Apart

I left work when I saw Summer was home early. We got back to town just as she and Eaddie were leaving the house, but they pulled over at Kroger so I could talk to them.

I ended up at Ridgewood to see if Grant was there. I knew he was safe. I called, and he wasn’t there, but he came in from home and just hugged me. We came back to the house and talked for a long time. I realized I forgot my eyeglasses there, so he called someone to have them put them in the office for me.

The girls got home and I talked to Summer briefly. Grant left to have his family time, and I went with Summer to her vein appointment. Then we went to Bona Dea to walk with Muad’dib. Then we went to the house to get a coupon to go to Colton’s for a late lunch.

Neither of us ate much of our food. We boxed up the rest and came back to the house where she bathed for a while and I moved things out of the kitchen. We eventually talked for a bit, but it was for nothing.

Now we unravel the knot with haste and move along.

Decades.

Death Spiral

I got up reasonably early again today, expecting to do some more cleaning and furniture assembly, but boy was I wrong. I felt pretty ignored all day. The girls went to the gym together, so I finished the leftover turkey bean soup and took a bath. Summer barely approached me when they got back, and didn’t acknowledge my response when she asked what was wrong, so I knew something was up.

She warmed up some pasta, but I didn’t end up eating with them. Mom had said she was making phở at some point, so I had been holding out for that. Eaddie left and I finally pinned Summer down to figure out what was going on. She acknowledged the same death spiral I had been feeling for the past few years. We talked for a bit, but it was mostly emotionless by that point.

I took Muad’Dib for a brisk walk to my parents’ house where Dad and Nova were already halfway through their soup. Mom made mine and I ate, and then we walked back to the house. I felt like our conversation after that was a little less doom and gloom, but we still don’t have anything actionable.

The risk I took was calculated, but man, am I bad at math.

Bummer Breakfast Biscuit

I finally got out early enough to go to Hardee’s for breakfast this morning, but they gave me the wrong item and I ended up getting a bit of a stomach ache from it. After that, it was pretty hard to focus all day long.

Joel brought Dexter today, and Muad’Dib immediately tried to go steal his toys one at a time. Then he got snippy with me when I tried to return them, and I had to make him sit in the floor next to me as punishment.

I went to Wendys for lunch a bit earlier than I’ve been going all week, and that made for a super long afternoon that I thought would never end. Charles had texted me while I was eating because they had computer trouble in the mix room, so I met him up there when I got back. I don’t know who does what with each computer up there, so all I could do was reset the password to get them in again.

When quitting time finally showed up, we headed to the house and I chopped some more wood for another fire. Summer got there and went for a bath before we ate some leftover bean soup. Then I put on Tomorrowland for about fifteen minutes before she walked away. I finished the night flipping through YouTube and finally went to bed late.

Bummer everything.

Fired up for Nothing

I tried again to get out of the house in time for a Hardee’s breakfast, but settled for Burger King instead. It wasn’t bad, but I still miss Hardee’s biscuits. We got to work and immediately started getting emails about signatures that were mostly due to not following my very simple and thorough instructions. I tinkered with that for a while, and then kept busy with a few other new things. I was so engaged that we actually took lunch nearly an hour late. I just picked up some Subway and we sat in the office to eat and work.

The afternoon was short after that, though it surprisingly didn’t go by particularly fast. I started to climb up into the ceiling and immediately encountered some huge rat poop, so without a proper ladder, I immediately gave up on relocating the hallway access point.

We eventually made it back to an empty house, and I decided to chop some wood and start a fire. As I walked outside, Neal called for some computer advise. It was a typical goofy situation with no real way to provide valuable feedback, so I just chopped wood while talking to him through my earbuds. There were a couple logs that split super easily, and a couple more that I struggled with before setting aside.

The fire caught fairly easily with my cheater log, but it was a while before Summer got home. I got the TV ambilight set back up, and when she finally had her shower, I put on Mickey 17. She was completely disinterested, so we sat and drank until she went to bed. Then I finished the movie by myself before going to bed.

