Okay, now it’s Saturday evening as I write about Thursday. Which I don’t think I even remember.
Before I got started at work, there was a knock on my door. It was a police officer, and for once I wasn’t the one in trouble. My house is across the street from faculty housing for a rather rich private school. The housing is maintained by the school, and Thursday morning a grounds crew was doing yardwork. One of the vans backed into my car, parked on the street, and did damage to the rear bumper. Broke a tail light.
So I had to deal with that. I was going to take it to a body shop for a couple of very minor repairs soon anyway. Once I get the okay from the school’s insurance company, I’ll take it to their approved body shop, I guess, and get the other work taken care of at the same time. Serendipity, baby!
https://youtu.be/15qSit64FPM
I don’t remember what I did at work, except I spent half an hour preparing for a planning meeting we had on Zoom. The meeting went half an hour longer than usual, but I think the conversations were good. I proposed two ideas: one was pretty much shot down and one was embraced enthusiastically. That seems like a pretty good success rate.
I don’t remember what I did after work, and I don’t think I took a nap, although I probably did because I was really tired.
It’s quite possible I had cake for breakfast, then clementines and dried apricots for a morning snack. I had an ahi filet in my fridge so I pan-fried that with Mitchell Street seasoning and fresh lemon juice for lunch with some fresh hapa rice. It tasted fine, but you could tell it was past its prime. I need to remember to prepare fresh fish first when I come home from grocery shopping. The carnitas probably could have waited.
I was feeling lazy for dinner so I drove to Waiakamilo Drive-In, where I have not eaten for a few years, and picked up a garlic chicken plate. It was pretty good; one of the better things on their menu. I often get a small pan of it for potlucks and it’s always a hit. Something a little different, something you don’t see in the potluck line very often.
I did a few chores and was up too late. I think I went to bed close to two.
There was a little bit of texting with the writing partner. There were some IG DMs but I don’t remember what they were and I’m not going to look them up.
I’m missing something and it annoys me that I can’t remember what it was. I was doing something that kept me kind of engaged most of the late evening. I went to bed feeling pretty good. Ah well. Whatever!
Leave a comment if you want someone to connect with. Pandemic isolation, if anyone out there is still going through it, is rough on your own. Don’t do it.
It’s Friday evening as I write about Wednesday. This weekend will be another chance to get caught up, as it’s another weekend where I don’t have to worry about work. Whew.
So. Tuesday night I went to bed at around nine. Set the alarm for 2:40. Woke up around midnight, got back to sleep for a little while, and woke up again at about 1:30. Tried to fall back asleep but couldn’t. Got up at two and whatever. Headed for the laundry.
I have a different plan for refilling my drinking water this week, so there was no need to stop at the McD’s on School Street. I opted instead for the McD’s near my house, which (believe it or not) is on a safer block than the School Street one. However: did you know the School Street McD’s is the busiest location in Hawaii outside Waikiki? It has been for decades.
For this reason, even in the wee hours, the drive-through is served by two people. The cashier at the first window; the dispenser at the second. My McD’s goes down to just the second window for payment and receipt, and the inside crew is always paltry. In fact, this location often has to close late at night if someone calls in sick.
I forgot about that. It took really long to place my order and get my food. It’s a lesson for next time.
Except there probably won’t be a next time. I got my order, drove to Manoa, grabbed all my stuff (laundry — a double load — detergent, dryer sheets, my book, and my food), and I could see it before I was halfway to the front door in Manoa Marketplace: it was closed. New hours. Six in the morning to nine in the evening, with a last wash at seven.
Seven. Ugh.
I’ve already waxed poetic in this space about what the all-night laundry has meant to me in this lockdown. Now it is no longer available, because no way am I going during those hours. Not even at six on a weekday, because lots of people do their wash early in the morning on a weekday, and all those late-nighters like me were most likely to go at opening now, making it even more crowded than it would be.
