happy new year! and stuff!

saturday 24th:

ffix - amazing how much progress i'm willing to sacrifice after losing a couple of card games

two laundry missions because i didn't know they only accept cash and hoping i didn't drop any on the way home (in addition to the items that a friendly stranger stuffed back in the bag for me), buying a dozen rolls for dinner and promptly leaving them at home, mr smear whining the whole way to my sister's

two heavy boxers scrambling to lick mr smear and bashing into him, throwing him back a couple of feet to a hard landing that was awful to watch and reverberated in my mind for a good while; but aside from a couple of unhappy seconds the incident didn't seem to have much effect aside from terrifying his parents

a busy, exhausting evening with lots of family and chasing after mr smear

getting home late

sunday 25th:

mr smear sleeping straight through again (!!!) and me waking up early to get some work done

making significant progress with chrome, but then struggling with edge...

the long but not unpleasant drive to the farm (sore temples, eye strain?)
the beer mission on my behalf and mr smear and the dogs, both female but one a real bitch, running after mr smear for a few hours when he wasn't entertaining and being entertained (he made a good impression)
a big lunch, changing into swimming gear but passing out instead, being woken far too early from a fantastic nap to chug coffee to drive home but my mom coming to the rescue 'cause i was too tired and foggy after the caffeine

a couple of hours of getting mr smear into bed, dirk gently isn't funny but it's a lot of fun, going to bed early

monday 26th:

one midnight feed and a lot of dreaming, slowly waking up while mr smear slept in

what could have been a nice day soured into hours of taking care of mr smear alone, including dealing with a tantrum in the supermarket - lots of great moments, but lots of inexplicable neediness and a couple of hard lessons (i know it's a boy thing, but still)

a much improved evening after finally getting mr smear to bed, the final fantasy xv movie isn't all coherent but aside from the lips it's visually breathtaking and overall very exciting

tuesday 27th:

dreaming intensely straight through my alarm, a convoluted dream about being framed and persecuted for a number of serious crimes; i woke up with my heart in my throat as they figured out which apartment gd and i were in using a rottweiler and i was holding back the locksmith with my hand on the lock while she fled through the back and i prepared to let go to follow

working until sunrise, sleeping late, big breakfast for mr smear, a walk with my mom to see a tiny apartment, the woman at shawarma express spiking my laffa with unenjoyably sharp pickles

working through mr smear's nap, an afternoon switching between productive and playing, a windy walk which was about 50/50 fun/effort, candles and dinner and dirk gently and ffix (again with the card game taking precedence over the story, although now that i've learned that unlike ffviii there's no relevant payoff like the "card" ability i'm just going to get on with it)

wednesday 28th:

damn, 2016, that's three celebrities in your last five days and we're not even done yet. i was never a big george michael fan, but richard adams and carrie fisher? :(

struggling with cross browser compatibility, which is beginning to feel a bit bane-of-existence-y

4.30am bedtime

up at 9.30 with only an hour skipped, a few hectic hours then one or two peaceful, then a gym mission (my wrist has been hurting because my glove's torn, the crèche women are assholes), no time for waterfront shopping, mr smear loving some of hot fusion's spiciest, my first time back in the small shul at marais road in many, many years to say kaddish for my grandfather's yahrzeit, shower time and bedtime and dinner and passing out to crazyhead

thursday 29th:

lots of sleep, even if not good quality
gd's and my first haircut in months
balcony gate
running into my swimming teacher at the post office
from a precision mission to lunch at the food court, being smothered by the holiday maul people
mr smear finally passing out on the way home, an overly warm evening, ffix, a lot of trouble getting mr smear to bed, a little bit of crazyhead, a little more ffix and then settling down to get some work done

friday 30th:

mr smear having trouble sleeping but managing to make excellent progress at work; finally getting to bed just after 4am

mr smear continuing the struggle, getting about three hours of sleep in before the day got started, one piece in the background and chores, a failing backup locking up my computer all day, running into my first rollerblading buddy on the way to the bank, a shopping mission, joined by mum over late lunch, no afternoon rest but absolutely exhausted, fun with mr smear and his granny while gd cooked

saturday 31st:

horror news (anime)
hating the windows backup tool which made me restart for the second time (eventually scrapping my backups and using aomei backupper instead)
mr smear's big nap, dirk gently after failing at my own nap
picking up giovanni's rolls and getting to my sister's in spite of the gps
a lovely afternoon in the pool, mr smear's water wings and the dogs popping his ball
driving home late, picking up hot fusion, getting mr smear showered and in bed in record time
dirk gently - brilliant season finale, then ffix into the new year

sunday 1st:

midnight feed + really bad acid reflux + sudden, violent, inexplicable skin burning sensation (anxiety, perhaps?)

waking up after enough hours of sleep but still not rested

a tough morning trying and failing to decide what to do, then mr smear's nap and ffix / getting into the preacher comics
taking mr smear to the gym's pool with my mom in the late afternoon after tasting gd's vegan apple crisp (which is delicious, she's trying to keep me fat), bo burnham: make happy

reading the insert on the acid reflux meds before bed - kinda scary, it's definitely for emergencies only and not to be used protectively (as advised by my brother and the pharmacist)

monday 2nd:

waking up feeling a lot more rested
a quick visit to the gym, our session interrupted by mr smear with perfect timing to get us to lunch with my nieces on time: unfortunately, we've lost faith in the gym's crèche as their idea of caring for our toddler seems to be putting him in his stroller in front of the telly, which is really uncool (and today i complained to a manager, who told me that that's not acceptable and that it looks like they're going to need to do some retraining)

a delicious lunch at mykonos, an amusing non-incident when my brother arrived but ducked as soon as he learned that my nieces were there; non-coffee and snapchatting mr smear at our place, then a struggle to get a very tired mr smear to nap: we gave up, put one piece on and took turns running after him until around 5.30-6-ish, when we did the grocery shopping (i gave up taking photos of the empty shelves when it became clear that it was most of the store) and took mr smear for a walk along the promenade

massive waves hitting the wall, mr smear climbing a ladder all by himself to thunderous applause, figuring out another kid's bike on contact, hugs from little strangers

a very efficient bedtime prep, a few much-needed minutes of literally doing nothing together, ordering indian and watching the rest of bo burnham: make happy.

if i went out to see bo burnham live expecting comedy i'd be pissed. but i just gave him another chance as a performance artist and he is literally poetry in motion. and funny, too, but only when you least expect it. genius.

trying to rest while gd watched the first episode of the OA and failing

tuesday 3rd:

that disconcerting moment where you run code just to see what your input looks like when suddenly the whole chain you've been struggling with falls into place and you get your desired end result

and then spend hours trying to figure out why it doesn't work on microsoft products

bedtime 3:15

getting in a few hours of rest, odd dreams, breakfast and reading to mr smear and then trying to nap when he passed out, only he got up after five minutes and i lay in bed with anxiety caused by swimming in debt with no clear way out of it

trouble getting mr smear to bed until i sang to him, then watching rain man (oh, man, the writing and acting were phenomenal!) while he napped, then actively waking him to take him for a windy walk (and swing, where we were pissed off by an older couple vandalizing the kiddies swings)

hot fusion, supper and shower and putting mr smear to bed, passing out to the OA and

wednesday 4th:

spending the next few hours waking up then going back to sleep (dreams about scrapper in an enormous square apartment block in a concrete wasteland), finally managing to drag myself out of bed at 3am to work