I slept quite well Friday night into Saturday. Yeah, I went to bed close to 4:30, but I got six and a half hours with one interruption midway. Then later in the day a good one-hour nap. I’ll take it.
I think breakfast was clementines and dried apricots, plus the last of the leftover chicken from Chicken & Brisket.
I can’t remember exactly when I watched the first four episodes of Ted Lasso again; was it Friday night or Saturday day? Details are a haze of emotions. I know I was feeling terrible, about that stuff I wrote the other night, the I-spent-a-year-locked-in-my-house-and-this-is-what-I-have-to-show-for-it feeling. Fifteen minutes into the first episode and I was feeling a lot better.
Whenever it was, it continued Saturday late afternoon.
I had a bunch of empty bottles and cans, so I drove to the strip mall for boba (pineapple black tea with mini boba, 50% sweetness) and drank in my car as I watched a couple more episodes. And since I was down there anyway, I got some takeout from McD’s. It was meant just to be a snack, but it turns out a couple bacon McDoubles is pretty darn filling. In my car. With Ted Lasso.
I took four large plastic takeout bags full of bottles and cans to the bus stop. I tied them to the trash bin, saying a little prayer for whoever claimed them.
Came home, napped a little, vegged a little, and blanched two heads of broccoli (one large and one small). Delicious. Chased the broccoli with a reasonable portion of angelhair pasta, with olive oil, butter, lime juice, and capers. ‘Twas yummy.
I watched more Ted Lasso and finally crashed at around 6:00 Sunday morning. Yow.
It appears I didn’t do any texting Saturday. Weird. I didn’t even notice.
It’s nearly 10:00 in the evening Monday as I write this and I think I’m going to go write into my Sunday recap.
Leave a comment if you need someone to connect with. The end is in sight, but it’s still a ways off. You don’t want to go through it without someone.
Friday was quite a bit like Tuesday and Wednesday, except I got up earlier on even less sleep. I really abuse myself Fridays because I figure I’ll just recover on weekends. It’s not a good way to live.
Amazon has been great to me all year. So great that I gave my letter carrier a nice gift card near the end of summer to say thanks. But something I ordered kind of disappeared off the tracker last month, and when it was more than a week late I asked for a refund. Then of course it showed up a few days after that. I had to ship it back, via UPS.
The nearest UPS store is on Bishop Street downtown, and it opened at 7:30. I’m feeling good about the world being a bit safer these days, but not so much safer I’m eager to roam around downtown with its throngs. 7:30 it was, then. Parked at the post office, shipped the dang box, grabbed a doughnut at Mr. Donut, then a macadamia nut latte at Kai Coffee, and enjoyed both on the trunk of my car.
There are a lot of things to miss about working downtown, and the coffee selection is near the top of the list. They’ve temporarily closed the Starbucks a few doors down from the UPS store. I didn’t check on the other Starbucks a few doors down (one block, actually) on the same street, but I imagine that one’s still going. The one on Alakea is closed and moved out, but it looks like they opened one in the Central Pacific Bank where I hear they’ve also opened a bar.
I hit the Taco Bell drive-through on my way home because what kind of breakfast is a doughnut? You need beans, meat, and eggs in a tortilla and a large Diet Pepsi with extra ice to really make it a breakfast.
Work was mostly on that late proposal for the athletics department. I had to ask a coworker how to do this Photoshop thing everyone else I work with knows how to do but which I’ve never asked to learn, so I spent a little bit of time practicing that. Gave me a good chance to email my coworker on Kauai, with whom I get along very well.
Did the after-work crash, but this time when I woke up I didn’t do work. It was Friday! I phone-vegged a little, listened to podcasts, which I’d fallen behind on this week, and ate leftover fried chicken for dinner. Man, that’s good chicken.
The new Kings of Leon album dropped Friday, so I listened to it all day. There’s nothing especially grabby on the album, not like on their other albums, but it’s still a really good listen, especially as background when one is working or writing.
