New Chapter, New Car

You didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that my last post was an indication that Cindy and I have split up, she moved out of the house last week. Of course there is no upside to go into the how’s and why’s here.  All that matters is exiting an eight and a half year relationship is difficult emotionally for both of us albeit something we mutually agreed was necessary.  Both of our lives are going to be changing in a major way and maybe that is a good thing, only time will tell.

It’s been close to a decade since I have run solo.  The house was a bear to maintain on my own back then, it will now be even more oppressive with all those additional years on my odometer.  I can tell you how much I love cleaning the chicken coop by a LED light at 5:45 in the morning.  The chickens aren’t big fans of the arrangement I can tell you that also.  Elsa, who is the closest thing I have ever had to my own child is living with me until Cindy gets dog friendly accommodations.  After she does the plan is to do a split custody deal similar to what I do with Sadie still. That change will be extremely difficult for me, the bond I have with her is so strong.

So there isn’t much more detail to give right now other than we hope to continue to be friends, hope to be able to support each other as we move forward, without the normal pitfalls and pettiness that accompanies most splits.  Hopefully it is a plan we can execute.  There are so many things to do.

On Saturday I helped Cindy finish up the ass busting part of a landscape project she has been working on, picking up and laying 50 pieces of sod.  The degree of dirtiness you impart on a t-shirt hauling sod around is like no other.  When I got home, despite already putting in a solid amount of labor I hopped on the tractor and mowed the back of the property which had dried considerably after several days of minimal rain.  I also have to get back into the swing of doing my own meal prep, something Cindy handled more or less 100% of the time.  I am relying on Trader Joe’s for a lot of meals right now.

Sunday was a busy day.  After doing the chicken chores I put on my gear to do a high speed ride to Dunkin Donuts on my new V12.  During that ride I formally announced the split from Cindy which was sort of a big deal as Cindy was a regular in many of my videos and people always loved when she was part of them.  I got a lot of well wishes and kind words for both myself and Cindy, which was appreciated.  The V12 performed superbly during the ride.  It is definitely the best 16 inch wheel I ever owned.

So after I got back I got the urge to buzz my head.  I couldn’t find the normal plug in clippers I have used in the past, so I grabbed my cordless trimmer that I normally use to trim my facial hair.  I figured it would be able to get the job done.  My hair was still oily and sweaty from the ride.  The clippers could not get through it, the blade was constantly clogging, leaving my hair looking like I took a weed whacker to it.  When I was trying to clean the blades, the shaving head popped out and came apart when it hit the floor.  I could not get it back together for some reason, maybe a part broke.

So my Tesla delivery was scheduled at 1:30 so I was already coming up with a game plan to wear a hat pulled down to my forehead to hide the botched head shaving.  Luckily Cindy told me about another trimmers that was in the master bathroom.  I was able to use it quickly to make my head look more or less uniform again.

So Cindy was my ride to the Tesla dealership, this time a much shorter drive to Fort Myers instead of Fort Lauderdale.  We drove through some torrential rain which she didn’t enjoy.  It was still raining when we got to the dealership but stopped shortly afterward.  This delivery was even less hassle than the last one where I only had to sign one document.  This time no signatures were needed.  It could have been a completely touchless delivery if we wanted it to be.

The Model Y, looked sharp, I really liked the white interior, the first Tesla I have owned that had it.  It also felt weird seeing the battery indicator show 295 miles of range, almost 40% more than I ever saw available on my SR vehicles.  On the drive back I also quickly discovered the difference in speed the AWD car has.  If you are brave enough to stab the accelerator pedal you better hold on for dear life.  It’s crazy fast, feeling more like an amusement park ride.

Of course I did a video about my initial impressions and set up.  I am really looking forward to commuting in a Tesla once again.

My Labor Day was unconventional and weird feeling as you may imagine.  I got the labor part out of the way by mowing the front yard this time.  With my normal schedule I would be weed whacking this week but I said f it, I had enough other stuff to do.  After a quick dip in the pool I made myself lunch.  Shortly afterwards Cindy, Katie, and DJ stopped by visiting most of the afternoon.  It was the first time I had seen my little buddy in quite awhile.  Much like Elsa, DJ feels like family to me, my grandson,  regardless of what blood tests say.  I want to keep my relationship with him going of course, I love the little guy.  We had fun playing with cars, watching Pepa the Pig and just hanging out.  To keep him from crying bloody murder when he left I rode shotgun in Cindy’s car to drop he and Katie off, that always seems to make him feel better.

After making myself dinner, I played some WoW and will be showering and watching some tv before bed.  It feels weird walking around making decisions without input from a second party, real weird.  As has been the case with every traumatic event in my life, the only surefire way to move on is via the passage of time.  When I split with Ali one of my mistakes was trying to go full force into whatever was next.  I won’t be making that mistake again. I need to explore being on my own more before even entertaining any other alternatives.