It occurred to me during my drive to work this morning that America might have a slight money problem.

After work, I was so exhausted that I gave in to a two hour nap. I never nap because it ruins me for several hours, but it’s Friday.

Whatever.

It’s day 11 for this journal, which is a feat all its own. Entries aren’t nearly as long as they were back in the day, but they also feel less like a technical breakdown of events throughout the day, and more of a CliffsNotes of the highlights. The occasional picture really feels like it makes all the difference.

I went by Apex after work as an excuse to stay out on the bike a bit longer. Jesica came over after she got off work, and we chatted for a bit before watching the first episode of Brickleberry. I’ll take this moment to utilize Netflix’s change from a 5-star rating system to a thumbs-up/down to rate this Comedy Central show a thumbs-down without recommendation. It vaguely reminded me of the early Family Guy episodes before they just kept beating the same jokes to death. “Oh, look! We’re an adult cartoon with language!”

It made me laugh, but not in a way that I was happy about it.

Brickleberry: 2/5
Brickleberry with rice: 3/5

Hope invited me to a birthday dinner she was throwing for Tim at the Dardanelle Club tonight. It was nice to see a proper birthday celebration for once. I don’t even remember the last birthday event I went to that wasn’t just family. They’re a fun, rambunctious crowd. It was nice to get out.

When we left, Tim was feeling blurry-brave enough to walk out with a water pitcher. One of the waitresses promptly followed the group out to retrieve it, but she brought along a couple styrofoam cups for him to take with him. At least he’s staying hydrated.

Here’s to making good decisions, Tim. We’ll see ya next time around.

#blessed

I had the worst time getting to sleep last night. I have a photographic memory, which allows me to replay events over and over again in slow motion in my head, but it only works with the moments from my life that I regret the most, and mostly manifests when I’m trying to go to sleep.

Today wasn’t redeemed for anything better.

Wake up. Do the things.

…or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone?

Back to the grind today. At least it gets me out of the house.

I loaned some money to a friend today. It never even occurs to me that this is a thing you can do. I always just made it work somehow. It can’t all be good fortune for me to be stable enough to do that. Maybe they need to spend more time in school teaching money management and accountability. These people can’t be spending their whole lives living paycheck to paycheck. That just doesn’t seem healthy.

After lunch, I took apart a teacher’s laptop to try and repair the DC jack. It’s amazing how little care is put into designing one of the weakest and most important points in a laptop. Fortunately it was much easier to get to the part than I had expected, and thanks to Amazon Prime, I’ll have the new one in just a couple days.

Mom called after work and had me come over to help her some more with her new phone. It’s not even that different, but she has trouble with the little changes because she doesn’t try to do anything herself. #generationprobs

Then I ate the spaghetti she made, and returned home for #laundryday #cleansocks.

I seem to have lost my motivation this weekend. I can’t find anything to keep my attention for very long. So many things I’d like to accomplish, and it’s impossible to get started on even one of them. I did finally manage to do a water change on my aquarium. Lucky fish.

My parents just got home from the Eureka Springs Cavalcade of Magic, so I went to their house to return their rice pot. Mom started grilling me about phones, so I checked her front door on a whim and found her new LG G6 had been delivered on Friday. It absolutely refused to pull alarms, apps, and settings from her old phone via the LG transfer app, so I just entered them in manually.

Afterward, we all met Julie and her boyfriend Andy at Linh Vietnamese Cuisine for some good old home cooking. I’ve got to remember that I don’t love their bún bò Huế. I don’t hate it, but it’s one of my least favorite things on the menu, so I left a bit dissatisfied, which is in stark contrast with the usual.

To finish the evening, I filed my taxes, but I found an error in how Credit Karma Tax was calculating my HSA contributions. The good news is that I owe $3 instead of $233. The bad news is that I’ve already filed, and will have to amend to get my money back. Yay government.

Grumble, grumble, death, and taxes.

This morning was all spent running new cable through the old high school gym. That’s when I stumbled upon the worst card game ever. We went to Cracker Barrel for lunch, and I picked up a package of BeanBoozled Jelly Belly beans to share with the crew. Only a couple were willing to take up the challenge. I had an unfair ratio of bad flavors, but that seems to follow tradition.

After work, Jesica absolutely insisted that we have an impromptu Moovie Night so she could cook spaghetti. By the time she got off work though, she was too tired to cook, and all she wanted to do was get a drink. So she, Will, and I went to the Old Bank for some good old fashioned alcohol and appetizer nachos. The nachos were surprisingly tasty, though sparsely topped, and the Flyway Bluewing Blueberry Wheat got me where I needed to be without protest.

I guess there’s always tomorrow for the Order of the Phoenix.

Now, please go wet your beak responsibly.

I don’t know if it’s the time change, the weather, or the current political climate in the US, but I’ve been having a lot of difficulty getting to sleep lately. My body will lie there restless while my mind races, which is the exact opposite of my lifeless body and brain-dead mind in the mornings. Something’s gotta give.

At lunch, I ran into Shain, a girl I was seeing for a few months a couple years ago. Or at least, I saw her walk out. She didn’t even look at me, but I got the feeling that she saw me walking in and decided to NOPE out of there. It could have been the fact that they were changing registers around and she was just in a rush, but that’s not the vibe I got. I didn’t feel like we left on bad terms necessarily, but Shain was the kind of girl that would just ghost you any time she felt stressed in a situation rather than communicate in any way, shape, or form. I heard she married recently, so I guess things can’t be going that badly for her. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have list of people I’m terrified to run into myself. Of all people though, I hope she’s doing well.

The machines were frustrating back at work, which made me really miss the people side of it today. I managed to get most everything working, but it just didn’t feel accomplishing.

Turn my head, it’s back to bed with no delay.

On the way to work this morning, I passed a guy on an ill-fitting bicycle that looked like he rode it straight out of a game of Grand Theft Auto, windbreaker and all. I’m talking about one of the older games, not GTA5 Online. I say that because he didn’t have bags of money raining down on him as he rode around giving a piggyback ride to a guy with a green mohawk. You see, that was a joke, because GTA5 Online is broken from all the “hackers” and cheaters. I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to tip your waitress.

This evening, in a perfect example of my inability to complete simple tasks without getting distracted, I set out to repair a leaky flapper valve in one of my toilet tanks. After a couple hours, I found I had recovered and cleaned up a lost herb planter from my garage and planted a stalk of celery to grow in my windowsill.

It wasn’t until I returned to find the toilet in a state of disrepair that I realized what I had done. There is no help for me. Save yourself.

Otherwise, today can easily fade away in time, completely forgotten.

Alexa, goodnight.