Fall Adventure Begins
Monday, August 14th, 2023 11:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioonly 74F, and raining this morning! In other words, gorgeous!.. especially for the first day back to full time.
And we did see a big yellow school bus drive past while we were out there this morning, but the pet walk was brief, because it was raining.
And now I'm in the back room with about three hours before I have to leave, just like back in the good old days of March, April, and May.
It will be good, returning to a departure time of 2:20, rather than the 12:50 I've been doing for over two months. That always felt like I was rushing out the door.
I also WILL NOT MISS that rush hour drive home at 5:30PM... heading west into the blinding sun, in bumper to bumper traffic, crawling down Montgomery road at 20MPH.
--<>--
Things should feel different this time around... less intense, I'm hoping.
When I started FT in March, I was still in crisis mode, after Dad's death. Tim had just left, the yard was a shambles... there were issues with the cameras... I didn't have adequate shoes.
I was in a rush to complete a long list of huge projects... racing to get it all done before summer came and it got too hot. And I was having those plans foiled by the cold, in the case of the hose hook up, and the rain, on several other weekends.
But now all that stuff is done, including the ruts. No more grass mats with bricks on them. No more hoses and timers.
Even the juniper tree got cut down... and that wood chipper finally got out of the back room and into the shed.
The hatch door is a big project, but there's no big rush on it.
--<>--
I'll be able to just focus on the day's work without this desperate need to get through the week, becasue I left something unfinished on Sunday night, and can't get back to it until Saturday again!
And I think I'll feel more like I belong there this time around, because I'll be there from the start of the school year.
I'll be there for the whole story, as it cools down... as Halloween comes and goes... Thanksgiving break... Christmas break.
And after things do cool down, I'm sure I'll get those trees cut down in back, one by one.
------------{=0=}------------
1:11PM
Just made a run to Fiesta Food Mart to get some smokes... then brought in the mail, and gave the clothes in the dryer a second spin.
All the talk right now is about Dad's funeral, and the reunion in October.
Sheila & Colleen are busy planning things and sending invites. Tim's buying plane tickets and looking into rental cars.
I'd like to have some trees cut down, to use for firewood in the new pit, for that event.
If I'm lucky, there will be a cool enough weekend in late September to cut down two of them... which would give me enough wood to weigh down the wood rack, so that I can put the cover over it, without worrying it'll catch the wind and blow over.
And that'd give the wood a month to dry out and be burnable.
I guess I'd like to have the hatch door done by then too... October 20th.
That way I'd have the porch back, and I could have the basement open to the outside as well... for a kind of open house when people are here.
--<>--
I never did get the fuse boxes updated to a breaker box this spring.
It's got to be done when it's around 70F outside, because the power will be out for most of the day.
But the hatch door also has to be functional.
There's a small window in October where that would be possible, but things will probably be too hectic by then, so it's gonna have to wait until next May.
I wanted to wait until that was done before patching and painting Dad's room, but... now that it's the studio, I may go ahead and freshen it up anyway, before the open house.
That black ceiling with the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to it, is thanks to Sabrina moving in there with me, back in 1996.
But nobody ever updated it, and in their old age, Mom & Dad slept in that room as it was, with the stars... which have gone from being ironic to iconic over thirty years... especially since they may have been the last thing Dad saw as he died in there.
So... I plan to repaint the ceiling and other black trim with a dark blue, and I did buy some star stencils back in February, to repaint a few stars for the sake of tradition.
But now that it's the studio... well, last night I found on Amazon that they sell glow in the dark paint!
So, I can actually paint glowing stars back onto the ceiling!
The floor is a different issue. Right now it's just masonite underlayment, that doesn't sit evenly, and beneath that is some kind of ancient plywood before you get down to the original wood floor, which we know is ugly, based on the living room and hallway.
With the insane cost of plywood right now, replacing the masonite would be expensive as hell. But there might be a way for me to flatten it with just drywall screws and some floor leveler between the seams.
After that, a sufficiently thick floor tile, properly glued down, could make it acceptable.
------------{=0=}------------
12:00AM
Well, I made it!
