WTF is an airport? -George Washington

7.7.19

Still shocked that people voted for that orange clown. His idiocy is astounding. Anywho.

I have no time off until my August vacation so this week starts the 6 week countdown and push through to that time. I love vacation but this is the time of year that I want to go by as slow as possible so it's a tough compromise. I'm going to make the most of it as much as I can. The first real summery thing I did was this past Thursday (July 4th). After some waffling, I decided to join Dayna and Cory floating down the CT river through Harpoon brewery. Bryan and his family were there and also her friend Casey who I kind of gathered has recently become a bridesmaid so that makes 3 now. I'm glad I went because it was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect to float down the cold river sipping some beers and hanging out with my peeps while listening to reggae. I need to learn to let things on my to do list go and enjoy life more often. I got through my charge day at work Friday and so far I'm having a good weekend. Yesterday, I went to Barre in the morning and spent the rest of the day doing stuffies at home until it was time to go Ctown. I had an Ashley and Jen date at the Goss house. I visited with the kids for a little bit and spent the rest of the night enjoying grown-up time in the basement...with the exception of our run to see Jen's new property in Charlestown (where Kelly Robarge was murdered) and to get fast food. Today, I started the day with a run, did stuffies then headed out to buy a new washer and dryer (yay!) and groceries. Tomorrow, I plan to run again in the morning, clean my bathroom, finish this blog, and run errands (including board treasurer crap). I am also getting a visit from the census bureau which is annoying and I hope it doesn't take long. I don't recall if I mentioned this during my last entry but I joined my HOA board and it's been more time-consuming than expected and not without drama due to instituting fees which prompted a petition and the recent resignation of Cindy, the president. There's a meeting coming up in a couple weeks so we'll find out what the status is and if we need to hire an outside company to deal with this bullshit because most people just don't have the time. On a sad note, yesterday, I found out that Mike Reynolds lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He was only 40 and will not see his young son grow up. From now on, I will not complain about getting older.

When I left off last, it was close to my birthday and it sure was a good day although I wish I had enjoyed my massage more. My birthday fell on a Friday so I took it off to start the weekend early on a weekend that was originally my call weekend. Missed out on some cash but it's still a big win. I went for a run in the morning and had an early afternoon massage at the Strong House Spa. He threw in free essential oils because it was my birthday but shortchanged me on time. And I've had better. Unless I can book with Manny (Serena's recommendation), then I will not be going there again. Next time, I will try the River Valley club. Ashley and Jen took me to the Cantina for drinks and dinner then we enjoyed some birthday basement time. I think I will make a Reese's ice cream an annual tradition. I spent the day after at home with the fluff and headed back to Ctown for the day on Sunday. I hung out with my mom, Ray, Heather, Simone, Denise, and Faith at Heather's house and had a birthday lunch consisting of sandwiches, salads, and chocolate peanut butter cake. We played hide and seek, hung out outside on the porch and played jailor and prisoner. I stopped in at my mom's to get my freshly washed couch cover before heading back to Leb. I don't recall what I did that Monday.

7.8

The following weekend was a long weekend because I had taken Thursday and Friday off that week on top of the entire following week for Iceland. For various reasons, I didn't go, but I decided to keep June 13th and 14th off for 2 concerts I really wanted to go to (I ended up working the following week). On the 13th, I drove down to Meadowbrook by myself to go see Bush and Live...crossing Bush off my 90's alternative bucket list. Both were pretty darn good and I ended up being in close proximity to both lead singers at different points. Live's lead singer walked past me towards the stage singing as I was looking for my seat and Gavin Rossdale walked all around the venue (walking past the end of my row) during one of their songs. If I had hustled, I could have touched his sweaty body. It was awesome. Unfortunately, it was freezing so I indulged in a black coffee instead of cold booze. The next night, after going for a run, I headed back to the same venue to see Hirie/Matisyahu/Tribal Seeds (so bummed they couldn't make it)/and Slightly Stoopid with Dayna and Cory. I'm not really sure what happened because they didn't really acknowledge it...I was so looking forward to seeing Tribal Seeds. Especially in the front row with good company and enjoying more than just black coffee. However, the fact that Chali 2na from Jurassic 5 made an amazing, surprise guest appearance during Slightly Stoopid's set made up for it. At a different time in my life, I would never have known the significance of that moment; thank you Hip Hop Evolution! I was supposed to grab a beer from CT surgery April because she was there bartending but it just didn't work out. Saturday, I recovered a little bit and grocery shopped and went for a bike ride. Sunday morning, I got up and did Skips's Run (Lebanon's annual Father's Day 4 mile run) with my new coworker Erin. My net time was 43:21. Not bad but pretty slow. I spent the rest of the day doing stuffies at home. That Monday, I ran errands, vacuumed my basement and went for a run. At that time, drama on the HOA Board was starting to come to a head after the communication regarding fees and the ensuing grumbling. Lots of emails back and forth and a petition was being created. Cindy eventually resigned and announced it at the beginning of this month. It really is unfortunate and unnecessary that it had to come down to this. I'm just going to keep on keeping on I guess.

The following weekend was pretty low key. Saturday morning, I got up and went to Barre. I went down to Newbury later with a large salad in tow to attend Jess' cath lab kegger. It ended up being pretty fun. Just chillin, eating and drinking with my coworkers on a nice summer day. Lots of good beer, ladder ball, and videos of people doing keg stands on my phone. I headed home around 9ish. On Sunday, I got my car detailed by a mobile guy by the name of Arruda (he did a really good job) and Dave came over to talk for a few hours. It was nice to see him and I hope it helped in some way. I'm glad he came to talk and I hope it didn't influence in any way what transpired the following day during the exchange of Simone at Heather's house. Beyond disappointing. Never would have guessed this kind of trashy behavior would happen in this family. So much anger and hurt. On Monday, I grocery shopped, meal prepped and cleaned my garage. That proved to be interesting because my pressure washer wouldn't work despite my best troubleshooting efforts. I lost my temper a little bit before giving up and just using my garden hose to wash the floor as best as I could. I broke a part on my pressure washer (good thing it's a cheap replacement) and bent one end of my garden hose. I ran out of time to work out, however, the neighborhood got their petition signed (note some sarcasm)!

Last weekend was the conclusion of June. July and August will go by just as fast, I'm sure. Saturday, I went to Barre, went to Newbury to continue work on me armpits, and got my grocery shopping out of the way. Sunday, I went for a run and spent the rest of the day in Ctown with Simone. We played hide and seek, had a dance party during a thunderstorm, colored, went to McDonald's and took a little hike to the sand dunes inside Moody Park. Monday, I meal-prepped, found out (after much research and many phone calls) that I do not need to get my residential sprinkler system inspected, and concluded the day with a 2 hour bike ride out to Mascoma Lake. So nice. Speaking of, it's getting late so I'm going to head out for an abbreviated bike ride.

Work is work, it's been busy. I'm feeling a bit burnt out. Anne was put on administrative leave "insert yikes emoji" I've been toggling between ATCQ and Bush radio on Pandora. Good stuff.