sunday 24th:
the game mission, in canal walk no men are allowed to change babies, serious climbing boy, the long way to the golf course with a dirty, hungry mr smear, settling at home, the nap, getting caught eating gd's leftovers from plant, the shower
monday 25th:
everyone oversleeping. the internet fault was mine! before telkom really broke it. mr smear's ups and downs. good work, an interesting chat with a recruiter who's pushing remote work. putting the table together backwards. adventure time and call-a-pizza.
tuesday 26th:
breakdown call wakeup. locating the clutch and learning the golf door trick. hating telkom even harder than usual. an easy drive, an easy morning, a long meeting and a big stew lunch upgrade from plant - sinus-clearing spicy beans and rice, well-hung pregnant sea horses in the invisible fish tank, telkom escalation to nowhere, finding stuff to do between sprints, being forced onto de waal drive on my way to the paediatrician, catching up while waiting for my family to navigate the mariah carey traffic, pharmacists and chemo patients and nutrition skepticism, quick shopping, another netless night with adventure time and super meat boy followed by a great night's sleep
wednesday 27th:
freedom day: borrowing drills and switching car seats, custom smoothies in another great knead experience, missed acupuncture, the gift run and some manly hammering, drilling fail, tinned mushroom fail
falling asleep early
thursday 28th:
a decent night's sleep in spite of my sinuses, a standard morning broken by an emergency egg run, shouting at telkom, arriving at the office in time for a long meeting that i wasn't really feeling a part of and accidentally letting everyone know by turning the audio on when it was my turn to say something
small victories on my second last day
too many fruit rolls
leaving in the rain
friday 29th:
freezing night with lots of waking
telkom opening at 9am, not 8am, so rushing out of a warm bed for nothing, the sudden onset of the internets (to be followed a full day later by an sms informing me of their success)
the successful plant baked goods, the lesson in not discussing epigenetics with parents who've tried sleep training, a great graphic novel lunch with an old CLAWs friend (who still has my old 2000AD collection)
the final hours, wiping my macbook and saying goodbye, walking out feeling good
a nice little friday night dinner at our place, getting an early start on next week with SxS
saturday 30th:
a more disciplined night, with two wakeup-and-go-back-to-sleeps and one feed, waking up early in the morning for a slow, pleasant start to the day. i feel good about the week went.
Saturday, April 30, 2016
Sunday, April 24, 2016
the notice
sunday 17th:
a pretty good night's sleep but mr smear waking up with a serious fever
cooling down to playful, nap time, big shopping and unnecessary tension and panic
the job offer
a quiet evening spent calculating things and playing with mr smear, even reading a little
monday 18th:
it would have been an easier night if my neck wasn't so sore, weird dreams and a few wakings and putting him in the bed with us when 7am approached and he wouldn't sleep but wasn't really ready to wake up yet either
a gorgeous sunrise on a week that began with the news that boaty mcboatface won (although they won't use it :()
tofu that i had to eat half of before i was sure it wasn't beef
the meta xkcd shirt: that moment when you realize that the person whose shirt you're staring at is staring back at you. or, as was my experience today, that moment when you realize that the person you thought was staring you down was merely mesmerized by your shirt.
the considerably overweight woman at the kiosk trying to establish the freshness of the sandwich because "i'm worried about my health"
offending anti-UX dev by being surprised by some legacy code
saying goodbye to the brit, followed by accepting the offer from SxS
the sticky handbrake? fine. the reverse gear not always taking first time? okay. the car needing a minute to warm up? if i must. but all three together when some jerk has parked me in? fuck off.
a quiet evening until mr smear got up, ending on dark note caused by a typical male misunderstanding (women usually don't want solutions, they want sympathy)
tuesday 19th:
a straightforward night, a chilly morning
finally making a call to a domestic worker and then learning that i'd been given significantly different instructions than were intended
who's flooding the engine?
