5:08 PM: The difference between you and me

You could be anywhere tonight, but you're with me. I could only be here tonight, unfortunately.

Hey, that rhymed. I wonder if I should try taking up poetry again.

I'm up at not-as-late-as-it-feels o'clock giving wifey a chance to fall asleep without snoresbury over here. I've been meaning to check in all month but it's been, well, a few of those weeks.

I last checked in the day before we went to the Ex with Mel's mom. It was nice, although it's impossible to recapture the feeling we had when we went with Eric back in the day. Partly because he's not there to win alarming amounts of coinage at the horsie game. Partly because the Silent Disco was not operating for some strange reason (even the nearby food truck vendors couldn't explain it, as it had been running.) Partly it's because unlike in the past, pre-pandemic visits, we weren't going home to our little apartment in the sky but to Burlington. But we still stayed pretty late, threw a couple of bucks down on some games (nothing that would win Mel a stuffy -- she didn't want another one) saw the Drag Show, which was a blast, ate some food (although not as good of food as everyone seems to expect -- we kind of had to hype up the Shawarma Poutine and the Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese to make it seem like we did) perused vendors, saw cattle, etc etc. All in all, it was fun and a good time.

Here's where I get the timeline a little mixed up, so forgive me future-Scotto if I don't have everything note perfect. I went into the city on Aug 31 for my dentist appointment but as it turned out I had gotten the date wrong and the appointment was for the next week. That's a very "me" thing to have done. However, the next Thursday we had a financial planning meeting right at 5 (so grown up, would you believe this blog started for mooning about high school crushes?) so I ended up rescheduling my appointment for the following week.

In between, we had a four-day weekend, which we vowed to do very little after giving so much of our time to others on recent weekends. We did go to Unc's for his birthday on Sunday (or was it Saturday?) but that was it. Otherwise we were pretty much homebound which was nice. We spent some time playing vintage video games. Well, I guess all my video games are vintage now. The Wii is almost 20 years old!!

The following weekend, we went to help my mom set up her TV cabinet which included a built-in fireplace. That was a whole day, especially since some of the instructions for th ething were a little ambiguous, but at least we got to see her new place. We went out for dinner in the middle to a nice place, Rust Bistro Bar, which was a little schmancy for the likes of us, but was quality and a nice treat. Mel went for Poke because she hasn't had good poke since leaving the city, but regretted it because it was essentially an appetizer.

The next day was Mel's mom's birthday gathering -- not much to report, just a nice day as summer winds down into a perennial fall chill.

I did end up going to the dentist on the 14th. It was kind of a frustrating day for whatever. The dental hygienist was a lot more, um... active? Opinionated? ... than I usually get there, although she did have some good tips. I don't know, it just wasn't a great day, it was not fun getting out there and not fun trying to get back and get some food on the way and call in to this afternoon-long meeting and get work done on the new big Elon bio all the same. On the ride home, I ran into Phil on the Streetcar. We chitchatted a bit, but that was mitigated by this drifter guy who kept interjecting and it was kind of funny to see Phil's reactions. He had a take on everything: the price of transit, the availability of housing, Elon, how the military made him into a killing machine but he wouldn't kill unarmed civilians, etc etc. Memorable.

The next day I did some store visits, which were fun.

The next day was Kris' thing. I was looking forward to getting it over with but I was sure at least it would be a fun way to spend a day. I haven't hung out with the guys outside of the context of a family gathering in forever, so having a long car ride to just shoot the breeze was ideal, in spite of the fact that I made a wrong turn and got a little lost (juuuust a little.) Kris seemed pleasantly surprised. We had rented out a theatre to wacth The Room, all riffing and jabbering over it as you are meant to do, although Daryl had never seen it. Then we just kind of hung out in Kris' backyard since it's a little crowded inside his place. I tell you, just stepping in there the place has hardly changed since I was a kid. I halfway think there are items that were set down in the late 90's and have never been moved. The place even smells the same -- which is not a bad or good thing, just a thing.

We had some snacks, shot the breeze, tossed the football, ordered some wings and nachos for dinner, and went home around 7. Mel was hosting Rielle back at our place and she had just left around that time so I was keen to get back. I observed, and Eric agreed, that on the dark road even at just after 8:00 it felt like midnight somehow. Eric pointed out all the landmarks of his ill-fated journey from Hillsburgh to Ballinafad on foot earlier this summer.

All in all I actually did have a good time. I picked up some pizza on my way home to share with Mel and we spent some time talking.

It's been a big few weeks for us and it's only getting bigger. We got the green light from our bloodwork in mid August to proceed with egg retrieval and embryo-making, the first big step toward growing our family. That will be happening soon, based on the cycle. That's consumed a lot of our mental energy lately but it still does leave time for other things. Someday I might tell you the full story of how we got here, but you -- that is me -- already know.

Sunday we took for ourselves. After returning the car I had rented for the trip -- merely a Toyota Corolla but still fun to drive, and hopefully getting a few bucks knocked off as promised for returning it early even though the place was closed -- we came home, sat outside while Mel did some knitting and I read, it was placid and peaceful. She napped a bit. I did my best to keep the kitchen clean from the state of grace she got it in in advance of Rielle's visit. We meal-planned, doing our best to avoid eating out too much as hwe have been doing. We had leftover pizza for dinner with a salad intended for a dinner earlier that week, and finished watching Freaky Friday, which Mel had wanted to put on on a whim, perhaps relating to Chad Michael Murray.

And now we go forward.

It's what it's.

I feel I have sufficiently drained myself. If I had more posts maybe I would share more fine details but I've said everything I need to and more importantly as much as I want to. This was good.

Keep on Rockin'

-Scotto