mr smear was in a good mood when he woke up this morning. i asked him if he'd dreamed better dreams, and he looked at me and went "oh, no! i forgot to dream again!"
my back hurts, it spasmed this morning when i stretched. otherwise a lot of the day was a mix of playing with mr smear, Doing Stuff online (including creating a public facebook group, 95% of the effort was producing a group cover photo), and struggling to get mail forwarding working on two of my websites.
it's sad to have airplane make it clear that he's not my friend anymore, but over the course of the past few years i'd more or less accepted that so it doesn't sting quite as much.
then my mom picked me and mr smear up and we went to kirstenbosch. the weather wasn't great for it, but it wasn't bad either, and everything was pretty relaxing until we made a wrong turn on the way back to the car and ended up walking the entirety of skeleton gorge - my four year old, and my mum with a sore foot.
huh.
the evening was pretty relaxed, mr smear wanted to watch bambi again, shower and bedtime were pretty cool, firefly is amazing again, and i then watched paper tiger again while fiddling with the mail forwarding again (still no luck), completed another level of exapunks, and got sidetracked on my way to bed making some changes to my mom's website. how it's now past 1.30am is utterly beyond me.
GORRAM i just bit my tongue sneezing again. $#@!.
Sunday, September 29, 2019
Saturday, September 28, 2019
riding the nightmare
"it's not your bed's fault you're having nightmares. that's not what's causing them."
his crying slowed down to a sob and an occasional sniff. his screaming had dragged me out from a particularly positive dream and, still in that liminal space before fully waking up, i'd been sitting on the floor in front of his door facing off with his four year old terror for what seemed like forever before guessing that there might be a reason he was refusing his own bed.
"do you know where nightmares come from?" i asked him. i don't know what kind of answer i expected.
"from my head".
ah. okay.
he finally relented and let me help him up into his bed. i climbed in next to him and we lay there for a minute in silence.
"daddy?"
"yes?"
"when are you going to fix my head?"
oh.
shit.
"your head's not broken, sweetie, there's nothing wrong with you. do you know what causes nightmares? fear. and a nightmare is your brain figuring out how to deal with that fear. so when you're having a nightmare, it's okay. it means your brain is teaching you to not be afraid."
being half-asleep i rambled on a bit more, trying to repeat the same thing in different words and praying i wasn't confusing the poor kid.
then i paused to see if anything had landed.
"okay, daddy," he calmly said. and turned over. and went back to sleep.
i lay there a bit longer, then quietly returned to our bed, and went back to sleep myself. but none of my dreams were going to top that experience of relief; not his, and certainly not mine.
Friday, September 27, 2019
not parasites after all
holy shit. the owner of the pest control company, who happens to be a particularly sharp individual, came over to talk to us about our pest problem and explain why he doesn't want to spray more chemicals.
what a refreshing experience.
so it turns out that we don't actually have a parasite problem, and we're not hallucinating either. we're reacting to something, probably something being carried in on dust particles, and even just knowing that it's not something contagious following us around is an enormous relief.
in other news, my son has been making us really, really proud over the last couple of days in his dealings with his friends (even if he broke down tonight, he seems to be coming down with something and he was really tired). there's a level of maturity that's breaking the surface that is extremely gratifying.
in other gratifying news, the amount of positive responses i've received from my post that drew so much ire is inspiring. even on the original post, the overwhelming majority of responses were positive. so that's cool.
i'm glad i got to rest a bit before taking mr smear to his friend's swimming pool (it was a ridiculously hot day for spring). quick shopping, home, shower, back to the grocery store, a glass of wine (and a liquorice root) to say farewell to our friend, then finally home for a quick and sad bedtime, firefly, a bit of progress on my mother's project and now, i think, going to bed.
i can't believe it's friday already. wtf.
what a refreshing experience.
so it turns out that we don't actually have a parasite problem, and we're not hallucinating either. we're reacting to something, probably something being carried in on dust particles, and even just knowing that it's not something contagious following us around is an enormous relief.
in other news, my son has been making us really, really proud over the last couple of days in his dealings with his friends (even if he broke down tonight, he seems to be coming down with something and he was really tired). there's a level of maturity that's breaking the surface that is extremely gratifying.
in other gratifying news, the amount of positive responses i've received from my post that drew so much ire is inspiring. even on the original post, the overwhelming majority of responses were positive. so that's cool.
i'm glad i got to rest a bit before taking mr smear to his friend's swimming pool (it was a ridiculously hot day for spring). quick shopping, home, shower, back to the grocery store, a glass of wine (and a liquorice root) to say farewell to our friend, then finally home for a quick and sad bedtime, firefly, a bit of progress on my mother's project and now, i think, going to bed.
i can't believe it's friday already. wtf.
