The day before yesterday was awash with sunshine for L's birthday party and it was just - fine! For the first time in the past 4-5 years her birthday party was absolutely just nice. S picked up the cake and a pinata because he was worried that the Squishmallow one I was working on wouldn't be done in time (...eh; it was and it wasn't. Pinatas exist to be smashed, I say. It's okay if they look a little...wack. Which this one did. But was giving Squishmallow! And that's all I ask for.) which I handled with no meltdowns and he explained himself just fine and all of that was - fine! Highly recommend renting out a municipal park for parties.
The most awkward things that happened were a lady who sidled up the tables and started to unpack her Carr's bags and a couple of party-unaffiliated kids who wanted cupcakes. I told the lady that we'd probably be out by 1:00 but had the pavilion rented until 3:00. She reacted better than I would have expected if I'd stopped to think about it (which I didn't because Party Mode was activated) and set up on the...ground nearby? And started grilling on a tiny Coleman grill? And then just never shifted back over the the pavilion when we cleaned up? I feel kind of like a jerk (maybe I am!) but also maybe she was just waiting to see who would call her on moving in. Me, I guess.
The kids - dude. We had 70 cupcakes or something so they were totally welcome to that but I have a thing where if you want a cupcake come ask me, but no you can't scamper off with two cupcakes because a) you are one hundred percent going to drop that shit somewhere in the park and just leave it on the ground and come back asking for more cupcakes (which, again, we have more than enough cupcakes but it's the future possible littering for me) and b) you gotta have your sibling who wants a cupcake come up and ask me because I need to know that they're verbal enough to do it so I don't have to mess with talking to your grownups about whether it's okay or not for them to have a cupcake and that's not even getting into the whole allergies piece. Like, I just...really, really want that to be your conversation with your grownups and not my conversation with your grownups, does that make sense? It's okay if it doesn't, just - look. It supports your development of autonomy and following multi-step directions, a'ight? Also, listen: just send your brother over. If he wants a cupcake he can come and get it, okay? End of.
All of that to say: yesterday was rainy and a little bit chilly so I am drank tea and had a mini Lilo and Stitch marathon with L while waiting for S to get back from a lunch with a former boss. We went on an almost-hike later in the afternoon, and Had Words about the bike ride L went on with my dad the day of her party. Suffice it to say that he's not a very...uh...active listener and is especially likely to tune me out and in this case he tuned me out when I said "It's not a good idea to go to the park right now." and offered two-to-three reasons why. S is quite upset with my dad now because of all the reasons I've outlined in previous entries while I am more in Not Happy But Not Surprised Territory because I've known my parents for a minute now, and, yup, that tracks. They pulled the booster seat from their car a year or two ago and I don't think that's a great idea. Do I push back, though? No, I don't. Maybe I should. Maybe that's the takeaway. Anyway S is cooling down currently and will probably Talk to My Dad about it at some point soon. S and I talked last night about how I think it's probably best to just reiterate his experiences with the youths (standing on corners, snappin' their fingers - haha no they're not) and making it much clearer than I (probably) did, and also words coming out of a man's mouth likely mean more to other men of A Certain Age than uh...mine. So.
I went to the gym to get my cardio for the week in. Research as early as the 90s shows that lifting weights supports increased bone density and that physical exercise might improve cognition overall as per biomarkers in cerebrospinal fluid (but not short-term memory; womp-womp). NEVERTHELESS. Off I went and finished up Etoile and Four Seasons.
I've been plugging away at cleaning and organizing (thanks, bupropion!) whilst listening to podcasts. So far (week 1/12) this rotation has been such that I haven't needed to do a whole lot of work at home yet which is nice and has meant I get to chase the Spring Cleaning Dragon. Ergo: podcasts, not lectures or research articles on read-aloud.
Media list incoming:
- Fancy as F*ck! A Sweet Cheeks podcast* (the one about listener questions)
- Criminal (the one about 50s gameshows which I'm a wh*re for 50s gameshows)
- That's Spooky (I always seem to land on the weekly hangout ones)
- Shootin' the Shit (which is new to me but hasn't aired a new episode since February which oh mah gawd, did these Cape Breton drag queens actually have a falling out? But I'm loving it so far because I love me a drag queen and, I'm learning, I love a Southeast Canadian accent)
Oh! Guess what? For pride month they're screening Chasing Amy and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar on the same night at the Bear Tooth. That might...uh...that might be a need to get a babysitter for moment. Or, you know, just go with a fran'. Or two? One for each movie?
Okay, that's it for now. Have a fair-to-excellent Memorial Day. And don't let anyone force you to memorialize things you don't want to! You're an adult, dammit (unless you're not, I guess), and you make the calls!
*Does it still count as para-social if I also know the people in real life? Sincere question. I'm leaning towards yes.
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