I know I did a little bit of writing Friday night, but I don’t remember anything else. Except that I didn’t get to bed until about 4:30 in the morning. I don’t even know where the time went. I was quite annoyed with myself.
I texted Jennifer for a little while about alcohol and vaccinations. Sharon and I texted a little during the day about work stuff, but it started with my asking her if she’d heard the new Kings of Leon album yet. When we first became friends at work and mutually followed each other on social media, I saw she had a photo at the Kings of Leon concert a few years earlier, which I also attended. It was when I worked at the engineering firm, making enough bank to go to as many shows as I wanted, pretty much.
I don’t think Crush Girl had a very good Friday. I tried to be pleasant texting company, but I don’t think I was very successful. It’s too bad. I’m writing this Sunday night and I pretty much left her alone all weekend; I had a feeling she needed some her-time and thought I’d be there if she needed me. She didn’t! She seldom reaches out during a weekend, which I totally get.
I was feeling super blah Friday night, surely a product of serious sleep deprivation, but also some of the stuff I wrote Saturday night when I journaled about Thursday. When I finally did lay me down to sleep, I dropped right off and slept the sleep of a thousand hibernating bears.
Resolutions, next post. Oh and also I plan to rant a little about the meaning and purpose of laws, and why I dislike them both.
Leave a comment if you need a someone. To reach out to when the pandemic gets disjointy. I’ll send you some contact info.
Now it’s Saturday night and I’m writing about Thursday. If you read the Wednesday recap, you can probably skip this one because the two days were pretty close to identical.
Work Thursday was a lot like Wednesday, except focused more on a late proposal that had been in the works for a week or more before coming my way for formatting. I was told specifically it had been across several people’s desks and therefore didn’t need editing, but it needed editing.
I did the post-work crash, then got up and worked on the proposal. It had a weird little twist I wasn’t used to, and since I wasn’t in on the conversations while the proposal was developing, I had to guess about what I was being asked to produce. I found out Friday I guessed wrong. But I think the work I did was still pretty good. And it took a bit more time than anyone expected because I was guessing.
Yeah, I know. Not much to write home about going on here. Wake, work, crash, wake, work, crash. Meals crammed somewhere between.
Breakfast was a bowl of lomi salmon. Conclusion: 24 ounces of wild Atlantic salmon is too much for one person if lomi salmon is the idea. It was still good, though.
I really wanted to get a sandwich for lunch, but Thursday is meeting day, and the sandwich shop closes in the early afternoon. So I took a very late lunch, ordering fried chicken and a brisket bowl from this spot in Kalihi called Chicken & Brisket. The brisket bowl was the real meal; I bought the chicken to snack on over the next few days. It was good but I’m coming around to not really caring for brisket or short ribs.
The fried chicken was excellent. Super crispy and flavorful. It was pretty dry on the inside but it tasted really good.
I submitted the proposal at about 11:30 and thought it was time for dinner even though I wasn’t really hungry. Sooooooo I drove to the McD’s, ordered the spicy crispy chicken sandwich and some fries, and ate it on the hood of my car just because I wanted some fresh air and to get away from the house. It was psychic refreshment but certainly not good for my body.
You know how out of it I was Thursday? When I opened the Spelling Bee late Thursday night to get started on the Friday Spelling Bee, I clicked the “yesterday” button to see what words I missed on the Thursday puzzle and realized I never did the Thursday puzzle! That’s the first one I missed since like October! I was kind of furious with myself.
So if you’re keeping score at home, you’re probably coming up with some thoughts I’m keenly aware of myself. My mental health hasn’t been good these past couple of weeks, in some ways familiar (trouble with sleep) and some not (a little bit of anxiety). I’m restless to the point of pacing some days, stir-crazy enough to drive to McD’s and eat food I don’t really want. I’m experiencing some weirdness in my stomach that might be physical and might be mental. I haven’t been to the beach in nearly three weeks and I’m not doing any walking with my bad knee.