Thursday, September 26, 2019
gorram parasites
jesus, these things are back with a vengeance. when will this be over?!
i took mr smear to the company gardens yesterday afternoon, which was lots of fun until the wino (inferred from his intense smell) selling nuts took a shine to my boy and tried to befriend us by giving us a free bag. it's really hard navigating "thanks, but no" with people who are well-intentioned but have a culture that demands they give gifts, second time in two weeks i've offended someone by refusing and felt bad for them.
we had a really good time in our complex's playground, a good shower / dinner experience, a fantastic family moment singing ani couni at bedtime, and then i treated myself to a couple more episodes of firefly while snacking excessively.
and then the previous post's drama unfolded.
kicking over rocks
phew. and by that, i mean i'm lying here in the middle of the night trying hard to regulate my breathing, calm down, and convince myself that disabling comments and giving people some time will speed up the process of my faux pas blowing over.
i should have known that the south african #imstaying group would not have been particularly receptive to the idea of not identifying south africanness with eating meat, and my post saw people very quickly turning from purely positive to vicious.
i wish i'd thought of disabling the comments much earlier. or that i'd never posted in the first place.
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
tattoo design and child pride
today was definitely better. i finally fixed the handles of our balcony door (which required drilling, whoever installed it originally somehow made even more of a mess of it than the other doors), got sucked in to watching tool - fear inoculum reaction videos, came up with the first draft designs for the next four tattoos, played exapunks, and when mr smear got home received an amazing (and surprising, considering the bullying episode from sunday) report from his nanny about his playdate behaviour - we were concerned about one of the kids of the playdate due to the school drama we went through recently, and the nanny watched in wonder as mr smear put this kid in his place, but did so kindly.
*deep sigh*
we don't always win, but when we do it's extremely gratifying.
on another winning note, mr smear's had the aleph-bet song stuck in his head and we finally opened a bunch of stuff i ordered from the states recently which included hebrew alphabet flash cards - and he actually enjoyed going through them and singing along in slo-mo :)
*deep sigh*
we don't always win, but when we do it's extremely gratifying.
on another winning note, mr smear's had the aleph-bet song stuck in his head and we finally opened a bunch of stuff i ordered from the states recently which included hebrew alphabet flash cards - and he actually enjoyed going through them and singing along in slo-mo :)
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
heritage day out the window
today was a bit of a stuff-up. i dragged myself out of bed to get to my therapy session on time, forgetting that it was cancelled due to it being a public holiday. i came back home for pancakes and coffee, then climbed back into bed because i was suddenly thoroughly exhausted. i eventually got up and left angrily (for a couple of reasons) to go with my mother her coffee shop, talked for a long while (participating in a conversation with an old friend of hers i'd never met before, then joined by a friend of ours), did a fairly quick grocery run, came home and spent the afternoon fiddling with the balcony door (stopping because i'd need to hammer a bit and it's a public holiday) and then playing exapunks. and now it's 7pm, getting dark, and i'm not sure what i want to do so i've let mr smear convince me to put on adventure time.
a stressful start to my staycation
friday... friday, friday, friday. workwise, a remarkably unsatisfying day. but a few of us walked out for the global climate strike march, and aside from the route making it impossible to keep my new tattoos out of the sun it was a positive experience. i met gd and mr smear and our friends at the grocery store, my mom came over for friday night dinner, and that was the week that was.
gd and i started dark phoenix, but almost ruining the movie with a misunderstanding.
saturday:
starting the day playing lego batman, then my mom picking us up for a shopping run in the rain (finding a bed, giving up on silicon wedding rings, and an afternoon navigating mall people at the waterfront).
trying to teach mr smear how days work.
bambi. peter pan.
gd and i finishing dark phoenix which was awesome.
sunday:
migrating sonnetcomix.com back to blogger, which is so much better than wordpress. and moving another domain from godaddy to hover, which is extremely gratifying.
taking mr smear to the aquarium. then for lunch (he made me SO proud, but he ate so well i barely had lunch and we HAD to have ice cream afterwards). running into our friends and a coworker, the kids playing terribly on the playground and the day officially ending with mr smear hitting a little kid back, after which i took him straight home for long lectures and no television.
watching firefly by myself. because i'm on holiday.
today:
happily figuring out a new way of working with mysql this morning, and this evening completing a migrations package for it. in between, we all walked to the bank - everything there was broken or useless - then to the locksmiths for patent screws, then to steers for delicious veggie burgers, then we headed to complete volumes of documentation for the bed purchase before rushing home to slug a cup of coffee before i took mr smear to his first swimming lesson at the school i learned in.
it started off well because a friend of his was already in the pool, but then a mother came in with an older kid who was throwing a full-scale toddler tantrum and she did NOT handle it well. mr smear took his cue and behaved badly until i had a chat with him, but he wasn't very cooperative for the rest of the lesson even if overall he did pretty well.
anyway.
we watched most of spider-man: into the spider-verse this evening, but then mr smear stopped and decided he wanted to play our adventure time-themed guess who? game, and although it took a while to get him to play it correctly, with a little assistance from gd he actually beat me! it was great, especially when (just as gd arrived) he looked up at me and asked "is your character humanoid?"
it's been a long-slog evening getting the migrations package working well, i've done a bunch of other stuff, it's late, i'm going to bed.