I don’t know this for sure, so one morning I may just check it out. But there are at least three all-night laundries in my neighborhood within a seven-minute drive, so I may as well try one of those.
I used to be a regular at a couple of them. The one on school street was right across the street from my first apartment when I started teaching. It’s open all night but that’s not the best place to be at three in the morning. On the other hand, it’s close enough that I could come home while clothes were in the dryer for a little nap. Also, it’s so close the whole thing would take just a fraction of the time I spend now.
There’s one on Nuuanu Ave, and I’ve been there late at night a few times. Honestly, though, that one’s probably less safe than the School Street one, and even late at night you can count on people being there.
Neither is very clean.
There’s a third tucked into the back corner of the Kapalama strip mall on Dillingham, where Zippy’s is. That one’s also slightly sketchy, but at least at that hour there usually aren’t a lot of people doing wash, and there’s plenty of police presence most of the time. I know because early in the lockdown, I walked past it late-late at night all the time. It looks fairly clean from the outside, but I haven’t been inside, so I may have to investigate.
Anyway. What a pain.
As I dealt with the sudden change in my pandemic life, I ate my Big Mac combo on the trunk of my car. By the time I was ready to drive home, my belly was full and my soul slightly more at peace. Compared to what a lot of others have to deal with, this was nothing, and I’m done complaining.
I came home, leaving my unlaundered clothes in the car (after removing my still unlaundered bed sheets to put back on my bed), goofed off online for a little, and went back to bed.
Got up and got to work about an hour earlier than usual. I had a 10:30 one-on-one with my boss, then called my mom (she’s doing fine, apparently). For lunch I think I finished off my acorn squash potato soup. The memory’s hazy, and I know I finished the soup sometime around then.
After work, I baked a cake! I pretty much never bake, but a friend of mine (a prominent, long-time print, radio, and TV journalist) shared in December photos of this thing called an Are You Kidding Me Cake. It’s any box of cake mix, any can of pie filling, and three eggs. That’s it. I had to try it, and Wednesday was the day.
I used white cake mix and apple pie filling. Not very adventurous, I know, but remember I don’t love dessert so I wanted to stick to something I knew I’d enjoy.
It came out great. I cut it into bite-sized pieces, left it uniced, and have been enjoying it a little at a time since.
I was so tired from the morning’s misadventures I crashed after I had some cake, then got up and did some chores and went to be shortly after midnight, I think.
Kind of a pisser of a day, but there was cake. And there were McDonald’s fries and a Big Mac. I’ll take it, I guess.
There weren’t many texts Wednesday. The writing partner is working on something and needed my feedback, so I spent part of the evening working on that after a few texts. Crush Girl and I texted a little about the books she’s reading, and I sent her a photo of my cake. She’s into baking and she knows I’m not, so I thought she’d find it interesting. Can’t really tell if she did.
Okay that’s it. Go read something actually interesting. But leave a comment first, if you need someone to connect with. You don’t mind if I pour out my soul about losing my all-night laundry, do you? Good!
Tuuuuuuuueeeeeeesdaaaaaaaaaay. I managed about five hours of decent sleep, which given my record lately I’ll take. Got busy on some web stories. The photos take the most time when there are many of them. The social media stuff takes the second-most, usually. If the copy is long, it often takes a while to read it and edit it for our website’s style. It’s all pretty tedious, but I kind of enjoy it. Doesn’t take much creativity, and it comes from a different part of my brain from where the story writing emerges. It’s a nice way to let that writing brain rest a little.
The plan was to turn in early (again) and get to the laundry. I just took too long getting stuff done, and since I wasn’t in bed by nine, I kind of wrote the laundry off until later in the week. I couldn’t do any journaling (my websites all being down) and went to bed early-ish.
That was honestly pretty much my Tuesday. I get most days off to a late start, and if I go to bed early in hopes of getting to the laundry or beach, I don’t do anything with my evening downtime.
