How is it being semi-retired? Well, I tried to unretire myself recently, I applied for a job at a local board game store, One Eyed Jacques. They wanted someone who could start sooner, which would be kind of funny considering I’m not working. I am busy though. I also wonder if I might have been overqualified in their eyes. Or like more trouble than I would be worth.
Fair enough, I’m hopeful they reach out to me about seasonal help. I figured my application was dead in the water anyway if they couldn’t work around my schedule. I know there’s a common enough trope about retirees being bored. There’s not enough time in my day. Let’s look at the next 2 months - mostly so I don’t forget what I have going on.
The Last Week Before You Wake Me Up
The State Fair is this week and we’re going. But I also have to go to my parents for a few days to help with some stuff around their house. I have a standing D&D game (that’s Dungeons and Dragons if there exists someone reading this that doesn’t know that, a Venn Diagram with very little overlap I imagine) on Tuesday nights. We have a new dishwasher being delivered because our last one got a little smokey when the sprayer fell on the heating element.
What is most of my week filled with now? Handwashing dishes. It’s ridiculous how much time I spend on dishes, how much water I waste and how much it makes me want to get more efficient in cooking. I also probably need to cut the grass one last time before the cold weather makes it irrelevant. Colder weather means the ambient temperature in my house is lower, so I need to work on making my bread rise appropriately in colder temps.
Oktoberfest
October is starting off slowly, thankfully. I don’t have a ton happening that first week. I’ll be back home after helping out at my parents and I have my monthly Frosthaven meet up. That’s Sunday gone. Except, the second weekend of October is Adrianne’s birthday weekend and she’s got some people coming here for a 90s party. So I have to get the house ready, especially the basement.
Cleaning and prepping the house that week will be priority #1, because the next week I have to do the food prep and then I’m headed to Charlotte for my friend Erik’s wedding. I’m staying with my friends Phil and Lauren and then driving home. I’ll probably stop in Durham on the way back.
Week 3 is here and suddenly we’re in crunch time for November. Because we’ll be gone the month of November. Adrianne counted and we’re here 11 days the whole month. But that’s next section, I’ve still got to get through this month. This week will be making sure we’ve got all our ducks in a row. House sitter locked in. Fridge timeline in effect.
My friend Maura is coming in concert on the 23rd. We’ve got friends coming the weekend before Halloween, cool. But then Monday we fly out.
I’m also donating plasma every Tuesday and Thursday.
November
I’m taking the month of November off. I’ll be gone til December. We’re flying to Belgium on Monday the 30th for two weeks. We’ll have a weekend trip to Amsterdam! We’re also going to do 2 days in Cologne or 1 night in Bruges. Which should we do? Marina, one of Adrianne’s best friends from her college days, is putting us up and showing us around the country.
A trip of a lifetime, but I am hopeful we one day get to spend some time with her and her husband in Greece. When we get back, we’re here for 5 days? I’ll probably see my friends in Heart Attack Man while they’re in Richmond. Then we fly out to San Francisco for a week over Thanksgiving. We’re staying with Adrianne’s aunt and uncle. Adrianne’s mother and stepfather will be there as well. And her cousin who moved out to San Fran. And we’ll probably get to see her aunt Trina’s family as well.
I love Thanksgiving because it is an excuse to get together and eat. Two of my favorite things. Dinner parties are awesome, because I love eating and I love good conversations. We are going to be exhausted by the time we get back to Richmond and our dogs are going to be very angry with us. Thankfully Damien and Ripley will be handling most of that frustration. We owe him big.
Adrianne will be back to work when we return, so I’ll need to get back into taking care of things around the house so she can recoup. I’ll have more downtime at home, but I’ll need it. I’m pretty excited because Oso Oso will be in DC in November. I think that would be a great way to close out the month.
Then it is December, and no one has a slow December.
If I seem a little distracted over the Winter months, please be patient with me. And if you want to hang out, let me know! I am sure I’ll have to return to work at some point, but I want to spend as much time with people as possible while I don’t.