A couple weeks ago my wife was heading home in the evening after going to our daughter’s place when a deer ran out in front of her. The deer took off, but left some hair and some damage on the right front hood, grill, and fender. It could have been a hell of a lot worse, but it could have been better. The deer could have waited 5 minutes before attempting to cross the road.
Anyways, it’s only going to cost us $100 to fix the nearly $4,000 in damages. For once it pays to have insurance. So today my wife is taking me to work and then my dad is picking me up to head to the rental car place so I can pick up whatever monstrosity Enterprise has for me. We dropped off my wife’s car on Sunday to get the repairs done and they said it would be 5 days to repair the damages. Another perk we get to put into action with our insurance.
I’d definitely rather just complain about having to pay car insurance and not have to use it, then having to use it. If we have to use it then it means something got messed up and needs fixed.
Oh well. Just another notch on the bedpost of life.
Happy to report my left calf is pretty much back to normal. Swelling is almost gone, bruise is faded away, and no more pain. Compression sleeves are the way to go. That and elevation. Got out and got a 4.5 mile walk on Sunday, and a 3 mile walk yesterday after work. The weather has made the walks pretty reasonable. Low 70s, breezy, and sunshine. My kind of weather. Last night the lows were in the 40s here. Fear not, though. By Thursday we’re supposed to be in the 90s.
Friday morning our son and his girlfriend are heading down to Tennessee to the Bonnaroo Festival. They’re going to Saturday’s show. It was the day that had the artists they were most interested in seeing, so the fact it was on a Saturday just worked out. My wife had told our son he could take her Ford Flex since the van he’s driving is a 2004 Honda Odyssey with 250,000 miles on it. Her Flex isn’t much better in the mileage department with around 208,000 miles. But it is almost 10 years newer and in great shape…well, it was until that whole deer thing.
So now they’re taking my car, which is a 2008 Honda Accord. It’s got 175,000 miles, so significantly less than either of their vehicles. But it’s my car. It may be old but it’s my baby. I take good care of it. Of course I want them in a safe vehicle, so I’m fine with them taking it. I’m just prone to existential fear and worry, so my mind goes to the worst places. I’ll make sure to check the coolant levels, and the oil still has over 800 miles before it’s ready for an oil change. It’ll be close to 900 miles there and back. So maybe I should get the oil changed before they go. Another thing for me to obsess over I suppose.
Picked up a couple albums over the past weekend. Ludwig Göransson’s Oppenheimer score and Jeremy Chiu’s In Electric Time on vinyl. I already had Chiu’s In Electric Time on cassette when International Anthem originally dropped it last fall, but then they reissued it on vinyl. I held off buying the vinyl version at first because, well, I already had it. But the more I thought about it the more I really wanted the vinyl version as well. It’s a totally improvised set of songs, recorded in a vintage synthesizer museum in L.A. It really was the perfect album to come out on vinyl. I caved to my OCD tendencies and I’m glad I did. It sounds amazing.
The Oppenheimer score is just stunning. The music was the perfect companion to one of my favorite films of 2023. And the pressing is quiet and crisp all the way thru. Mondo knocked it out of the part. Göransson has proven to be one of the best film composers currently working. At 38 he’s still pretty young as well. His Mandalorian score was fantastic, as well as his work with Ryan Coogler. I see him as a successor to Hans Zimmer for sure. I feel like they’re both aesthetically connected.
Yesterday really held up its own as feeling like a Monday for sure. Work was an absolute headache. I know part of it is the constant unknowns for starters. The pending closing hangs over us 24/7. But if you ask buyers, planners, or anyone up front they don’t see this plant closing any time soon. The plants that are supposed to take over our manufacturing. aren’t anywhere near to being ready to take things over. We’re now hearing it could be Christmas 2025 before that happens. I’m not complaining(okay, maybe a little), as that gives us more time to bank money into our savings, pay the mortgage down, and get things in order at home beforehand.
But there’s also a part of me that just wants this to be done. It would be one thing if I was three, four years to retirement age like my work partner. But I’m only 50. I’ve got another 15 years before I can officially retire and start taking social security(if there will even be any by then.) My wife got a significant pay bump with her recent promotion at work, so she’s making almost $10,000 more than me. Money will be tight when I’m let go, but we’ll have the house paid off. The severance I’m receiving will be significant enough that I won’t really have to worry about me having an income for a while. And when I do go back to work I don’t want to come back to the medical field. I say this with the utmost sincerity, if I could get an early morning gig at an Aldi or Meijer, stocking produce or unloading trucks I’d be perfectly fine with that. I’d be thrilled with it, honestly.
I guess I’m just lost in my head, thinking about everything all at once and it’s exhausting. Worried about the kids, my old dog, getting money put back, what will I do after my job is gone, the state of the country I call home and a pending election with a geriatric scumbag convicted felon and a doddering geriatric that doesn’t seem to know what time of day it is. Our choices are crap. But they’re the only choices we’ve got. I could vote 3rd party(“Don’t blame me. I voted for Kodos!”)
It’s okay. In 5 weeks the wife and I will be in Denver, Colorado on vacation. A week hanging out, Rocky Mountain Way. Concert at Red Rocks with Dr. Dog, plus some record shop perusing and some great views of mountains and just unplugging from it all in general. Sounds like just what the doctor ordered.
Complex Distractions 