cheeseless pizza with cheese; too hungry to not eat it anyway
small victories (and a bit of super meat boy) after everyone went to bed
wednesday 20th:
a night of serious post-cheese suffering - painful indigestion
an early, productive morning (minus trouble starting the engine again)
a long workday
another treasure island lunch
the awkward team photo when you know you're leaving
it's not me flooding the engine, there's definitely a problem
challenging mr smear (in particular about dressing him), pies and adventure time
thursday 21st:
not an easy night but a vast improvement over the previous one, a decent morning and very fortuitously having internet installed before heading off to work
being caught by the man who i'd unwittingly parked in the day before
mr smear's breathing difficulties, a pretty productive morning and being called out to take mr smear to the doctor just after i ordered lunch
finishing treasure island along with a magnificent "bunless mexican", arriving to a blocked parking, the doctor, the pharmacy (and a very rude hebrew teacher who didn't recognize nor acknowledge me as she cut in front)
shopping and running into an old classmate in the checkout, getting a bit of work done while feeling more and more grateful to be leaving as i go deeper into their methods
a sleepy, restless mr smear, sorting out services, super meat boy followed by adventure time and a big dinner
friday 22nd:
hardcore midnight freak out with a sick mr smear (breathing trouble, and so bad he projectile vomited), spilled medication, some broken glass and a lot of struggling until gd finally got him breathing easily enough to sleep... an intermittent baby monitor, and a really early wake-up
a difficult notice to give, team sadness, hard work on a surprise customer service day, curry lunch and emergency dinner shopping in a storm, gd overload just before the smelly old woman after ten minutes waiting in the "express" checkout arguing with the cashier and then the cashier calling for her supervisor
a rushed, stressed afternoon with a bad handover before hitting rush hour for forty five minutes (i picked the right route but the wrong lane) and stressing to get ready for dinner and the ice cream parlour being closed without warning and...
...
... a lovely seder (grumpy old man doing it himself at high speed), mr smear's new friend, learning about tim noakes and his unscientific wishful thinking campaign: tim noakes is a fraud. but he's a fraud who tells a great story. which is why there are smart people who fall for his shit, in spite of an overwhelming body of evidence that's easily available. this upsets me.
saturday 23rd:
another difficult night, the rising crescendo until i finally convinced gd that for once i was the more experienced (allergies), sleeping eucalyptus and some good hours for us
waking up to no internet, an irritable start with improvement towards acupuncture, a positive telkom experience (the broken modem actually saved us a couple of weeks of shitty net access), picking up gd with a still-sleeping mr smear
the eggbeating will continue until morale improves
my theory this passover is that moses might not have been a single man, but rather a role played by a number of men, and that that's why the name is in plural.
an unattractive sexy food experience
"who died and made you john lennon?"
coconut water / pineapple / cayenne smoothie success, a floppy vish burger, mr smear choking on cabbage
car trunk changing table
h&m carrying a climbing boy, shop attendant adoration
shower, big pre-bath poop forcing a second shower, rushed prep, big, delicious dinner (vegan kneidlach!) and a very cool shortened seder and a lot of interesting talk (though i definitely pressed a few buttons), mr smear on me wrapped in his bear blanket
sunday 24th:
a comment on mr smear's improvement preceding an unpleasant wake-up, weird dreams and waking up to find mr smear crying and not sure how long he'd been like that for :(
a relaxed, sunny sunday morning but with hints of sinusitis
a pretty good night's sleep but mr smear waking up with a serious fever
cooling down to playful, nap time, big shopping and unnecessary tension and panic
the job offer
a quiet evening spent calculating things and playing with mr smear, even reading a little
monday 18th:
it would have been an easier night if my neck wasn't so sore, weird dreams and a few wakings and putting him in the bed with us when 7am approached and he wouldn't sleep but wasn't really ready to wake up yet either
a gorgeous sunrise on a week that began with the news that boaty mcboatface won (although they won't use it :()
tofu that i had to eat half of before i was sure it wasn't beef
the meta xkcd shirt: that moment when you realize that the person whose shirt you're staring at is staring back at you. or, as was my experience today, that moment when you realize that the person you thought was staring you down was merely mesmerized by your shirt.
the considerably overweight woman at the kiosk trying to establish the freshness of the sandwich because "i'm worried about my health"
offending anti-UX dev by being surprised by some legacy code
saying goodbye to the brit, followed by accepting the offer from SxS
the sticky handbrake? fine. the reverse gear not always taking first time? okay. the car needing a minute to warm up? if i must. but all three together when some jerk has parked me in? fuck off.
a quiet evening until mr smear got up, ending on dark note caused by a typical male misunderstanding (women usually don't want solutions, they want sympathy)
tuesday 19th:
a straightforward night, a chilly morning
finally making a call to a domestic worker and then learning that i'd been given significantly different instructions than were intended
who's flooding the engine?
