ResQgeek

My wall calendar at work was from the dollar store. I usually get something cheap because I only use it to note what day it is (and to cross days off, because that's so satisfying). I noticed the other day that this month is labeled "Novemeber." Worth every penny, I tells ya!

My day did not start well. My stomach was unhappy so I took an anti-nausea pill with my regular pills when I got up. Then I went downstairs, took a shower, came back upstairs, brushed my teeth, and threw up. Sigh. Then I went to work and tried to make oatmeal. First I dropped the open packet on the floor, but at least it was dry oatmeal. Impossible to pick up off the carpet by hand but easily vacuumed. Then my mug overflowed in the microwave and good gravy is oatmeal difficult to wipe up. Luckily, there wasn't any on the handle of my mug, but I still needed to scrub it good before taking it home.

Minor problems all, to be fair. And my day wasn't bad overall - the reorg meeting was promising. Light on details (though next week we should start finding out things like office locations) but no one is being let go and no groups are being disbanded. And while only govt positions have been sorted down to the person, my study lead has assured me that she will fight for me to go wherever the team goes. So that's nice.

Also, corporate scuttlebutt suggests we might get credit for the shutdown hours against our annual quota, meaning I won't have to make up the time off. Which is fantastic, since it would be basically impossible to do so.

Going back to work hasn't been easy. I've been working with Jason on his tendency towards aspirational alarm setting. For the first many months we lived together, our differing snooze lengths and his multiple alarms meant things were going off at 5:00, 5:05, 5:09, 5:10, 5:15, 5:18, 5:20, 5:25, 5:27, 5:30, 5:35, and 5:36. This is not healthy. So we've narrowed the band of waking: now the alarms go off at 5:23, 5:25, 5:28, and 5:30. Which basically means that I wake up when my alarm goes off at 5:25 and we're both out of bed by 5:30. I can live with this.

As we stood by our cars Monday morning, Jason commented that he was glad I was going back to work, but sad that I have to work. And also sad that he has to work. "We're sexy," he said. "We shouldn't have to work." Agreed.

Monday evening Jason and I drove out to Brambleton Library to attend a free manga sketching class. The teacher was really nice but had the most obnoxious nervous giggle. It was mostly kids and their parents, and Jason became quite popular showing videos of his minifig collection. Children gathered around, excitedly pointing out characters they recognized. It was adorable. He really is the coolest dad. One day Elliott and Wyatt might even agree.

But I draw too quickly and started to get bored, and learned that the new Running Man remake was playing at the theater across the street at 8:15. So we consciously made the terrible decision to go see a movie on a weeknight. No regerts! It was actually a lovely little date and the movie was really fun. We were in bed before midnight and I was shockingly okay the next morning. The trouble was right around when I finished work for the day and then had to go out for dinner and go to chorus and be out late again. Waking up Wednesday morning was like battling a force of nature.

One tale from the shutdown I forgot to share: Jason's military duffel bag was under the printer cabinet. I asked him about it and he said his old uniforms were in there, but it'd been in his attic for so many years he was hesitant to open it, concerned about mildew and other such hazards. I kind of shrugged but I guess he decided to brave it, because he opened it up and laughed. It turns out his ex-wife had thrown out his uniforms at some point, because the duffel was now entirely full of purses. We got a good chuckle out of it and I took the lot to Goodwill a few days later.

We actually have zero plans this coming weekend. This is the last time this will happen in 2025, so hopefully we will treasure the free time.