22: Make a Deposit

Mondays, am I right?

Well, given I am still out of work, perhaps I am not right. Perhaps I have forgotten what Mondays are and what time is about. But I do have a wife, and a life, and time keeps on slipping into the future.

Mondays, am I wrong?

The last couple weeks have blurred by, a haze of dog walking, errand-running, cheesy TV, a bit of writing and not enough house cleaning. Last Saturday -- the one after my last post -- we went to see Unc and Sherlie and the Twins. They (the babies) were a bit sick with the sniffles, which Mel said made them all the more cuddly. I played with them a bit and tried to wipe Sophia's nose even though she wouldn't have it. We watched a few movies -- Superman, Happy Gilmour 2, How to Train Your Dragon Live Action -- and had the famous Chinese from the Ethnic grocery. Prior to that, Mel and I stopped over at my dad's to visit the cats.

Monday was my last time doing that, and I finally saw Maya, which was a relief. I had to convince myself she was surely all right and just hiding all the time -- as Dad and Deb had indicated she would -- but I had this eerie feeling since it felt like not enough water and food were being consumed.

Mel was at her office in Oakville a few times last week which resulted in some fairly productive days on projects just for myself and and I finally raked the stairs and swiffered the bathroom. Housework, we just neglect. Maybe when I get another job we'll spring for a maid. Or maybe we'll just have Mel's mom come over on her off days. One is costly but it's hazardous to expose one's mother(-in-law) to the true state of one's house. Right now our kitchen is a pure disaster, but what else is new.

Mel decreed we were to do nothing all weekend and I was happy to oblige. We spent Saturday in the backyard, her knitting, me reading, then her reading and me diddling on my phone. The weather has become more bearable as summer winds down. Some rain, especially at night, cool mornings, moderate days, breezes. Wasps, but that's not technically weather. I made steaks for dinner and finally got them cooked exactly perfect. We used Nonna's tomatoes and a cucumber and onion to make a salad with chickpeas, although Mel pointed out that we only had olive oil, not sunflower like Nonna uses.

Then we settled in and tried to figure out something to watch. Mel had indicated I could go grab another one of my old DVDs after we watched the first two Spider-Mans -- we had watched most of the third but tapped out before bed and never yet came back to it. I brought a random selection and she wound up picking a few she would watch but nothing she felt like for tonight. I showed her my Letterboxd Watchlist and we narrowed it down to either Nightbitch or Here, and selected Here. It was... not great, and I wrote what I think is a pretty spiffy review on Leterboxd to that effect.

The next day, we actually did have something to do, which was Mel getting her hair cut in Oakville, so we went and had a little coffee-and-reading date afterward, which ended up being on a shady bench near the lake which was beautiful and breezy. (Mel's only complaint, she wasn't wearing good shorts for even that little walking.) We got some pains au chocolats from a patisserie nearby too. We came home -- slightly being backed up on the QEW and having to honk at some reckless drivers (Mel: You really needed to lay on it, that was just a little beep-beep. Me: They should really cover that in driver's ed. Mel: Yeah, it comes from street smarts.) Eventually we made it to our exit, after some regrets not getting off earlier as we sometimes do, and resumed our nothing weekend with cheesy reality TV. Then a dinner of "loaded" nachos, a cheesy breezy nothing-happening romance called "The Map That Leads To You" on Amazon (pretty people in an picturesque place with just a smidge of life-threatening illness) and then because she recognized the actor playing the dad, she asked if we could watch Sweet Home Alabama, which I fell asleep during, much to her irritation.

By the time the movie was over and Mel was ready to head up to bed, it seemed to be raining quite heavily which means Hank wouldn't go out, so I waited up with him until he was ready and we had a nice little walk.

Now it's today, and today could be anything, and so could this week. I'm aiming to get back to applying for jobs. It wasn't that I meant to take a month off, but we were on vacation and I had that interview and then I just thought I'd wait a bit. Now I've checked in twice without hearing anything so even if they come back and offer it to me I'd still like to have other possibilities.

And writing, which I'm getting a bit more enthused over.

Keep on rockin

-Scotto