cheeseless pizza with cheese; too hungry to not eat it anyway
small victories (and a bit of super meat boy) after everyone went to bed
wednesday 20th:
a night of serious post-cheese suffering - painful indigestion
an early, productive morning (minus trouble starting the engine again)
a long workday
another treasure island lunch
the awkward team photo when you know you're leaving
it's not me flooding the engine, there's definitely a problem
challenging mr smear (in particular about dressing him), pies and adventure time
thursday 21st:
not an easy night but a vast improvement over the previous one, a decent morning and very fortuitously having internet installed before heading off to work
being caught by the man who i'd unwittingly parked in the day before
mr smear's breathing difficulties, a pretty productive morning and being called out to take mr smear to the doctor just after i ordered lunch
finishing treasure island along with a magnificent "bunless mexican", arriving to a blocked parking, the doctor, the pharmacy (and a very rude hebrew teacher who didn't recognize nor acknowledge me as she cut in front)
shopping and running into an old classmate in the checkout, getting a bit of work done while feeling more and more grateful to be leaving as i go deeper into their methods
a sleepy, restless mr smear, sorting out services, super meat boy followed by adventure time and a big dinner
friday 22nd:
hardcore midnight freak out with a sick mr smear (breathing trouble, and so bad he projectile vomited), spilled medication, some broken glass and a lot of struggling until gd finally got him breathing easily enough to sleep... an intermittent baby monitor, and a really early wake-up
a difficult notice to give, team sadness, hard work on a surprise customer service day, curry lunch and emergency dinner shopping in a storm, gd overload just before the smelly old woman after ten minutes waiting in the "express" checkout arguing with the cashier and then the cashier calling for her supervisor
a rushed, stressed afternoon with a bad handover before hitting rush hour for forty five minutes (i picked the right route but the wrong lane) and stressing to get ready for dinner and the ice cream parlour being closed without warning and...
...
... a lovely seder (grumpy old man doing it himself at high speed), mr smear's new friend, learning about tim noakes and his unscientific wishful thinking campaign: tim noakes is a fraud. but he's a fraud who tells a great story. which is why there are smart people who fall for his shit, in spite of an overwhelming body of evidence that's easily available. this upsets me.
saturday 23rd:
another difficult night, the rising crescendo until i finally convinced gd that for once i was the more experienced (allergies), sleeping eucalyptus and some good hours for us
waking up to no internet, an irritable start with improvement towards acupuncture, a positive telkom experience (the broken modem actually saved us a couple of weeks of shitty net access), picking up gd with a still-sleeping mr smear
the eggbeating will continue until morale improves
my theory this passover is that moses might not have been a single man, but rather a role played by a number of men, and that that's why the name is in plural.
an unattractive sexy food experience
"who died and made you john lennon?"
coconut water / pineapple / cayenne smoothie success, a floppy vish burger, mr smear choking on cabbage
car trunk changing table
h&m carrying a climbing boy, shop attendant adoration
shower, big pre-bath poop forcing a second shower, rushed prep, big, delicious dinner (vegan kneidlach!) and a very cool shortened seder and a lot of interesting talk (though i definitely pressed a few buttons), mr smear on me wrapped in his bear blanket
sunday 24th:
a comment on mr smear's improvement preceding an unpleasant wake-up, weird dreams and waking up to find mr smear crying and not sure how long he'd been like that for :(
a relaxed, sunny sunday morning but with hints of sinusitis
Saturday, April 16, 2016
still no net at home
sunday march 20th:
a restful day, interestingly productive (primarily poetically)
out for shopping (surprise assistance from my nephew)
monday 21st:
a really tough night being repeatedly yanked out of fascinating dreams followed by an explosive morning
reviewing the new apartment, looking good
appliance store number one, a good deal
appliance store number two, even better
canal walk and panarotti's pizza ftw (and for the family experience, sure)
aside from an urgent woolworths mission the rest of the day was chilling and sorting out the home network (in particular, my mother's email which has apparently confounded professional IT guys in three companies for well over two years now... what a bunch of idiots :/
a big dinner with gd being pleasantly surprised by the quality of fry's strips, getting to sleep relatively early...
tuesday 22nd:
... and paying for it with multiple lengthy wakings
a rough morning softened just before i had to leave, an experimental day deciding that i'm not unhappy with my present employment but i'm hardly thrilled
electric neck twinge mid-meeting
sunshine and songs from the lion king
paying future rent with today's paycheque
a pleasant end to the workday, coming home to the screams of a small child's eye infection, and the struggle of having reached my mother's internet cap
wednesday 23rd:
most of a night's sleep, sore necks but mr smear looking much better
fifteen minutes to get to work, another fifteen to find parking
slow progress, but progress nonetheless
lunchtime education: that "veggie" burger i was so excited about last week is made with cheese, so i found a vegan-friendly restaurant across the road instead... mimi's for the win
gd and my mom visiting a doctor and learning that mr smear has had an ear infection for months that gd suspected and not a single montreal doctor could detect
ending the day with a dilemma, clanking home, evening tension turning sour, taking notes
thursday 24th:
another rough night
waking up to a banking failure and mobile number porting issues
finally getting the last week's job done with no way of testing it, the reaction to my first big pull request containing precisely 1337 changes and leaving on a great note
driving into the most incredible sunset over de waal's drive without a dashcam
not switching cars as the "better" one kept choking out every few metres
back home to a busy boy and a sick gd
friday 25th:
the saddest pair, one doubled over sick feeding the other hangry with irritated eyes and ears
good friday, crazy friday shopping and running into krybabie and his family, mr smear's amazing progress with standing and eating baby biscuits; fry's pies and a lazy afternoon, gd getting some recovery rest, a big dinner and going to bed early and exhausted
saturday 26th:
getting some sleep before heavy rls, a night of many weird dreams quickly forgotten
rain, milestones, purchasing appliances, seeing cousins from jhb, tax returns and not-mr delivery
a tense evening...
