” We only talked briefly since he was going to be on the bus for the next six or so hours, and I got to bed.

I am Groot!

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Juggling Procrastinator

Autumn woke me up this morning to ask me to take Eaddie to school because Eaddie didn’t want to get out of bed. I refused and went to wake Eaddie up myself. I couldn’t get back to sleep after that, so I got up and poked around on the computer once they were gone. I started drafting an email to my first and only interested law firm, but still wasn’t ready to hit “send” until I had more to ask. I nibbled on a little bit of leftover ham, and then left to take a box of stuff to Summer at Superfast.

When I got home, I started a load of laundry since I was out of socks. Then I bounced around a bit before taking a shower. I needed to email the lawyer, find a job, and apply for a home loan. All of this was terrible timing. Summer had a follow-up appointment at Millard Henry, so she picked me up for that and we arrived a bit late. Her blood pressure was high again, but the doctor didn’t seem concerned, or helpful.

After that, we stopped by Arvest to see if Aaron or Melissa were there so we could talk about getting a home loan. I didn’t even see Aaron when we walked in, but then another girl pointed him out to me. He came out to see Summer’s Model Y, and then we traded phone numbers for the first time ever in our years of friendship, so he could pass it along to Melissa, their loan officer and Josh’s aunt.

From there, we went by Centennial to see what they might have to say. Their loan officer was in another office, so we left my phone number and then ran back across town so I could pick up a magnet print from Walgreens. As we got there, I got a call from Melissa with some reasonably helpful information. I still don’t know if we can get the loan while I’m looking for work, but at least we know what to do to get started. While I was on the phone with her, Haley from Centennial tried to call me. I ran in for my photo, and then called her back as we ran through Rose Drug for Summer’s medication. That call was a lot shorter and not as helpful, but at least we have a direction.

Our next stop was Walmart for some groceries. Summer wanted to make a shrimp and broccoli Alfredo for dinner. I suggested going a step further with some tomatoes and spinach, so at that point I was in charge of dinner. We got in and out reasonably quickly, and then I started cooking when we got to the house. Autumn was outside cursing at the lawn mower because Eaddie left it in the rain and it got water in the system. She eventually got most of the front lawn mowed though, and then showered and immediately left for her grandparents’ house.

The remaining three of us enjoyed a disappointingly soupy dinner, and then Summer and I watched the new John Mulaney special on Netflix. Eaddie went to her room early for the night, and we never saw her again. After the comedy special, Summer went to bed and I laid with her briefly before getting up to wrap up my own chores.

Tomorrow’s goal: Finish any task.

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Semi-Planned

I woke up early this morning to shower and get back to pick up Summer for a trip to Little Rock. She would be meeting with the CFO to discuss some issues, and I wanted to tag along so I could see Gary before his surgery, and then catch lunch with Ben.

Joe texted me early and asked me to call, so I let him know when we hit the interstate and he called to chat while we were on the road. I gave him the scoop on my situation, and he again urged me to vote. Once we got into Little Rock, I dropped Summer off and then had to find some breakfast. The Wendy’s I tried appeared to be closed, at least for dining in, so I made the block and went to Waffle House. The food there was great, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t pay full price.

After I ate and hung out for a little while, I headed to the hospital, not really expecting to see Gary for a while. He said he wouldn’t be free until about four, so I just took my chances and figured I would kill time until lunch with Ben. To my surprise, Dale walked in and sat down to talk with me for at least half an hour. It was such a great surprise to catch up with him, and then Gary rolled back in all on his own in a wheelchair. We all chatted for a while, but eventually I had to leave to feed Ben.

I made it across town and then made him decide what to eat. He decided on something new, with Rock City Tacos on the Tesla navigation. When we got there, Google actually showed it to be Rock City Kitchen, who had no tacos, only served fish on Fridays, and were also out of wings. We just got burgers, which were super disappointing, especially after multiple excellent experiences at Cotham’s. We had a good chat, and I discovered that one of the companies that contacted me actually does the IT support for his office.