You know that Sunday night feeling, the one that’s kind of an urgency mixed with regret about the dying of the weekend and not enough stuff to show for it? I think I’m feeling that about the lockdown. I’m getting my first shot Monday, and soon after that I’ll probably return to the office, one day per week to start but maybe as many as three days before much longer.
March 19 marks one year since I was sent home to ride this thing out, and although I made some pretty good use of my time, I have a couple of unfinished projects I know I will never finish if I don’t work them into my life the way they were for the first half year of this thing. Actually eight months. NaNoWriMo threw me off my game.
When I get back to the office, I will not have completed my house decluttering, and this annoys me. It actually stresses me out, tying my guts into knots at times, and this is sending me into escapist behavior. I’m spending ridiculous amounts of time just zoning out in my bed or staring dumbly at my phone.
A couple of things are keeping me from actually teetering on the brink. I’m feeling good about my parents getting those shots in their arms, and my coworkers and friends and other people I love are getting them. I’ve spent so much less money this year that I’ve paid down a lot of debt. I’m still in the hole for a few things, but the hole is a reasonable depth, and with a few things I have coming my way soon, I’ll be in really good shape by the end of next month.
I’ve also boosted my contribution to my retirement. Not as much as I should, but nearly as much as I should. And it looks like I have a little bit of wiggle room for some monthly charitable giving, which I’ve been terrible with since leaving the engineering firm. I’d like to give it to the church, but right now my heart is tugging me toward the Hawaii Innocence Project. Anyway this is still early in the thinking stages, but it feels good to be thinking about it.
Thinking about where my living space was a year ago and where it is now is extremely heartening. I forget that as shameful as it is now, it was beyond caricature in the years leading up to the lockdown.
Chances are, on a worldly level, I’m going to come out of this better than I was, except for physically. I’ve put on weight like crazy, especially since November. Minus that, though, and I should feel good about not merely surviving but in some ways correcting.
My relationships have all suffered, but I imagine this is true for most of us who kept to ourselves for a whole year. Except for the thing with Ali, I think I’m still on pretty good terms with everyone. When the world is a safer place, I’m going to be a social fricking butterfly, I tell you. At least for a week!
Writing all this out actually helped. Everything on the table looks a lot more positive than negative, and I don’t think I’m rose-coloring much. I am not in the clear. Taking inventory, however, is a good step.
Speaking of Ali, she responded to my “hey” nearly two weeks after I sent it. She asked what was up. I said I was going to ask if we’re cool, but that I think I pretty much got my answer. She didn’t respond. Yeah.
Crush Girl and I texted a bunch throughout the day too. I think she’s stressed about work and I’m hoping I’m a little bit of a pleasant distraction.
Reid texted to see if I could talk on the phone. I said okay. We talked about one of his son’s assignments. Parents worry too much about their children’s homework. It’s another of many reasons I’m so anti-homework.
I’m probably not your best option for finding some human connection in these almost-a-year pandemic days, but I’m here. Smash the comment button if you need a little of this in your day.
Okay. Writing about Wednesday on Saturday night. I’m falling further behind.
Started with a lot of emailing. We recently had some strategic planning consulting, and now we’re on the actual planning phase. Out leadership split the planning into five categories, assigned themselves to the categories they were into, and asked people to volunteer for the categories they were into.
So I emailed two of the leaders saying I was interesting in helping out in whatever way I could. I posted one story to the website then prepped another.
Okay pay attention (or don’t since I’m going to write the same thing about Thursday and maybe Friday). I’ve settled into a bad pattern of behavior here. Right after work I conked out, got up around nine, fixed dinner, and got back to work. I’ve been working so much better late at night lately that when it gets to that time of evening, I’m automatically thinking about what I can get done before bed.
It’s not good for me, although I think the work has been better than usual. My focus late at night is especially good. But then when I finally call it a night, I’ve got the munchies like crazy no matter what (or how much) I had for dinner.