sunday 27th:
... leading into a tense morning, we need to see someone, we need our own space, we need alone time
the only promenade walks are serious ones, comforter cleaning, finally touching base with SxS, a quick chat with my toronto cousin, a ride into an unknown side of town and almost losing to google maps, frankincense and good beats, dinner and finding our saturation point
monday 28th:
dr greger's daily dozen is a must-have app
the longest "i'm ready to go"
don't drive when you can walk followed by an explosive response to the denial of a family outing followed by a walk and some unexpected softness
a shopping mission and running into a cousin who was just about to cancel tea, lots of "healthy" junk food and delicious vegan choc-mint ice-cream!
a pleasant evening and a big dinner
tuesday 29th:
the weirdness of parenting: the joy in seeing mr smear's smile after a long, sleepless night (not sure if physical discomfort or nightmares, but i'm certain the soaked diaper didn't help)
running late for work, the premonition two seconds before my breakfast dropped out of my bag to spill all over my pants and the carpet and then getting in the car to discover that i'd left the lights on...
phpunit hassles, learning new code conventions, developing a cough in a small space, vegucating a coworker, chinese lunch, complex changes throughout the afternoon, leaving late and finding the battery dead and learning that the guy from funcars is a complete asshole, being forced to wait in the rain (drizzle) and trying to uber home with a driver who went the completely wrong way so i made him circle back, my phone port starting just as i needed to be able to take emergency calls and the mechanic running out of battery just after he arrived
not doing de waal drive in the dark rain, a missing petrol cap and delighting the mechanics with love for south africa on the ride back home
mr smear standing up steadying himself with only one hand was AMAZING but then he wobbled and landed from his full height and i was worried that he'd be put off trying again [but he definitely wasn't]
lots of food, lots of dishes
wednesday 30th:
another long night (floor fix stress and an overly-demanding mr smear) and an early morning
too emotional to take the car hire's calls, a busy morning with a great 80's playlist, scraping cheese off an otherwise good lunch, defeating agile with agile, scripting for tester welfare, last minute scope creep handled successfully
a gorgeous sunset including a short walk to the supermarket, steers for chips, eating a big dinner and being amazed by how much mr smear consumed, entertaining an adventurous, remarkably determined little boy
thursday 31st:
rushed morning, missed breakfast, funcars guy being an idiot but not a total jerk, trying to get fun work done with constant interruptions (not including another two-hour meeting)
banking and internetworking and breakfast for lunch (as opposed to the peanut brittle i had when i got into the office)
more meetings, good work with a rushed finish, the mall (and double urgent baby room visit and almost losing a bootie), first moving, mom putting mr smear to bed before we got home, dinner and dessert, the laggies from nowhere
friday 1st:
absolutely horrible night of seemingly ceaseless cries
telkom guy after days of silence i get three calls during a meeting to tell me he's sending an email and that he didn't yet have the info that i wanted
pleasant lunch with the new guy, connecting a leaving coworker with a friend in mauritius, a sleep-deprived friday afternoon "learning"
coffee machine clean, driving back to hold mr smear and plan for the move, big, fun, delicious dinner although ending on a note of great discomfort
the long walk to pick up something at the apartment
saturday 2nd:
sleepless, agony
following along and holding mr smear
damaged floors and broken taps but a great dining room set and beginning to get comfortable in our own space
postacino
cousins good techno
rushed prepaid electricity non-emergency
mouth-burning pie
breaking down and building up
the last mission meltdown
sunday 3rd:
not a bad night, if a little cold
a warm morning, feeling much better and actually taking it easy
crazy canal walk shopping, incompetently long lunch, from funny to not funny in less than a minute, neighbourly parking space management, golf pickup meeting weirdos, more shopping
constructing, carrying, showering, successful self-soothing attempt, mom's dinner
monday 4th:
waking up with a severely pinching nerve and being unable to return to sleep
