Seven-and-Thirty: Sucarcubes

Woof.

Have I ever simply started a post like that? It feels like the underlying message of many of them. I was reading some old entries from early 2007 the other day. The thought occurred to me to completely strike the early part of this blog from the record. It's a little embarrassing to have so much verbiage out there from when you were younger and less self-aware (and I was pretty self-aware for 20!) There are so many things I remember thinking and doing, and so many things I wrote that are nothing like what I would write, or think, feel or experience today. But if I were to clear out that history I might as well scrap the whole blog since the reasons for eliminating the old posts (they're embarrassing) also apply to new posts. It's the circle of blog.

Speaking of, I also wanted a note on the title. Sometimes I'll be out in the world and I'll hear something or think something and try to file it away for my next blog post title, and sometimes I'm surprised by what I use instead. All these titles, the tradition of usually not meaning much in any obvious way, come from somewhere even if it's just my idle mind. There was originally going to be a much more direct and literal one for this post (inasmuch as these things ever are) but I scrapped it at the eleventh hour. For this. And why this? I know why today, and I may not know why in a year (when I inevitably re-read this -- hey Old Man Scotto, how's being an Old Man treating you? Joints hurt? Mine do!) but part of it was literally just to write this paragraph.

So..... woof.

It's been a week and I can't even tell the full story why. But let's pick up after my last post, sure. I did end up putting the patio furniture away when the weather got freakishly warm for the last time during the week, but I only got as far as putting the furniture in the garage, not disassembling it. For that we waited for Mel's parents to come on the weekend. That was when we told them the big news... about Mel's new job. Yes, she accepted the offer for the job, the exact one she had wanted and been eyeing since she quit her last job. Privately, it's a relief because I feel like idleness doesn't suit her so the sooner she's back to some structure and routine, the better. It doesn't start until January but it's something to look forward to.

Last Thursday, we took the train into the city. Mel had rescheduled her plans with Rielle, and I went along on my own mission, having taken the day off for wellness. I said a quick Hi to Ri, then went and got coffee and worked on this knitting video Mel did as a sort of audition for this AquaFit instructor role she was interested in (she didn't end up getting it, but she's fine with that.) I bummed around the city, got a burger from one of my old faves (Big Smoke) ate in an abandoned food court in the Path, and waited to meet back up with them. It turns out the place they had wanted to eat was booked up, and all their backups too, so they ended up at Basil Box and Mel wasn't even that pleased with what she got. Despite that it seems like they had a nice night.

So, back to the weekend, when Mel's parents were over. Yes. We did a power clean that morning just to get it in shape for Mama H to help clean the rest of the place. She and Mel did some stuff in the backyard and Papa H and I focussed on getting the lights up, the Snowman and our new Snow Dog set up (currently having fallen over on the yard due to high winds) and disassembling the patio table. Then we had a group session cleaning the garage and organizing it well beyond what I am capable of on my own. Many hands, light work. Maybe I'll invite them back in the spring to tackle the basement.

We had dinner together, I made a flank steak, which was a little under despite my usage of a meat thermometer (I got a little overzealous and took it off the heat the moment it gave me a favorable reading, should have suspected.) Sunday we finally put the tree up and I went grocery shopping, always a big thing now (although Mel's excitement about going with has dulled in recent weeks.)

I'm... I'm okay. The crazy hazy part of the holiday at work has passed. I'm getting a little time to decompress. Hey, I can even do this. Importantly, Mel has not been staying up late and sleeping late for the past few weeks, which is good.

The place went and got messy again, but I don't feel too bad about it. I'm personally in a good place lately, and any negativity in our lives we are actively working to mitigate, but as usual I can't quite tell the whole story... yet.

Writing a good amount though.

Keep on rockin'

-Scotto