Tag: friends

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hIlO

Yesterday was pretty sad all during the day. We dropped into Sonic for a super cheap meal, and then I decided to go to Harp’s just to check out what they had. The deli chicken actually looked pretty good, though they didn’t have a huge selection. It’d still be a decent option to switch things up, because there’s not really a good chicken place. I picked up some beer and cheap chicken leg quarters to share with Muad’Dib.

I was super down for the drive back, but Julie called to touch base just as we got into town. She really tried to stick up for me after Mom said I couldn’t go back to the old house. Then when we finally got back to the new house, Summer came out and told me about all of the shopping prep she did so we could have nice, hot meals when we get iced in this weekend.

Summer and I talked briefly and I started to feel a little better. My buddy Kevin also called to check in on me, and he was super positive as well. I wanted to stay home and talk to Summer a bit more, but Gary and I had been talking about meeting up, so I took Muad’Dib to get him and we went to Point Remove for some wings and beer. We had a pretty good time catching up, and then Summer texted me just as we were finishing up.

Things were up and down after that, but I crashed a bit early with a little bit of hopefulness that carried into this morning. Summer had to open the lube, but we talked briefly before she left. Muad’Dib and I got out of the house early enough that we stopped to get her some Burger King for breakfast on the way out of town. Then I made the last-second decision to get some Hardee’s for us as well, just before we hit the Interstate.

I was feeling pretty good about the day after that, and tried to stay relatively focused. We went to McDonald’s for lunch, then ran around in the parking lot for a bit when we got back to the office. The afternoon felt a little bit shorter because we ate late, and then Summer wanted to meet at Colton’s again for dinner.

I had time to change, but Muad’Dib and I still beat her to the restaurant, so I let him run around for a bit. After that, things kind of slowly went downhill again. I listened as she talked about work, but then we didn’t get to anything hearty and meaningful for our situation. All of my food was pretty awful, from a gristly New York strip, to a seemingly microwaved potato. Her salad even had an ice cube in it.

I took the long way back to the house, then brought in some firewood to let it stay warm and dry for the weekend. It was tough to get motivated again after that.

Up on Melancholy Hill sits a manatee, just looking for the day when you’re close to me.

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The Beginning of the End

I woke up surprisingly sober and full of positive energy after a painfully unrested night. I tried to rub some of that positivity off on Summer, but she hardly said a word to me until our kiss goodbye. We got to work and I felt pretty good all morning. I sat down with Teisha and talked to her for a long time about our history and what was going on. She was as supportive as possible, and then we went upstairs to as much productivity as we could muster.

Grant met me at Ortega’s for the all-you-can-eat lunch, and he was super hyped as always. I hate that we’re bonding over trauma, but he’s been an incredible pillar of support. We ate, and then I gave him a super quick walk-through of our office before he headed back to the restaurant.

The afternoon dragged on much more after Summer ignored my messages all day. I was spent by the end of it, and we walked out a few minutes early just to get to the house and try to keep the momentum up. It looked like Summer was still out looking for places to live, but they both showed up at the house right after we got there.

I got them to sit down with me in the living room to discuss the urgency of the whole situation. Summer is just over it, and is ready to explore solo life to find out who she is without anyone else there, and she wants no safety net. Eaddie repeated her concern that we’re just incompatible, and feels like we’d be better off apart. There’s still a lot of love, but too much negativity to continue moving forward, and they want a fresh start. They did agree to slow their hastiness so we could go over financials and find them a nice place to live so they don’t just settle out of a desire to leave.

I continued cleaning the kitchen, but it was a struggle after that. I’ve just never been big on waste. I did some laundry and cleaned the guest room so I could sleep there. It looks like I have nowhere to go, so the hunt begins.

Always at the whim.

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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.

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More of the Same

Bacon QPC with lettuce and tomato.

Charles was at McDonald’s when we got there, so I sat and ate with him. We had a good conversation and I learned a bit more about the company.

Summer suggested Panda Express as I was driving home, so I stopped at AT&T to see folks while I pondered food. Muad’Dib was mostly good.

By the time we got to the house, Summer had left for an “emergency” at the lube. Muad’Dib and I went for a run, saw my parents, then made it back to Summer on the couch. We sat for a minute, and then split.

psbl

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Chillin’ Out Max

I had the hardest time staying focused today. I was completely worthless.

Everyone from upstairs was out doing something else for most of the afternoon, so it was super quiet. I picked up Arby’s and ate it in my office, which probably made the afternoon drag even worse.

The drive home was awful and slow, too. Someone was cruising along below 50, which caused a massive stretch of cars to slow down as people had to slowly get around them. That lasted for about a third of the entire distance of the drive.

My parents weren’t home, so Muad’Dib and I just did a quick run around the block before Summer got home. Then we loaded up and went downtown to see what the festivities were about.

The depot area was completely packed with people, and Muad’Dib got a ton of attention with his little Max reindeer antler on, but he also quickly got overstimulated by how many people were around. He did fantastically off-leash, but I eventually hooked him up when we tried to go further into the crowd. Eaddie came by with some friends and sang us one carol before that, and then we ended up leaving just to get out of the crowd.

While we were there, I ran into Brandon, Kara, and Sheri, and talked to each of them for a little while. Then we went to Zaxby’s for some dinner and went back to the house.

We ate, heard some fireworks in the distance, and then went to bed. I found Spider-Man: Homecoming on the Roku Channel and watched that while Muad’Dib and Summer both fell asleep, snoring in my arms. I must have been burned out, because I just felt dead.

No brakes.

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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.

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International House of Apples

We got up this morning and Summer decided she really wanted to go to the new IHOP/Applebee’s duo. I wasn’t thrilled, but I figured we could give it a try. We eventually got around and made it across town with Muad’Dib in tow. There was a wait, even as early as we got there, so we let him romp around in the adjacent field while we waited for our text.