I sent some video of pandas in the D.C. zoo playing in snow in texts to Sharon and to Crush Girl. It led to some smalltext, nothing very deep or meaningful, but it was fine. Just reaching out and reinforcing contact is good enough sometimes. Jennifer texted me some photos of her movie posters, finally hung on her condo walls. They look great! I’m pretty sure they’re movie-poster-sized, too, which is impressive. Movie posters are a lot bigger than most people realize.
Crush Girl also asked me what I thought of The Goonies. It’s been on a lot of Hawaii people’s minds lately, as this new Netflix film Finding Ohana is being described as The Goonies meet Hawaii. I actually never saw the movie until my 30th birthday, one night at Ross’s house with George, Traci, Valerie, and Ross. I think Cathy was there too. Anyway, it was fine, but because I saw it so late, I’m not as cultic about it as others my age.
I mentioned that my favorite thing about it was the theme song by Cyndi Lauper — my fifth favorite Cyndi Lauper song. She didn’t know what song I was talking about, so I sent her the video. Still a great song! Not so great a video in retrospect, although it certainly brought waves of nostalgia. It features a lot of pro wrestlers who’ve since died: Classy Freddie Blassie, Captain Lou Albano, the Fabulous Moolah, Nikolai Volkoff, and Rowdy Roddy Piper. Sad.
I don’t know if she watched the video, but I hope she did. People should know Cyndi Lauper’s songs.
Breakfast and lunch were pork carnitas tacos. I pretty much finished off the carnitas. They were so good. I think I’m going to make them again very soon, as in the next time I hit the grocery store. I was planning to skip dinner because I was going to bed early, but when plans changed, I had a bowl of instant ramen (Sapporo tonkotsu flavor) with a huge pile of bean sprouts and three baby bok choys.
I’m writing this late Thursday night. The laundry saga continues with Wednesday’s recap, and I’m telling you now I’m still annoyed by the whole thing. I’ll get to it later.
Leave a comment if you need someone to connect with. We’re going on eleven months in this pandemic. Eleven months! Geez, how are we all making it?
All my websites were down for a time Tuesday night, so I couldn’t write about Monday and still get to bed at a decent hour. I submitted a help ticket to the webhost and went to bed a bit early.
Sunday I got to bed at something of a decent hour but didn’t sleep very well. Got up Monday and had a bowl of the acorn squash potato soup. It was pretty good. I toasted a few flour toritlla rounds (cut with biscuit cutters) for a garnish and added some canned corn and red pepper flakes. I was rather pleased.
The work was slow but steady, I guess. Posted two web stories and wrote social media copy. Made a bit of progress on the three student profiles I’m working on. Sent some emails to follow up on the UH Hilo scholarship story.
After work I did some cleaning up, then made carnitas in my Instant Pot. While they didn’t come out quite as I envisioned, they were still pretty good. I like orange juice and beer as a cooking liquid. Could have used a little more of that OJ tang. Maybe a little apple cider vinegar next time to bring that out. OJ and apple cider vinegar work well together.
I had a few quick texts with Penny, Dawn, Reid, and Cathy. Nothing super engaging, but it’s fine.
Man, I don’t know what I did with the rest of my evening. I read a little, several of the poems from On the Horizon and then crashed; I remember that part. Ha.
When I wrote about Sunday’s trip to the grocery store and then went off about my blood work, I forgot to connect them. My doctor suggested I consciously boost my potassium with some additions to my diet, so I brought home more clementines (which have been something of an on-off staple since the lockdown began) and a bunch of dried apricots. I’m not an apricot fan, but six of them (and dried are higher in K than fresh) is about ten percent of the USRDA. Add three clementines and that’s about 20% of the USRDA. I wonder if that’s enough of a boost.
It’s certainly not unpleasant to take a fruit break in the middle of my day. I line the clementines and apricots up on the desk next to me and just go to town. Maybe I’ll develop a taste for apricots. I already like the texture quite a bit. Clementines right from the fridge are delicious, so that’s not a problem. Because of fridge space, I might have to make more frequent trips to the grocery store, which I think I don’t mind. If I go right before closing and know I’m just grabbing more fruit, I should be in and out.