14,000 steps tonight too!.. which I think is a record... but my feet are fine.
Heels were aching a bit right before lunch, but that went away.
You may recall that prior to the summer, I had my 8 hour routine down to 7K steps.
So why was it double that, today?
Because my goddam janitor cart went missing!.. and I confirmed that, by looking in every single closet, classroom, office, hall, and nook, in the entire building... twice!
This was after texting Jeremy, who hadn't been there when I'd arrived, and him saying it was either in the office, or the kindergarten hallway.
He was full of bullshit!
I then called Chantele, to tell her that my cart had been removed from the building.
But Chantele is a person who always has a script in her mind, for what she thinks a conversation is going to be... so it doesn't matter what your mouth noises are, she just hears what's in her script.
She answered, and I said, "Hey! My janitor cart's been removed from the building. I've looked every..."
"Okay you can go to meeting at five o'clock. Stockman school. You leave in ten minute."
"What? What meeting?"
"Jeremy tell you about meeting today. You be there at five o'clock. Don't have to set the alarm. Just close the doors. Tell them in the office you are leaving."
"What about my janitor cart?"
"Cart is in the custodial closet."
"No, I called you to say that I looked in every closet... hello?.. hello?.."
She had already hung up.
--<>--
So when I told the principal and her secretary that I had to leave for a meeting, the principal was like, "Nooop!.. we need coverage!" And she called Chantele.
Chantele said to her, "No, Patrick will stay at Cloud. He does not have to go to meeting."
Then my phone rang, and it was Chantele. "Patrick you stay at Cloud. They need coverage there. You don't have to go to meeting!"
--<>--
So, okay, I didn't have to go to the meeting, but I was still pissed off that my goddam janitor cart was missing. Both Jeremy and Chantele were blowing it off like I was just making shit up!
And... I've had a car stolen twice, and I've been gaslit by abusers in the past, so this kind of shit is triggering for me.
It was a nice rainy day, and relatively cool, but I was still ready to quit over this.
I had heard from the women in the office that last week, while I was gone, they had a big crew of people come in and clean the whole building top to bottom.
This wasn't something I was told would happen, and I didn't understand why it would be necessary. But clearly, one of these assholes made off with my cart!
Either they were sick of waiting to get their own cart at their home school... because GeoStaff fucking drags their feet for weeks about providing new carts... or they took it for some kind of side hustle.
Whatever the case, it was not cool, and as I went to do garbage and vacuum classrooms, the phrase kept going through my head, "If my cart's not back by tomorrow, I'm quitting."
That's what I planned to text Chantele at the end of the night, after clocking out.
Because fuck it!.. I can be starting another janitor job somewhere else in a week!
I don't need to put up with this bullshit... where my cart vanishes, but everybody acts like I'm crazy! Go to hell!
--<>--
But then, an hour after lunch, my phone rings and it's Chantele again.
Still oblivious to the cart problem, she said, "I need you to check the four hour area tonight and get the garbage. Check the bathrooms. Make sure it all look good tonight, before you go! You can stay extra hours if you need to! You can work overtime all week if you want to! I approve it!"
But that's Rosa's area, so I said, "Okay, but when's Rosa coming back?"
"Rosa is gone. Rosa quit! Rosa put in her resignation last week!"
And THAT...
Immediately turned my frown upside down! :D
--<>--
What had been a very BAD first day back to full time...
Suddenly became a very GOOD first day back!
I've been saying, Rosa needs to go since April!
Basically she was always forgetting her keys or her badge, and never showed up on time, often being HOURS late.
She was always sneaking around the building, popping up in areas she had no business in... like my areas upstairs... were I think she boned an electrician one night.
I had a theory that her goal was to get permission to clock in so late that she'd still be in the building after I left at 11:30... so that she could sneak her friends inside to do shrooms together.
And she did indeed, finally get permission to clock in at 8:45PM on May 26th, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend... free to stay well past when I left, and set the alarm herself.
And she wasn't around much after that, calling in sick two days in a row, that final week before I went to part time.
Once I was part time, I left at 5:30PM so we never crossed paths.
