It’s the weekend, and a long one at that, so let’s sit down with some refreshing beverages and some light snacks. Maybe spin some records, and chat about this last week.
Monday was long, with an after-regular-hours event that turned it into a 12.5 hour day. It started with me discovering a tech issue that had the potential to derail said event, and the only known person with the ability to fix the issue was out on a well-deserved vacation. Thankfully, some time previous I’d been placed on an emergency point of contact list for the program we were running, and at 4:30 that afternoon I was able to click “save” – and in so doing, save our event.
As I said, it was a long day, and during my lunch break I was on Instagram talking to my friend about the new Sandman cast trailer for season two. We talked about how much these characters mean to us, planned a group cosplay for the future, and hope to do a synchronous watch when it’s released next year. It was just what I needed to help make it through the day.
The event itself went well. Our portion used to take the better part of an hour, but thanks to changes made over the last year, it was brought down to twenty minutes. We still had to wait til the end of the program, but this year we knew we had plenty of time built in rather than working up to the last minute and hoping everything wrapped up in time.
I went by Cookout on the way home and picked up a spicy chicken sandwich and an orange creamsicle-type milkshake and wound down the day watching Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost.
Tuesday introduced a new tech wrinkle that was solved simply by turning a service off and on again. Funny how often that works.
Wednesday saw yet anther tech problem solved. Apparently one shouldn’t need to replace the batteries in the wireless keyboard/mouse once a month, and one help desk ticket later I received a new work keyboard/mouse. To be honest, I didn’t realize just how slow things had become; no wI feel powerful 💪
Wednesday was World Goth Day, and once again I watched Scooby Doo and the Witch’s Ghost since it features everyone’s favorite eco-goths: The Hex Girls. It finished up just before our third session of D&D where I’m playing a Kenku Way of Shadow Monk. No, I haven’t typed up those notes yet even though it was three or four days ago. But it was very nice how things all aligned.
My coworkers offered for me to come in late on Thursday since I had worked late on Monday and they knew I’d be up later playing D&D. Before this week game nights had been on Fridays for quite some time, so getting up on Saturday was all on my schedule. On work nights I’m in bed by 9:30 (usually) so staying up til midnight would really throw a wrench in the routine. Don’t get me wrong, I will gladly stay up and game; it’s just a change in schedule is all, and one that my body isn’t quite yet used to. Anyway, I couldn’t come in late on Thursday because it was my day to pick up the day-old Panera that gets donated once a week, so instead I left early on Wednesday.
I spent that time going with Krystal to get a daith piercing. I and others have been suggesting for years she see if it would help relieve some of her migraine issues as others have reported, and after a four-week never-really-gone migraine she went for it. Rest assured she’s also sought traditional medical advice, but she told me she’s also willing to try just about anything at this point. The procedure went smoothly and now she wants more piercings. Fair enough; I want more tattoos.
So I was tired on Thursday and it was the last work day before a long weekend, so of course the day just seemed to drag on by. I even got an iced coffee in the morning with pumps of macadamia nut, peppermint, and pumpkin spice. It was glorious. I did not take a picture.
Thursday was also bittersweet as a coworker with whom I’ve shared a cubicle wall with for the last 3.5-ish years moved out of our clump. They’re only an additional three steps away, but again it’s a change in routine. Yes, I counted the steps, and in theory I can cover the distance in one really big step, but that would not be safe.
The workday over, I stopped for subs on the way home because it was easy. Sandwiches, chips, and soda made looking at a four-day weekend even more delightful.
Thursday was the kind of day I had people reach out to me both online and face-to face and it was been encouraging to realize I have, in many small yet important ways and over the course of many years, become the person I wish had been in my life when I was struggling and needed to talk about things.
I woke up on Friday to do some errands so I could enjoy Saturday-Monday as much as possible. I got my groceries easily enough, but also wanted to make a Pimm’s Cup for the start to the summer season, and I went to three stores before I found any in stock. The extra driving allowed me to sing along even more to my driving playlist, so I can’t complain too much.