double flat run and change and no breakfast
getting to work pre-coffee but with a smile, a successful documentation day in spite of fatigue; a stunning sunset and a son who smelled like cookies
waiting for a meeting with SxS's (boss?) that didn't happen but giving SxS the opportunity to impress me with his project
taking a completely knocked out little boy home, finding our shower to be significantly improved, that moment when you've been preparing a shake and you pour in (almond) milk that you knew was bad but assumed that your wife had replaced... (she'd assumed that i'd replaced it)
tuesday 5th:
not a great night, but alright
semi-productive morning
plant has opened in observatory!!! ^_^
killing passion in a grooming session
retail shopping therapy with fake sales, buying a single shoe
a shopping run and a visit from dirk diggler, vish and comics and ice cream and getting into bed as quickly as possible
wednesday 6th:
another tiring night followed by a rushed morning
kneepads and bottle stealing on mr smear's eight month
deliberately guessing the wrong artists from the playlist with hilarious results, playing with videos, a long lunch hour speaking vegan at plant, being sidelined by IT for an interesting strategy session, getting a little done before leaving
chair delivery, another non-meeting, great dinner, relatively early to bed
thursday 7th:
defcon 5 at 5
a morning paying people the last of my money and trying to arrange medical aid while simultaneously being productive at work, an awkward one-on-one with the department head, struggling with our caretaker and building management over floor tiles for the second time, that place for lunch
a lazy afternoon, distracted and disinterested, leaving late on a pleasant evening
emergency curtain shopping fail
an hour and a half interview with someone who's definitely on the same page as me professionally but that ended unclear as to whether we would be proceeding or not
friday 8th:
another long night, an early morning walk on the promenade for a gorgeous sunrise seeing parts of whales breaching
parking lot conversations, a generally successful morning
plant: the most delicious soup i've ever had
a successful afternoon, the company wind-up for the annual awards and the boss introducing us to the new office space
telkom's 7-21 days installation window
a really nice dinner at my aunt's, mr smear's first sedative (an antihistamine for his allergies that lets his parents relax and enjoy the evening
saturday 9th:
the strangeness of waking up after a decent night's rest, being able to look out over the ocean at breakfast
great coffee and bad bagels and an amazing acupuncturist, extra caution before my body reset, awkward coffee shop lunch (the owner's stare and a few tears)
a great walk through the waterfront on a sunny afternoon, not losing my driver's license, "i'm a rocket surgeon" to the guys i'm sharing a parking with, quick shopping and a walk home along the promenade during a magnificent sunset
falling asleep over a delicious dinner, getting into bed early...
sunday 10th:
... and both of us waking up before mr smear after our second almost full night's sleep in a row, getting up to a phenomenally beautiful sunrise with time for coffee and breakfast
napping, shopping and an excellent knead experience (the veggie burger is excellent and our waitress volunteered to take mr smear while we ate - i don't know which of the three parties enjoyed the arrangement more)
sleeping through urgent calls from the neighbours, hanging curtains, mr smear climbing over me and demonstrating a little more cunning than i gave him credit for
picking up my mom who'd won a prize at golf who gave us an hour or so to get drinks and dinner downstairs (rockpool is great!)
monday 11th:
morning stress on top of a hangover
bad headache paused for strong veggie curry, a long afternoon, my first deployment
activating activism, a fast shopping run and a security guard trying to sneak my baby away (it was okay, he was being funny but he totally caught me off... guard)
a quick and quiet evening and everyone going to bed early
tuesday 12th:
so early, in fact, that i woke up around 5am and lay in bed slowly processing from my backlog of unhandled experiences
a stunning sunrise to match the previous sunset, nursery rhymes and car hire calls before breakfast
irritable day on my first mti
scammed! id, prenup status, race, names and numbers, and about 45 minutes afterwards verifying that it wasn't a legit call...