And of course I can’t just go to bed after I spend a few hours working, despite being horribly tired and bleary-eyed. I’ve been crashing later and later.
All this means I have nothing interesting to say about Wednesday, and I probably won’t have anything interesting to say about Thursday either. Because most of my waking hours are spent working or vegging.
Wednesday’s breakfast was more of the lomi salmon. Still quite good. I skipped lunch, but I took a dinner break to pick up a UPS delivery I missed. UPS doesn’t make you drive to Lagoon Drive anymore, something I was unaware of. There’s a neighborhood access point, a small mom-and-pops grocery on Liliha Street I’ve patronized before.
I stopped at my favorite boba spot, which moved to Liliha Street from Kapiolani Boulevard a few months before the lockdown, picked up my package, and since it was right there, ordered a chili plate from the original L&L, which is right next door.
I’m pretty sure my late-night snack was a couple of quesadillas but I wouldn’t swear to it.
Texted a few follow-ups for people who hadn’t yet told me what they’re reading. The writing partner texted me a photo of a sign with unnecessary quotation marks. Crush Girl and I texted through the work day about a lot of stuff. Vaccinations, books, boba, and places to get lunch. She was good company.
If you’re reading this you’re still alive. Thank God. Half a million Americans and 44,000 Hawaii residents haven’t made it this far because of this stupid virus. Hopefully you’re surviving emotionally too. And if you’re not, smash that comment button and let me know if you’d like to connect.
“I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend.”
What’s your favorite root vegetable, and what’s your favorite way to eat it? I am Japanese, so before I had to get carb-conscious, pretty much every meal came with rice and I’m fine with it. Rice is probably my second-favorite food after pasta. And in leaner times, I survived on huge amounts of rice and small amounts of meat and veggies. However, I’m also Irish and German, so we ate a bunch of potatoes instead of rice at many meals. My mom was cool like that. And boy do I love me some potatoes. I’ll eat mashed potatoes as a whole meal, not merely as a side.
What’s your favorite leafy green, and what’s your favorite way to eat it? Because it’s so flexible and because I really like the taste, it’s probably cabbage, which I like best in a stir-fry. As a dish by itself, I think my favorite is won bok (Napa cabbage), which I like best as kimchi! In recent years, I’ve purcashed far more bok choy and choy sum, so a good case can be made for them. Choy sum blanched and added to soups or ramen. Bok choy roasted and eaten as a side.
What’s your favorite legume, and what’s your favorite way to eat it? Pinto beans, seasoned, refried, and stuffed into a flour tortilla! Also black beans and garbanzo beans, added to any other beans and tossed in a vinegar-based, oniony dressing as a four- or five-bean salad. And soy beans, boiled in salty water and eaten from the pod.
What’s your favorite vegetable to put on a pizza? Onions for sure. I think my favorite pizza is chicken breast, onions, peppers, and tomatoes with lots (and lots) of red sauce.
What’s your favorite fruit to eat in a green salad? Thinly sliced strawberries, especially with a good balsamic vinaigrette. Canned mandarin oranges are also surprisingly good in the same situation. I’m not counting tomatoes, but if I did they would naturally be number one. Grape tomatoes. With papaya seed dressing.
What is the longest you ever spent on the phone on one call? In high school for sure. My longest calls were with my classmate Kelly, who helped me get through long nights the summer before our senior year, and V, the person I’ve spent more cumulative time on the phone with than anyone else. That same summer and the following school year, we easily had six-hour calls.
When you were a teen, how important was the phone in your daily life? Super super super super super super super super super important. The school day was hectic, and because it was a private school, we all lived on different parts of the island. Hanging out was difficult on school days, so school nights were for the phone. In addition to all the usual “What did you get for number six on the chemistry homework?” there were all the pretty girls who needed regular how-are-you-doings from me.
How much do you use the actual telephone function of your phone today? My boss calls me once a week. I call my parents roughly once a week. And that’s pretty much it unless I must speak on the phone with one of the coworkers, or conduct an interview. I’m getting better about ordering takeout on the phone if I must, but that’s a royal pain.