Summer texted for a ride just as we finished eating, so I dropped Ben back off and then ran back across town. Summer still hadn’t eaten all day, so she wanted to stop at Wendy’s. They were actually open this time, but only barely. It was run by a bunch of kids that were more interested in hanging out in the back, cursing loudly enough to hear them from the register. Then as Summer was eating, a big guy that sat down a couple tables away from us asked for us to call him a cab, as he sat pouring liquor into his soda cup.

We headed straight home after that, and hung out until we had to go to the junior high for Eaddie’s National History Day meeting. The more I heard, the less interested I was in going to DC. It was going to be expensive, and neither the school nor the state were going to help get the kids there in any meaningful way. The best option that was floated was renting a charter bus for like $20,000 for the week, and share that with some other schools. Summer and I decided we weren’t going to go, but we’d send Eaddie by whatever means necessary.

After that, we headed up to Summer’s and hung out until we had to go to the high school for the band’s appreciation concert. The concert band was absolute trash. They had trouble finding the right notes, and once they did, they played them at the wrong time. Eaddie told us afterward that they actually cut their portion of the concert short because they weren’t prepared enough to play all of the songs they wanted. The symphonic band did much better, as usual, and carried on for much longer.

The girls ended up going to Walmart with their father afterward, so Summer and I headed home for the night. She went to bed, and I helped Eaddie fill out a History Day form for her trip once they got home. Then I was off to bed after a long day.

I’m Mr. Popular lately, but not in any useful kind of way.

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All Eggs; No Basket

I woke up to a rejection email this morning, which stressed me out a bit. He did at least have some kind words for me, so maybe something will work out in the future. After that, I had a bit of a slow start. I wanted to do something productive, so I cleaned the kitchen and then started looking for more jobs. I got a response from an application I submitted yesterday, but that job would require a commute to Maumelle every day.

I eventually made it home to shower and apply for a few more jobs. Then I headed back up to Summer’s once she was on the way home. Joe called while I was driving, and asked me to support Donna in her bid for school board. Maybe I have Jason all wrong, but he’s always been nice to me as a total stranger. I appreciated Joe’s call, but I still find it odd to have people ringing my doorbell or calling my unpublished phone number.

Summer ended up going to the gym, so I got the ham and some rolls out for a snack-like dinner. It looked like the girls went out to eat right after school, so I didn’t concern myself with them. Eaddie came out of her room and we finished Breaking Bad, but then Summer came home talking loudly on speakerphone. We tried shutting her in the bedroom, but then she came back out and sat in front of the TV with us. That was even more annoying, because she hasn’t been interested in watching it with us, but she kept asking questions about what was happening. In the finale.

Everyone was off to bed by the time we finished. Eaddie tried having me fill out a form for her National History Day trip, but we decided to wait until after our meeting the very next day.

Strip the Personality

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Stalled

I couldn’t sleep after I woke up this morning, so I got out of bed once the girls were gone. I felt a little bit sick to the stomach after eating so much, and ended up taking a long bath and then showering before I left the house. I had a BOGO deal from Zaxby’s, so I took Summer some lunch to Superfast and ate with her. Then I headed home to try and be a little productive in the afternoon.

Just as I got parked at home, I got a call from another law office, which I thought was the same one I talked to yesterday. I could have been mistaken, so I ran inside to gather my documents and relay my story once more. After hitting the high points, the lady said I would either get a call back, or a letter letting me know they wouldn’t be able to take my case. I’d sure prefer a phone call, since this was kind of my preferred firm.

After that, I applied for one job and started the application process for another. I chatted with Gary briefly about how Two Rivers was going through Technology Coordinators faster than we were going through Superintendents, and he suggested that we weren’t going through them fast enough. I don’t know if it’s a bad environment, or just not worth the drive, but at this point I can’t be too choosey.

The afternoon ran out much faster than I expected, and I still wanted to run by my parents’ house to talk to them about buying a house. They had surprisingly little to say about it, so hopefully I estimated my numbers well enough to accurately reflect what we can afford.

Finally I made it up to Summer’s for the evening with some tacos. She was frustrated with work, which didn’t make any part of our current situation any easier. Eaddie came out to eat, and then we watched an episode of Breaking Bad as Summer went to bed. We left with two more episodes to go, and I spent the rest of the night fighting an aging laptop.

Lamentations