I was a little stressed about getting to the beach on time. I kiiinda had to go to the bathroom, in a way that using facilities at the beach was out of the question, but I thought there was a chance it could wait a few hours. Stupid, I know, especially in these days when businesses keep their restrooms closed to customers.
So I cruised right past the office on my way to Kewalo from the laundry, got to the harbor at around quarter to five, and saw there were a lot of open stalls. Based on recent experience, if there were this few cars in the lot at quarter to five, I could safely zip back to the office, use the bathroom, and get back in half an hour and be okay for parking.
I did, and I did, and I was. I don’t think the lot ever filled up in the three hours I was there.
I had another especially good swim. I’m doing things routinely now that used to be a big deal. This pleases me. The water was really nice, too.
Beginning Thursday, they open up parking again, and beaches and parks are okay for solo activity. So I won’t have to hurry to the water so early in the morning. Part of me is going to miss it.
I wasn’t very productive at work. Got stuck on this acknowledgement letter. It’s signed by the chancellor of one of the campuses, and it goes to donors who give more than a certain amount of money. Just had trouble getting into the mental sincere gratitude space. I don’t have to in order to write these, but I try very hard to make these letters heartfelt, and I’ve found I’m better at it when I’m actually feeling the sentiment. I also helped a coworker with a few paragraphs for her bio.
We had our office fantasy football draft at 6:30. It was fun. Thirteen of fourteen participants showed up, and we had a nice online draft with a ton of trash-talk.
After the draft, I lazed about for a while and forced myself up at about nine to make blondies. I’d never made them, and the last time I did any brownie-type baking, it was with R early in our teaching years. She liked to bake brownies. She hates cake and pie. At her wedding, she had a tiered wedding brownie.
They came out pretty good. I don’t have enough of a sweet tooth to do this very often, but I’m glad I have it in my arsenal now. Crush Girl was baking something at her place at the same time, so we had nice text message exchanges, with photos, about what we were making. That was fun. I asked for advice — more for the attention than actually needing advice, but of course it doesn’t hurt to get confirmation.
Sharon and I traded texts during the day about work stuff. Mostly about some coworkers who have moved on and didn’t seem happy when they were here. Sylvia texted me some commentary during our draft. That was fun.
I resisted the urge to pick up breakfast on my way home from the beach, mostly because I thought I had that last money-league fantasy football draft at eight. I didn’t; it was Thursday at eight. So breakfast was a couple of clementines, a few bites of potato salad, and a smallish slice of pie.
For lunch-dinner, I had a small wedge of Humboldt Fog, a goat cheese I picked up at Foodland Farms Sunday, with crackers. I drizzled local honey on some of it. I drizzled balsamic vinegar (that store-branded stuff from Foodland) on some of it. I drizzled habanero Tabasco on some of it. The balsamic was the best.
It was a quarter pound of richness, so I didn’t need more of a meal than that. I also knew I was making blondies later.
Week’s moving quickly, thank goodness. Lots of activity with a little bit of darkness on the distant fringe. Something’s threatening to bum me out, but I don’t know what it is.
Reminder to hit me up in comments if you’re looking for more connectivity during these lockdown days. Lockdown, schmockdown.