(no subject)

I really needed those two days off. I feel a lot less like I'm going to burn my bridges at dayjob and strut out on my own with resume in hand, at least.

I've been wanting to swim/float the Ichetucknee River ever since we moved here and I have been thwarted at every attempt. Last year it was a hurricane, previous years it was COVID, other sicknesses. Well this year I checked their website daily and they were open, open, open. Right up until the day before, of course. Then suddenly, a warning that river access was suspended for floaters and swimmers due to high water levels.

I thought about throwing in the towel, maybe going to the beach instead. But instead I remembered a mention about Rainbow River and that it was a good state park. As it's much further south, they were unaffected by the flooding from Hurricane Debbie and were open. So I got the kids and the wife off to school/work and went by myself.

The last time I'd tubed a river was in my teens and I was a bit nervous. Felt a bit silly going by myself, too, but I wanted the space to be alone and actually think about my uncle, who he was, and how unfairly he'd been taken from us. I didn't know him as well as I should've, but I know he liked being outdoors and he liked just chilling--preferably with a beer in hand--and while I don't drink I could definitely chill.

The river was cold and it was bracing to slip in, but soon it felt great, especially with the hot midday sun on my back. I'm so glad I wore long sleeves. I spotted fish right away, and birds and turtles. And if I just looked at one side of the river, it was peaceful and beautiful.

Unfortunately, there are two sides to a river, and the other side had houses. WTF Florida. Why would you let people build right up to an otherwise pristine river, one that is famous for the manatees it houses and feeds in the winter? I could have mostly ignored them, except some folks were putting on a roof, some folks were mowing their lawn, and others were just out partying on their docks. Middle of the day Wednesday. All right.

So yeah, what would have been a great 2 hours on a river was instead interspersed with tinny music, loud lawnmowers, and persistent banging. Altogether, even though the water was nice and I did end up relaxing a bit, I'm really not inclined to go back.

Still, I got to have the space I needed and the time I needed and reflected, as needed.

When I got back to our town, I raided TJ's for snacks and food, got myself some birthday figs (since they're only ever in season in August), and even stopped by Barnes and Noble to pick up a friend's book. Then I went home and passed out like I'd just been up since 4am (I had), biked two kids to school (I did), cried a bunch (I had), and still had a cold (I did).

Thursday I promised myself I wouldn't try to do more than two things, and I sure succeeded in that. I spent almost the whole day reading GIDEON, outside of an hour break when I worked on a powerpoint for dayjob. It was really, really nice just to spend a day reading, and an engrossing book at that. Turns out, I do like GIDEON THE NINTH, once I've taken the time to get sucked into the story instead of the hoopla. I think I also needed to get past the opening, which I'd re-read twice and which really doesn't introduce the story or stakes well. Gideon's whole desperate desire to get away from the Ninth is barely a blip once the plot gets going. But the other characters were delicious, as well as the necromantic theorems and the underlying vibe that there's something deeply, deeply wrong with the entire universe. I really want to jump straight in to HARROW, as clearly she has some Shit to Process, but I'm going to read at least another book or two in-between as a palate cleanser.

Wild that we've still got a week left of August and I've read four books. Four! In a month! I haven't managed this since I was working at the county, pre-children. It feels good and normal and is absolutely something I want to keep doing.

I stopped myself just shy of finishing GIDEON yesterday so I could still have time to clean the house and cook. So basically, between the small adventure and the chores and errands and reading time, it was like having a real, honest-to-god relaxing weekend. If only I could throw in a bout of DnD with friends, it would be just like old times. But even without DnD, it was really, really nice. And maybe something I should do more often. I hear relaxing weekends make a comeback when the kids get older, but idk when.

In the meantime, yeah. I'm going to do that mid-week weekend again sometime soon.