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Played hooky from work for this. No regrets.

Cheers!

Godzilla wishes you all a Happy Halloween!

That’s almost twice my actual electric bill for the month and they’re mostly plugged into the unoccupied units, so I am firmly ahead here. Plus maybe finally getting the pigeons out of the ceiling?

Roofing crew foreman negotiated the use of my outside outlet which I pay for by the elegantly old-fashioned “give me a crisp $100 and assure me it is a business expense and he will be recompensed himself”. Hell yeah Maurice, plug those saws in!

They might FINALLY be fixing the roof after over 4 months! Also this dude is driving this thing backwards off a truck so shoutout to him.

Took a long weekend for a) a union meeting that did not happen b) a lumberjack visit that did not happen so I declared it Self Care Time. I leveled up my Fallout 76 character 2x so far and got the nicest haircut of my adult life. (Hair by Dani out of the Lash Call!)

I knew I’d reached Middle Age today when I had a doctor’s appointment and my first internal reaction to seeing the extremely competent and pleasant physician’s assistant was: “Oh god a child is taking my blood pressure”. A child with more education than my ass. And better blood pressure.

I could oven-dry them but that runs the risk of smoking out my building, and I don’t know if I’ll be visiting the lumberjack to avail myself of his smoker before this batch goes bad. That said, cedar-smoked chile blend sounds pretty great so maybe I have to burn some PTO on homemade fancy spices.

I might have to buy a food dehydrator at this point. I already have a coffee grinder specifically dedicated to hot pepper grinding, so it’s not much of a step. It’s not like I’m not already a tragic food snob.

Why yes everyone I know is getting homegrown chili powder or hot sauce for Xmas this year, how did you guess?

Between my plants, my parents’ garden, and my ex’s garden (I am fortunate that was an amicable breakup!) I have seven distinct varieties of chile pepper in my fridge right now. (Habanero, jalapeño, cayenne, Hatch, Sugar Rush Peach, Corno di Toro, Thai bird’s eye)

I had lots of fun and networked and if I don’t get laid off in January (Fuck You Beltrami County Board Except Joe) I have great ideas for library outreach. I ate tasty food even though the Ethiopian deli is closed bc the cook is on vacation. And I am so VERY happy to be home to my giant fluffy bed.

My bed at home is officially nicer than a hotel bed, which is a first for me.

On my second ever business trip/work conference! I ate some fantastic Indian food and must take back at least a couple unkind remarks I’ve made about St. Cloud. People-watching in the hotel bar makes me supremely glad I’m just here to observe and not hook up. Human mating rituals are hilarious.

Three days off in a row needs a doctor’s note so anything less is Mental Health Time Sanity Break, good to know! It’s not like I could use one! Hahahahaha!!!!!

Possible layoffs have emboldened me to burn every scrap of PTO. Which means I took sick time to go up north and help the lumberjack refurbish a secondhand golf cart. Why yes it does need an extra seat on the back! And a cooler! Yes I do want to test drive it too please and thank you!

My optometrist and her staff are not only efficient and gentle but compliment my eyeballs frequently. Like “Nice retinas! Very healthy, good job!” I don’t know if I just look like I need a little praise or if I just have particularly spiffy retinas, but I’ll take it.

I live in northern MN for anyone who is scratching their head going “Where do you live that Greek food is Fancy Exotic?!”

Going to my second ever professional conference next week and there are numerous delicious international dining options within walking distance including my favorite Ethiopian restaurant. Greek! Filipino! Indian! And I get a damn meal reimbursement budget. Enjoy the shit out of it while I can!

Does not help that I spent a solid 20 minutes looking for my keys and they were in an obvious enough spot they might as well have been dangling from the end of my nose. I even thought they’d fallen into the garbage. Nope! I’m filthy for no payoff!

Godzilla enjoys the human interaction so I’m waiting until the last minute. If I didn’t expect to be laid off in January I’d make him a permanent library resident, thanks county board! I’m at least waiting until my next assisted living outreach yap sesh because the retired homies want to meet him.

On the bright side I spent some time sprucing up Ginger’s habitat (I would have assumed all the isopods etc I put in her tank had died of neglect but no! The pillbugs prosper) so my best long-term roommate will come home this week. I’ve missed her quiet company.

And why the fuck do you have to be having a loud video call while you do your laundry? Call them back! Fuck I’m old.

Thanks for jumping my turn, young lady in #4! Your clueless apathy at making me wait another goddamn hour and a half to do another load makes me feel delighted about the future and not old, cranky, and out of touch at all!!

I hated living in the dorms but it sure was an introduction to communal living and appropriate behavior like not hogging the goddamn laundry. Unlike the fresh-faced children in my building who went right from Mommy Does My Laundry to Oh Why Can’t I Do 3 Loads At Once When We Have One Working Dryer?

Also: holy shit I can never go back after one night in the new bed with the huge fluffy new king size down duvet. It’s half body pillow, half weighted blanket. That makes up for two and a half months on a futon.

Both relieved and disappointed that washing the kitchen floor didn’t leave it much better. At least those aren’t food stains, just sad old apartment linoleum.

If nothing else everyone in the building who uses the communal laundry will enjoy not having feathers on their clothes because my 20+ year old comforter is leaking floof.