Maids Day

I followed my new rule -- no posting until after I've meditated that day -- I meditated this morning.  We'll see how long I stick with this rule, or will I rebel against it at some point?

Earlier this summer I tried making meditation something I just do each day, like I brush and floss my teeth each day, but I only stuck with it for a couple weeks.  It's always been difficult to stick with daily meditation.  I'm not sure why.  But it seems like it comes from a chronic feeling of not having enough time to do the things I wish I had time to do.

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Yesterday evening I took Dax on a walk to the local elementary school playground, as has become our new habit.  I take him around 5pm, and he begins to notice if I'm a bit late for this "appointment".  Usually there's nothing going on at all at the playground at 5pm, but sometimes there are a few kids playing basketball or riding their bikes, or somebody else walking their dog.  Yesterday there was a large gathering of teenage girls in the parking lot, talking loudly.  I couldn't tell why they had gathered, but it appeared most of them had arrived in cars, some driven there by parents who remained in their cars.  Some of these teens were clumped together closely, none of them were wearing masks.  Some of them were yelling at others that they should spread out and social distance, but many of them ignored these commands.

It looked like a microcosm of the national situation.  Could I tell which of these kids would grow up to be Democrats (wanting social distancing) and which would grow up to be Republicans (ignoring social distancing)?

I took Dax to the playground in back of the school, nobody else was there.  The grass has been left to grow -- as the school building is not having classes.  I've never seen the grass so tall there, in the 14 years we've lived in this neighborhood.

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Yesterday, while T and I were eating lunch, B surprised us by announcing he was coming to visit.  I think it was only the second time he's visited the house since Quarantine began in March.  T drove to pick him up from the Metro station.  B hadn't eaten lunch, T threw together a sandwich for him.  I usually take a nap on Sunday afternoons anyway, so I did that to give them some privacy.  It sounds like B's living situation is about to return to the way it was a year ago ... back to living by himself ... which may mean T gets to visit him there overnight again ... which may mean I get more Time to Self at the house finally.

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I enjoyed nearly 48 hours to myself at the condo.  I could've enjoyed it longer, except that I usually spend Sundays at the house, especially when Monday is a Maids Day.  I haven't yet reached the point where I'm getting too much Time to Self.  I haven't felt that point in a long time.  I was hoping to take the entire week off work for Labor Day, and to spend much of that week at the condo, but a high priority work task has arisen so instead I'm going to ask to extend the 3-day weekend to a 5-day weekend.  But on Friday morning I'm going to the dermatologist, and on the following Tuesday morning I'm taking my car in for service.  So it's really just a 3-day weekend with additional chores, heh.  I'll probably spend two nights at the condo again? Perhaps K will join me for at least one of those nights.

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T is awake now -- I've got two hours before the maids arrive.  Time for breakfast, tidying up the house, sequestering the cats, and then heading to the condo for the work day so I can remain distant from the maids.  I will probably do a dance video workout while I'm there.  My shoulder has been improving, finally.

back to condo for a work day

Preparing for Maids Day went well, we've worked out better how to corral the cats before they realize what's up.  But instead of me getting stressed out like I used to on most Monday mornings, T was the one feeling stressed out this morning.  Perhaps he's got a tough work day ahead, but that's not what he blamed, instead there were issues between him and B yesterday that I wasn't aware of.  It wasn't just a surprise visit, there was some backstory to it.  Ah, well.  It has long been the case that my living with T means I get to deal with the periodic fallout from his other relationships.

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Now that I'm at the condo, I've got work calls at 11am and 4pm, so I'm wondering when to squeeze in my exercise.  Either push forward and do it right now (9:30am), or wait until sometime after the 11am call.  If I exercise now, lunch probably won't happen until after the call.

I expend a lot of effort on scheduling my life, and now that I have GERD it is more complicated for me to schedule meals and exercise, and even sex, LOL.  I cannot lie down until two hours have passed since eating my last meal, so certain types of exercise, sex, and sleep have to be scheduled carefully around my meals.

My scheduling habit was comprehensive enough before the GERD, something that used to annoy T, that every morning on our way to Metro I'd want to talk about the day's or week's schedule with him.  He likes to schedule things also, but not nearly as much as I do, I'm more OCD in that area than most people.  T likes to show up on time, but he doesn't like to work as hard at creating a comprehensive schedule, or informing me of his schedule.  To me, it's just a normal thing that a polyamorous couple living together with pets would discuss their schedule each morning.  Not everybody is like me, though.  I'm not "normal", heh.

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I think I'm putting off the dance video until after the 11am call, but since I have an empty stomach right now, I'll do my stretching exercises.  Then I'll order my food for the day to be delivered.

Body by Dax at the condo

I've totally mastered dance workouts 1, 2, and 3 from the first series of workout videos.  When I try 4 or 5 ... impossible.  It's like when you're playing a video game and as you level up the Boss battles just get too difficult.  I don't want my exercise routine to feel so difficult!  I know the others felt impossible at first also, but these are qualitatively more difficult ... I might not have enough dexterity to master these.  The other videos challenged me aerobically, they physically wore me out, but I persevered and was able to meet them.  These videos don't wear me out, because I just can't do the moves.

Maybe if I had the time and inclination to try these every day, day after day, I'd figure them out, but I'm only doing these for cross training, to supplement my running, stretching, and weight lifting.  Especially for the abs component, but these dance moves get my body moving in ways it would never move otherwise.

So, I've switched to a different series of videos for now.  Same instructor, but different series, starting back at a new #1, and it was doable, I followed along, I got sweaty.  I'll rest a bit and then do an abs video.  I'll find out over the next few weeks whether this series of videos has an easier learning curve, or another difficulty spike halfway.

reading Alex Woolfson's comics

T and I have met this queer comics author when we've attended GaymerX conventions in the past -- there hasn't been a GaymerX in a few years now.  I'd purchased his first comic, "Artifice", at his booth and enjoyed it a lot.  But I didn't keep reading his newer stuff because it was about superheroes and I get so tired of superheroes everything superheroes more superheroes, etc.

I even have ideological problems with this US concept of constant superhero worship, LOL, it's neoliberal propaganda!

But I re-read Artifice over the weekend, and so I decided to try "The Young Protectors" next, and I'm hooked.  I even signed up for his Patreon, now I'm Patreoning four people, total $75/month.

You can read most of his stuff for free.