...
it's worrying us that my mom's suffering from vertigo again.
our neighbour's door bangs whenever there's wind. repeatedly. it's infuriating because it does that because he keeps messing with it and he doesn't have a clue what he's doing.
oh, and we thought we were done with the invisible parasites. gd and i are both feeling them again.
gd and i started dark phoenix, but almost ruining the movie with a misunderstanding.
saturday:
starting the day playing lego batman, then my mom picking us up for a shopping run in the rain (finding a bed, giving up on silicon wedding rings, and an afternoon navigating mall people at the waterfront).
trying to teach mr smear how days work.
bambi. peter pan.
gd and i finishing dark phoenix which was awesome.
sunday:
migrating sonnetcomix.com back to blogger, which is so much better than wordpress. and moving another domain from godaddy to hover, which is extremely gratifying.
taking mr smear to the aquarium. then for lunch (he made me SO proud, but he ate so well i barely had lunch and we HAD to have ice cream afterwards). running into our friends and a coworker, the kids playing terribly on the playground and the day officially ending with mr smear hitting a little kid back, after which i took him straight home for long lectures and no television.
watching firefly by myself. because i'm on holiday.
today:
happily figuring out a new way of working with mysql this morning, and this evening completing a migrations package for it. in between, we all walked to the bank - everything there was broken or useless - then to the locksmiths for patent screws, then to steers for delicious veggie burgers, then we headed to complete volumes of documentation for the bed purchase before rushing home to slug a cup of coffee before i took mr smear to his first swimming lesson at the school i learned in.
it started off well because a friend of his was already in the pool, but then a mother came in with an older kid who was throwing a full-scale toddler tantrum and she did NOT handle it well. mr smear took his cue and behaved badly until i had a chat with him, but he wasn't very cooperative for the rest of the lesson even if overall he did pretty well.
anyway.
we watched most of spider-man: into the spider-verse this evening, but then mr smear stopped and decided he wanted to play our adventure time-themed guess who? game, and although it took a while to get him to play it correctly, with a little assistance from gd he actually beat me! it was great, especially when (just as gd arrived) he looked up at me and asked "is your character humanoid?"
it's been a long-slog evening getting the migrations package working well, i've done a bunch of other stuff, it's late, i'm going to bed.
...
it's worrying us that my mom's suffering from vertigo again.
our neighbour's door bangs whenever there's wind. repeatedly. it's infuriating because it does that because he keeps messing with it and he doesn't have a clue what he's doing.
oh, and we thought we were done with the invisible parasites. gd and i are both feeling them again.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
parenting down and up
we had a little drama getting mr smear up and at 'em this morning, but once resolved the morning went smoothly. my mom and i dropped him off at school, nobody said anything to us about a concert but my mom convinced me to check anyway and according to the latest email mr smear's class concert was scheduled for october.
so i went to work. the morning was relatively productive, and i hit lunchtime with a win. another positive chat with a teammate over lunch (to follow a different one from the day before), and then i strapped myself in for a struggle. and the struggle was real. by the time gd messaged me to tell me we'd both missed mr smear's concert (it had been rescheduled via a whatsapp group and neither of us had taken note, and mr smear was very sad that he'd had nobody to hug after the concert was over), i'd been lost in documentation for hours and between the distress of learning that we'd let him down and the frustration with what i'd been doing, my concentration was done.
fortunately, a super-patient teammate came to the rescue and even though we didn't finish the job completely, we were both ready to call it a day once we'd made some pretty serious progress. hopefully tomorrow will see the end of it.
i came home feeling horribly guilty, but after a few minutes sitting and eating dinner the world seemed much better. mr smear received some guilt concessions, one of which was playing snow bros after 7pm, and by the time we were done he was actively challenging the monsters!
it's been a pleasant (albeit late) shower and bedtime, and i'm now intending to do not much and hoping to get a good night's rest.