The story about her kept changing... that she'd been reassigned to another school for the summer... or that she was now back at Cloud, but clocking in at 7PM... disarming the alarm herself and working alone...
But the understanding was that she'd be back this week, along with me!.. and I was dreading it!
--<>--
So, I told Chantele there's no way I can do overtime, because my dog waits for me for nine hours and needs to go out.
But I was THRILLED to find out that Rosa is gone for GOOD!
And it immediately made me want to stay at Cloud, just so I could have the experience of working an entire school year there, WITHOUT ROSA!
And my missing cart was also, suddenly a non-issue, because all I have to do is commandeer Rosa's old cart!
--<>--
So, by tomorrow, when they all come to terms with the fact that a janitor cart really did go missing... they'll start the weeks long process of getting a new one.
And that'll be fine, because it'll take them that many weeks to find a replacement for Rosa!
Meanwhile, I'll have a cart of my own, and whoever shows up to fill in the gaps can use Jeremy's goddam janitor cart!
Because... fuck you, Jeremy!.. you let mine get stolen on your watch!
------------{=0=}------------
So that is how my fall adventure begins!.. on a rainy monday... ready to quit again on day one, until I found out that the universe is just, and Rosa is gone forever!
The winter adventure... or misadventure... was about Dad dying, and the immediate aftermath, with Tim here on an extended visit.
The spring adventure was about holding down a full time job, while stabilizing the pet dynamic, and renovating the back yard.
The summer adventure was about reconnecting with my distant past... which is similar to what I was on about, last summer.
But this time around, it was the music that reemerged, rather than the field recording hobby.
And I haven't given up on the field recording either, but... last year was a disaster for it, and this year, I've just had too much other bullshit going on, so far.
--<>--
By definition, adventures are unpredictable. But as of tonight, it does look like I'll probably be staying at Cloud for the entire 23/24 school year.
And if Rosa's replacement is a person who actually shows up at 3PM and leaves at 7PM like they're supposed to, I will be thrilled beyond words!
Dad's funeral will also be the tent-pole event of the fall.
Resolving the BMO crisis is gonna be another big theme through the fall.
And the studio will also be an ongoing theme.
And with that... this entry's been long enough!
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
And we did see a big yellow school bus drive past while we were out there this morning, but the pet walk was brief, because it was raining.
And now I'm in the back room with about three hours before I have to leave, just like back in the good old days of March, April, and May.
It will be good, returning to a departure time of 2:20, rather than the 12:50 I've been doing for over two months. That always felt like I was rushing out the door.
I also WILL NOT MISS that rush hour drive home at 5:30PM... heading west into the blinding sun, in bumper to bumper traffic, crawling down Montgomery road at 20MPH.
Things should feel different this time around... less intense, I'm hoping.
When I started FT in March, I was still in crisis mode, after Dad's death. Tim had just left, the yard was a shambles... there were issues with the cameras... I didn't have adequate shoes.
I was in a rush to complete a long list of huge projects... racing to get it all done before summer came and it got too hot. And I was having those plans foiled by the cold, in the case of the hose hook up, and the rain, on several other weekends.
But now all that stuff is done, including the ruts. No more grass mats with bricks on them. No more hoses and timers.
Even the juniper tree got cut down... and that wood chipper finally got out of the back room and into the shed.
The hatch door is a big project, but there's no big rush on it.
I'll be able to just focus on the day's work without this desperate need to get through the week, becasue I left something unfinished on Sunday night, and can't get back to it until Saturday again!
And I think I'll feel more like I belong there this time around, because I'll be there from the start of the school year.
I'll be there for the whole story, as it cools down... as Halloween comes and goes... Thanksgiving break... Christmas break.
And after things do cool down, I'm sure I'll get those trees cut down in back, one by one.
Just made a run to Fiesta Food Mart to get some smokes... then brought in the mail, and gave the clothes in the dryer a second spin.
All the talk right now is about Dad's funeral, and the reunion in October.
Sheila & Colleen are busy planning things and sending invites. Tim's buying plane tickets and looking into rental cars.
