the mess

 yesterday:

first, the bank: my mom's bank (and probably most of the banks) are operating out of the 90s. very little about their systems and their approach to security of said systems makes any sense in a post-millennium context. anyway, we managed to sort things out eventually.

after work, i picked up our soundbar (which has apparently been fixed, we'll find out soon enough) and then returned home to switch it out for my son, who i took to the climbing wall.

the climbing wall experience was excellent - he's almost up to the top, and he's really enjoying himself. he did things that he didn't think was possible, and i'm super proud of him!

the post-climbing wall experience was the opposite of excellent, as we ended up having a mostly very bad time due to some bad behavior and some misunderstandings. by the time we got home we'd pretty much cleared everything up, but that whole thing was hard on both of us. i've was extremely relieved to have been able to patch things up in time for a positive good night.

i'm very grateful that we both went to sleep in a good space.

today:

this morning started off really badly. apparently the universe thinks i've been bored, because i woke up with a surprising and surprisingly unpleasant skin issue and it looks like i need to take it to a dermatologist. i then had to navigate a very complicated morning that involved getting a medical insurance authorization that i didn't actually need and getting mr smear to an appointment, both on my way to work after handling some urgent admin / interviewing stuff.

no stress... although monday's interview appears to have gone well. and then i ran into an old friend / ex-manager / ex-classmate on my way to work, and there's a good chance he'll be starting to work there soon as well. that could be cool.

on the way out from dropping mr smear off at his appointment, his therapist said something to me that made it clear that we're not getting any money back from our medical insurance. we like her and we think she's doing a good job, but we literally can't afford her :(

...

our cousin who's 99th birthday we celebrated a month ago passed away this morning. i'm very sad for his family, but relieved for him.

...

i rushed out of the office and managed to arrive just in time for an appointment that would only begin half an hour later... we must have been there for an hour and a half, eventually discovering that mr smear has needed glasses for years, that it's probably our fault that he didn't get a prescription before, and that his vision has suffered as a result.

fuck.

we did a quick grocery shopping on the way home, during which i realized why i keep getting bad soy milks - the brand we've been buying doesn't use preservatives :/

we got home, showered quickly, ate quickly, and then i left for a couple of beers with an old army friend. that was nice.

my cough's still going, turns out my mom's had bronchitis, i'll wager me as well. between that and the skin thing i'm praying i'll be able to sleep tonight.