---
parenting fail aside, tonight's the first time gd and i have had a serious conversation about potentially adopting.
so i went to work. the morning was relatively productive, and i hit lunchtime with a win. another positive chat with a teammate over lunch (to follow a different one from the day before), and then i strapped myself in for a struggle. and the struggle was real. by the time gd messaged me to tell me we'd both missed mr smear's concert (it had been rescheduled via a whatsapp group and neither of us had taken note, and mr smear was very sad that he'd had nobody to hug after the concert was over), i'd been lost in documentation for hours and between the distress of learning that we'd let him down and the frustration with what i'd been doing, my concentration was done.
fortunately, a super-patient teammate came to the rescue and even though we didn't finish the job completely, we were both ready to call it a day once we'd made some pretty serious progress. hopefully tomorrow will see the end of it.
i came home feeling horribly guilty, but after a few minutes sitting and eating dinner the world seemed much better. mr smear received some guilt concessions, one of which was playing snow bros after 7pm, and by the time we were done he was actively challenging the monsters!
it's been a pleasant (albeit late) shower and bedtime, and i'm now intending to do not much and hoping to get a good night's rest.
---
parenting fail aside, tonight's the first time gd and i have had a serious conversation about potentially adopting.
wtf, week?
jesus, am i still up? i've gotta go to bed. this week has been intense, primarily due to some big shifts at work, two days of being on call for two projects simultaneously, a weird cough, more bugs (they're still here, whatever they are), spending a little time working on my mom's project, an exciting reboot of an old idea of mine by a friend i had lunch with on monday, mr smear being mostly awesome but really struggling with mornings, and i'm sure there's more but i'm done for the day.
oh, and instagram. and instagram failing, the app is terrible but nobody cares because they've cornered all the markets. also, it's mind-blowing seeing how many tattoo artists there are, and even more mind-blowing considering that i'm only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
oh, and instagram. and instagram failing, the app is terrible but nobody cares because they've cornered all the markets. also, it's mind-blowing seeing how many tattoo artists there are, and even more mind-blowing considering that i'm only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
Monday, September 16, 2019
the phantom menace...
... IS good for kids, no matter how much the midichlorian thing bugs me. jar jar binks is kind of okay if he's softening things for (relatively) little people. the highlight of the movie was mr smear jumping on the couch yelling at obi wan kenobi to defeat darth maul.
yesterday was pancakes, a great birthday party, a late brunch, gaming, the phantom menace, and everyone going to bed early.
and then everyone struggling to get up this morning.
yesterday was pancakes, a great birthday party, a late brunch, gaming, the phantom menace, and everyone going to bed early.
and then everyone struggling to get up this morning.
Sunday, September 15, 2019
*throat-clearing*
friday? something about being excited to be going on-call because the rest of my week had been so freakin' boring. and meetings. and a team lunch where i discovered that the raptor room's ambience is significantly more enjoyable than their food.
oh! and seeing my surgeon for hopefully the last time, he's very happy with my progress.
walking home quickly to shower and head to the tattoo parlour for a half-hour, walking out VERY happy with the results! also, learning how to manage a "professional" instagram account and being overwhelmed by the sheer number of fantastic art / literature / tattoo accounts i haven't been following because my personal account has been curated so that i only see pics from people i know and care about.
a good friday night dinner.
last night: a long, difficult night. still feeling bugs, and i somehow hurt my hip when i did get to sleep. a couple of hours sitting on the carpet in the middle of the night.
today: a slow start to the day (i'm sure i did something useful, i think), taking mr smear to the locksmith again (they tried to give us a gift because mr smear was being super-cute, i hope i didn't offend them by not accepting it), a visit to the wellness center (riding up and down the elevator, mr smear disturbed because it looked like the make-up model was putting bum-cream on her face), belgian waffles (that tasted gluten-free), feeding squirrels, entering the museum looking for the giant globe and finding it off (i couldn't convince mr smear that it was a black hole because "it's made of glass, daddy"), returning home to crash on the couch for a bit, crash bandicoot and coffee, another walk to the pharmacy and a couple of tantrums along the way, playing "adventure time" around a monument and hide-and-seek in the "maze" before returning home again, and then putting on the phantom menace as an introduction to the star wars franchise which he found thoroughly engrossing until about halfway, a mostly pleasant shower / bedtime, fixing some email relays, and watching bill burr's paper tiger.
thoroughly brilliant stuff. i'm glad to have seen both sticks and stones and paper tiger. if you're upset after seeing them, well, fine, whatever. but if you haven't seen them for yourself? don't let anyone else form your opinions for you, you might be embarrassed to discover what those opinions were based on.
now - to bed. and praying for a better night.
oh! and seeing my surgeon for hopefully the last time, he's very happy with my progress.
walking home quickly to shower and head to the tattoo parlour for a half-hour, walking out VERY happy with the results! also, learning how to manage a "professional" instagram account and being overwhelmed by the sheer number of fantastic art / literature / tattoo accounts i haven't been following because my personal account has been curated so that i only see pics from people i know and care about.