incredible sunset but with a heavy head, an uneventful evening (playing with a lava lamp), and getting to bed on schedule
wednesday 13th:
mr smear unwilling to sleep for about three hours, getting up super early to rent a car, driving the wrong way to work
a slow morning, then a long meeting made longer for our lunches were cooling off right in front of us
it's entirely my fault if i asked for lunch and forgot to specify "no cheese" :/
a raw vegan recipe for putting my foot in my mouth
burgers for lunch and pizzas for dinner... mom's haircut and using her phone to get mr smear walking (with help, but still)
gd witnessing her first forest fire - fortunately not a bad one
thursday 14th:
another difficult night, so much for sedatives... an early morning egg run
the first meeting: now i fully understand that these guys are not going to be resolving their legacy issues any time soon because they're consistently making the problem worse. surprisingly intelligent developers who are applying themselves to small, boring problems instead of the large, exciting ones
airplane miscommunication and an unfortunate series of events leading to a tight reschedule; woodstock's the deli and accidental canderelle and running late for the second meeting and hitting traffic
red velvet cupcakes sans icing, communal agreements and disagreements over documentation and working with a useful tool that some bright spark wrote and didn't tell anyone about :/
taking a long time to leave but finally going on a date night (!!!) - mezepoli was really nice, great service and mostly brilliant dishes and a hilariously embarrassing french reading for dessert
an emergency shower to avoid going to bed covered in pomegranate sorbet
yesterday:
a decent night's rest before a psychological storm: moving chairs and not getting any work done and rushing to the doctor and rushing to the pharmacy and rushing to switch cars and everything being slow and then hitting rush hour traffic because in cape town friday's rush hour is all day and not having time for lunch and being forced to burn a half-day of vacation and getting some work done but ending the day with a weird mystery (the architect losing a contact lens over it) and trying to rush home but being on coffee machine cleaning duty and hitting the special traffic caused by strikers setting the trains alight again and then gobbling down leftovers and rushing off to dinner
a very nice dinner, introducing mr smear to new cousins, much fun and good food and awkward domestic appreciation
today:
a long, early acupuncture visit ended with pee leaking from his diaper, baby city and curtain shopping and exhaustion and stress, my mom winning her golf tournament and us celebrating with a great lunch, an attempted nap followed by a big nap, mr smear's big nap and deciding against doing what needed doing (aside from putting up his new curtain)
a restful day, interestingly productive (primarily poetically)
out for shopping (surprise assistance from my nephew)
monday 21st:
a really tough night being repeatedly yanked out of fascinating dreams followed by an explosive morning
reviewing the new apartment, looking good
appliance store number one, a good deal
appliance store number two, even better
canal walk and panarotti's pizza ftw (and for the family experience, sure)
aside from an urgent woolworths mission the rest of the day was chilling and sorting out the home network (in particular, my mother's email which has apparently confounded professional IT guys in three companies for well over two years now... what a bunch of idiots :/
a big dinner with gd being pleasantly surprised by the quality of fry's strips, getting to sleep relatively early...
tuesday 22nd:
... and paying for it with multiple lengthy wakings
a rough morning softened just before i had to leave, an experimental day deciding that i'm not unhappy with my present employment but i'm hardly thrilled
electric neck twinge mid-meeting
sunshine and songs from the lion king
paying future rent with today's paycheque
a pleasant end to the workday, coming home to the screams of a small child's eye infection, and the struggle of having reached my mother's internet cap
wednesday 23rd:
most of a night's sleep, sore necks but mr smear looking much better
fifteen minutes to get to work, another fifteen to find parking
slow progress, but progress nonetheless
lunchtime education: that "veggie" burger i was so excited about last week is made with cheese, so i found a vegan-friendly restaurant across the road instead... mimi's for the win
gd and my mom visiting a doctor and learning that mr smear has had an ear infection for months that gd suspected and not a single montreal doctor could detect
ending the day with a dilemma, clanking home, evening tension turning sour, taking notes
thursday 24th:
another rough night
waking up to a banking failure and mobile number porting issues
finally getting the last week's job done with no way of testing it, the reaction to my first big pull request containing precisely 1337 changes and leaving on a great note
driving into the most incredible sunset over de waal's drive without a dashcam
not switching cars as the "better" one kept choking out every few metres
back home to a busy boy and a sick gd
friday 25th:
the saddest pair, one doubled over sick feeding the other hangry with irritated eyes and ears
good friday, crazy friday shopping and running into krybabie and his family, mr smear's amazing progress with standing and eating baby biscuits; fry's pies and a lazy afternoon, gd getting some recovery rest, a big dinner and going to bed early and exhausted
saturday 26th:
getting some sleep before heavy rls, a night of many weird dreams quickly forgotten
rain, milestones, purchasing appliances, seeing cousins from jhb, tax returns and not-mr delivery
a tense evening...
sunday 27th:
... leading into a tense morning, we need to see someone, we need our own space, we need alone time
the only promenade walks are serious ones, comforter cleaning, finally touching base with SxS, a quick chat with my toronto cousin, a ride into an unknown side of town and almost losing to google maps, frankincense and good beats, dinner and finding our saturation point
monday 28th:
dr greger's daily dozen is a must-have app
the longest "i'm ready to go"
don't drive when you can walk followed by an explosive response to the denial of a family outing followed by a walk and some unexpected softness
a shopping mission and running into a cousin who was just about to cancel tea, lots of "healthy" junk food and delicious vegan choc-mint ice-cream!
