EVEN MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) So...yeah.

Is anyone else just exhausted with the monotony of things these days?  I don't mean to complain, because I have it better than a hell of a lot of other people, but geez. I feel like I'm stuck in a time loop. Groundhog week instead of Groundhog Day.  The fact that we had a 3 day weekend seemed exciting, but it was just three days that were exactly like any other three days.

I don't know why this bothers me at all, really, because it's not bad. I'm not in distress. I have enough food (too much, if you look at me) I've got shelter, I still have a job (or three,) and I have the creature comforts that I'm used to. I think it's the lack of variety of...living. Does that sounds stupid?

SIGH. It feels stupid and supremely ungrateful. I don't know how to feel about it. I'm sure someone would think I am way too privileged and have no right to feel the way I do, because how dare me when other people have it worse, right? That's just how people are these days.

I'd almost start wishing for a little variety in life again, but the way things are going, we'd end up in the middle of an intergalactic trade war or something.

I might be willing to risk it! :)

2) Over the past two weeks we have been wading through The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended edition, of course.) I say wading through, because we would watch a little bit of each movie, turn it off and do something else, and then watch a little more and so on a so forth.

I'm not the biggest fan of that particular series, but it's been a pretty good diversion. I had forgotten how it was such a big, stinking deal when it came out. It has aged surprisingly well, even if some of the actors have not (HEY-O!) Heehee.

I like to read trivia and information about movies when I'm watching them at home, and one of the little bits I ran across was that the Lord of the Rings was a surprisingly accurate depiction (set in a fantasy setting, of course) of what going to and coming back from war is really like. I don't think I'd ever thought of it like that before, but it's totally true. You've got your young man being basically drafted into action due to his elders mistakes, he sets off with other young men and friends to right the wrongs, and has to fight, getting injured and losing people along the way. Watching the movies with that mind set really made me look at it differently and it actually made the whole thing much more interesting to me this time around.  The most telling part was the end, when the 4 hobbits made it back to the shire. You've got these four friends coming back from war, and they have SEEN some shit. Two of them (Merrie and Pippin) kind of go back to their lives the way they were, one (Sam) takes his experience and betters himself and his situation, and one (Frodo) is too damaged and too fragile to keep on going one the way things used to be. The article I was reading said it was a fairly good depiction of a soldier coming home with PTSD.

We finished watching the Return of the King last night, and looking at it in a new light, it was an oddly poignant movie to watch on Memorial Day. I don't like realistic war movies, because they're too scary, but watching one that uses allegory was surprisingly touching.

However, and I will die on this hill, Frodo was a bitch that needed saving every twelve feet. Sam is the real hero of that movie! TEAM GAMGEE FOR LIFE!

3) The most interesting thing that has happened to us lately is that a huge tree in our backyard fell down! When I say huge, I mean huge. It takes up 3/4 the width of the back yard. Somehow, and I think it has to be providence, it fell perfectly on our property. Some limbs hit the house, some limbs hit Steve's old beater truck he parks in the backyard, it smashed the section of chain link we had on the west side of the house, but it didn't touch anything that wasn't on or near our property! Well, it did knock down some limbs off of our neighbor's cedar tree, but they were hanging over our yard.

It was raining really hard Friday morning, and we were watching TV when we heard something go SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHTHHHHHHHHHHH. My first thought was "Oh, no, the tree fell!" It had always had a lean to it and we had worried for years it would tip over, although we didn't actually think it would. My second thought was "OH, NO IT HIT THE NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE!" because of the direction of the lean. Thankfully, though, it missed everything except our fence. We can't tell for sure, but the roof doesn't seem damaged, and Steve's truck is fine. Now we just have to figure out how to get the danged thing off of our property. My sister and brother in law have a lawn business, and they are coming to look at it and see what they can do, but the tree is so huge that they might only be able to remove some of the branches. We'll have to call an arborist to get the rest. It's going to be so expensive!!!!  Ugh. To add insult to injury, it also cracked the trunk of the tree it was next to, and now that one is only hanging in there because it's supported by another tree. If it falls, it will fall in the center of our yard.