a good friday night dinner.
last night: a long, difficult night. still feeling bugs, and i somehow hurt my hip when i did get to sleep. a couple of hours sitting on the carpet in the middle of the night.
today: a slow start to the day (i'm sure i did something useful, i think), taking mr smear to the locksmith again (they tried to give us a gift because mr smear was being super-cute, i hope i didn't offend them by not accepting it), a visit to the wellness center (riding up and down the elevator, mr smear disturbed because it looked like the make-up model was putting bum-cream on her face), belgian waffles (that tasted gluten-free), feeding squirrels, entering the museum looking for the giant globe and finding it off (i couldn't convince mr smear that it was a black hole because "it's made of glass, daddy"), returning home to crash on the couch for a bit, crash bandicoot and coffee, another walk to the pharmacy and a couple of tantrums along the way, playing "adventure time" around a monument and hide-and-seek in the "maze" before returning home again, and then putting on the phantom menace as an introduction to the star wars franchise which he found thoroughly engrossing until about halfway, a mostly pleasant shower / bedtime, fixing some email relays, and watching bill burr's paper tiger.
thoroughly brilliant stuff. i'm glad to have seen both sticks and stones and paper tiger. if you're upset after seeing them, well, fine, whatever. but if you haven't seen them for yourself? don't let anyone else form your opinions for you, you might be embarrassed to discover what those opinions were based on.
now - to bed. and praying for a better night.
Thursday, September 12, 2019
f'n bugs: round 2
another day working from home, with jackhammers outside the window, with shitty work, and then having to move across to my mom's for an hour and then a waterfront mission, coming home exhausted, my mom upset because the exterminator didn't appear to do his job, getting mr smear showered and into bed then heading to my mom's to help her with her duvet (my mother and my wife are both terrible with duvets, meanwhile mr smear seems to be keen to help next time), coming home, eventually going to sleep on our floppy bed
waking up with a sore neck and shoulder for another not-great day, although better for being at work, an awkward chat with my manager, eventually coming home tired again and finding my wife upset because the exterminator really hadn't done his job and we're still dealing with an invisible invasion
f***.
waking up with a sore neck and shoulder for another not-great day, although better for being at work, an awkward chat with my manager, eventually coming home tired again and finding my wife upset because the exterminator really hadn't done his job and we're still dealing with an invisible invasion
f***.
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
f'n bugs
i slept horribly, and woke up with my back threatening to spasm. i cancelled my therapist and worked from home to avoid spreading whatever the heck these things are (gd has theories, but i'm not convinced by any of them), and spent a very long day struggling to do what should be very basic things. all the while with pool renovations drowning my sanity.
i eventually closed my work computer, disappointed, played some crash bandicoot with mr smear (until a jet-ski level gave me motion sickness), taught him how to eat with a knife and fork while watching adventure time, and navigated the disciplinary action of carrying out the punishment for him not cooperating while getting ready for bed (i did read him one story, so one more than was threatened). he was really sad when i turned the light out, but i reminded him that mommy and daddy are always in his heart and that he could sing to himself with my voice once i'd gone to bed. i stood outside for half a minute, waiting to hear me fail, but that was the end of it! i'm really proud of him ^_^
i've applied for GAP insurance (we'd be in BIG trouble if we didn't have it), and i'm now struggling to do two more sets of squats before going to bed (so distracting myself however i can). this shit is hard.
pest control is coming tomorrow, i'm so not looking forward to working from home again but with my current tasks it probably isn't worse than being in the office... these bugs are driving me nuts.
i eventually closed my work computer, disappointed, played some crash bandicoot with mr smear (until a jet-ski level gave me motion sickness), taught him how to eat with a knife and fork while watching adventure time, and navigated the disciplinary action of carrying out the punishment for him not cooperating while getting ready for bed (i did read him one story, so one more than was threatened). he was really sad when i turned the light out, but i reminded him that mommy and daddy are always in his heart and that he could sing to himself with my voice once i'd gone to bed. i stood outside for half a minute, waiting to hear me fail, but that was the end of it! i'm really proud of him ^_^
i've applied for GAP insurance (we'd be in BIG trouble if we didn't have it), and i'm now struggling to do two more sets of squats before going to bed (so distracting myself however i can). this shit is hard.
pest control is coming tomorrow, i'm so not looking forward to working from home again but with my current tasks it probably isn't worse than being in the office... these bugs are driving me nuts.