How well do you handle phone calls at work? My parents taught me phone etiquette, as I think all my friends’ parents taught them. I speak very well on the phone in a way I don’t see anymore from most young people (and you know me; I’m a huge apologist for young people). I did time answering phones for my high school as an office assistant, and I worked retail for several years. Oh, and I’m a fill-in at the front desk at my office now, in non-pandemic days. I don’t like speaking on the phone, but I do it well. On the other hand, I have to get psyched up to call someone for an interview, or even to call my parents sometimes. So in that respect I don’t handle it well at all.
What are some good telephone-themed songs? “Answering Machine” by Rupert Holmes is pretty great. “Call Me” by Blondie. “Tiger Phone Card” by Dengue Fever. Oh, and here’s one you might not think of because we think of it as a song about the radio: “Pilot of the Aiwaves” by Charlie Dore. The lyrics seem to indicate the persona is writing to the DJ but who does that, unless it’s to Casey Kasem?
Slept okay Monday night. Got like four hours uninterrupted then another hour. Got off to a slow start at work but found a groove in the late morning. Again took my lunch nap earlier than usual because of the jackhammerers. This delayed my working breakfast until like 1:30, when I had a rather large serving of lomi salmon. I’m pleased with it, but wish the recipe I followed didn’t call for a 24 ounce salmon filet. It was pricey, for one thing. And it’s way too much food for me.
After work I took a really hard nap. Woke up a little groggy but quite refreshed, so I kind of got back to work. Wanted to finish this thing someone asked for.
My late lunch was a couple of hot dogs with mustard, ketchup, and sauerkraut. My late dinner, eaten as I wrote my lockdown recap, was sort of a little of this and a little of that, separated by long breaks. My appetite was kind of crazy for some reason. Started with some cold somen with Pietro’s miso dressing. I made a couple of pork carnitas tacos. Ate some dried apricots. Zapped a couple of lazy quesadillas. Yeah, it was insane.
I don’t really know where the day went, but that was about it. I guess working, napping, working, and eating everything in sight will pass the time.
Crush Girl and I texted all day about food, working from home, and more food. It was a food kind of day. Sharon texted to ask if I’ve heard of this Elisa Lam true crime thing and I hadn’t. I went through a couple of true crime phases, one in the early nineties when I read a lot of serial killer books as research for a novel I still plan to write. Again in the early 2000s when I got hooked on some Dateline things, plus Reid got me into the Paradise Lost documentaries.
I decided one night while trying to listen to the Serial podcast’s first season that I was done with the genre. I didn’t see any real meaning in it, and I think losing myself in that kind of negativity isn’t good for me. Which I shared with Sharon. Sylvia and I office-Skyped about getting vaccinated — we both have appointments now. Heard back from a few more people about what they’re reading.
Get thee to a nunnery. And hit the comments if you need someone to connect with. Pandemic sucks. Pandemic without any human connection sucks worse.
Hey, I’m writing about Monday and it’s only 11:44 p.m. Tuesday. Progress.
I stayed up much too late Sunday night, as I always do, getting to sleep around 3:00. This is getting suicidal.
This week’s meeting schedule is back to my usual two: just the one-on-one with my supervisor and the department Zoom. This is a welcome bit of info, since meetings really throw off my workflow.
I’m standing by for responses from a few people on whom I’m writing stories, so I sent a few follow-up emails, then asked the DO for advice. His response was something I never thought of, and it makes total sense: these stories probably mean a lot more to us than they do to the people I’m interviewing, so don’t freak out. They’ll respond when they’re ready.
Hm. That seems so obvious. And it freed me from locking in on stuff at the top of my list and I got into the stuff further down.
So I did background on a couple of things, sent and received a few work-related but not really work emails, and even reached out to a coworker, encouraging her to apply for one of our in-house positions.