a pleasant evening and a big dinner
tuesday 29th:
the weirdness of parenting: the joy in seeing mr smear's smile after a long, sleepless night (not sure if physical discomfort or nightmares, but i'm certain the soaked diaper didn't help)
running late for work, the premonition two seconds before my breakfast dropped out of my bag to spill all over my pants and the carpet and then getting in the car to discover that i'd left the lights on...
phpunit hassles, learning new code conventions, developing a cough in a small space, vegucating a coworker, chinese lunch, complex changes throughout the afternoon, leaving late and finding the battery dead and learning that the guy from funcars is a complete asshole, being forced to wait in the rain (drizzle) and trying to uber home with a driver who went the completely wrong way so i made him circle back, my phone port starting just as i needed to be able to take emergency calls and the mechanic running out of battery just after he arrived
not doing de waal drive in the dark rain, a missing petrol cap and delighting the mechanics with love for south africa on the ride back home
mr smear standing up steadying himself with only one hand was AMAZING but then he wobbled and landed from his full height and i was worried that he'd be put off trying again [but he definitely wasn't]
lots of food, lots of dishes
wednesday 30th:
another long night (floor fix stress and an overly-demanding mr smear) and an early morning
too emotional to take the car hire's calls, a busy morning with a great 80's playlist, scraping cheese off an otherwise good lunch, defeating agile with agile, scripting for tester welfare, last minute scope creep handled successfully
a gorgeous sunset including a short walk to the supermarket, steers for chips, eating a big dinner and being amazed by how much mr smear consumed, entertaining an adventurous, remarkably determined little boy
thursday 31st:
rushed morning, missed breakfast, funcars guy being an idiot but not a total jerk, trying to get fun work done with constant interruptions (not including another two-hour meeting)
banking and internetworking and breakfast for lunch (as opposed to the peanut brittle i had when i got into the office)
more meetings, good work with a rushed finish, the mall (and double urgent baby room visit and almost losing a bootie), first moving, mom putting mr smear to bed before we got home, dinner and dessert, the laggies from nowhere
friday 1st:
absolutely horrible night of seemingly ceaseless cries
telkom guy after days of silence i get three calls during a meeting to tell me he's sending an email and that he didn't yet have the info that i wanted
pleasant lunch with the new guy, connecting a leaving coworker with a friend in mauritius, a sleep-deprived friday afternoon "learning"
coffee machine clean, driving back to hold mr smear and plan for the move, big, fun, delicious dinner although ending on a note of great discomfort
the long walk to pick up something at the apartment
saturday 2nd:
sleepless, agony
following along and holding mr smear
damaged floors and broken taps but a great dining room set and beginning to get comfortable in our own space
postacino
cousins good techno
rushed prepaid electricity non-emergency
mouth-burning pie
breaking down and building up
the last mission meltdown
sunday 3rd:
not a bad night, if a little cold
a warm morning, feeling much better and actually taking it easy
crazy canal walk shopping, incompetently long lunch, from funny to not funny in less than a minute, neighbourly parking space management, golf pickup meeting weirdos, more shopping
constructing, carrying, showering, successful self-soothing attempt, mom's dinner
monday 4th:
waking up with a severely pinching nerve and being unable to return to sleep
double flat run and change and no breakfast
getting to work pre-coffee but with a smile, a successful documentation day in spite of fatigue; a stunning sunset and a son who smelled like cookies
waiting for a meeting with SxS's (boss?) that didn't happen but giving SxS the opportunity to impress me with his project
taking a completely knocked out little boy home, finding our shower to be significantly improved, that moment when you've been preparing a shake and you pour in (almond) milk that you knew was bad but assumed that your wife had replaced... (she'd assumed that i'd replaced it)
tuesday 5th:
not a great night, but alright
semi-productive morning
plant has opened in observatory!!! ^_^
killing passion in a grooming session
retail shopping therapy with fake sales, buying a single shoe
a shopping run and a visit from dirk diggler, vish and comics and ice cream and getting into bed as quickly as possible
wednesday 6th:
another tiring night followed by a rushed morning
kneepads and bottle stealing on mr smear's eight month
deliberately guessing the wrong artists from the playlist with hilarious results, playing with videos, a long lunch hour speaking vegan at plant, being sidelined by IT for an interesting strategy session, getting a little done before leaving
chair delivery, another non-meeting, great dinner, relatively early to bed
thursday 7th:
defcon 5 at 5
a morning paying people the last of my money and trying to arrange medical aid while simultaneously being productive at work, an awkward one-on-one with the department head, struggling with our caretaker and building management over floor tiles for the second time, that place for lunch
a lazy afternoon, distracted and disinterested, leaving late on a pleasant evening
emergency curtain shopping fail
an hour and a half interview with someone who's definitely on the same page as me professionally but that ended unclear as to whether we would be proceeding or not
friday 8th:
another long night, an early morning walk on the promenade for a gorgeous sunrise seeing parts of whales breaching
parking lot conversations, a generally successful morning
plant: the most delicious soup i've ever had
a successful afternoon, the company wind-up for the annual awards and the boss introducing us to the new office space
telkom's 7-21 days installation window
a really nice dinner at my aunt's, mr smear's first sedative (an antihistamine for his allergies that lets his parents relax and enjoy the evening
saturday 9th:
the strangeness of waking up after a decent night's rest, being able to look out over the ocean at breakfast
great coffee and bad bagels and an amazing acupuncturist, extra caution before my body reset, awkward coffee shop lunch (the owner's stare and a few tears)
a great walk through the waterfront on a sunny afternoon, not losing my driver's license, "i'm a rocket surgeon" to the guys i'm sharing a parking with, quick shopping and a walk home along the promenade during a magnificent sunset
falling asleep over a delicious dinner, getting into bed early...
