A seething mass of turgid drama.

Early Monday morning I got out of bed, and because we had not fully unpacked from the weekend yet, bashed my second-smallest toe against my wooden clothes box. It hurt, as expected, and I thought no more about it.

When I got up, the toe actively hurt and was 2/3 purple. I went to work anyway, but I was limping a bit. So I made a doctor's appointment for today and am working from home to make that easier. Today, of course, the toe hurts far less and so I will cancel. (I was pretty sure it wasn't broken - it didn't hurt enough for that. The doctor was a precaution but it would be a waste of everyone's time today.)

I enjoy drinking coffee. After a brief period as an undergrad of habitually overdosing and then going cold turkey over the summer to counteract, I conceded the psychological addiction but limit my intake to prevent a physical one - I don't like getting a caffeine headache if I don't drink it. What that means in practice is that during the week, I have a single cup of coffee before I leave for work. Approximately once per week if I am really lagging, I allow myself a second cup after I get in to the office.

Our building, in its attempts to retain and attract tenants in a depressed office market, has been updating the 100+-year-old building slightly. The latest amenity is a new lounge on our floor with couches, a couple tables, a microwave... and a free coffee machine.

Part of the way I enforce my limit is that I have to go out of the building and buy a second cup of coffee. It's just enough inconvenience that I have to feel like I want/need to do it rather than just being available. So... I am going to pretend that this free coffee machine doesn't exist.

So far this COVID variant is still acting like a medium cold. I'm not thrilled, but it's far easier to manage. Once the symptoms go away - hopefully not that long, as the internets say 10 days is common - we'll wait for a couple negative tests before venturing out again.

Our friend Crystal was immensely kind enough to drive up and drop off a care package. A variety of Trader Joe's prepared foods, which is great for brainless preparation, and stuff from her freezer. I was blown away by the thoughtfulness.

In the last set of storms, my pressure-induced headaches have returned for the first time in over ten years. They aren't at the migraine level, thank $deity - just pain pressure that generally can be dealt with a half dose of Excedrin. (Although one was a ballpoint pen cap stabbing me in the temple repeatedly.) I don't know what's changed recently, but I would like it to change back, please and thank you.

Somewhere around twenty years ago, I bought a $50 light black leather jacket at Costco. It was made in India, presumably by non-Hindus, and was perfect for the SF climate. I wore the heck out of it, but over the last year it's been clear that it's on its last cuffs. (General layer shedding and abrasion revealing the lining on the cuffs and sleeves, as well as around the zipper.) The difficulty has been 1) finding the right weight, as I would rarely wear an East Coast weight; 2) finding a similar generic style I can wear with everything; 3) the above at a cost I can live with. I knew $50 wasn't going to repeat itself but I couldn't stomach paying $2k for a designer jacket.

Fortunately, the wife found one that met all three criteria. It arrived last week and... apparently new leather offgassing is a thing. It made the entryway where it hangs smell like overheated electrical wires. So it's hanging in the back porch and occasionally getting rubbed with coffee grounds. We're getting some leather conditioner that's supposed to help as well.

Earlier in the week I got a text to make a yearly eye appointment. The wife just had hers, so I held off but kept it in the back of my head.

A couple days later, I got a notice to check in for my appointment today at 11:30. I never made this appointment - and couldn't make it, as I have work then - so I responded as such. I didn't expect it to really go through but didn't care enough to call them.

Today, I got a call around 11:40 reminding me that I was late for my checkup. At which point I told the receptionist the story and said I would make an appointment when I was ready. She was flummoxed and vaguely apologetic. I'm not sure she believed me, but whatever. I'm not willing to be rushed into making it.

The wife and I have been suffering lingering colds for the last two-three weeks. Or possibly two separate ones, as the symptoms had gone away and allowed us to go to WCCS. But ever since then we've been sneezing, coughing, and hacking.
COVID tests have been negative. The wife even got a chest X-ray to make sure it wasn't pneumonia, because that was how it started. That was negative too. So it's either a low-grade flu that didn't get vaccination protection, or a really bad cold.

I stayed home from work last week. No one else is in the office right now, but I didn't want to make the trek. I am (knock on wood) feeling better today and came in, but I am trying to take it easy anyway.

Yesterday during my physical therapy appointment, the guy was making small talk while stretching my shoulder. Upon learning that I work in finance, he asked me what advice I would give.

I was tempted to say "Never get involved in a land war in Asia," but sensibly refrained and instead replied "Max out your 401(k)."

I've been having sporadic, but re-occurring, shoulder pain. Occasionally to the point where I can't use my arm to, say, tuck in my shirt behind my back because that rotation hurts too much.

I've been applying a menthol rub which seems to help. I suppose I should schedule a GP visit so he or she can give me exercises and tell me it's an inevitable part of getting older.

I got a COVID booster yesterday. In and out pretty quickly. I forgot to bring my vax card (duh) but the tech filled out a new one for me. No side effects so far except a slightly sore shoulder, which is consistent with my previous reactions as I only got them from the first shot.

Miss Beatrice jumped onto the bed during the night and slept on my chest for a few hours. She left and then came back later to settle on my shins for an hour. I'd like this to be a regular thing, but it hasn't been in the past. I didn't sleep well but I can't blame that on the cat; she did her best to emit snorons.

Yesterday we performed Galathea, a 1583 English play, for a small group of people. In person - no one wanted to do a Hollywood Squares Zoom production. Both the audience and the actors wore COVID masks. That made it harder for the actors, of course, but such is life. We may try to perform again when we can either be outdoors (and so unmasked/unmuffled) or perhaps for Twelfth Night (whenever that happens again).

This has been in the works for a while. It was what we had planned to do for Twelfth Night 2021; we had cast back in July 2019 and read through once, but not gotten any farther before Things Got Cancelled.

I have quite a few thoughts on this, but they are jumbled and I don't want to spend a lot of time getting them out and editing. So I will just say that I am glad we did it. It wouldn't call it one of our top three productions, but a fine performance and the audience enjoyed it. It was much better than our last in-person production. No serious line drops, awkward pauses, or anything else of the like. (I completely spaced on one line at the end of a monologue, but I dropped something else in that worked okay.)