With more frequent trips, maybe I’ll double my newly added intake. That’s not a bad way to have lunch, especially since nowadays I don’t really have a lunch.
So yeah. Breakfast was soup. Lunch and dinner were simple carnitas burritos.
Leave a comment if you need someone to connect with. Life sucks but maybe it’ll suck less with someone trading texts or DMs.
As aimless and lazy as Saturday was, Sunday was productive and (sorta) focused. I again slept terribly Saturday night, but I did get a few good hours near the end.
I had a slice of pumpkin custard pie for breakfast while I read the news and listened to music. Did a little bit of research for my grocery list, then a little bit of writing. Read a few articles about the newsletter trend. Robin Sloan wrote about it in his latest email newsletter, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, not for a possible revenue stream but just as an observer of how some writers are connecting with their readers and some kind of income.
Around two, I went to the office, stopping at Penny’s long enough for her to throw her birthday gift to me in the back seat. Oh, I also hit the Jack in the Box drive-through to try the Cluck Deluxe. It’s pretty good.
I had some paperwork to work on for our HR office. I’m adjusting the amount I put in my retirement account, and stuff like that is mentally very strenuous for me and it takes long. This time it didn’t take that long, but it was still strenuous. I did some housekeeping, managing computer files and organizing my upcoming work week. Then I did my monthly report (a week early, and even before my supervisor asked for it!), and while I had my paperwork out, what the heck. I did my taxes.
I was there about four and a half hours. Got out at just past seven, I think.
Came home to do some chores, then a very short nap. I got up and made a pot of acorn squash soup in the Instant Pot. It was good — better than the broccoli Brussels sprouts soup by a mile — but it was still far too gingery. I didn’t have an actual dinner, but there was a lot of tasting, and that was enough.
Went to the supermarket at about 10:30, half an hour before closing. I did okay. My one thing different this time was those small street-taco-sized flour tortillas. I’m talking about the tiny ones you get at food trucks.
When I had blood drawn Tuesday, the lab results were available online by the time I got home. My numbers are all about the same — normal levels of most stuff, high blood sugar but the same as it’s been for two years (ugh). My potassium was low-normal, though, which is unusual. The dip looks dramatic. My doctor sent a message Sunday suggesting a few additions to my diet and asking me for another blood check in a couple of weeks, at which time they’ll also check my cholesterol, which they didn’t do for some reason. I’m on medication for it. Last time, about two years ago, my LDLs were holding steady at slightly high, but my HDLs were solid too. I suspect they’re going to be lower this time. I make an effort to eat veggies when I’m eating out, but I haven’t eaten out for ten months.
Unsual amounts of texting for Sunday. JB sent me photos of his snow-covered yard. Vicky, Cathy, and Susannah sent me texts to wish me happy birthday (FB thinks my birthday is the 31st). Sharon asked me something I won’t share, related to work.
Oh, it’s February. I guess I’ll share my resolutions. Next post.
Reach out if you need someone to connect with. For now these hot days is the mad blood stirring.
It’s Sunday night, a few ticks ahead of midnight as I write this thing about Saturday, so once I get this done I’ll sorta be back on track.
Boy did I sleep terribly Friday night. I may have had some peace of mind from finally getting that work done, but yikes. I still slept ugly.
Got up around nine, mostly because I had a pie to pick up at ten, and I was jonesing for some Hawaiian food again. Got to Young’s a few minutes after it opened, got my combo plate again, then pulled into the bakery lot about fifteen minutes early. They didn’t make me wait. Just came out and asked my name while I was texting them news of my arrival (it’s part of their system). Got home and got to work on that Hawaiian food.
Man, I was hungry. I pretty much left only a few bites of rice and the whole serving of kalua pig, which would be my dinner.