I wish we could afford to have the wood processed so I could keep it and have something made of it, because underneath the bark is is beautiful! It's persimmon wood, so it's difficult to dry, but it's white wood with a dark heart, and I've seen cut pieces and it really is pretty when it's used to make stuff. I am going to try and keep a few chunks to carve something out of, at least. It was, after all, our favorite tree.

BITE SIZE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) Our church is opening up for service this Sunday and I’m not thrilled about it.  I know that sounds bad, and they are doing everything they can think of to keep people safe, but my gut just doesn’t like it.

Of course, my gut isn’t as reliable as it used to be. It’ll be fine, I’m sure. I just wish I had the luxury of staying home a while longer without anyone asking questions, but that isn’t the case. Plus I’ve got jobs to do. Damn my sense of responsibility. Hehe

2) I got another weird call. This time it was early in the morning while I was still in bed. I was literally trying to wake up while I was having this pointless, odd conversation, and trying to be nice. Imma change my number if this keeps up, y’all.

3)  I have decided to take up yoga again, but I’m not as bendy as I used to be. Geez. I started out with what was supposed to be beginners videos on YouTube, but I question their idea of beginners. I was doing some stretches and feeling good about myself, and the lady said “if you want, find a comfortable way to do this...” and then she folded herself over and sat on her own head.

I mean...

I didn’t do that, of course, as I have to work back up to being more flexible and also because I have no desire to be my own gynecologist. Yikes. I mean, I don’t know if being flexible will be useful to me ever again, but I like yoga and at least I can do it inside! Keep your fingers crossed that I don’t kink myself into a knot that can’t be undone.

4) You’d be proud of me. Although I have been stressed from the whole quarantine situation, I have managed not to either cut or color my hair by myself. That’s usually my go to, bad decision because of emotions, action, but I have resisted. Personally, I’m beginning to think the cave woman look is working for me.

5) I really hope everyone is doing ok. I have been trying to reach out as much as possible, but I haven’t been able to get in touch with everyone. I’ll be glad when at least that part gets back to normal. I miss my people.

MORE RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) I had the weirdest experience the other day.

So I get a call. It was someone I don't usually chat with, but I figure they must need something so I hung in there. We're doing the small talk bit and then right in the middle of the conversation they just start being very clipped and short with me. One word answers, the verbal equivalents of shrugs, and stuff like that. I didn't notice at first, but the longer we talked, the more obvious it became. I was doing my level best to keep the conversation going, because I thought, well, if they needed something they'll tell me soon, but they never did. It was so weird!

I came within an inch of apologizing for calling them if they were busy, but then I remembered I wasn't the one who called in the first place. That's just how weird it was. Eventually we were sort of sitting there, not talking, and then they abruptly ended the call. I basically sat there like WTF? I didn't call them back because it was confusing.

I know I'm not the most interesting person in the world, but to my knowledge, I've never bored anyone to the point of regretting calling me. I still wonder if they needed something. I hope that they weren't calling because something was wrong and I just didn't catch on. I'm not going to ask, though, because the whole thing freaked me out. If they need something from me, I'll find out when the stay-at-home stuff is over and I see them again.

2) Josh was in town this week! The reason he was here sucked, because his step-father passed away and he was here to help his mother with details, but we have gotten to see him.

He went with us on our weekly hike last Saturday and we got to have dinner with him last night. Some of the restaurants have opened up for dine-in, and so we went to one and sat outside. Don't yell at me, ok! We were the only ones out there, and we were sitting at one of those tables with fire in the middle, so we were both socially isolated and were talking over fire, so I hope that was enough. I'm still not crazy about the idea of going out just yet, but it was Josh, ya know? I miss him and who knows when we'll see him again. 

Besides, he really needed a break from all of the death stuff. Some people want to be left alone when they are grieving, some people fuck their way through it, and some people need company. Josh needed company.

I'll miss him when he leaves.

3) Do you think we'll all be OK after the bulk of the quarantine stuff is over?  Mentally, I mean.

I know that sounds like a dumb question, but I really do wonder if we will be.  I know that there are a lot of people out there who have lost jobs, and have lost loved ones and all of that, and it's obvious they will not be the same, but I'm specifically wondering about the rest of us.