Monday, September 09, 2019
bad form
it feels like every half a year we get hit by the same invisible parasites, it's incredible. we're constantly feeling things crawling or hopping all over us, and it's not clear how long it's taking for the bites to appear but they all made their presence felt while i was in a meeting this evening, four of them in a particularly upsetting place.
we're making our favourite pest control company rich, and losing our minds in the process.
in other news, monday turned out to be a really good day. first, my accountant got in touch with some very relieving news and second, our friend invited me to speak with a new hire and his thank you email to my manager was phenomenal! also, aside from a lot of meetings and housekeeping i actually managed to make myself useful, which is always nice.
due to our late meeting i came home just in time to shower mr smear and put him to bed, it took a while before he was satisfied that i'd read enough and i quite enjoyed our time together (and his choice of "my new favourite book"s).
i've played some more exapunks to give myself a sense of actual programming before bed, and now it's time for the bed part of that sentence. our bed, which has suddenly sunk in significantly over the past few days...
we're making our favourite pest control company rich, and losing our minds in the process.
in other news, monday turned out to be a really good day. first, my accountant got in touch with some very relieving news and second, our friend invited me to speak with a new hire and his thank you email to my manager was phenomenal! also, aside from a lot of meetings and housekeeping i actually managed to make myself useful, which is always nice.
due to our late meeting i came home just in time to shower mr smear and put him to bed, it took a while before he was satisfied that i'd read enough and i quite enjoyed our time together (and his choice of "my new favourite book"s).
i've played some more exapunks to give myself a sense of actual programming before bed, and now it's time for the bed part of that sentence. our bed, which has suddenly sunk in significantly over the past few days...
Sunday, September 08, 2019
friday, saturday, sunday
friday sped by really fast considering how slow i was getting into the one real task i had to do. i was ten minutes late to a half-hour meeting that ran so late that i was then forty-five minutes late to a one hour meeting, and i finally completed the day's work five minutes before my mother arrived to pick me up. i took mr smear to the temple, where i was in time for a quick whiskey before the service (and just finished it as mr smear decided he wanted to explore and threatened me that if i didn't come with him, he'd leave me there by myself).
the service was great, there were two kids around for him to play with, and when we got home we had a nice curry club dinner and then easily got him to bed.
yesterday was interesting, it began with me putting on peter, paul and mary's puff the magic dragon and when mr smear complained that it was in black and white, i explained that it's because the video was recorded so long ago that colours hadn't been invented yet, and that that's just what the world looked like back then. i was thoroughly amused, but then i felt super-guilty and had to come clean a minute later and explain the truth to him.
i spent my morning wrestling with instagram to set up a project-specific account, because instagram doesn't expect users to want to edit their pictures' descriptions from a desktop and certainly doesn't endorse re-posting one's photos to one's own accounts. but wait, there's an app for that! buffer. and buffer would be perfect if it didn't fail abysmally when i tried to post.
i took mr smear to the locksmiths next door expecting them to have patent screws (like they had before), only they were out and the two of us walked all the way across town to find the other locksmith's closed. i knew i should have checked first, but it was a good walk for mr smear. he then reminded me, at our furthest point from home, that i'd promised him a week earlier to take him up the mountain. and i always keep my promises.
so we walked all the way back home, i stopped for a cup of coffee while i ordered cableway tickets, and we proceeded to uber up to the base station. shortly before we stopped at home, i pointed up at the upper station and said "that's where we're going", and he went "we're going to castle greyskull?!", and i said "yes!". and immediately knew that there was no way for me to tell him it wasn't castle greyskull without disappointing him to the point of ruining the experience. so we visited castle greyskull, the real, real castle greyskull, and his little mind was blown and he was utterly thrilled. the conversation that made my day was my son talking through what he thought would happen if superman had to defend castle greyskull against skeletor, which led me to wonder: if superman incinerated skeletor, could it be that he-man would become a despot with no evil to keep him in check?
it was a bit of a mission to keep my new tattoo out of the sun, but mr smear had a blast and at one point i realized that if i let him keep walking we'd never get home at a reasonable hour, so i had to coerce him to turn around and return to castle greyskull. it's castle greyskull now. it is, and i suspect it always will be.
today started really well, with a slow wakeup, and then we weren't allowed to put the telly on because mr smear wanted peace and quiet to play with his toys. gd made pancakes, and then mr smear and i met up with our friends and hit their swimming pool for a while, then went inside for some more playtime (banana bread and tea), and then returned home. it was only as the uber driver arrived to pick us up that i realized that i was supposed to do some emergency grocery shopping, so after a shower and a cup of coffee i went to the mall to pick up meds and food, came home for some playstation time and watch one strange rock, and then get mr smear to bed. i had stuff to do this evening, but i'm not doing it and i don't care. it was a fantastic weekend.