sunday 10th:
... and both of us waking up before mr smear after our second almost full night's sleep in a row, getting up to a phenomenally beautiful sunrise with time for coffee and breakfast
napping, shopping and an excellent knead experience (the veggie burger is excellent and our waitress volunteered to take mr smear while we ate - i don't know which of the three parties enjoyed the arrangement more)
sleeping through urgent calls from the neighbours, hanging curtains, mr smear climbing over me and demonstrating a little more cunning than i gave him credit for
picking up my mom who'd won a prize at golf who gave us an hour or so to get drinks and dinner downstairs (rockpool is great!)
monday 11th:
morning stress on top of a hangover
bad headache paused for strong veggie curry, a long afternoon, my first deployment
activating activism, a fast shopping run and a security guard trying to sneak my baby away (it was okay, he was being funny but he totally caught me off... guard)
a quick and quiet evening and everyone going to bed early
tuesday 12th:
so early, in fact, that i woke up around 5am and lay in bed slowly processing from my backlog of unhandled experiences
a stunning sunrise to match the previous sunset, nursery rhymes and car hire calls before breakfast
irritable day on my first mti
scammed! id, prenup status, race, names and numbers, and about 45 minutes afterwards verifying that it wasn't a legit call...
incredible sunset but with a heavy head, an uneventful evening (playing with a lava lamp), and getting to bed on schedule
wednesday 13th:
mr smear unwilling to sleep for about three hours, getting up super early to rent a car, driving the wrong way to work
a slow morning, then a long meeting made longer for our lunches were cooling off right in front of us
it's entirely my fault if i asked for lunch and forgot to specify "no cheese" :/
a raw vegan recipe for putting my foot in my mouth
burgers for lunch and pizzas for dinner... mom's haircut and using her phone to get mr smear walking (with help, but still)
gd witnessing her first forest fire - fortunately not a bad one
thursday 14th:
another difficult night, so much for sedatives... an early morning egg run
the first meeting: now i fully understand that these guys are not going to be resolving their legacy issues any time soon because they're consistently making the problem worse. surprisingly intelligent developers who are applying themselves to small, boring problems instead of the large, exciting ones
airplane miscommunication and an unfortunate series of events leading to a tight reschedule; woodstock's the deli and accidental canderelle and running late for the second meeting and hitting traffic
red velvet cupcakes sans icing, communal agreements and disagreements over documentation and working with a useful tool that some bright spark wrote and didn't tell anyone about :/
taking a long time to leave but finally going on a date night (!!!) - mezepoli was really nice, great service and mostly brilliant dishes and a hilariously embarrassing french reading for dessert
an emergency shower to avoid going to bed covered in pomegranate sorbet
yesterday:
a decent night's rest before a psychological storm: moving chairs and not getting any work done and rushing to the doctor and rushing to the pharmacy and rushing to switch cars and everything being slow and then hitting rush hour traffic because in cape town friday's rush hour is all day and not having time for lunch and being forced to burn a half-day of vacation and getting some work done but ending the day with a weird mystery (the architect losing a contact lens over it) and trying to rush home but being on coffee machine cleaning duty and hitting the special traffic caused by strikers setting the trains alight again and then gobbling down leftovers and rushing off to dinner
a very nice dinner, introducing mr smear to new cousins, much fun and good food and awkward domestic appreciation
today:
a long, early acupuncture visit ended with pee leaking from his diaper, baby city and curtain shopping and exhaustion and stress, my mom winning her golf tournament and us celebrating with a great lunch, an attempted nap followed by a big nap, mr smear's big nap and deciding against doing what needed doing (aside from putting up his new curtain)
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