The driving list was inspired by Title Track Day and included American Idiot (Green Day), Lover (Taylor Swift), Drunken Lullabies (Flogging Molly), Welcome to the Black Parade (My Chemical Romance), Razzmatazz (IDKHBTFM), Golden Hour (Kasey Musgraves), and Let It Be (The Beatles).
I spent Friday afternoon going over some things I needed to do on Saturday and decided to make a pineapple, bacon, and onion pizza for supper.
Saturday. So here’s the thing about Saturday. I didn’t tell anyone about this outside my immediate circle of closest friends, but I’d decided to audition for a production of Twelfth Night by our local community theater. They asked for comedic monologues; I practiced the French Taunter bit from Monty Python. I really wish Cleese wasn’t such a raging TERF, and it took me years to separate the actor from his work, but I’ve found a way to enjoy Monty Python once more.
Anyway, if I hadn’t told some people I wouldn’t have gone. Of course, even if I only told Krystal she would have said I should go. But I told our D&D group too and then Krystal needed some gold paint brought to her work which was just a few blocks from the theatre and I had made a pitcher of Pimm’s and told myself I couldn’t have any unless I went.
So I went. Several of the folks there were people Krystal has done theatre stuff with before, but this did not allay any of my fears. In fact, it only made things worse as I was convinced I would embarrass the both of us with how awful things would go. I really started to doubt my choice of material, and said as much to the director and the other folks conducting the auditions, and ended up doing both the French Taunter bit and To Be or Not To Be from Hamlet. Even if I don’t get cast, the director asked if I was open to any role regardless of gender – so yay for being affirmed as well 🧡 I’ll know by Tuesday if I have a callback; now it’s just a waiting game.
Also on Saturday I tried my hand at making homemade baked beans. Here’s the ingredients I used:
- 1 pound dried navy beans
- 5 cups of water
- 12 ounces uncooked bacon, diced
- 1 medium onion
- 8 oz tomato paste
- 1/3 cup pomegranate molasses
- 2/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon dry mustard
- 1.5 tablespoons of my espresso rub I use for salmon, which itself contains:
- 1 tablespoon ancho chili powder
- 1 tablespoon finely ground espresso
- ½ tablespoon smoked sweet paprika.
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ½ tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
I forgot to soak the beans over night but saw online you can do a “quick soak” by placing the beans into a pot with water, bringing it to a boil, then turning off the burner but leaving the pot on the hot element for twenty minutes. While I did that, I chopped the bacon, diced the onion, and mixed up all the other wet and dry ingredients into a well-combined sauce.
I was using the crock pot, so I put in my bacon first, then the onions, then the beans, and covered the whole thing with the sauce. It had cooked for about three hours when I realized I had turned it on “low” when it should be “high” so I put it on “high” and added an hour to my cook time for a grand total of 3 hours on low and 7.5 hours on high.
My sauce was a little loose, so I got a cup of liquid, let it cool, then combined two tablespoons of cornstarch – using an electric mixer to ensure it was well-combined – before stirring it back into the pot.
I made up some hotdogs on the grill pan and Krystal and I enjoyed hot dogs and baked beans and Pimm’s while enjoying Dune: Part Two. Krystal cheered for the sand worms the entire time, which is just like her and adorable.
Now, yesterday afternoon around 3:00 the old back pain started up and has not abated. I woke up this morning at 4:30 and after lying awake for an hour and a half I’ve decided to at least get up and get some coffee or something. I’ve ended up doing things in batches: a bit of light cleaning followed by a session with the heating pad or the foam roller or (trying but not really succeeding) at doing some yoga exercises.
Meanwhile, up in Pennsylvania, a bear decided to visit my mom the other day. Here’s some pictures taken of her visitor:
Hmm. I realize some of you might want to know my Pimm’s recipe. I’ve tweaked it a bit from what you might find elsewhere online so it’s not so strong, but it has:
- 2 cups Pimm’s
- 6 cups lemon lime soda
- 1 large orange (sliced)
- 1/2 large cucumber (sliced)
- 1/2 pint strawberries (cored and quartered)
- 1 lemon (sliced)
- 1 lime (quartered)
- Torn mint to taste
What have you been doing? If you have a long weekend, do you have any big plans?
Running In My Head 
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