[shit. i think we might need to get pest-control in here again. this feels like something we need to keep doing every six months and nobody's been able to identify the actual cause]
the service was great, there were two kids around for him to play with, and when we got home we had a nice curry club dinner and then easily got him to bed.
yesterday was interesting, it began with me putting on peter, paul and mary's puff the magic dragon and when mr smear complained that it was in black and white, i explained that it's because the video was recorded so long ago that colours hadn't been invented yet, and that that's just what the world looked like back then. i was thoroughly amused, but then i felt super-guilty and had to come clean a minute later and explain the truth to him.
i spent my morning wrestling with instagram to set up a project-specific account, because instagram doesn't expect users to want to edit their pictures' descriptions from a desktop and certainly doesn't endorse re-posting one's photos to one's own accounts. but wait, there's an app for that! buffer. and buffer would be perfect if it didn't fail abysmally when i tried to post.
i took mr smear to the locksmiths next door expecting them to have patent screws (like they had before), only they were out and the two of us walked all the way across town to find the other locksmith's closed. i knew i should have checked first, but it was a good walk for mr smear. he then reminded me, at our furthest point from home, that i'd promised him a week earlier to take him up the mountain. and i always keep my promises.
so we walked all the way back home, i stopped for a cup of coffee while i ordered cableway tickets, and we proceeded to uber up to the base station. shortly before we stopped at home, i pointed up at the upper station and said "that's where we're going", and he went "we're going to castle greyskull?!", and i said "yes!". and immediately knew that there was no way for me to tell him it wasn't castle greyskull without disappointing him to the point of ruining the experience. so we visited castle greyskull, the real, real castle greyskull, and his little mind was blown and he was utterly thrilled. the conversation that made my day was my son talking through what he thought would happen if superman had to defend castle greyskull against skeletor, which led me to wonder: if superman incinerated skeletor, could it be that he-man would become a despot with no evil to keep him in check?
it was a bit of a mission to keep my new tattoo out of the sun, but mr smear had a blast and at one point i realized that if i let him keep walking we'd never get home at a reasonable hour, so i had to coerce him to turn around and return to castle greyskull. it's castle greyskull now. it is, and i suspect it always will be.
today started really well, with a slow wakeup, and then we weren't allowed to put the telly on because mr smear wanted peace and quiet to play with his toys. gd made pancakes, and then mr smear and i met up with our friends and hit their swimming pool for a while, then went inside for some more playtime (banana bread and tea), and then returned home. it was only as the uber driver arrived to pick us up that i realized that i was supposed to do some emergency grocery shopping, so after a shower and a cup of coffee i went to the mall to pick up meds and food, came home for some playstation time and watch one strange rock, and then get mr smear to bed. i had stuff to do this evening, but i'm not doing it and i don't care. it was a fantastic weekend.
[shit. i think we might need to get pest-control in here again. this feels like something we need to keep doing every six months and nobody's been able to identify the actual cause]
Friday, September 06, 2019
oauth 2
i can't believe how clunky google, facebook, and even twitter have made their oauth offerings, and how little useful documentation i've been able to find. thanks, github, for setting unreasonable expectations.
the pace is painfully slow, but helping out with my mother's new business website is almost therapeutic. there's something about doing these almost mindless things (like oauth) one at a time, small achievement after small achievement, without jumping to the million other things that need doing. i'm starting to feel like i'm finding that same groove at work, too. and that's definitely a good thing.
work seems good. mr smear had a horrible cough for a few days but was back at school today, and i'm a little shocked that in half an hour it'll be friday again. FRIDAY. wtf.
my new tattoo is itching the shit outta me. my wife upset me earlier by finishing my sentence about the new tool album in the worst possible way (she thought i was trying to say "it sounds the same as the others", and while it's borrowed a few phrases and there's a clear and present tool-ness going on, the more i listen to it the more i hear. so yes... just like every other tool album, but not in the way she intended).
the pace is painfully slow, but helping out with my mother's new business website is almost therapeutic. there's something about doing these almost mindless things (like oauth) one at a time, small achievement after small achievement, without jumping to the million other things that need doing. i'm starting to feel like i'm finding that same groove at work, too. and that's definitely a good thing.
work seems good. mr smear had a horrible cough for a few days but was back at school today, and i'm a little shocked that in half an hour it'll be friday again. FRIDAY. wtf.
my new tattoo is itching the shit outta me. my wife upset me earlier by finishing my sentence about the new tool album in the worst possible way (she thought i was trying to say "it sounds the same as the others", and while it's borrowed a few phrases and there's a clear and present tool-ness going on, the more i listen to it the more i hear. so yes... just like every other tool album, but not in the way she intended).
Tuesday, September 03, 2019
oauth experience
setting up oauth with github was a breeze. setting it up with google has been a giant pain in the butt so far, and i'm only halfway there *if* i've configured things correctly so far. and three hours ago i thought i was going to go to bed soon...
