10:09 PM: How much, how fast, how far, how long

Sure, let's spend a little time on SWP this morning. What's the alternative, working toward my goal of completing a written work? Feh.

I'm seeing more and more Facebook "memories" lately, mostly from about 14 years ago, so I decided to look back on this blog and see what was up. I was greeted with a very long and very detailed rundown of every class I was taking, finals, exams, etc. That was helpful because the timelines get all jumbled for me and I certainly can't recall off the top of my head what I was taking when, but on the flip side, all my thoughts and ruminations on the somewhat dense topics I was studying -- literary theory, modern drama, short story collection -- I don't know the guy who wrote all that stuff or thought those thoughts. I was also working on my script for The End Of The Night. Man oh man, talk about a missed opportunity. I'm not saying I could have launched myself into the stratosphere but my inability to rig up even a token follow-up to Half-Past is such a miss. That first script was just such perfection because it came from such a brash and unselfsconscious mind (even though I really was self-conscious! Just not in my writing, I didn't know better and somehow pulled it off) but by 2009 I was 22, not 16, and the pressure was on. Somehow it never clicked.

It's all long gone.

I'm sore today. Last night we went out to the city for BoPo Fitness' 6th Birthday party. It was great to feel like part of the community again. Mel first joined up in 2018, very early on in the group's lifespan. I started attending classes the following year, or late that year, after demurring for a long time because I was not a "gym" person. It was very nice to be welcomed in, and be part of it, and to this day a lot of the O.G's know me, at least because I'm Mel's husband. The pandemic was a blessing and curse for it because you lost that sense of gathering, but the reach was able to be extended virtually, and for us working out from home was a pretty good transition especially after we moved.

Annie way, there was a lot of fuss over it, getting out there and whatnot. We had some errands to run. Knowing or assuming that the meal situation wouldn't be, um, much, we had a plan for what to eat when but we kind of altered it but I think it worked out. We came up against my lack of cognitive ability a bit (more on that later, if I remember). We took some of Mel's pants in to the dry cleaner to be hemmed, picked up some stuff at Shoppers, then proceeded -- after doubling back to the house for something -- to the Go station. There, we learned that Go trains weren't running from West Harbour to Oakville due to construction. I mean, who looks at the Go website before they leave the house, right? Well, we had time and it was an easy fix: we drove to Oakville and got on the train there. They had buses running from Burlington but did we really want to pile onto a bus at the beginning and end of the night, if it's all the same?

Train to Exhibition. By the time we got rolling and my phone was dipping below 50% battery I had wished I had put my book in our bag but c'est la vie. Already getting dark when we got off. We walked up to King St and got Shawarma at Liberty, a wise move. Then we plotted our route to the event and it was determined that the move was to just walk the whole way, since transit wouldn't get us near enough.

Well, it was a bit of a hike, but we made it, and people acted like we had walked from Burlington when we told them. It was nice to see familiar faces and meet new folks. There were speeches, a few exercises, and cake, and Mel got to see the baby (although I don't think she had a chance to hold her.) It didn't go late, they only had the space until 9:30. Mel had wondered if it would be okay to leave early. I assured her it would, feeling that she probably wouldn't want to.

I offered to get a cab or Uber back to the station (although how we would have paid for it, I'm not sure, given our credit card situation but it would have worked out) but Mel said nah we can walk. And we did, just stopping briefly. Got home at about 11:30 and flopped pretty much right into bed. I had thought I might have stayed up to unwind and get some snacking in, but fell asleep instead.

There's not a lot of news since the last post, except that we are officially able to upload our profile to find a surrogate to carry our baby, which is amazing and scary. 

A lot of financial stuff has hit us pretty quick, that being the bulk of it. We had a run of bad luck with some of the moves we've been trying to make, like setting up a new credit card for Mel and consolidating our banking at TD. A lot of it hinged on being approved easily for stuff that we have not been approved for, so we've been stressed trying to work that out (mostly Mel.) Then my credit card got swiped, probably at a gas station (grumble grumble) and I have to wait for a new one to arrive in the mail, which has significantly hobbled our financial freedom.

This past week we had an errant to run, returning some stuff Mel had bought at Michael's. There were complicating factors: she had bought three tee shirts at a Buy One Get One Free price (so one was full price) but the one she was wanting to return had been one of the Bogo Items, meaning they could only return it for $7.50 thus breaking the deal. The woman at the store -- oh, boy, we had a time with her -- seemed downright offended that we ask her to do anything to help us and provide good customer service. So we went back and forth with her before leaving in somewhat of a huff. I tried to be diplomatic but Mel could barely contain her rage, and at one point -- honestly before it had gotten all that heated at all -- this woman (whose name I could give but will not) claimed she was going to talk about us to the manager because she didn't like our attitude. I'm not sure what kind of threat that is, given we are the customers.

I know, I know, it seems like we're Karens in this situation, we're the bad guys from a certain point of view, but let me correct that. Mel and I both have over a decade worth of customer service experience. We know what's possible and what it's like when a CSR actually wants to help you, or when they are trying to blow you off. This was a hard blow-off, and not even a polite explanation for why she couldn't help us in the moment or what could be done. It was like pulling teeth with this lady. As it turned out, we needed to bring the other shirts back and re-do the deal, which is fine (it seems extra to me, but if that's the way the system works, then fine, we can abide it.) We left, got the shirts and went to another location where we encountered absolutely no resistance whatsoever from the teen behind the register. We know our shit.

That'll stay with us for a while.

Anyway. My mind's been a little scattered lately, which is frustrating for Mel. I don't really have a lot to say about it, it's just a bad tendency of mine that I'm not sure can be fixed. It gives me a lot of guilt and remorse and I don't like making her irritated but I'm only human and I deserve grace.

We're going to take it easy today. We're going to put up the garlands Mel bought for the bannister and pretty much just chill. I worry that I haven't spoken to my mom enough lately. We're having dad over this week, then seeing Joe on Saturday.

Living life.

Keep on rockin'

-Scotto