The rest of the day and evening were sort of this triangle of activity. The bed for a nap and some lazying. The desk for some media consumption. Other portions of the house for some of half-hearted housekeeping tasks. I strongly considered a drive to the beach but I was just too lazy.
Sometime in the evening I started to feel like crap. I’m almost certain it wasn’t the Hawaiian food, but oh yeah: I again bought a tray of Chinese roast pork, on which I nibbled here and there, and THAT really made me feel terrible. I wasn’t back to myself until late in the evening after some recuperative sleep. So I was still awake at three in the morning, kind of hating myself but kind of okay with it for some reason.
Oh, I got a few things from Bezos Claus. The Newbery-winning book by that young author who went to the School That Must Not Be Named. A Blu-Ray of that Rush documentary I saw last week. Some new keycaps for my wireless keyboard. It’s super pretty now! Also the new Soen CD, which I’d already been listening to since late Thursday. I’d preordered it sometime last year. I’m listening to it now as I type this. It’s a solid album. The first album of the year to perk me up.
I got a text from Jennifer, a photo of some Japanese gin at the Sake Shop. I’m definitely intrigued. There was more chatter in IG DMs for a change. My friend’s spouse, the librarian who works at the School That Must Not Be Named, and I chatted about that school and I sent a screen shot of the author and me sending @ messages on Twitter. That’s right: I interact with Newbery laureates on social media because I’m cool like that. Another friend, Lisa, who graduated the year ahead of me at HBA and is a librarian at an elementary school in Texas and I chatted a little on IG about the book too.
There are some terrible sentences in that paragraph but I’m leaving them. Go ahead and judge me.
And if you need someone to connect with in these crappy pandemic days, leave a comment. I’ll send you some contact info. Or you could just friend me on FB; I’m easy enough to find.
It’s three hours after I began my write-up of Thursday. Three in the morning Sunday. And I’m still wide awake. This happens sometimes when one spends a great portion of Saturday in bed.
I probably won’t finish this before I do crash, though, but I figure I may as well get it rolling.
I slept, but not well Thursday night. Got up a little late Friday and hit the drive-through at McD’s for breakfast. Actually, I returned emails first while I quizzed myself on how I might feel if I went to Taco Bell for breakfast on a second consecutive morning. I ran through my mental Rolodex of places to get breakfast on a work day and nothing got me excited, but neither did anything in the pantry, so I waited until it was time for breakfast to be over at McD’s, then dashed down for a Big Mac combo (which I haven’t had in a couple of weeks).
Oh it was so good.
I posted a story to our website then submitted an invoice and worked on some student profiles I’ve been on for a month or so. Ate lunch at my desk (spicy Chicken McNuggets) and grabbed a short nap, then in the last couple of hours one of the development officers asked me for some (supposedly) final edits on a proposal we’ve been working on together for more than a month.
We worked through that and had a phone call, and then it was done and so was the longest workweek of the lockdown.
I spent most of Friday evening staring dumbly at my phone and playing dumb phone games. Read the news, did Saturday’s crossword in fifteen minutes, worked on some ideas for a writing project, and took a nap. Woke up and had kimchi stew for dinner. I made it with Portuguese sausage instead of fresh meat because it’s late in the every-other-week grocery cycle.
Yeah, I know I went to the grocery store last Friday morning, specifically for meat, but now it was (of course) consumed — and just in time for the pork I cooked Thursday. It’s actually not crazy to use a processed or even canned meat for this. There’s a Korean dish called army stew (or army base stew), developed after the Korean war when food was scarce in South Korea and people got by on surplus U.S. army food. We’re talking canned beans, Vienna sausage, and Spam.
So it wasn’t the greatest but it was still good, and culturally pretty faithful.
