Drunken Owls and Other Delights

...the usual, I guess? This time out we walked up to Hamburger Haven, a literal greasy spoon up the way on Clement (it's been around since 1968 and very much looks it, decor-wise, even though there had been reno done during the pandemic) for a tasty and messy brunch. On the way back we walked through Mountain Lake Park, a tiny little triangle within the Presidio where we often see very happy dogs being walked, then after a quick stop at one of the corner stores we headed home.

Speaking of said store, this one, on the corner of California and 22nd, very much seems to be in its death throes and just selling off its remaining stock at this point. It's very empty and sad-looking, and I do hope that it gets a new owner at some point because it's been a great place otherwise. There's two coffee shops on the block that are thriving really well (and that one laundromat I go to because it's the best one in the hood), so I'd be shocked if it doesn't turn over sometime in the new year. I certainly hope it does, because I'd always zip over there for a soda and a snack whenever I was at the laundromat.

In other news, the huge APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) convention is in the city this coming week, so of course all sorts of nonsense will be happening with several streets closed off and busses rerouted. And apparently something is happening up the street on the 16th at the Legion of Honor Museum and the street my store is on may be closed off to traffic for the day. I'm working that morning, so I'm still not entirely sure what the setup is or if we'll be closing down the parking lot or what, but we shall see. Thankfully it's a short day for me so as soon as I'm off the clock I'm heading home!

Hope everyone has a good week ahead!

It's Sunday afternoon which of course means it's time to write blog posts, do the laundry, and figure out what I'm going to do this coming week. We both have tomorrow off but nothing planned other than probably going out for a walk or ordering out or something like that. I do in fact have something tomorrow -- I have a phone interview! Yes, I managed to get past the online application level and I'll be speaking with a hiring rep via Teams. No major details yet other than this is actually for a very local (as in right up the street) retail position. I'm totally fine with sliding back into that job field at this point. 

I was thinking about it the other day, actually...back when I worked retail and later at the YC warehouse, I actually enjoyed the level of work I had to do that kept me busy and somewhat social. Some of it did include a bit of mental gymnastics, but not so much that I was mentally exhausted by the end of the day. I realize now that was what banking did to me over the years, and that is totally NOT what I want to encounter again. Hell, whether I'm working a register or restocking or doing back office stuff, as long as I can still do my writing at the end of the day, yeah? That's the most important part of it. (And in a weird way, I kind of miss the social aspect of that kind of job. Not just the coworkers but dealing with other people in particular. Yes, even during this stupidass pandemic.)

So yeah...we'll know what happens in a few days, hopefully!

Let's see...what's new to report...

--Managed to get a vaccine appointment for A for the 30th by way of doing the same thing I did for myself: constantly refreshing multiple websites until something came up! Once again it's RiteAid and findashot.org for the win! Some of the sites were super picky, stating you could only be someone from this particular county or zip code, or that you had to log on to some other website first, or what have you, but FindAShot basically kept it easy and clean: it refreshed itself every five minutes for places that offered it like CVS, Walgreens, RiteAid, Safeway, and so on. As soon as I got a bite, I just went for it.

--Multiple important scenes in Diwa & Kaffi have been improved significantly and I'm quite happy about that. I think I may have maybe six or seven Big Moments to fix, but most of the rest of the scenes read just fine. It's the ones where you can tell I rushed it that needed work. I'm *hoping* to get it done by the end of the month, but I'll be happy if I get it done by mid-May. Where am I going to submit it? Good question. Still working on that.

--I'm getting lazy with my stretches and exercises again. I need to spend more than just five minutes doing a few twists and saying "meh, I'll do my crunches tomorrow". I'm doing okay with them, but I could be doing a lot better.

--Building management stopped by the other day to check the layout of the apartment, as apparently they need to get into a few of our closets to set up some kind of fire safety thing. Which means that on a certain day, I'll need to empty it all out so they can get in. Which means that I'll have to figure out where I'm going to put certain boxes and whatnot, even if it's just for half a day. It'll be a pain in the butt, but at the same time I'm trying to look at the plusses, such as dusting and vacuuming the corners (and maybe getting rid of a few shirts I haven't worn in like five years). Thankfully this shouldn't take more than a day so it won't be too big of an issue.

--For the very first time, the bookshelf containing my music books now wholly contains *books I have actually read*. I've managed to get the TBR pile down to a few dozen, which have been moved to the bookshelf next to my side of the bed. And THAT particular TBR pile is only a single shelf, so I should be able to get through them soon enough!

--Next week we'll be going to a restaurant (with A's parents) for the first time in who knows how long. To be honest, it's not really blowing my mind as it would most other people. I think it's partly because I've been the one heading out each week to do the grocery shopping or other outside errands, so it's not as if I've been squirrelled away and not seen another human being aside from A this past year. I do miss heading to places like some of the local diners and a few of our favorite watering holes, though!

....and that's all I can think of for now. Gotta finish doing the laundry and prep my writing blog entry for Monday. Hope everybody has a fine week ahead!