The next-door neighbor is having some major work done on her house and all day Monday I had to deal with the sound of a jackhammer — yes, a jackhammer — pretty much right outside my bathroom window. The noise isn’t too bad at my desk, where I can just play music at a normal level through my Bluetooth speaker and be pretty unaware. I thought I’d have to resort to my noise-canceling headphones, but now.
In my bedroom, though, it’s insane. So I took my lunch nap a little earlier than usual, grabbing it when the jackhammerers took their lunch break.
After work, I took a long, hard nap, forcing myself up around 9:00 to deal with this slab of salmon I cured in my fridge for nearly two days. Lomi salmon, baby! My first try. I’m trying to up my potluck game, so I’ve been brainstorming things that transport well, don’t have to be prepared the night before, and are popular. Lomi salmon seemed like a less-labor-intensive and more popular item than the thing I have the most confidence in, my tabouli.
I was wrong about the labor intensivity. It’s about the same. However, you can make it a couple of nights ahead (I’m guessing) rather than exactly the night before.
I don’t know. I think it came out pretty good, admitting I didn’t really know what i was doing. Definitely worth repeating to see if I get better at it, but I also think I need to sample it at more places than the ones I frequent.
I watched the next half hour of Much Ado About Nothing. It’s a bit melodramatic, and so far not very feminist for Shakespeare. A lot depends on these last 20 minutes. Still, quite entertaining, if heavy-handed in its direction. Michael Keaton is hilarious.
Oops. Now it’s 2:06. I thought I finished this and hit the publish button, but it appears I got distracted.
Breakfast was Taco Bell! Yummy. Lunch was a couple of hot dogs with ketchup, mustard, and sauerkraut. I was biting into one when they said on the news that Love’s Bakery is closing. A Hawaii institution for nearly 170 years. I don’t buy grocery store bread anymore, except hot dog buns, and Love’s makes the best ones. They cost like three times more than the cheap ones but whatever. Dang.
Dinner was some of the lomi salmon, but several bites of the pork carnitas, cold and right out of the plastic container. I’m a savage. I also had a late snack of tortilla chips and fresh salsa. Remember in the early days of the lockdown when I was eating chips and salsa every freaking day? Now I remember why. Good food for the soul.
I texted a bunch of people to ask what they’re reading. Still waiting on some responses so I’ll share later. It led to some nice conversations. Crush Girl and I texted through the day, getting each other through our respective work days.
Boy am I tired.
Okie dokie. Just leave a comment if you want someone to connect with during these crappy crappy crappy crappy crappy crappy pandemic days. Don’t be untethered.
Saturday night I actually got about six and a half hours of good sleep. This is probably the night I need it most, so this was really good.
I lounged a bit in bed and slept another half hour or so. Seven hours of sleep? I’ll take that.
Most of the day was just busy work and vegging. Read the news, goofed around on my phone, listened to music and podcasts, did a teensy bit of housekeeping. I had carnitas tacos for breakfast-slash-lunch. They were pretty good.
I had to go to the office to do some of the stuff that’s too difficult from home. Mostly I was super worried that I accidentally overwrote the original InDesign file I modified for this other newsletter. After being so grateful it was there, easy to find, and easy to modify thanks to my coworker’s dilligent effort and foresight, it would have been soooooooooo stupid for me to then do a stupid regular save (instead of a save as) with the modified work.
Buuuuut thank goodness I wasn’t THAT stupid.
While at the office I grabbed dinner from this new Korean street food place across the street. Fried wings. Delicious! Glass noodles wrapped in nori, battered, and fried. Delicious! Crispy potstickers. Delicious! It was a lot of fried food — oh, and the wings came with crinkle-cut fries (delicious!) — and probably too much for one meal, but I didn’t let that stop me. Also left my boss’s birthday gift on her desk.
Got home late in the evening and unwound. Wrote. Read. Did the Monday crossword in 4:02. Argh! I reeeeally wanted to break four minutes but I got slowed down with a typo near the very end.