Once we got inside, I realized how much of a remodel it was. The whole place was different. It was still a relatively small restaurant, but they had a full bar with a bunch of TVs, and I think that will probably do a lot better than a dry pancake house. The food service was almost surprisingly slow, even with how busy they were, just because they had so much staff wandering around actively helping. The food itself was actually really good, but I was a bit disappointed in my portion sizes. While we were there, I spotted Keith and waved him down for a quick chat before we left.

From there, I wanted to take Muad’Dib to PetSmart just to acclimate him to the place some more. He did really well as we wandered around, and then we talked to the groomers for a bit before leaving. Jonell saw us as we were walking out, and we talked to her and Chris for a bit before we left.

As we got close to home, we stopped at the Neighborhood Market for a turkey, since we didn’t have any more frozen breasts at home. Summer stayed outside and played with Muad’Dib in a field again. I ended up not getting a turkey, but grabbed a couple packages of steaks. I saw Frankie and Yong Suk while I was there, and talked to them for a bit before we left.

When we got back to the house, we cleaned the smoker in preparation for Thanksgiving. Summer was a great help eventually. Then I picked up some wings from Zaxby’s before taking Muad’Dib for a late night run. We visited my parents, and then as we were nearing the end of our run, Julie’s friend Claudia stopped me and we chatted for a bit. I didn’t realize she lived right around the block.

It was a rush to get to bed after that. I cleaned up a little bit and got ready for work in the morning, and then we were out.

Finish up, already!

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Inside Outside

I got pulled off of my NetBox project today, but then struggled to focus on my new tasks a bit. People started leaving around lunch time, so Muad’Dib and I got a free Snack Wrap from McDonald’s and some sides from Sonic, and then spent the entire afternoon by ourselves upstairs.

We got home fairly quickly after work, and we had a quick run before making it back to the house where Summer was home really early. We ended up going to Pointe Remove in town to see what that would be like. It was surprisingly pretty empty, so we walked on through to the patio with Muad’Dib. I hadn’t noticed him, but Gary saw us and walked over to join us for the evening.

We ordered a couple drinks, a large charcuterie board, and eventually a pizza that were all fairly good. There was a guy playing guitars and harmonicas that were all cranked up a bit too loud for us, but we had a good time catching up.

It was a bit late when we got back, but it took us a little while to wind down for bed. Eaddie was gone for Texas, so this weekend will likely be for chores.

o-u-t

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Ice Cold

I continued to doze on and off this morning, slipping in and out of different dreams. Summer wandered the house loudly until I got up to some breakfast. She started to cook some bacon, but then left the stove on with nothing on the burner while she went to the bathroom. I got up and put the bacon on, but then she came out and took over to scramble some eggs for me. They came out grey and wet because she scrambled them with pepper. Afterward, we moved the couch so we could vacuum the other half of the living room, and then Summer had to mop the floors because she didn’t pay attention to all the mud in the back yard when she let Muad’Dib out.

I worked on some reviews and then started to get cleaned up so I could at least go to Eaddie’s pregame show. Summer left first, and then I got my socks wet because Summer didn’t dry the floors after she wet mopped, so I just stayed home. That was when I discovered the mini fridge had frozen up around a few cans, which subsequently froze, bloated, and leaked everywhere. I started to clean that up and let it defrost while I vacuumed behind what Summer had done. No surprise, there was still a bunch of that fine powder all in the carpet.

Hours went by as I cleaned, and eventually I quit to take Muad’Dib out on a run. It was pretty cold out, so he did great to run the whole time. We went to Ridgewood and had a Frito chili pie, and then ran into Eric and Carlie as we left. We made it to see my parents, and then got back to the house where Summer was warming up in a bath.

I was pretty exhausted and exhasperated by then, so it was an early, early night to bed.

subzero

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The Secret Life of an Alien

I had an anxiety attack in bed while I was trying to go to sleep last night, which was a rare occurrance. At least I went to bed early, and got an above-average amount of sleep. We got out of the house and tried the other McDonald’s, but still got stuck in line again. It seems to be completely luck of the draw. I took my coffee and made it to Morrilton to order a biscuit for breakfast.

It was more deep-dive into the AI exploits of the fraudster technology manager, and I am one billion percent positive that he is an alien from another planet. I have begun collecting evidence. If I disappear or am found dead, then dear reader, do not believe anything they say about me. It was no accident. They got to me, and silenced me the only way they could.

I went down to help Elizabeth with something, then took a walk with David to investigate our two fence controllers. It appeared they had blocked the safety sensors to keep the back gate open, which seems counter to any security protocol. It had clearly been that way for some time.

We went back to McDonald’s a third time for lunch and had to argue with the staff about my order. The two low-level staff were as friendly as they knew how to be, while admitting complete ignorance. The manager on duty absolutely refused to make eye contact or respond when I spoke directly to her. I wasn’t ugly in any way, and I see her five days a week, so I could not fathom the stress she was under. I was eventually fed and went back to work.

The afternoon went by fairly quickly because of how late I went to lunch. I texted Kyle since I remembered he used to work at Acxiom, and he actually replied pretty quickly. I talked to him about our resident alien, and as if by mysterious forces beyond our universe, he was actually working for the company that Brandon moved to. We shared several laughs over text throughout the evening.

Muad’Dib and I made it back to town and I ordered tickets for Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox. Then we went on a great run in the crisp air before it got dark. Summer and I ate when we got back, and then I took my car for a good washing. The new FSD release gave me all kinds of fits this morning, and even fussed quite a bit on the way home, so hopefully this helped.

I vacuumed some more to end the night, and got to sleep just a little bit early again.

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