Yes, I have been away for a while. No, there isn’t a good reason. Just excuses.
Decent excuses, but that’s all they are, excuses.
Excuse: My computer started giving me problems and made it hard to get started.
How to fix: Get a new computer. It’s coming on Tuesday.
Excuse: I have so much to do.
How to fix: Get more organized, I have plenty of time to read, find time to blog.
Excuse: I don’t know what to write about.
How to fix: Do something!! Just start doing things and there will be something to write about.
OK, that’s out of the way, now let’s get to what I have actually been doing. Still not much, but September I did more, and in October I will do even more, and write about it.
WOW! I haven’t written since mid-July. I’m going to try to play catch up.
July – Apparently nothing was going on. I didn’t do any cosplay, I didn’t do any crafting, I think I still worked on the book database, did some working out. Nothing else comes to mind, except of course, work.
August – Pretty much the same as far as I remember.
September – I started doing more again, but it was a rough month.
One of the owners of the store I work at passed away. It was his time, but it was really hard for all of us. He was a good, nice and funny man, and he was a good boss. He will be missed. I was able to convince his wife that we should close the store at least for a few hours so that all of us could go to the services. There are some young people working there that have never been to a funeral, but they went because Art was just that amazing. It was a wonderful service, full of laughter as well as tears. Art had let me read his memoir a few years ago, and the service had the same feel to it, almost like he had written and directed it himself. He will be missed.
Two days later, Alex G, our newest employee got a call that her husband had a heart attack. We had a lot of trouble getting in touch with her to find out if she wanted to keep working (needed the money?), or if she needed some time off. She was a great worker and we wanted to keep her, so we had just started giving her more hours. She wasn’t answering calls or texts, and would wait until an hour or so before her shift started to let us know that she wasn’t coming. One of the owners, whose own husband had just passed away, had to call repeatedly to get the information. Alex said that she needed 2 or 3 weeks before coming back. That was fine, we’ll hold the job open for her and not put her on the schedule. A few days later she gets in touch with Jamie and says she’s not coming back. Now Jamie has to work Alex’s shifts. Very complicated month so far, right?
Two days after Alex’s trouble began, Rob pulled his back and it was spasming whenever he tried to relax. Of course, he couldn’t work or do anything for a few days. I did the heavy lifting at home, and thankfully, he gradually started being able to do more. He had trouble off and on for a few weeks, but is mostly better now, just twinges here and there.
The day after Rob’s injury, one of our neighbors died from an overdose at his girlfriend’s house. He was a really nice guy, always said hello, very polite. You never know.
So far, a pretty grim September, right?
Well, I ran into my friend Sean during this time and he said he wants to do an upcoming mudrun with me. I hemmed and hawed a bit, so he pushed (just like the good friend that he is). He asked how I was doing. I had to think about it. I really didn’t know how to answer him. When he saw that I had to think about it, he told me that I was definitely doing the run with him, because not being able to answer meant that I wasn’t doing well at all. He was right, so I signed up for the Terrain Race at the end of September. I started working out harder because I remembered the last one where it was almost completely upper body, and my upper body strength still sucks. I talked to my co-worker, Jonathan I., and he said it sounded like fun, so I got him to sign up, too. He has never done a mudrun before, so it was going to be interesting.
Rob decided to come with us and take some pictures, so we got there around noon. Sean had signed up for 10AM, fortunately he was still there. At least he texted that he was still there, we never saw him 🙂 Jonathan did an amazing job for his first time. He did almost all the obstacles, he did try every single one, and he had a great time. He wants to do another, so I’m trying to find one soon before he loses his enthusiasm. I did better than I did last time. They didn’t have as much upper body as last time, and had more mud, so I was able to do more. I still tried everything. One of the things I had trouble with last year was the rope climb. I couldn’t even make it onto the knot to get started. This year I made it onto the knot. Not a lot, but I felt great! Next year I’ll do even better.
I started crafting again last week. I finished a small project that I started almost 2 years ago. It is called Triple Scoop, and it is a beaded cross-stitch ornament of an ice cream cone, of course. I’ll put it on a page in the crafting section. I remembered how much I like doing things like this, and Rob suggested that I put it on Etsy so that I could sell some of the things that I make so that I can make money to buy more things to make. When he put it like that, it was a no brainer.
I also managed to electrocute myself last week. Still not exactly sure how I managed to do it. We had Christmas lights strung around the awning in front of the store at work. They hadn’t worked for a while, and they were starting to sag enough that people (mostly teenagers) were trying to see if they could reach them, and if they could, they always had to try to pull them a little. I decided that it was time to take them down. I grabbed the box cutter to cut the zip ties we had used to hold it up and went outside. I started at the end, of course. But, I saw that someone had cut off the end of the last string. Very strange. I grabbed it and started unwrapping it from the awning frame. I cut the zip tie and kept going. I got to the place where it plugged into other string, and was looking at it. I was thinking, can I unwrap it, or should I unplug it? Can I reach well enough to unplug it? Then I heard a very loud buzzing in my left ear, and sharp pain in my neck. I remember thinking that I was being stung by a huge wasp, so I tried brushing it away and screamed. (My neck is tingling as I write this, remembered pain, I guess.) The next thing I know, I am sitting on the ground looking at the string of lights that had landed next to me and thought, Oh, I must have electrocuted myself. Huh. I looked up and a man was asking if I was ok, and I said yes. I mean, what else could I say, automatic response to the question is always yes. He picked up the wires, carefully. Then asked if I wanted help to move to the bench. I said no, I’m good right here for a few minutes. Jocelyn and Alina came out from their store next to ours to see what was going on. They saw me on the ground and asked what happened. I told them that I thought I electrocuted myself. I remembered the box knife and looked to see if it was still in my hand or next to me. I didn’t see it. I started thinking about brushing the “wasp” away, and wondered if I had cut my neck with the knife. I realized that I probably hadn’t because the people around me would probably have been freaking out more if there was blood. I still don’t remember everything. Anyway, I’m OK since it didn’t hit muscle, I just have a couple of marks on my neck that look like a dog scratched me while giving me a hug 🙂
Well, I got interrupted while writing the last couple of sentences and had to stop for a couple of days, so I lost my train of thought.
The only other thing I think I was going to say was that I managed to break my Kindle the next day. Kindle, case, and new computer were all ordered the day after that, and came today. I’m finishing this up on my fabulous new laptop!!