I was up so late I got the munchies, hours after I should have turned in. So I just miked a couple of hot dogs and ate them with ketchup and mustard — no sauerkraut since I was trying to just take the edge off. The doggies did the job and I went to bed faaaaaaaaar to late for a responsible working professional.
JB texted to talk a little about George Orwell. Jennifer sent me photos of her new home decor. Star Wars stuff. No Precious Moments on the etagere or tole painting over the doorways for my friend! Crush Girl and I chatted a bit about this Filipino Oregonian wine and the Golden Globes awards.
Leave a comment. If you need. Someone to connect with. In these fricking terrible pandemic days. It’s MARCH AGAIN people! Holy crap.
I didn’t get much sleep Friday night. Got up at six-thirty to hit the supermarket. It opens at five, but I know from experience now that I don’t have to be there right at opening to avoid people. I had until about seven before things got hairy.
Loaded up on Diet Pepsi, my main objective, but also grabbed some broccoli, green onions, hot dogs, buns, sauerkraut, and a few pantry staples.
It was a dismal, rainy morning and I enjoyed the feeling of the cold rain on my face, so I drove around Kalihi for a while. I’ve been deep-diving into the discography of Free (you know, the band who sang “All Right Now,” and whose members founded Bad Company) and the second album was a nice listen as I navigated the mean streets of Kapalama.
Swung through the BK drive-through for breakfast, then back home to devour it. Normal Saturday morning online stuff: the news, the Spelling Bee, some phone-vegging. Then back to bed for a little while.
Ran to the wine merchant to grab my supervisor’s birthday gift. There’s this local master sommelier who put together an Oregon pinot noir called Fil. I’m guessing he’s Filipino by his name, so it’s a cool name for his wine, athough I’m thinking Filipinot Noir would have been cleverer.
Most wine drinkers wouldn’t consider it a pricey bottle, but I usually keep it under twenty bucks when I’m drinking by myself, and this bottle was twice that. When the clerk greeted me, I said I was there for the Fil, and she asked how many bottles I wanted.
I was just going to be the one, but since she asked I figured I’d get one for me too. Yikes!
The bottles sell out quickly. They got a case or two Friday and by Saturday there were just a few left. I figured I’d hang onto my bottle until my first get-together with friends, post-vaccinations. Can’t make promises, though. That’s a good-looking bottle.
Got home and took another short nap, then put the rent into an envelope and my water jugs into the car. Drove to Mapunapuna for water, then the aiport post office for the rent. Aaaaand since I was in the area, hit the Dunkin’ drive-through, which I have never done before.
When I was in Boston for the work trip, of course I had a cup of Dunkin’ coffee one day and boy is it overrated. I didn’t even finish the cup — tossed it about midway through. But I was craving something sweet, so I ordered an iced vanilla latte, and it was pretty dang good. Verrrry sweet, though.
Spent the evening writing and phone-vegging. Did the Saturday crossword a little late, and the groove was good so I did the Sunday puzzle as well. Sunday was more of a challenge than usual, but I got a clean solve, which closed me out for February with all 28 puzzles finished. That’s my first calendar month with all legal solves.
Crush Girl texted me a photo of some cookies she made, which was sweet. They looked pretty good. Jennifer texted me some home decorating updates (she looked into the fun house mirror!). I texted my boss a happy birthday message. The other Jennifer spent a little bit of time in the hospital with an IV in her arm. I don’t think she was there overnight, but I checked on her and we chatted a bit. Later I texted Ryan to tell him about this podcast hosting service I’d heard about.
Someone took me up on my offer to send a Clubhouse invite, and the invite gets sent in text messages, so I also texted someone I’ve only been casually acquainted with online for several years. She was unfamiliar with Google Voice, so I sent her some info that way too. Lets you use a different number for apps that require a working phone number.
‘Sabout it.
Leave a comment if you need someone to connect with. I’ll send you info. Don’t need to be coy, Roy.