Sent Crush Girl a quick text to say happy weekend and to ask what she’s looking forward to. She sent me a photo of the book she picked up at the library. More YA stuff from an author she really likes now. Jennifer and I traded some texts about what we’re drinking this weekend. Haha. I can’t ask what she’s reading because she claims not to read anymore. I texted Sharon kind of late when it occurred to me she might not know that in Zoom calls, when you send direct private messages, the meeting hosts can see the messages. She didn’t know. I’m glad I informed her. I found out my friend (and former colleague) Dawn is having shoulder surgery — we talked about it in IG DMs for a while, then moved it to texts so I could have her number in my phone. Her surgery’s Tuesday and I told her I’d send her a little encouragement and say a little prayer.
I already wrote this, but Friday I spun the new Soen album five or six times. It’s really good. I also spun the new Accept album (which I think I also wrote). Friday’s other potentially interesting drops are new albums by MSG and this group called Pounder.
If you’re feeling untethered, there’s no need to. Leave a comment and I’ll send you come contact means. Don’t go through the pandemic disconnected if you don’t want to.
It’s just struck midnight Saturday night as I write about Thursday. Was hoping to get caught up Saturday but I didn’t feel well most of the evening and just didn’t have the energy. So we’ll see about getting caught up Sunday.
Thursday was difficult! In bed at six in the morning and up for work at nine will do it. Now that my work was in, there was very quick movement on the stories. Different stakeholders chimed in with edit suggestions and I paid attention, but mostly this story’s been taken out of my hands and it’s between the donors and the office working with the donors. It was nice mostly to just watch the activity shoot by on my email screen.
There were some late edits to the staff newsletter. I didn’t get to them until Thursday around lunchtime because I was so tired, but that went fairly smoothly too.
I slept during my lunch break, and I may have taken an extra half an hour. I was so tired.
Got up in time for the 2:00 department Zoom meeting, which was interesting but it went a full hour. Then there was an advancement meeting, which I’m not really part of but invited to attend, and I really want to be aware of what our fundraisers are talking about, so I sat in on that Zoom meeting too, and that went a full hour.
I am not built for consecutive one-hour meetings. Not even virtual. Not even when I’m not on video or audio for the second. So it was a struggle.
Guess what I did when I was done with work? Yep. Right to bed. I didn’t crash quite as easily as I do most evenings lately. Took me a while to wind down and accept in my brain that I didn’t have anything urgent to deal with.
I think I got up around 9:30, kind of hungry. I made a kimchi stew and caught up on some online reading. I don’t remember what time I went to bed, but it was later than I wanted, yet early compared to the rest of this week. I guessing it was around one or two.
Oh yeah. Breakfast was Taco Bell. I have to say it kept me going through a tough day, and was filling enough that I didn’t eat again until the kimchi stew at ten in the evening. I’m thinking I should really look up the nutrition info on these things but maybe I don’t want to know.
Penny texted to ask when she could drop of my birthday gift. It was a group text with Grace. I think they worked it out privately. I told her I was going to the office sometime Sunday so I’d come by her place at some mutually convenient time. Sharon texted me briefly to see if I was in the second Zoom meeting, which I was. Crush Girl texted me to talk a little about some of her work stress. Then we talked a little about books. She’s been on a little YA kick lately, which of course I’m always interested in.
Honestly it was a forgettable day and that’s utterly fine with me after what has been a stressful, miserable week.
Daily reminder: if you want someone to connect with in these lockdown days, just leave a comment. I’ll send you some contact deets. And yes, I’m going to keep saying this until most of us have needles in our arms.
A couple of weekends ago, I requested a couple of hours off Wednesday morning, hoping for a trip to the beach. I couldn’t have known then that it would rain like crazy all day Monday, and it was still kind of rainy Tuesday night, so no way was I going swimming Wednesday.
Which is fine, since I was up until 2:00 Tuesday night and still super exhausted from only three and a half hours of sleep Monday night. I slept in. Woke up not wanting to waste my vacation hours on sleep (which, why not, right? I should totally waste vacation hours on sleep if I’m mega-uber-maxi-super-sleep-deprived).
