Three random hours, Double header, Poop, Yo Yo
As mentioned in the last entry I did indeed do a live stream Friday night where the original intended goal was to empty the fridge of all of the old alcohol. There were several reasons I was feeling that goal was viable. I did not accomplish that goal, plenty of Miller Lite remains in the fridge but I did finally drink the two disgusting Corona Lights during the session. The stream went on for three hours plus, covering a ton of different topics, probably more non-PEV related. Even with no advance notice I had a decent amount of viewers tune in which was nice.
On Saturday morning I went into the office with Elsa in tow. As soon as I let her in the front door she started sprinting around the lobby. For some reason she finds going to the office very exciting. Watching her sprint up and down the hallway made me smile. The work I needed to get done only took about an hour or so, on the way home I made a pit stop at Walmart to grab the few remaining grocery items I couldn’t score elsewhere.
During the afternoon I put together a new six foot long bench I bought to put over the robot vacuum army. It gives them a sort of “garage” and is visually more appealing. It is unfinished wood, I have to decide if I want to paint/stain it. I then thought if I either attached some fabric or put some sort of blanket on the bench that hangs down it could make their existence very stealth.
On Saturday night I sat down to watch Shang Chi Legend of the 10 Rings. This was the first Marvel movie in a long time that I did not go see in theaters (followed by Venom 2). I figured I could wait until it released on Disney + a couple months later. This movie deserved to be seen in a theater. I thought it was extremely well done. I enjoyed it from start to finish and would probably rate 10 Rings within the top 20% of all Marvel films I have seen. A+
Sunday morning the weather was nice with low temps and humidity. My bill paying session seemed to go on forever, which is often the case on the weeks where I have to reconcile the credit card statement. Since I put whatever I can on the credit card each month to maximize my rewards, (and pay it off monthly) there are a TON of line items to go through. After I finished I went on a errand run with Elsa which included stopping at DD. Man what a cluster f that place is anymore. There was only around 6 cars in line when I got there. I am not exaggerating when I say it took nearly a half hour to get through the line. I was beyond flabbergasted at the snails pace of service.
Of course as is often the case, one of the issues are people that do these huge orders from their car which choke the line. However the staff at this location is a big culprit as well. As I was sitting in line I saw multiple cars be handed food/drink only for it to be handed back because the order was f’d up. With food especially, this takes a while to redo. When I finally got up to the window to get my large coffee I asked the kid if there was some sort of nuclear meltdown going on in there since the service was so slow. He said no, it’s like this every Sunday. He said they are understaffed. He then whispered to me “it’s not good man, it’s not good…” Yea, no kidding. Hey I get it, I understand why they can’t keep staff. Most of them barely are paid double digits per hour and the intensity and stress of that job definitely do not equal the pay they receive. The fact that they burn through employees like matchsticks is not surprising.
We then went to Home Depot. Sometimes Elsa acts like she really wants to come in the store as opposed to sleeping in the truck. She seemed that way this time so I leashed her up and brought her in. I had a shopping cart and was pushing it in front while Elsa was a couple feet behind me on the leash. All of a sudden I hear a man saying “Sir…..SIR”. I turn around and see that Elsa had been busy, dropping a string of turds as she walked behind me. Come on…..
This happened once before. At that time it was attributed to not making sure she did a number two before taking her to HD. Well she did her business first thing in the morning so I thought we were in the clear, evidently we weren’t. Luckily a Home Depot employee was right there and she said she would go grab some paper towels. I stood there, embarrassed, as I saw an old woman meandering my direction. I assumed she would clearly see the landmines as a couple were right in the middle of the aisle. So as I began the process of picking up the 7 or 8 gifts I hear the woman blurt out “Ohhhhh, I stepped in it!” She sure did, she stepped in it and then smeared it all over the floor. I simply handed her one of my paper towels and robotically said, “Yes, you did”. It added up to a lot of poop, which I had to then carry while leading Elsa to a trash can outside. It was a ton of fun. The primary reason I was there was to grab another case of Mexican Coke as Home Depot is the only place to get it in our area now as far as I know. I also grabbed two outdoor floor mats to put at both entrances to the pool area to attempt to knock down the amount of dirt tracked in to tarnish my pressure washing efforts.