Sauce is the true litmus test of civilization.

Muck Pot

Summer wanted Mulan’s all night, so she woke up wanting to be the first ones in line when they opened. I woke up feeling pretty terrible, so I did not make that timeline. She ended up going to the gym, and I finally felt well enough to go in the afternoon.

Eaddie stayed home with Muad’Dib since she had a friend coming over to get one of her keyboards. We made it to Mulan’s and they were quite busy, especially considering it was a late lunch. The food all looked horribly dry and gross though. Everything was overcooked and oversauced. Anything that wasn’t sauced was dry and chewy. For a while now, I’ve gotten less and less impressed by their food, to the point that I really only like their soup and desserts now.

By the end of it, we both felt a little off from the food. We headed back to the house, stopping first to get the carpet cleaner from my parents’ house. Eli had come over to watch more Breaking Bad, and Summer sat out there with them. I just spent the day alone and bored until I realized how late it had gotten and took Muad’Dib for a run.

We saw my parents again, then continued back to the house in the dark. I got Eaddie’s other keyboard stand assembled and set up in her room for the Casio CT-6000 she rescued from rotting in her grandparents’ house. Otherwise it was more bored alone time until bed.

August we’ll see.

🥓

I anticipated feeling a little less than great today, but I actually wasn’t bad. We stopped for breakfast and had some pretty stale hash rounds, but Muad’Dib didn’t complain. The biscuit was great though. I had a lot of trouble pinning down one particular project all day, so I’ll be picking up the slack until our staff meeting next week.

We went to Wendy’s for a change, looking for some top-tier fast food. Their deals haven’t been nearly as good, but the food was easily twice as good as a deal anywhere else. Muad’Dib was a good boy in the car, and my burger was great. I finally managed to make a little bit of progress in the afternoon, but it was nothing of much use.

We had a decent ride home and immediately went for a run. Dad said they would have egg rolls, but Eaddie wanted to go have dinner with her father. Summer got home just before us, but didn’t feel well and wanted to soak in a bath instead.

The egg rolls were rubbery until they were air fried, and then we just had them with some rice since the noodles weren’t ready. I ate too much, and then we made it back to the house in the dark. Eaddie came home briefly and then left to practice, and Summer went to bed. I finished a couple hours early and took the opportunity to catch up on some sleep with the hopes of focus in the morning.

8R

No Resolutions

I had a tough time getting up for work this morning and got out of the house late, but still made it in without any trouble. The old server must have died from a power issue or something, because Heaven caught me right off the bat with an internet issue. I just need to get them off of the old domain controller.

The rest of the day was fairly focused on cleaning up the user directory for the menial task of unified email signatures. Organization on the front end would have made this a two click fix, but that is not the way of things. I had an anxiety attack somewhere along the way and contemplated tracking dates and times for those.

I had sort of been planning to go to Arby’s sometime this week, and today seemed as good a day as any. They were packed, but I found a table to eat. Joel came by in the afternoon to tell me they were cutting everyone loose at 2:30.

Eaddie was making Oreo balls with Eli when we got back to the house. Summer came home and took a bath while I took Muad’Dib on a run. I wanted to take him to PetSmart, but by the time Summer got ready and we made it to the store, they were closing up for the night. We went to Point Remove instead, and played cards over some pizza.

The kids were gone to a party when we got back to the house. I gave Muad’Dib a good bath before we went to see my parents. Mom was asleep the whole time, but we had some sparkling wine with Dad. We visited for a short while before going back to the house where the kids finished the series finale of Stranger Things. Summer went to bed and I finished the essentials.

Perpetuity

Deal With It

Eaddie left early this morning, dressed up for something. Summer and I had coffee and then started to reset the living room. We had an appointment to take Muad’Dib for pictures with Santa, but then Summer told me she wanted to have Autumn come over to decorate cookies and we ended up unpacking a lot of other stuff instead.

