Song: “Dance Across The Floor” by Jimmy “Bo” Horne
Mood: 7
Nightmares: 0
Ghosts: Pack
I went to bed early last night and was surprised that between the medications and some breathing exercises, I was able to fall asleep pretty quickly. The night was pretty typical – I woke up worrying several times but didn’t have any nightmares and I was able to get back to sleep reasonably quickly.
I somehow managed to groan and sigh my way out of bed a few minutes after my alarm went off, then had breakfast and took my medication and bounced around the house while singing along with loud music, trying to clear my head so I could take the truck over to the repair shop a couple of blocks away.
An hour later I bundled up and went outside to take the battery tender off the truck and start it up. It started right up, and after a minute or so of talking positively to myself, I put the transmission in reverse and backed out – right into a giant snowdrift that I hadn’t yet cleared away. The truck was only in 2WD at the time and I almost got stuck so I drove back into the garage, put it in 4WD, and then gave it another shot.
I find backing up to be very difficult. It’s never been my favourite thing to do but I used to be reasonably competent at it. Now, I can’t take my mind off the thought that I may be backing over someone’s pet or a child because I can’t see them well enough. I also worry that something will get into the garage and die in there or wreck/chew a whole bunch of stuff because it wants desperately to get out. I also worry I haven’t closed the garage door properly, whether the house is locked, whether the basement is flooding, the bathroom fan is overheating, the stove is on, the aquarium pumps are overheating, any CFL or LED bulbs in the house are on the verge of failing and might start a fire… everything floods back. It also doesn’t help that our neighbour piles all of his snow right by the street on the side closest to our house so visibility isn’t great.
Anyway, once I was done with the driveway and was moving forward down the street, things got a little easier. Fortunately, the shop is something like 3 blocks away and I was going when things were pretty quiet out. The owner was friendly and helpful and said they’d give me a call when they were done or if they had any questions. I handed over my key, thanked him, and walked home.
I did some more grounding and breathing after I got home (the flop sweat was pretty bad at that point), and that helped a lot (especially with being back in the house). I did some more tidying and set up the table and waited for J’s aunt to come by.
She got here at noon and we talked for a little while before we broke out the cribbage board and the potato chips. During a break, we also talked about 3D printing a bit and discussed the toothbrush holder she was asking me to build. I scrawled out a few designs and we figured out something that should do everything she’s hoping for.
The card games went great. We played an open hand first so we could get used to it but after that we were counting out our fifteens and runs like pros. It was a lot of fun. I think the best hand of the afternoon was 20 plus pegging and crib, and I think my best hand was 16. It was a lot of fun.
Then we gave Carcassonne a try. J’s aunt had been quite emphatic in texts that she does not like board games, but I told her it was different from Monopoly or Risk or any of the usual ones. She seemed to enjoy it quite a bit and we got two or three games in, and she absolutely obliteratified me in one of them.
We talked a lot, too, and the conversation was light and enjoyable. We talked about all kinds of stuff, including the music I was playing from my collection of favourites – I was hoping she could tolerate it but she paused quite a few times and say that she really enjoyed a particular song or that she hadn’t heard another song in forever, that sort of thing. It was an angle of her I’d never seen before… who would’ve known she was a disco fan?
Anyway, time went by far too quickly and before we knew it, it was 4:15PM. Neither of us had expected her to hang around for that long, but we’d both had a very good time and said we were going to arrange another game afternoon soon!
She gave me a lift to the shop, where the truck was done and waiting. The work they did was great and, despite me giving them plenty of opportunity to “find” things wrong and charge for them, they just slapped a new clamp on the coolant hose, topped it up, changed the oil, and checked the level and quality of the various other juices in the truck. I was expecting a bill for $500-$800… but it was $103. That’s the second time now that they’ve been straight with me and haven’t taken me for a ride so I think that’s where I’ll be recommending friends to now.
J had a rough day at work so she wasn’t feeling well when she got home but we had supper and hung out and watched another episode of iZombie. Now she’s in bed and as soon as I publish this post that’s where I’m heading to as well.
Tomorrow, Dad is coming in. He’s hoping to be here around 11AM and we are going to talk and look at things that could be fixed or changed. We may also go out to the hardware store and even go for groceries. Who knows – but regardless of what we do, it will be good to hang out with him again.
Stay safe.