There’s this tonkatsu spot in the Ohana Hale Marketplace I’ve been meaning to try, but that place is really scary in pandemic days. I braved it for a few terrifying minutes for Christmas shopping; I didn’t think I’d go back until I had a couple of needles in my arm.
However, I thought if I got there soon enough after opening, maybe it wouldn’t be too scary, and it wasn’t. But the tonkatsu spot couldn’t give me my order until 11:40 (it was approaching 11 when I ordered) and I just couldn’t wait. It’s very popular, and people phone in their orders for pickup, which of course I didn’t do.
So I grabbed a KC Waffle Dog, a pork taco, and a carne asada burrito from different spots in the marketplace. Ate the taco and dog on the trunk of my car, then took the burrito home to munch on while I worked on that UH Hilo story.
The taco was great. Highly recommended if you’re in there. It’s the taco stand on the far makai end, by the side entrance. The burrito was fine, but it was super ricey. Granted it was Mexican rice, but still. If I get it again I’m going to ask for just a little bit of rice. Or maybe rice on the side. Now I’m wondering what the difference is between the shredded pork in a pork taco and the different shredded pork dishes I’ve prepared. Might have to look it up, because if it’s as easy to make as, say, shredded Carolina-style barbecue, tacos could be super fun.
I really strugged to get work done when I finally checked in. Sat in front of the computer all day and all evening before I finally got that darned UH Hilo story submitted at about 1:45 in the morning. Then I had to do edits to the employee handbook, which I promised I’d submit before our handbook re-writer got to her desk Thursday morning. I submitted it at 6:00 Thursday morning, taking about three and a half hours to get through the last twenty pages. It was difficult, and I wasn’t slacking either. Really worked my brain off on the handbook stuff, unlike the UH Hilo story, which I mostly just stared at until I finally wrote it.
Seriously: words simply cannot describe how much I hate myself when I go through this.
Went to bed pretty much right after submission. I skipped all my usual getting-ready-for-bed stuff (including brushing my teeth) and just crashed.
Breakfast-slash-lunch was the stuff from Ohana Marketplace. Dinner was kimchi stew again. Delightful.
Texting Wednesday. Some texts with Reid about online, shared whiteboard services. A late happy birthday to Grace and some chitchat about BTS and tea. JB and I shared thoughts on the stupid Baseball Hall of Fame election announcement. I texted Sylvia to thank her for some cool snacks she gave me for Christmas. I just opened them Wednesday because I like to space out my gift-opening. This led to some conversation about Trader Joe’s snacks. I texted Faye with a screenshot of my conversation with Grace, because they’re both learning Hangul for the same reason. I also sent Crush Girl some photos of Tuesday’s burger, because I’d mentioned to her that I’d wanted to try that spot for some time.
I’ve mostly had the new Soen album on repeat all day, but now I’m spinning the new Accept album, which is pretty good. Also, exactly what you expect from Accept. Catchy, aggressive, melodic, riff-driven traditional metal with somewhat silly lyrics.
That’s it. The long, drawn-out self-scripted drama of the UH Hilo story is (likely) done, and I have a weekend with nothing pressing, so I plan to get some rest, do some reading, and try a new recipe or two. Maybe the beach if the weather’s nice. It’s approaching midnight Friday night, and I’m going to get ready for bed and try to do a little reading.
Reach out if you need some contact. Don’t go pandemic-solo if you don’t want to.
It’s just past 1:00 in the morning Friday (so, late Thursday night) as I write about Tuesday. It’s been that kind of a few days and I’ve probably lost quite a bit of them but I’m going to do what I can. The Lockdown Chronicles must be as complete as possible for the archaeologists who dig up our bones and journals in civilizations of future millenia.
My mid-year self-evaluation wasn’t due until Friday (that is, the day I’m writing this), but my phone meeting to discuss it with my supervisor was Tuesday afternoon, and I didn’t know what stage of completion she wanted to see it in, so I stayed up late trying to finish the UH Hilo scholarship story and the self-eval. I made almost zero progress on the story, but I did draft the self-eval. I take these things seriously, so it took a solid hour to ninety minutes. I think I sent it off at 3:47 in the morning Tuesday.
