24 July 2024

Went and did the scutwork today. A part of it is running to the dump; neither Neighbor nor L seem to use the municipal trash service and, given how far back each is from the road and how difficult it would be for a garbage truck to turn around in either scenario, it’s just as well. Neighbor already showed me the ropes once and we were due to have another session with me driving the pickup, but we had that thing last weekend that got in the way after meat-sorting night came two days late. So it’s two weeks’ worth of stuff, some of it meat wrappers. Yeehaw. But that’s okay. He hasn’t paid me for today yet so I suspect it’ll happen tomorrow. I told him it was more like two items than three because of distribution of things so we’re probably looking at $20 for the week unless he pays me for helping on the trash run too. I won’t push. We’ll see what he says.

Water went off today. It’s well water so this was some mechanism fucking up. Mac fixed it though. It’s nice to know the handyman and not have to go through a landlord.

He also chatted with L about replacing her car. She calls it Enya and I asked her about that today. She said, “Because it’s Caribbean blue.” Ah ha ha ha ha. So we’ll be seeing a vehicle change soon, I imagine.

I miss my car but I don’t miss the repair bills it would have racked up. At least I don’t have four ginormous doggos to transport.

I didn’t mention here, but I cut my hair yesterday. Needed it. I got clippers, one reason I wound up broke again. But I won’t have to pay for a haircut again. I’m sorted. I’ll take it. I look weird with short hair, but I look weird no matter what and I look a hell of a lot worse with my hair hanging down all thin and stringy and half in my face. When this grows out maybe a quarter inch it’ll actually look pretty good. I just have to keep on top of it now.

Neighbor messaged a little while ago. One of the things we get often in the meat sorting is smoked salmon. He and I both like it, so we wind up splitting it. (L also uses it to feed her dogs sometimes, I’ve noticed.) This time around, some of it was warm. He decided to chance it, so that’s what the message was about. He reported that he ate it and felt fine. I said it was probably the being smoked — I mean, that’s why they smoke salmon. Though I realize these days we aren’t using the old-fashioned methods, mostly.

But it’s weird how once in a great while he’ll chat at me randomly like that. Not often enough to get excited about, just the occasional bit of me going “…okay?” in my head. I wish we could have conversations. I realize he’s probably talking to umpty billion people though. L being one of them. But you know me, I don’t go where I’m not wanted or welcome. That way lies misery and I am never doing that again.

Watched Practical Magic this evening for the first time in years. I’m not usually a sucker for the romance genre but I love this film. I better be careful or I’m gonna start going around starry-eyed for no fucking reason whatsoever.

Oh, and side note. Matt’s second wife and I once got into a brief dispute over this movie because I happened to mention that the book story and the film plot are almost two completely different stories. She insisted that no, the film follows the book. What gets me is she’s a college grad with a master’s degree and yet she’s obviously illiterate, senile, or a liar. And this was more than twenty years ago. I wouldn’t be so harsh but she put me through some shit and I’m still a tad bitter about it.

(Another thing, and I can’t remember if it was this week or last week, about Neighbor is that I had to step away to dump some yucky stuff off to the side during the sorting and I came back to find a pack of steelhead in my stuff. He knows I like that too. I’ve said before that I think of him as a kind person. And yet he can seem so indifferent most of the rest of the time. I don’t get it, but I’m probably not meant to get it. Either things will come more clear over time or they won’t. My bet’s on won’t.)