Grumpy in Public and Other Recent Adventures

Things have been busier than usual lately, which honestly is not saying much, but still. I’ve also been in an unusually social mood, and I fully expect that to be temporary. I don’t know what to attribute it to. My outlook is still pretty meh. I think I’m just tired of sitting at home being grumpy by myself, so I figured I might as well share the misery with the world. You’re welcome. 

Last week started with some family drama. Nothing new there. My sister was supposed to meet my mom at some giant garage sale event and stood her up in a pretty shitty way. So I stepped in, took Mom to lunch at The Brook, her favorite, and then did a Costco run with her and Heather. She was upset but didn’t really say much, which somehow feels worse.

I tried bribing her with The Devil Wears Prada 2 and popcorn, but she informed me she didn’t even like the first movie, so there was absolutely no chance she was sitting through the second. Fair enough.

Heather and I ended up going on Sunday instead. We grabbed kids’ meals at Whataburger, loaded up on popcorn, and settled in. The movie was good, but not in the way I expected. It was really about the death of print media, AI-generated garbage, clickbait culture, sweatshops, all the fun lighthearted topics. It hit harder than I thought it would.  Also, I left wanting to max out every credit card I own on clothes I have absolutely nowhere to wear. Just let me spend one afternoon in one of those closets. Once. That’s all I ask.

In other who even am I news, I joined the YMCA.

I know.

The thing that pushed me over the edge was the egym machines. You get this bracelet and tap it when you sit down, and the machine automatically adjusts everything to your settings. There’s a little animated pacing line you follow and collect dots while it tracks your reps. It feels like playing a really bad video game.  I’ve only gone twice so far, once for setup and once for the actual circuit, but I genuinely like it. Work gives us an hour of fitness leave three times a week and I’ve basically just been throwing that benefit directly into the trash for years. I originally thought I’d use the ancient equipment at the office gym, but one look at those relics and I decided I’d rather pay actual money elsewhere.  Going 3 days a week on my way home from work cuts down on the excuses not to go.  The Y has twelve locations, two with the egym setup, nice pools, classes, even pilates reformer. That last one is a hard no for now, but never say never. Baby steps.

Food-wise, the meal service menu last week was uninspiring, so I skipped pickup entirely and we survived off grill nights and freezer food. This week’s menu was much better though, and we’re stocked back up with crockpot and air fryer meals like functioning adults.

Friday night was the Savannah Bananas touring team.

I’d tried to get tickets through the lottery months ago and failed spectacularly. Resale tickets were pushing $200 for the travel team, not even the main squad, which was an immediate absolutely-not from me. Then Friday afternoon I got an email saying they had released last-minute lawn tickets for $35. Suddenly I was going.

I texted my sister at 4:45 asking if she wanted to go because gates opened at 5:30. Somehow she was free, so we threw ourselves together and headed out. As I walked to the car, I looked up at the sky and immediately thought: oh no. That should’ve been my warning.

We found a spot on the lawn, and while grabbing nachos I had the sudden impulse to check the merch stand for ponchos before the rain started. They had them for under five dollars, so I grabbed two.  Excellent decision-making for once in my life.  By the time I got back to our spot, they were already covering the field. Lightning started. My sister and I looked at each other, put the ponchos on, and then the sky absolutely opened up. I tucked the nachos under my poncho because priorities matter.  After over an hour of delays and slowly losing the will to fight through crowds of children chasing autographs, we gave up temporarily and headed to a little bar across the street. We sat there drinking cider while watching the venue screens from the windows for signs of the game starting back up.

Eventually the game resumed, enough people had left that we upgraded ourselves from soggy lawn seating to actual seats, and honestly? It ended up being really fun.  Not sure I’d sprint back to do it again, but I’m glad we went.  The real tragedy was discovering there was orchestral karaoke happening a few blocks away at the exact same time. My sister immediately informed me I had chosen the wrong event.

She may have been right.

I also completely forgot Mother’s Day weekend overlapped with show week. I had already made brunch reservations for my mom, sister, Heather, and me, but thankfully HMF was willing to switch our theater tickets to Saturday night instead.

We’re still trying to recover emotionally from the closure of our old pre-show restaurant. Nothing nearby hits the same.  This time we tried a place called Avery in a hotel lobby. It was... fine. But they served cold chicken on my salad and my texture issues simply do not permit that kind of behavior. HMF kindly donated some of her cornflake-crusted chicken to the cause, which saved the meal.  Good friends understand texture and temperature issues without requiring explanation.

The show itself was The Wiz, which honestly wasn’t even on my radar. It’s not one I would’ve picked, but I ended up loving it. Funny, energetic,  and just a genuinely good time.

The only downside was that some of the vocals were hard to understand. I thought maybe it was just me, but at intermission HMF admitted she was following along with the ASL interpreters to catch some lines too.

The other issue was the theater temperature, which could only be described as meat locker. People around us were literally talking about leaving at intermission because they were so cold.  I learned years ago to always bring a jacket to theaters, but even with that I had goosebumps.

Sunday brunch with the family was predictably stressful, because family brunches apparently cannot exist without at least low-level emotional damage. The food was good though, and I ate way too much.

Afterward I hit the outlet mall because Gap and Banana Republic were running half-off sales for cardholders. I ended up getting several things for under $100, which felt like a miracle. The downside is that stores still seem deeply committed to pretending short people do not exist, so I probably need to finally learn how to hem pants. I did order fabric tape, which feels like the lazy compromise version of adulthood.

While walking back to my car, I spotted a woman wearing Fluevogs. I recognized them instantly, as one does. I stopped her to compliment them and told her I knew exactly what they were. The look on her face was priceless. She said I was the first person who had ever identified them by name in public. Honestly, it felt like seeing another member of a very niche secret society.

No idea what this weekend holds yet. I really need to clean up my yard before it fully transforms into a junkyard full of Dennis’s abandoned crap. I’m tempted to call the city just to force the issue, but I also don’t know if I’m emotionally prepared for the fallout that would create.

So for now, the junk pile remains.

Random picture because I was really feeling my outfit