I'd like to have some trees cut down, to use for firewood in the new pit, for that event.
If I'm lucky, there will be a cool enough weekend in late September to cut down two of them... which would give me enough wood to weigh down the wood rack, so that I can put the cover over it, without worrying it'll catch the wind and blow over.
And that'd give the wood a month to dry out and be burnable.
I guess I'd like to have the hatch door done by then too... October 20th.
That way I'd have the porch back, and I could have the basement open to the outside as well... for a kind of open house when people are here.
I never did get the fuse boxes updated to a breaker box this spring.
It's got to be done when it's around 70F outside, because the power will be out for most of the day.
But the hatch door also has to be functional.
There's a small window in October where that would be possible, but things will probably be too hectic by then, so it's gonna have to wait until next May.
I wanted to wait until that was done before patching and painting Dad's room, but... now that it's the studio, I may go ahead and freshen it up anyway, before the open house.
That black ceiling with the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to it, is thanks to Sabrina moving in there with me, back in 1996.
But nobody ever updated it, and in their old age, Mom & Dad slept in that room as it was, with the stars... which have gone from being ironic to iconic over thirty years... especially since they may have been the last thing Dad saw as he died in there.
So... I plan to repaint the ceiling and other black trim with a dark blue, and I did buy some star stencils back in February, to repaint a few stars for the sake of tradition.
But now that it's the studio... well, last night I found on Amazon that they sell glow in the dark paint!
So, I can actually paint glowing stars back onto the ceiling!
The floor is a different issue. Right now it's just masonite underlayment, that doesn't sit evenly, and beneath that is some kind of ancient plywood before you get down to the original wood floor, which we know is ugly, based on the living room and hallway.
With the insane cost of plywood right now, replacing the masonite would be expensive as hell. But there might be a way for me to flatten it with just drywall screws and some floor leveler between the seams.
After that, a sufficiently thick floor tile, properly glued down, could make it acceptable.
Well, I made it!
14,000 steps tonight too!.. which I think is a record... but my feet are fine.
Heels were aching a bit right before lunch, but that went away.
You may recall that prior to the summer, I had my 8 hour routine down to 7K steps.
So why was it double that, today?
Because my goddam janitor cart went missing!.. and I confirmed that, by looking in every single closet, classroom, office, hall, and nook, in the entire building... twice!
This was after texting Jeremy, who hadn't been there when I'd arrived, and him saying it was either in the office, or the kindergarten hallway.
He was full of bullshit!
I then called Chantele, to tell her that my cart had been removed from the building.
But Chantele is a person who always has a script in her mind, for what she thinks a conversation is going to be... so it doesn't matter what your mouth noises are, she just hears what's in her script.
She answered, and I said, "Hey! My janitor cart's been removed from the building. I've looked every..."
"Okay you can go to meeting at five o'clock. Stockman school. You leave in ten minute."
"What? What meeting?"
"Jeremy tell you about meeting today. You be there at five o'clock. Don't have to set the alarm. Just close the doors. Tell them in the office you are leaving."
"What about my janitor cart?"
"Cart is in the custodial closet."
"No, I called you to say that I looked in every closet... hello?.. hello?.."
She had already hung up.
So when I told the principal and her secretary that I had to leave for a meeting, the principal was like, "Nooop!.. we need coverage!" And she called Chantele.
Chantele said to her, "No, Patrick will stay at Cloud. He does not have to go to meeting."
Then my phone rang, and it was Chantele. "Patrick you stay at Cloud. They need coverage there. You don't have to go to meeting!"
So, okay, I didn't have to go to the meeting, but I was still pissed off that my goddam janitor cart was missing. Both Jeremy and Chantele were blowing it off like I was just making shit up!
And... I've had a car stolen twice, and I've been gaslit by abusers in the past, so this kind of shit is triggering for me.
It was a nice rainy day, and relatively cool, but I was still ready to quit over this.
I had heard from the women in the office that last week, while I was gone, they had a big crew of people come in and clean the whole building top to bottom.