Sometimes I think I'm not OK. I can't really pin-point why I feel like that, but there are times when it sneaks up on me. However, I find myself pushing it all off and thinking that I don't have time for that and I'll think of it when stuff gets back to normal. Like, when office hours are back to normal I can take a moment to be depressed or sad or whatever it is I'm feeling. Is that weird?

Maybe it's just stress of trying to keep things as normal as possible during a time when things are decidedly not normal. I mean, the fact that I feel like I have to justify comforting a friend who lost a loved one is not normal at all.

I'm just tired, y'all. I'm tired and stressed and I'll be glad when some things get back to normal, but I'm also going to miss the slower pace of life. I don't know. Nothing makes much sense.

Is it weird that I want to quit my jobs and run away to a cabin in the woods for a year or so? Haha!

Ugh, sorry. I know you people don't like feelings. I didn't mean to have one. 

I'll be ok, I know. I just hope it happens soon! 

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

1) You know what makes me irrationally angry?

Overly elaborate, but short-lived, food art.

I'm not talking about cakes or fancy cookies, although technically they should fall in the same category. At least with cakes and cookies, they can sit around for a few hours, or be stored someplace where they aren't immediately destroyed. I'm talking about stuff that wouldn't last even a little while without getting gross, like pancakes made in the shapes of cartoon characters with different colored batter, sculptures made out of cotton candy, or fancy coffee with the surface decorated with flowers made out of milk foam.

I've lately been watching a lot of YouTube videos of people who make this stuff, and I've found myself getting really, stupidly, pissed off at the idea that these people have amazing skills and can make beautiful things, and what they make won't even last an hour. I don't even know why I react this way! I'm in awe of the talent, but I think that they are going through all that trouble for basically nothing is what triggers me.

This is how I know I'm reaching that "Old Lady Yelling At the Clouds" phase of my life. 

2) Yesterday I was reading a Reddit thread about an unresolved mystery that seemed fairly interesting. The TL; DR is that a mother and daughter went out of town for a shopping trip, leaving the husband/father at home alone. They came back and he was missing. None of his personal effects were gone, it looked like he'd just disappeared. The same day they found out he was missing, the body of a John Doe was found 1600 miles away, killed in a hit and run, and it turned out to be the afore mentioned  husband/father. Mystery ensued.  Read the thread if you're interested, because the story has a lot of details that I didn't cover, but what it all boils down to is that no one seems to know how or why the man ended up so far from home, or why he was in a position to be run over where he was. Personally, I want to believe it was aliens, or ghosts, or parallel universes! However, as it usually is, it probably has a fairly reasonable, boring cause that just can't be found out because the man in question is deadsies.

The story got me thinking about the times when Steve is traveling and I'm home alone. If I leave the house, I always try to leave a note on the counter saying where I am going in case I disappear. Does that sounds like overkill? Maaaaaybe. But still, it would be a clue if the worst happened, ya know? It's just a precaution, anyway. I don't expect anything like that to happen, but I'd want to give everyone a starting point if it did. The last thing I need is to become an unsolved mystery. Seriously, if I decide to go across town to buy yarn, and my body is found in Zurich wearing a toga and holding the stolen burial helmet of King Tut, just know that was probably not my original intent. If it is, it'll be in the note. :)

3) There was a second Reddit thread (I can't find it to link to it) asking what would it be like finding out that intelligent extra terrestrials are real. There was a lot of talk, but one particular section got me tickled. The idea was that in the 70's we sent the Pioneer space craft out into the universe containing a plaque that had etchings that gives information about where it originated and about the beings that created it. This includes some etchings of anatomically correct male and female figures so that they'd know what we look like. I'm guessing clothes might confuse the aliens? Who knows?

The point was that the first human made object we sent out of our solar system contained highly scientific, but unsolicited, nudes. It was speculated that the very first real message we received from aliens would either be a restraining order or a request for more! :)

4)  Speaking of nudes...

Nah, I'm kidding! I can't remember what else I was going to talk about! It probably wasn't about that.