On Sunday I did something I have not done since the pandemic shit show started, went to a movie theater. I went to a matinee of The Eternals, the other Marvel movie I had been wanting to see. I went to a new venue called the Cinebistro, it’s located in the local mall. It was built in the space once occupied by Sears. This place was NICE, even eclipsing the Silverspot Cinema in my opinion. The spaces were wide open and very high end and modern. The bar area had a ton of tv’s all showing the various NFL games. It looked like a place that I could go to in the future and just hang out, although it certainly will be at a higher price tag. When you walk into the theater you are greeted by a concierge who walks you to your seat which is luxurious with a swing out table. A menu is waiting there for you, there are no conventional concession stands. It is a full menu but you can still get old fashioned candy/popcorn this way as well. You tell the waiter what you want and he processes your credit card on the spot, delivering your order to you a few minutes later.
It’s quite the set up. Now there were only 10-12 people in the theater. I wondered how tough it would be to maintain this level of one on one service if a theater is near capacity, it would require a TON of staffing. Now as you would expect, this does not come at a bargain rate. Everything on the menu is pricey and every order has an automatic 18% tacked on for gratuity. But still, it is a unique experience and worth the money if you are looking to pamper yourself or someone else.
Eternals is a looong movie, just under 3 hours. I knew very little about them and never read any Eternals comic books which is a boat many viewers would be in. Because of this they had to devote a lot of time in the movie to build the origin story so you knew what the deal is. I think they did a good job of doing so although I would say the first hour or so of the movie was a bit slow IMO as this backstory was being laid out. The pace picked up and overall I thought the movie was good. Not as good as Shang Chi IMO but still a solid A Marvel movie. I am very curious to see the direction things are going from here since they are now delving into characters and stories I know little to nothing about. Don’t forget to stick around for the end credit trailers in both films.
I’ll tell you the NFL is a total crapshoot from week to week. The wild swings in outcomes is insane. This week Eagles/Broncos game was a perfect example. The Eagles just came off their defense getting steamrolled by the Chargers, the Broncos just went into Dallas, who smashed the Eagles, and destroyed the Cowboys last week. I had expectations for the Broncos to put a similar beating on the Birds. Instead the Eagles were the ones with a dominating performance, in Denver no less, winning 30-13. In the first half Jalen Hurts put up some great passing numbers and in the second half the Eagles used an effective running game to burn clock and move the chains, it was nearly textbook. I would probably have equal success predicting games by a coin flip. All across the league there are numerous improbable outcomes week in and week out. The time of league super powers that consistently win the games they should win is ancient history.
I did a ride Sunday afternoon as well.
Without looking at a calendar I can tell another full moon is approaching. I find myself in a gully of just feeling shitty about life in general and the future. I was thinking about the big difference in attitude I had when Ali and I split compared to now. Back then I wasted very little time before I started going out on dates. I looked at it as I still had time to start something new and meaningful with a person. Now to be honest, that plan went very poorly for a long time as I slogged through the online dating world which resulted in a whole lot more negative than positive outcomes. It wasn’t until I stepped away from cyber match making that I met with Cindy via our mutual affiliation with the running club.
There was a long period of time where I thought I had accomplished my mission, but obviously, that ultimately was not the case. Now, finding myself back out in the clouds, nearly 10 years later, my attitude is far different. I no longer have realistic expectations about starting over. In all honesty, the effort required to sufficiently vet a person to get a true sense of who they are seems like a monumental task at this point, one that I yet have been willing to even consider beginning on. I have learned many things over 35 years of mostly long term relationships. That knowledge ironically, is what retards me from eagerly seeking out another, despite my desires to have a loving, trusted partner to grow old with. I can only hope that some clarity emerges from the clouds in the years to come.