This wasn't something I was told would happen, and I didn't understand why it would be necessary. But clearly, one of these assholes made off with my cart!
Either they were sick of waiting to get their own cart at their home school... because GeoStaff fucking drags their feet for weeks about providing new carts... or they took it for some kind of side hustle.
Whatever the case, it was not cool, and as I went to do garbage and vacuum classrooms, the phrase kept going through my head, "If my cart's not back by tomorrow, I'm quitting."
That's what I planned to text Chantele at the end of the night, after clocking out.
Because fuck it!.. I can be starting another janitor job somewhere else in a week!
I don't need to put up with this bullshit... where my cart vanishes, but everybody acts like I'm crazy! Go to hell!
But then, an hour after lunch, my phone rings and it's Chantele again.
Still oblivious to the cart problem, she said, "I need you to check the four hour area tonight and get the garbage. Check the bathrooms. Make sure it all look good tonight, before you go! You can stay extra hours if you need to! You can work overtime all week if you want to! I approve it!"
But that's Rosa's area, so I said, "Okay, but when's Rosa coming back?"
"Rosa is gone. Rosa quit! Rosa put in her resignation last week!"
And THAT...
Immediately turned my frown upside down! :D
What had been a very BAD first day back to full time...
Suddenly became a very GOOD first day back!
I've been saying, Rosa needs to go since April!
Basically she was always forgetting her keys or her badge, and never showed up on time, often being HOURS late.
She was always sneaking around the building, popping up in areas she had no business in... like my areas upstairs... were I think she boned an electrician one night.
I had a theory that her goal was to get permission to clock in so late that she'd still be in the building after I left at 11:30... so that she could sneak her friends inside to do shrooms together.
And she did indeed, finally get permission to clock in at 8:45PM on May 26th, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend... free to stay well past when I left, and set the alarm herself.
And she wasn't around much after that, calling in sick two days in a row, that final week before I went to part time.
Once I was part time, I left at 5:30PM so we never crossed paths.
The story about her kept changing... that she'd been reassigned to another school for the summer... or that she was now back at Cloud, but clocking in at 7PM... disarming the alarm herself and working alone...
But the understanding was that she'd be back this week, along with me!.. and I was dreading it!
So, I told Chantele there's no way I can do overtime, because my dog waits for me for nine hours and needs to go out.
But I was THRILLED to find out that Rosa is gone for GOOD!
And it immediately made me want to stay at Cloud, just so I could have the experience of working an entire school year there, WITHOUT ROSA!
And my missing cart was also, suddenly a non-issue, because all I have to do is commandeer Rosa's old cart!
So, by tomorrow, when they all come to terms with the fact that a janitor cart really did go missing... they'll start the weeks long process of getting a new one.
And that'll be fine, because it'll take them that many weeks to find a replacement for Rosa!
Meanwhile, I'll have a cart of my own, and whoever shows up to fill in the gaps can use Jeremy's goddam janitor cart!
Because... fuck you, Jeremy!.. you let mine get stolen on your watch!
So that is how my fall adventure begins!.. on a rainy monday... ready to quit again on day one, until I found out that the universe is just, and Rosa is gone forever!
The winter adventure... or misadventure... was about Dad dying, and the immediate aftermath, with Tim here on an extended visit.
The spring adventure was about holding down a full time job, while stabilizing the pet dynamic, and renovating the back yard.
The summer adventure was about reconnecting with my distant past... which is similar to what I was on about, last summer.
But this time around, it was the music that reemerged, rather than the field recording hobby.
And I haven't given up on the field recording either, but... last year was a disaster for it, and this year, I've just had too much other bullshit going on, so far.
By definition, adventures are unpredictable. But as of tonight, it does look like I'll probably be staying at Cloud for the entire 23/24 school year.
And if Rosa's replacement is a person who actually shows up at 3PM and leaves at 7PM like they're supposed to, I will be thrilled beyond words!
Dad's funeral will also be the tent-pole event of the fall.
Resolving the BMO crisis is gonna be another big theme through the fall.
And the studio will also be an ongoing theme.
And with that... this entry's been long enough!
°¦}