I cancelled the appointment and took a shower late, but then Eaddie and Eli came to the house and we met them at PetSmart where we could just walk up to what was one of the worst Santas I’ve ever seen. They were informal to say the least, but they gave him a little treat and snapped a couple poor pictures with my phone. Then we wandered the store for a little bit to see if Muad’Dib wanted a treat. He sniffed the bones a little bit, but all he really wanted was a guinea pig, and Summer wouldn’t let him have one. I suggested that if we got two, he could have unlimited treats for free, but that didn’t work either.

We took him outside to take a break from all the excitement for a little bit, and then we ended up going to Point Remove with the kids. We got a large charcuterie board, some drinks, and eventually a pizza. I saw Amber and Brian there for a Christmas party they were having for their runners club, and one of the ladies came down and convinced Summer to sign up for a membership or something.

Muad’Dib was perfect under the table and off the leash the whole time. I took him outside, and he was perfectly behaved the entire time. People loved his ugly sweater and Max antler. We were there for a little while because they were quite busy with a couple parties going, and seemingly very understaffed.

When we finally got back to the house, I cleaned up some more stuff to set up the living room. Summer went to bed. I wasn’t very motivated, and I couldn’t find my two longest speaker wires anyway, but I got a little bit done. Afterward I did some more reviews and had an anxiety attack before bed..

whether it’s scientific truth, or historical truth, or personal truth

Croc-a-doodle Doo

We had a decent day today. I bounced between a couple things, but didn’t get really deep into anything until the afternoon. Muad’Dib has been consistently using his bed, which made me happy. We went to Arby’s to try their steak nuggets, and they were absolute garbage. I got one nugget that was on the small side of acceptable, and then two that were too small, plus some crumbs to make up the last two. They tasted like cheap, air-fried beef, and I expected more from them.

I had gotten in to some Traverse mail settings before lunch, and continued that into the afternoon. I had an anxiety attack sometime, I think after lunch, as well. Then we rode home and went on a quick run. Summer had some baked chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli for dinner that turned out really good, and then the girls wrapped some presents before splitting up for bed.

I was a bit scattered, but notably I accidentally hopped into a Discord voice channel with Clint and Josh for a moment and talked to them without a microphone. Then I discovered that the limited edition Microsoft Windows XP Crocs were available to the public, so I ordered a couple of those. Ebay had some that sold recently for a pretty good profit, but I won’t mind having a pair to wear and a pair to keep if the price tanks.

What a throwback between Windows XP and Command and Conquer.

60% of Postmodern Jukebox

Summer left for a race in Vilonia this morning. I tried to sleep in a little bit since I would be driving late, but still had to get up and clean my car for the trip. First, I made some eggs over sourdough, and then made some for Summer as she came in. Then I stripped the seat cover out of the back of my car and did a deep clean with a vacuum and a blower, washed the windows, and wiped down all of the surfaces to try and keep Mom from having an allergic reaction.

I finally had a chance to take my shower, then took Muad’Dib for a quick and early run before we went to pick up my parents. We barely made it to Ozark before Summer had to stop. I went ahead and charged partway so we could get up to Viet Buffet in Rogers and then back down. I was worried there would be a wait, but we actually got right in. Everyone really enjoyed it, and though it wasn’t all just like Mom made, it was probably the most authentic I had seen anywhere, and they had all the greats.

From there, we made it to the Ozark Music Hall and actually got to park right outside. The concert was far from sold out, but the seats I got us on the balcony were right behind a speaker on stage-right. About a third, to a half of the stage was covered up, and I was livid. We probably could have gone down to the floor, but Mom didn’t want to move. Summer and I ended up moving to the empty reserved section right next to us at the end of the stage. Nobody said a word to us, and we could finally see the show.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy it, and since we were able to charge while we were at the show, we were able to make it all the way home without stopping. We dropped my parents off at home, then Summer dove straight into bed. Eaddie had given Muad’Dib a bath, but he seemed to be shedding some dandruff or crumbs of some kind, so I wanted to give him another one. I ended up getting frustrated at a bunch of little things that were left undone, and gave up for the night.

What a bunch of geezers.