Thursday
The window got fixed today when some dude called me around 1 PM, didn’t identify himself, and said he’d be over in 30 minutes. That’s almost Melissa levels of showing up unannounced* but like Melissa by the time she actually comes you just have to be grateful that whatever you needed is finally getting done.
Didn’t get much work done today. I hadn’t planned to, but I had hoped to do more than I actually accomplished. Instead I did things like go to the bank box to get Melissa’s rings that she has convinced herself she can pawn to cover rent but probably wouldn’t sell for $200, let alone pawn for $600. And I went to the post office where I waited at the counter for 7 minutes to mail a thing I could have sent from home and failed to get the boxes I wanted for Melissa’s pills.
It’s almost time for another major Melissa breakdown. She’s well past out of money but refuses to do any planning about it. She thinks she’s just gonna jump back to full time work on Monday, which is the same we she got into this mess, and she is queuing up a whole list of external reasons that definitely aren’t on any way related to her behavior. And probably not following up on any of her post hospitalization treatment recommendations. So I expect that will all come together real soon.
FIRST published new robots rules today, in the middle of the season, that disallow our current robot design in two separate ways. The team is understandably upset. I’m not sure what we’re gonna do myself. I’m sure we’ll come up with something but even ignoring the competition bits I’m sad we won’t be building the cool thing we designed. And considering the competition I’m pissed because substantial rule changes weeks in are demoralizing and in my estimation readily avoidable.
It was a hard feelings day at home too. We’re a long way in to some bits of life being hard and still there’s no talking about it. Bringing it up is evidence that I’m applying too much pressure. I want to leave enough space but I’ve only got so many days of space in me. We cycle from great to terrible and can’t discuss how the two bits might exist in the same continuous narrative, except in terms of how I made good things bad by asking about or suggesting a larger emotional context. We’re maybe pointed back toward the same target now but I’m not sure. I felt like that was the case last weekend but it didn’t really work out.
DerbyK assured me that I was allowed to ask questions about how humans interact. I’m not sure I know any useful questions – or that the actual answers matter after so long – but I really appreciate the idea that someone is willing to help me with a sad and isolating thing. And the idea that it might not be an overwhelming burden to do so.
Serious Business Dog isn’t from today, and has no impact on the story, but it is super cute and I need some cute today. He lays under Shanda’s desk with his head on the floor (or pillow) [fig 2], but he sits at attention when he’s working with me [fig 1].
ZiB
*Causal (Hulu) tells us that people who show up unannounced are usually unstable. And then proceeds to signal cyclical instability in its characters by sending them on unplanned visits for the next 3 seasons.
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Sent from a phone.
