Last week’s adventure in the woods got me wondering a bit if some portion of my day-to-day discomfort was psychosomatic in nature. A few rides in my car this week swiftly dispelled that notion. “Nope, yeah I definitely hurt down there, not just in my head.” But I have been taking the opportunity to indulge in my introverted side. “Oh, sorry, would love to go to your thing, but I just can’t manage to get myself anywhere gee golly I wish I could.” Kinda reminds me of that proverb with the two wolves. Gonna have to start getting off my lazy backside and getting out there sooner or later.
And I have been doing that. On Friday last week we went to a corn maze! Haven’t done that in years. We arrived a couple hours before sundown, took a while to get everyone together, had a bit of dinner, then set off through the field. They provided us maps, and at first I thought that’d be cheating, but then I considered my condition and thought the best thing would be to get through as soon as possible. So I played navigator for our group of three intrepid explorers. (Random thought, why don’t they call it a maize maze?)
I asked a couple times if the other two were cool with my swift navigation, as we were making very good time and weren’t really taking in the whole ‘lost in a field’ experience. But they assured me they wanted to get through just as fast as I did. So we exited in ~30 minutes, about an hour faster than the last group.
During and after the corn maze, our group engaged in musical shenanigans, because what else is a group of sober Mormon singles gonna do for fun (besides host hallway dinners or pizza-eating competitions). The opening salvo came as we were in the hay-bale wagon carting us over to the maze’s entrance, where we decided to bust out a round of Happy Birthday for one of our number, when we all knew full well it wasn’t her birthday. Very embarrassing for her, very entertaining for us and those nearby who were clued in as to what we were up to.
After a few of us made it out of the maze, we were standing around with nothing better to do, so we started singing Christmas carols. Yes, we went there. No, we apparently had no respect for tradition. The surrounding conversations ground to a halt at our flaunting of the law and order of holiday cheer.
Finally we settled into a groove of singing Disney classics—even got a maze attendant in on the action for a while. This served the double purpose of keeping us entertained, and guiding in those of our group still out in the field.
Afterwards, a subset of us went to a friend’s place to play games; ended up doing half a round of Betrayal at House on the Hill. A bit disappointed we had to end right as the Haunt began, as it was the first game ever for most of them.
The other activity that’s been taking my time is [town]house hunting. Not exactly the most fun thing I could think to do with my time, but neither is paying exorbitant amounts of rent each month, so I’ll stomach it. Still in the early stages, but I got referred to a great agent, so we’ve been going out and seeing a few places.
I was on the phone with Mom chatting about a place, just lazing about outside on a table, when a security guard walked by and laughed at me. I laughed back, because the situation was really funny. To explain why, I need to rewind to a couple days prior, when I decided that I had enough dirty laundry to justify hauling it in and doing it in one go in the laundry room at the office. Dropped it off in the laundry room, where I saw the machine already in use. Figured I’d dart back after a while and pop it in.
I got home that night and went to toss my clothes into the hamper, when I realized I’d completely forgotten about laundry that entire day. Oops. Luckily I still had things to wear.
The next day I got the first load started, then set a timer to come back and cycle the load. The timer went off in a meeting, had to silence it.
I was lying on a couch at 8:30pm working late, when I realized I’d done it again, completely forgot about laundry. Darted down and cycled the load, chilled on the couch in between cycles, ended up leaving around 11pm. While I was there a security guard saw me as she was making the rounds.
The next morning the same guard walked by while I was again lying on the couch; jokingly asked if I’d been there all night, hardy har.
So fast forwarding, that same guard came across me lying on a table outside chatting with Mom, and it was just a really funny situation, the third time she’d caught my lying around in random places. Anyways.
Had a couple close calls with some companies I had to resolve over the phone this week. I noticed a few weeks ago that my Comcast bill had gradually increased until it was double what I was used to paying. Thus far they’d been properly keeping out of the picture, ferrying bits back and forth. Now it was time to learn first-hand why everyone despises them.
Normally in my area, Comcast sells 150mbps for $50-odd per month. The “Blast 250” promo bumps that up to 250mpbs for the first two years, no extra charge. I asked if they’d notify me at the end of that time period and they said no, my bill would just start reflecting the full price of the speed I was getting. So I set a calendar reminder for two years in the future, to remind me to cancel. I suspected my price increase had something to do with this.
“Yes, I see your bill has gone up because the ‘Blast 250’ promo only lasts one year and now–”
“Nope, two years. I was told two years.”
“Ah, ok, no worries, let me go and get another year on that promo for you.”
…
“Ok, you’re all set, I’ve reduced your monthly bill down to $50.”
“Great. Now I’m gonna need you to correct my last two bills.”
“Of course, let me transfer you to our finance department.”
Given how easy that was, I wonder if a) they know they’re short-changing me and just hope I’ll eat the cost, or b) they’re pushovers and I’ll be able to pull a similar stunt in a year’s time. Who knows.
The other issue I resolved with a phone call had to do with my old-and-broken phone I sent in for replacement. Instead of leaving me without a phone for [time-to-ship-phone-to-warehouse-and-back], they just send the new phone right away, and require me to return my old phone in 14 days or they charge me up to $1000.
When I dropped the phone off at Fedex there was a line, and I’d parked in a spot belonging to a neighboring restaurant with loud warning labels to that effect. I opted to drop my package off without waiting for a receipt.
So when I got the “First Warning” email saying that they were still waiting for my device and I’d soon be subject to the $1000 fee, I kicked myself. I inspected the shipping label they emailed to me, looking for a number I could enter on the Fedex tracking site. It came up as having been delivered last week.
“Hey, so, what gives?”
“Ah, yes I see it has been delivered, I’m not sure why our systems weren’t updated. Don’t worry about the fee, no danger there.”
Whew.
Speaking of deliveries, on Friday I got an email saying I had a package in the mail room. That was unexpected, I hadn’t ordered anything recently. In true Jeff fashion I forgot all about it until I’d already left work.
So when I got in Monday morning I was grinning from ear to ear as I read the Telestrations cards Mom sent. Very good drawings! And only in the last couple days has my tongue started getting back to normal after ingesting way too many Warheads at once. Warmed my heart nonetheless.
Last night I went to a friend’s place, ostensibly to introduce her roommates to Firefly – she was already a huge fan. Turns out most of her roommates are already fans, so we just had a grand old time watching the pilot episode. Jokingly planned to get together for a table reading of the 15th [unfilmed] episode.
I usually make a point of turning the heat on in my room but leaving the door open, to prevent it getting too hot. This has the desired effect, but probably has the undesired side effect of leaving the heating element active 100% of the time. Last night I experimented with closing the door most of the way.
Woke up this morning at I-don’t-know-when-o’clock, gasping for breath. Stumbled out of my room, deeply inhaled the mercifully-cool air, then promptly collapsed in the hallway, too tired to do anything but lie down somewhere with air I could actually breathe.
Eventually shambled back into my room, which had cooled considerably since I left the door open. Turned the heat off and clambered back into bed. Not long after that, my alarm started going off. I only set it on days when I have to be up in time to get to my physical therapy appointments at 8am.
I got showered and dressed, ready to head out, when it occurred to me that I hadn’t gotten any reminder text message the day before. I wondered if perhaps I’d reached the end of my my six weeks’ worth of PT appointments. I called in and confirmed that no, I did not have any further appointments.
I suppose I could reschedule for some, and I might do that if I don’t keep improving, but lately I’ve felt that heading back is basically a formality, not much to do except the exercises they already tell me to do at home. So for now I think I’ll just strike out on my own. Weird feeling, closing that era off.