Monday, September 02, 2019
a positive reset
i was nervous going in to work today, and i was pleasantly surprised when my manager a) confirmed that my new strategy / approach is good and b) relieved that toxic avenger had been cautioned over her hostility. i don't know how things are going to play out going forward, but out interactions today were mostly civil and constructive and regardless, the rest of the team and i seem to be on the same page technically which was validating.
and i even made some progress on the things i meant to do.
i walked home to drop off my bag and put on a long-sleeved shirt to cover my new tattoo, then headed to the hairdresser for a pretty decent haircut. i came back and watched dr horrible's sing-along blog with mr smear, put on thundercats for him after making a fun video to send to future him (something had inspired me to do that on my way home, and then he insisted on an out-of-sequence episode that involved time capsules. wtf?!)
i got stuck in to something technical for half an hour while he watched, got up to sort out dinner and found him passed out on the couch. whoops!
it's about 9pm now, i think i'm going to try to make a little more progress and then turn in early again. it's been a big start to the week.
and i even made some progress on the things i meant to do.
i walked home to drop off my bag and put on a long-sleeved shirt to cover my new tattoo, then headed to the hairdresser for a pretty decent haircut. i came back and watched dr horrible's sing-along blog with mr smear, put on thundercats for him after making a fun video to send to future him (something had inspired me to do that on my way home, and then he insisted on an out-of-sequence episode that involved time capsules. wtf?!)
i got stuck in to something technical for half an hour while he watched, got up to sort out dinner and found him passed out on the couch. whoops!
it's about 9pm now, i think i'm going to try to make a little more progress and then turn in early again. it's been a big start to the week.
Sunday, September 01, 2019
tool day 2019
omg, this world has been a slightly better place to live in since tool's old material became officially available, and with their new album's release it feels like my soul's giving a sigh of relief with a breath i didn't know i was holding in. i can't seem to get enough pneuma.
on saturday morning i went to bed with my headphones in so that i could listen to the rest of it, but it was muddled up with friday's trauma. i've been feeling that same heavy, deep exhaustion that i experienced the last time i was severely depressed, after leaving my first montreal job because of megaman. this kind of thing takes a lot of thought, processing, and planning, and that's a lot of what this weekend has been about. i'm just starting to feel comfortable with the idea of walking into work tomorrow, having a conversation with my manager and then proceeding to try to fix this shit.
otherwise, i took mr smear out yesterday morning for a bit, he silently stalked a couple of kids for a while before i could convince him to actually speak to them, and after he broke the ice they all enjoyed the short time they had together before i had to get us home so i could get ready for the new tattoo.
the new tattoo HURT. but it's beautiful, and i'm really excited about it. an advantage of it being tool day was that everyone at the tattoo parlour was happy to hear the album again :D
mr smear and i have played a lot of video games this weekend, and the experience has been mostly very positive.
today was corrective, after a pleasant wake-up i took mr smear to the gallery and the museum, for the latter i had to promise not to try to feed him to the great white shark he calls "sharkzega" again :P
we played toy story 3 for quite a while this afternoon, after which i took him to the gardens for a round of squirrel hunting (to feed them), and then we watched hook again.
i went to bed early last night (right after getting him to sleep), and i just said goodnight to him before writing this and then i believe i'm going to crash again.
on saturday morning i went to bed with my headphones in so that i could listen to the rest of it, but it was muddled up with friday's trauma. i've been feeling that same heavy, deep exhaustion that i experienced the last time i was severely depressed, after leaving my first montreal job because of megaman. this kind of thing takes a lot of thought, processing, and planning, and that's a lot of what this weekend has been about. i'm just starting to feel comfortable with the idea of walking into work tomorrow, having a conversation with my manager and then proceeding to try to fix this shit.
otherwise, i took mr smear out yesterday morning for a bit, he silently stalked a couple of kids for a while before i could convince him to actually speak to them, and after he broke the ice they all enjoyed the short time they had together before i had to get us home so i could get ready for the new tattoo.
the new tattoo HURT. but it's beautiful, and i'm really excited about it. an advantage of it being tool day was that everyone at the tattoo parlour was happy to hear the album again :D
mr smear and i have played a lot of video games this weekend, and the experience has been mostly very positive.
today was corrective, after a pleasant wake-up i took mr smear to the gallery and the museum, for the latter i had to promise not to try to feed him to the great white shark he calls "sharkzega" again :P
we played toy story 3 for quite a while this afternoon, after which i took him to the gardens for a round of squirrel hunting (to feed them), and then we watched hook again.
i went to bed early last night (right after getting him to sleep), and i just said goodnight to him before writing this and then i believe i'm going to crash again.
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