I already wrote some of this. Anyway yeah. Got to bed at 6:00 Tuesday morning and was up by 9:30.
I had the morning off so I could get some blood drawn. It’d been about a year and a half since my last bloodwork, and my new primary care physician, whom I have not yet met, said she wasn’t going to let me refill my prescriptions this next time if I didn’t get it done. I hadn’t been avoiding it; I think I just got caught between physicians and it wasn’t flagged until I refilled my meds last fall.
I’ve vocally (and typographically, in this space) expressed my discomfort with visiting the HMO’s main clinic, a block from my office in town, because the number of people in there is just terrifying. Since my first refill sometime late spring, I’ve been getting my meds from the pharmacy at the Mapunapuna clinic. It’s smaller and just a lot less hassle these days.
Anyway, I was in and out. It was incredibly quick and easy, and I came into direct contact with three people the entire ten minutes I was in the building. A nurse to check my temperature before letting me in. A clerk (or something) to check my ID and look up whatever my physician ordered. A nurse or tech or something to draw my blood. No waiting in line. In and out.
Part of my morning plan was to get a burger at King’s Burger in the 99 Ranch food court. It’s the place I tried to go on MLK Day when the food truck in Aiea was a no-go, but it was closed that day.
Aaaaand it wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great. Not worth going out of my way for, yet inexpensive and decent enough that I’ll try it again the next time I’m in Mapunapuna. And I expect to be soon. There’s a water-vending machine in front, from the same company whose machine I’ve been using almost every week since the lockdown began. Only this machine is way cleaner. Looks almost like a new machine. It just exudes cleanliness and purity, so I am considering going all the way out there next time I refill my bottles, instead of just over to Liliha Street.
I’d seen the machine on MLK and brought all my bottles Tuesday. Took care of business and was quite pleased. The food court opens at 10 and people don’t really come in worrying numbers until 11 or so. I’m thinking if I get there at 9:45 I can get my water, then breakfast-slash-lunch right when they open the building.
Ate the burger on the trunk of my car, out in the parking lot away from humans.
Got home, took a short nap, and got back to work. The meeting went well — I think my supervisor was pleased with the effort I put into the self-eval. Then I tried to finish the UH Hilo scholarship story and really got nowhere. I suck.
After work I took a nap, of course, then got up to try and finish the story. What I really did was stare at the screen, read the news several times, listen to music, and hate myself for not getting the writing done.
Dinner was kimchi stew. It was yummy.
I stayed up too late and don’t remember why, except I know I was still hopeful I’d write that story. I didn’t.
Got to bed around 2:00.
Texted with Sylvia a bit. Her birthday was Monday but we had crazy rain that night so she celebrated Tuesday and sent me a photo of her dinner. Crush Girl and I texted through the day about a range of stuff, including my breakfast-slash-lunch.
I hate how this UH Hilo story has jammed up my week. Because I don’t get it done during my workday, I try to get it done in my free time, and when I don’t get it done then either, I stay up way too late trying, and then go to bed exhausted and miserable and loaded with self-loathing. It’s like being in college again, except at least there were pretty girls everywhere. Now it’s just me and my loathesome self.
Spoiler alert: Wednesday, which I’ll write about Friday, I guess, was pretty much just like Thursday but with more self-hate.
Anyway. You want a piece of this? Come get it: leave a comment and I’ll send you some contact info and we can text the night away as I pretend to be a writer. Ha.
I’m exaggerating my feelings a bit for the purpose of keeping myself interested in my own words as I type them, but I really am frustrated with myself. However: spoiler alert. As I type this late Thursday night, the stuff has been submitted, and I’m already feeling a bit better. But geez, what a crappy week it’s been until just now.
Friday’s going to be great, and so is the weekend. The new Soen album dropped a few hours ago and it’s killer. My ears are happy, at least.
