closing the week

i'm feeling surprisingly accomplished today!

wednesday:

my throat was stilled threatening me, and my brain was a bit fluffy.

i woke up still feeling horrible about the night before, and mr smear did too. i tried to apologize but he was having none of it, which really stung, but a little later he said something and i realized what exactly he'd been so upset about, and it turned out to be a simple misunderstanding. it took two seconds to clarify and rectify the situation and everything was fine again.

i'm still feeling hugely relieved.

after dropping him off at school, i wrote up an article about scribble diffusion. this is a real game-changer for AI-generated art!!

i worked from home again, and it was a long and difficult day. i barely remember it, to be honest. it's all a bit of a blur.

tuesday and wednesday were particularly bad days for internet connectivity, and i was frequently disconnected from meetings and ultimately had to rely on my phone for a mobile hotspot.

yesterday:

there was a strike on yesterday, and i worked from home while gd and mr smear went through his online assignments together. it was a looooooong morning for them, but they got it all done in the end and i'm very proud of both of them - they did need the occasional help, but for the most part they figured it all out.

the internet technician came to sort out the problems we've been experiencing for the last week or two, and he showed me a picture of the cables - they're literally hanging in mid-air, so of course we have disconnections if there's any wind. he's managed to re-stabilize it, but i've just signed a contract with a different ISP and we'll be switching over to fibre soon.

i had a weird day, however. i really struggled with the work i was doing and i was feeling a bit out of it, not only was it hard to concentrate but at some point i realized that i had no idea what i'd been doing for the couple of hours prior to that moment... but by the end of the day i'd gotten the first task (of a big, important series) complete and had learned a ton, and i finished the work day on such a high note that i actually had to make an effort to "put my pen down" and leave the final tweaks until sunday!

the babysitter arrived on time, and mr smear immediately began acting super-weird. apparently he was totally cool from the moment we left, but it was enough to be embarrassing...

gd and i thoroughly enjoyed our evening with tahoma and his husband, nystire and his wife, and nyah nyah and her husband, it was raucous and silly and fun and it's been far too long since we got to just be people around others and not parents for a while.

today:

i managed to get up early today, feeling slightly hungover in spite of the fact that i didn't drink very much last night. gd, on the other hand, felt very hungover. she went back to bed as soon as mr smear's bag was packed.

mr smear said something eye-opening to me on our way to school this morning; i'm paraphrasing, but it was basically: "dad, am i'm an ideological zombie because i want everybody to be kind to animals?"
i'm literally amazed that my suspicions seem to have been correct.

i started my day with a bumpy bus ride to the kenyon ayalon mall to pick up what i thought was an electronic pen to use with scribble diffusion. it wasn't, it was basically a very advanced etch-a-sketch, so i went into the mall, picked up a coffee and hung around until the computer store opened.

they didn't have what i wanted either. but on the way out i noticed a stationary store that did have what i was looking for! the G430S is a little more pricey than i was planning on, but we've now gotten a good hour or two's use out of it (on both a macbook and a windows machine) and i'm well pleased that i bought it ^_^

i returned home in time for a quick breakfast, then rushed off to pick mr smear up from school - i left late, walked really fast and arrived just in time, by the time we returned home i was feeling pretty exercised. we immediately left home again to do the grocery shopping, and by the time we got home from that expedition i was properly exercised (12000+ steps) and in dire need of a nap.

so i napped a couple of hours, an absolutely glorious nap, then got up to spend the rest of the afternoon on chores and reading. mr smear's grounding ended at sunset, at which point we unboxed the pen and got to work :)

he's now playing some spider-man before dinner, and i just listened in on the temple service; i'm just feeling a lot of gratitude for everything we have and for being in a good place mentally.